Governorship of Chris Christie

Christie at a town hall in Hillsborough, New Jersey in March 2011

Chris Christie took office as the 55th and current Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010.

He chose not to move his family into Drumthwacket, the official governor's mansion, and instead resides in Mendham, New Jersey.

On February 9, 2010, he signed Executive Order No. 12, which placed a 90-day freeze on the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and established the Housing Opportunity Task Force to examine the State's affordable housing laws, constitutional obligations, and the effectiveness of the current framework.^[1]

On February 11, 2010, Christie signed Executive Order No. 14, which declared a "state of fiscal emergency exists in the State of New Jersey" due to the projected $2.2 billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year (FY 2010).^[2] In a speech before a special joint session of the New Jersey Legislature on the same day, Christie addressed the budget deficit and revealed a list of fiscal solutions to close the gap. Christie also suspended funding for the Department of the Public Advocate and called for its elimination.^[3] Some Democrats criticized Christie for not first consulting them on his budget cuts and for circumventing the Legislature's role in the budget process.^[4]

Campaign

Main article: New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2009

On January 8, 2009, Christie filed papers to run for governor.^[5] In the primary on June 2, Christie won the Republican nomination with 55% of the vote, defeating conservative opponents Steve Lonegan and Rick Merkt.^[6]

On July 20, 2009, Christie announced that he had chosen Kimberly Guadagno, Monmouth County sheriff, to complete his campaign ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor. Guadagno, who was elected sheriff in 2007, had previously served on the Monmouth Beach Board of Adjustment, and also as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.^[7]

Christie faced criticism for his acceptance of $23,800 in campaign contributions (and the resulting $47,600 in public finance matching funds) from a law firm that received a federal monitor contract while Christie served as the state's U.S. Attorney. In 2006, Christie approved a deferred prosecution agreement with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey after it admitted committing Medicare fraud. He appointed Herbert Stern, a former federal judge and prosecutor, to the $500-per-hour post of federal monitor. Christie's close friend and fundraiser John Inglesino, a partner in Stern's law firm, was paid $325 per hour for his work as counsel on the monitorship. Stern's law firm, Stern and Killcullen, received reported more than $10 million in legal fees from the contract. Stern, Inglesino, a third partner, and their wives have since each made the maximum contribution of $3,400 to Christie's gubernatorial campaign.^[8][9][10]

On August 18, 2009, Christie acknowledged that he had loaned $46,000 to first assistant U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Michele Brown two years ago, while serving as her superior as the state's U.S. attorney, and that he had failed to report either the loan or its monthly $500 interest payments on both his income tax returns and his mandatory financial disclosure report to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.^[11][12] In response to the disclosure of the financial relationship between Christie and Brown, State Senator Loretta Weinberg, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, called on Brown to recuse herself from the task of retrieving U.S. Attorney’s Office records requested by the Corzine campaign under the Freedom of Information Act.^[13] On August 25, 2009, Brown resigned from her post, stating that she does not want to be "a distraction" for the office.^[11]

On November 3, Christie defeated Corzine by a margin of 48.5% to 44.9%, with 5.8% of the vote going to independent candidate Chris Daggett.^[14]

Positions on issues

Abortion

Christie is against abortion: "I am pro-life. Hearing the strong heartbeat of my unborn daughter 14 years ago at 13 weeks gestation had a profound effect on me and my beliefs."^[15] He has stated, with respect to his opposition to abortion, that he would not use the governor's office to "force that down people's throats", but does favor restrictions on abortion such as banning partial-birth abortion, requiring parental notification, and imposing a 24-hour waiting period.^[16] "There were commentators in New Jersey (and nationally) who said [Christie's pro-life views] would do him in—that only a pro-choice Republican (like Christie Whitman or Tom Kean) could win in socially liberal New Jersey."^[17] Other commentators have defended Christie as an authentic social conservative who could help grow the movement.^[18]

Drugs

Christie supports the notion of medical marijuana, but opposes New Jersey's proposed medical marijuana bill, which would allow state-registered patients suffering from certain medical ailments to grow marijuana plants for personal medicinal use or purchase the drug at a licensed center.^[19]

Education

Christie, whose own children attend Catholic parochial school, is a strong supporter of the state granting tax credits to parents who send their children to private and parochial schools.^[20]

He also supports the introduction of state-funded vouchers, which parents of students in failing school districts could use to pay the tuition of private schools, or of public schools in communities other than their own which agree to accept them.^[21]

Christie has stated his intention to increase the number of charter schools in cities.^[21]

Christie supports merit pay for teachers.^[22]

Energy and environment

Christie has stated that he believes that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is too big and is "killing business" with permit delays and indiscriminate fines. He announced that, if elected, the agency would be his first target for government reduction: he would reduce its workforce and strip it of its fish and wildlife oversight.^[23]

Christie has stated that he intends to simultaneously spur growth in the state's manufacturing sector and increase New Jersey's capability to produce alternative energy. He has proposed a list of policy measures to achieve this, including giving tax credits to businesses that build new wind energy and manufacturing facilities, changing land use rules to allow solar energy on permanently preserved farmland, installing solar farms on closed landfills, setting up a consolidated energy promotion program, and following a five-to-one production to non-production job ratio in the creation of new energy jobs.^[24]

Guns

Christie has said that he supports strict and aggressive enforcement of the state's current gun laws.^[16]

Illegal immigration

While serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Christie stressed that simply "[b]eing in this country without proper documentation is not a crime," but rather a civil wrong; and that undocumented people are not criminals unless they have re-entered the country after being deported. As such, Christie stated, responsibility for dealing with improperly documented foreign nationals lies with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not the U.S. Attorney's Office.^[25]

Christie has been critical about section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, enacted in 1996, which can be used to grant local law enforcement officers power to perform immigration law enforcement functions. Christie's running mate, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, on the other hand, applied for and was granted approval under 287(g) to have officers at the county jail deputized as immigration agents.^[26]

Organized crime

Christie says that as United States attorney he was always tough on organized crime, though it did not rank as high among his priorities as public corruption, terrorism, violent street gangs or human trafficking did. He added that he stands by a 2007 comment he made that "the Mafia is much more prominent on HBO than in New Jersey." ^[27]

Public employee pensions

In his campaign, Christie opposed any change in pension benefits for firefighters and law enforcement officers, including "current officers, future officers or retirees". He described the pension agreement as "a sacred trust".^[28]

In 2010, as Governor, Christie supported and signed into law a bill that abrogated the prior agreement and decreased pensions of public employees, prompting a lawsuit by the police and firefighters' unions.^[29] Later that year he called for further cuts, including the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for all current and future retirees.^[30]

Sharia Law/Muslim Americans

Christie has strongly criticized critics of Muslim Americans (specifically The Tea Party), particularly those who claim that Muslims want to introduce Sharia Law into the US. He vehemently defended his appointee Sohail Mohammed, a Muslim American, to the NJ Superior Court. He went so far as to say that ignorance was behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed and Muslim Americans.^[31]

Same-sex marriage

Christie has said that he favors New Jersey's current law allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions, but would veto any bill legalizing same-sex marriage,^[16] saying, "I also believe marriage should be exclusively between one man and one woman.... If a bill legalizing same sex marriage came to my desk as Governor, I would veto it."^[15]

Taxes

Christie has promised not to raise taxes. He has also vowed to lower the state income and business taxes, with the qualification that this might not occur immediately: "I'm not saying I'm cutting taxes in the first year. The first thing we have to do is get our fiscal house in order, and that's going to be tough." He has not yet taken a position on the state's property tax rebate program.^[16]

Electoral results

New Jersey Gubernatorial Election 2009
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Chris Christie	1,174,447	48.5	+5.5
	Democratic	Jon Corzine (incumbent)	1,087,731	44.9	-8.6
	Independent	Chris Daggett	139,579	5.8
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

Race to the Top controversy

The Christie Cabinet
Office	Name	Term
Governor	Chris Christie	2010–present
Lieutenant Governor	Kim Guadagno	2010–present
Adjutant General	Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth	2010–present
Secretary of Agriculture	Douglas H. Fisher	2010–present
Attorney General	Paula Dow	2010–present
Commissioner of Banking and Insurance	Tom Considine	2010–present
Commissioner of Children and Families	Dr. Allison Blake	2010–present
Commissioner of Community Affairs	Lori Grifa	2010–present
Commissioner of Corrections	Gary Lanigan	2010–present
Commissioner of Education	Bret D. Schundler	2010–2010
	Rochelle Hendricks*	2010–2011
	Christopher D. Cerf*	2011–present
Commissioner of Environmental Protection	Bob Martin	2010–present
Commissioner of Health and Senior Services	Dr. Poonam Alaigh	2010–2011
	Mary O'Dowd*	2011–present
Commissioner of Human Services	Jennifer Velez	2010–present
Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development	Harold J. Wirths	2010–present
Secretary of State	Kim Guadagno	2010–present
Commissioner of Transportation	Jim Simpson	2010–present
State Treasurer	Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff	2010–present
Robert Czech	2010–present
Charles B. McKenna	2010–present
Chair/Chief Administrator of the Motor Vehicle Commission	Raymond Martinez	2010–present
President of the Board of Public Utilities	Lee Solomon	2010–present
State Comptroller	Matthew Boxer	2010–present
Superintendent of the State Police	Col. Joseph R. Fuentes	2010–present
* Serving as acting officeholder.

On August 25, 2010, it was announced that New Jersey had lost out on $400 million in federal Race to the Top education grants due to a clerical error in the application by an unidentified mid-level state official. When prompted by the application to compare their 2008 and 2009 school budgets to illustrate their commitment to education financing, the official compared the state’s 2010 and 2011 financing, thus forfeiting the section's five points.^[32] Ohio, the lowest-scoring state to be awarded funding, scored three points higher than New Jersey.^[33]

In response to the decision, Christie criticized the Obama administration by saying,

This is the stuff, candidly, that drives people crazy about government and crazy about Washington... the first part of it is the mistake of putting the wrong piece of paper in, it drives people crazy and, believe me, I’m not thrilled about it. But the second part is, does anybody in Washington, D.C. have a lick of common sense? Pick up the phone and ask us for the number... that’s the stuff the Obama administration should answer for. Are you guys just down there checking boxes like mindless drones, or are you thinking? When the president comes back to New Jersey, he’s going to have to explain to the people of the state of New Jersey why he’s depriving them of $400 million that this application earned.^[34]

On August 26, the U.S. Department of Education released a video showing that the budget issue had been specifically raised at a meeting with Christie's Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, contradicting Christie's claim that the federal government had not informed them of the error. In response, Gov. Christie asked for Schundler's resignation, saying that Schundler had misinformed Christie of the facts of the situation. Schundler initially agreed to resign, but the following morning asked to be fired instead, citing his need to claim unemployment benefits. Schundler maintains that he told Christie the truth, and that Christie is misstating what actually occurred.^[35]

The New Jersey Education Association rebuked Christie by suggesting that his rejection of a compromise worked out by Schundler with the teachers' union on May 27 was to blame. The rejection of the agreement with the union meant that the state had little more than three days to complete the grant applications, which were due on June 1. By Christie's own accounting, the state lost 14 points due to the lack of widespread union support for the reforms.^[32]

2010 New Jersey Budget

Governor Christie declared a "state of emergency" and laid out plans for more than US$1 billion in cuts to the state budget in an address to the New Jersey State Assembly on February 10, 2010. The budget included a carefully crafted plan requiring school districts to spend their surpluses in order to allow the state to withhold US$400 million in aid funding while retaining federal stimulus eligibility and avoiding the need for the legislature to pass a bill. The Christie administration estimated a US$1.3 billion budget deficit from the US$29 billion 2009 New Jersey budget passed by Jon Corzine's administration.^[36]

2011 New Jersey Budget

The battles over New Jersey's state budget for the 2012 fiscal year starting July 1, 2011, began in February of 2011. Governor Christie vetoed 14 bills on February 21, 2011, which were intended to promote economic growth and job creation and were passed by the New Jersey State Assembly earlier in the month. Christie justified his vetoes by stating that the bills failed to pay for themselves, while Assembly Democrats replied that the bills would not have cost money immediately, and that their funding could have been addressed at a later date. Christie followed up by announcing that his own budget would be put forth the next day, including some similar business tax incentives which would be structured within the context of a balanced budget.^[37]

In late June 2011, Christie utilized New Jersey's line item veto to eliminate nearly US$1 billion from the proposed budget, signing it into law just hours prior to the July 1, 2011, beginning of the state's fiscal year.^[38]

February budget address

Governor Christie scheduled a budget address to the State Legislature and his constituents on February 22, 2011. Throughout the months prior to the address, Christie had been making his case for cutting business taxes, giving property tax relief to residents, overhauling funding of the State pension system, changing school aid, and possibly cutting State Medicaid benefits. News analysis of the events predicted that this would be the beginning of a partisan political battle between the Governor's office and the Democrat led State Assembly, which was born out prior to the address by Senate President Stephen Sweeney who was quoted as saying "We’ve heard nothing from the administration. This is not a good start".^[36]

Democratic Chairman John Wisniewski announced, as part of the budget address coverage, US$250 million in funding towards education programs as part of Christie's promise to revamp public school spending in the state. New Jersey had spent around US$10 billion a year on education in previous administrations, but the Christie administration had cut funding in the 2010 budget which prompted lawsuits being heard by the New Jersey State Supreme Court. Senate republicans were reported to be advocating for increased funding to suburban districts in the state.^[39]

State Pension funding

Governor Christie was expected to budget US$500 million to the New Jersey pension fund in the 2011 budget. The Christie administration did not budget any of the US$3 billion in funding to the pension plan in the 2010 state budget.^[39]

Hurricane Irene

Governor Christie played a very vocal role in responding to the August 2011 landfall in New Jersey of Hurricane Irene. Prior to the storm's arrival he ordered massive evacuations of coastal areas of the state. At one press conference he directly told people who had not heeded evacuation orders to "get the hell off the beach'.^{[40] [41]}

Public opinion summary

According to a poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind conducted in January of 2010, Gov. Chris Christie entered office with a 48-13% (approval-disapproval) rate.^[42] In the month of March, FDU's PublicMind conducted two studies in which New Jersey voters were asked: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Chris Christie is handling his job as governor?". The early March poll showed Christie’s public approval rate at a robust 52-21^[43] but the late March poll showed that his approval had slipped to 43-32% ^[44] after having announced deep cuts to the state budget. In May 2010 after months of acrimonious debate over the budget, FDU's PublicMind released another study which showed that New Jersey voters split their opinions: 44% approving of Christie, 42% disapproving. Dr. Peter J. Woolley, director of the PublicMind, noted, “As the breadth and depth of the budget cuts become known, people have hardened in their opinions.”^[45]

Christie’s approval ratings recovered by October of 2010. According to the FDU PublicMind poll, a sizeable majority (60%) of New Jersey voters agreed that the state should continue to control spending and reduce programs in order to balance the state budget instead of increasing taxes. Consequently, in the October poll, 51% of voters approved the way Christie was handling his job, a seven-point increase over his approval number in May, while 37% disapproved. Woolley commented: “These are strong numbers for a politician who is cutting deeply into the public budget.”^[46] Through the next couple of months Christie's approval rating remained constant though “favorable” views of him did not match his approvals. For example, in November 2010, FDU PublicMind released a poll in which 49% of the voters approved the job he was doing, while 39% disapproved. This 10 point advantage in his approval rating was much better than his four point advantage in favorable over unfavorable opinion: 45% said they had a favorable view of the governor and 41% had an unfavorable view.^[47]

According to a January 2011 FDU PublicMind poll, Christie began the year with the highest approval ratings of his career, 53% approving, 36% disapproving. In addition, Christie's 47–39% favorable/unfavorable opinion rating at the end of his inaugural year in office was better than that of several previous governors included in the same poll: "Jim Florio weighed in at 25–33% favorable to unfavorable; Christine Whitman broke even with 39%-41%; Jim McGreevey was well under water with 23–48%; and Christie's predecessor Jon Corzine got 36–52%, actually an improvement from 30–61% when he left office. Only Richard Codey performed very well, with 37% favorable and 11% unfavorable."^[48]

Christie maintained positive approval ratings until the spring of 2011. In a poll conducted by FDU PublicMind in the midst of more budget battles in May 2011, voters split evenly with 44% approving and 44% disapproving. ^[49] However, by September 2011, FDU's PublicMind showed that Christie’s approvals “bounced back": 54% of New Jersey voters approved his job as governor while only 36% disapproved.^[50] A month later, the FDU PublicMind poll release of October 25, 2011 showed that Christie’s numbers remained strong, with 51%-approving and 36% disapproving. ^[51]

See also

• List of New Jersey Governors

References

1. ^ "Governor Christie Executive Order No. 12". 09 Feb 2010. http://nj.gov/infobank/circular/eocc12.pdf. Retrieved 14 Feb 2010. 
2. ^ "Governor Christie Executive Order No. 14". 11 Feb 2010. http://nj.gov/infobank/circular/eocc14.pdf. Retrieved 14 Feb 2010. 
3. ^ "FY 2010 Budget Solutions Press Release". 11 Feb 2010. http://www.state.nj.us/governor/news/news/552010/pdf/FY2010BudgetSolutions0219.pdf. Retrieved 14 Feb 2010. 
4. ^ "N.J. Democrats blast Gov. Chris Christie for circumventing Legislature". NJ.com. 11 Feb 2010. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/nj_democrats_slam_christie_for.html. Retrieved 14 Feb 2010. 
5. ^ Josh Margolin, and Kristen Alloway (January 8, 2009). "Christopher Christie files to run for New Jersey governor". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/christopher_christie_files_to.html. Retrieved 2009-03-25. 
6. ^ Halbfinger, David M. (2009-06-02). "Ex-Prosecutor Wins G.O.P. Primary in New Jersey". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/nyregion/03elect.html?ref=todayspaper. Retrieved 2009-06-03. 
7. ^ Ruth, João-Pierre (July 20, 2009). "Chris Christie picks running mate". NJBiz. http://www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aID=78684. Retrieved 2009-07-23. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ Paul Cox (March 25, 2009). "N.J. GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's deferred prosecution agreements". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/06/nj_gop_gubernatorial_candidate.html. Retrieved 2009-07-23. 
9. ^ Kocienniewski, David (February 13, 2008). "Usually on Attack, U.S. Attorney in Newark Finds Himself on the Defensive". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/nyregion/13christie.html. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
10. ^ "Weinberg tells Christie to return contributions from UMDNJ monitors". PolitickerNJ.com. March 25, 2009. http://www.politickernj.com/editor/28505/weinberg-tells-christie-return-contributions-umdnj-monitors. Retrieved 2009-07-20. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Margolin, Josh (25 Aug 2009). "Federal prosecutor who took loan from GOP governor candidate Chris Christie resigns". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/us_prosecutor_at_center_of_chr.html. 
12. ^ Halbfinger, David M. (18 Aug 2009). "Candidate for New Jersey Governor Apologizes for Failing to Report Loan". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/nyregion/19christie.html. Retrieved 26 Sep 2009. 
13. ^ Friedman, Matt (21 Aug 2009). "Weinberg wants Brown to recuse herself from FOIA retrievals". PolitickerNJ.com. http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/32503/weinberg-wants-brown-recuse-herself-foia-retrievals. 
14. ^ "Official General Election Results". New Jersey Division of Elections. http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2009results/09general/09-official-general-election-gov-lt-gov-tallies-120109.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-02. 
15. ^ ^{a b} Bohrer, John R. (June 24, 2009). "Another Leading Republican's Values Go Missing". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-bohrer/another-leading-republica_b_220452.html. Retrieved July 14, 2009. 
16. ^ ^{a b c d} Heininger, Claire; Margolin, Josh (February 4, 2009). "Chris Christie promises change to a 'broken' state in campaign kickoff". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/chris_christie_promises_change.html. Retrieved July 14, 2009. 
17. ^ Kornacki, Steve (March 9, 2011) Why authenticity matters, Salon.com
18. ^ Rooney, Matt (August 11, 2008) Chris Christie Deserves the Trust of Conservatives, The Save Jersey Blog
19. ^ Dela Cruz, Christopher (March 19, 2009). "GOP candidate Chris Christie opposes N.J.'s medical marijuana bill". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/christie_criticizes_medical_ma.html. Retrieved April 18, 2011. 
20. ^ Wiener, Robert (August 6, 2009). "Christie holds meeting with Orthodox leaders: Republican hopeful offers support for school funding plans". New Jersey Jewish News. http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/080609/njChristieHoldsMeetings.html. 
21. ^ ^{a b} Rispoli, Michael (June 22, 2009). "GOP gov. candidate Chris Christie condemns N.J. public schools as Gov. Corzine heralds system". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/gop_gov_candidate_chris_christ.html. Retrieved July 20, 2009. 
22. ^ Halbfinger, David M. (June 18, 2009). "Christie Aims at Democrats Unhappy With Poor Schools". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/nyregion/19choice.html. Retrieved July 20, 2009. 
23. ^ Rispoli, Michael (April 28, 2009). "GOP candidate Chris Christie calls for cuts to N.J. Department of Environmental Protection". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/gop_candidate_chris_christie_c.html. Retrieved July 25, 2009. 
24. ^ "Energy as Industry". Chris Christie for Governor, Inc. http://www.christiefornj.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=180&Itemid=50. Retrieved July 14, 2009. 
25. ^ O'Connor, Julie (April 27, 2008). "Christie: Immigrants are not criminals". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/immigrants_and_their_advocates.html. Retrieved July 28, 2009. 
26. ^ Pizarro, Max (July 20, 2009). "Christie stands with Guadagno on first stop of LG tour". PolitickerNJ.com. http://www.politickernj.com/max/31534/christie-stands-guadagno-first-stop-lg-tour. Retrieved July 28, 2009. 
27. ^ Halbfinger, David M.; Kocieniewski, David (September 23, 2009). "For Christie, Family Tie No Candidate Can Relish". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/nyregion/24christie.html?hp. Retrieved October 17, 2009. 
28. ^ DeMarco, Jerry (February 25, 2011). "Christie campaign letter promised 'no harm' to police, firefighter pensions". Cliffview Pilot. http://cliffviewpilot.com/beyond/2154-christie-campaign-letter-promised-no-harm-to-police-firefighter-pensions. Retrieved March 5, 2011. 
29. ^ Megerian, Chris (April 23, 2010). "N.J. police, firefighter unions sue to stop pension reform laws". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/nj_police_firefighter_unions_s.html. Retrieved March 5, 2011. 
30. ^ Fleisher, Lisa (September 14, 2010). "Gov. Christie proposes pension, benefits changes for public workers". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/gov_christie_to_propose_pensio.html. Retrieved March 5, 2011. 
31. ^ [1] Governor Christie Talks About Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed
32. ^ ^{a b} Otterman, Sharon (August 25, 2010). "Attacks Fly for N.J. Losing Out on $400 Million Grant". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/nyregion/26njrace.html?ref=nyregion. 
33. ^ Candisky, Catherine (August 25, 2010). "N.J. error apparently gives $400 million 'Race to Top' grant to Ohio". The Columbus Dispatch. http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/08/25/25-race-to-top-error.html. Retrieved February 25, 2011. 
34. ^ Friedman, Matt (August 25, 2010), "Gov. Christie blames Washington bureaucracy for state's failed 'Race to the Top' application", New Jersey On-Line
35. ^ Katz, Matt (August 28, 2010), "Christie fires education chief Schundler after U.S. aid mistake", The Philadelphia Inquirer
36. ^ ^{a b} Heininger, Claire; Fleisher, Lisa (February 10, 2010). "Gov. Christie is expected to address N.J. budget, declare state of emergency". The Star-Ledger (Trenton, New Jersey). http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/nj_gov_chris_christie_is_expec.html. Retrieved July 6, 2011. 
37. ^ "N.J. Democrats question Gov. Chris Christie's veto of job creation bills". The Star-Ledger. Associated Press (Trenton, New Jersey). July 2, 2011. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/nj_democrats_question_vetoes_o.html. Retrieved July 5, 2011. 
38. ^ Renshaw, Jarrett (July 2, 2011). "Outrage boils over Christie's line-item veto cuts". The Star-Ledger (Trenton, New Jersey). http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/outrage_and_disappointment_fol.html. Retrieved July 6, 2011. 
39. ^ ^{a b} Friedman, Matt (February 22, 2011). "Wisniewski: Gov. Christie will announce $250M for education programs in budget speech". The Star-Ledger (Trenton, New Jersey). http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/wisniewski_gov_christie_will_a.html. Retrieved July 6, 2011. 
40. ^ The Washington Post. August 28, 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/christies-moment-get-the-hell-off-the-beach/2011/03/29/gIQANbbQlJ_blog.html. 
41. ^ http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=christie+get+the+hell+off+the+beach+&view=detail&mid=905E8152EA279B3FF421905E8152EA279B3FF421&first=0&FORM=LKVR5
42. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, (January 12, 2010). "Corzine Leaves an Era of Bad Feeling" (Press release).
43. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, (March 3, 2010). Public Backs Governor, Pension Reforms (Press release).
44. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, (March 30, 2010). "Christie's Approval Slips But Voters Still Say Cut Spending, Cap Property Tax Increases" (Press release).
45. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, (May 25, 2010). "Voters Split on Christie, But Not on His Proposals" (Press release).
46. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, (October 12, 2010). "Voters in Budget-Cutting Mood Approve of Christie" (Press release).
47. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind (November 23, 2010). "Christie Running Stronger than NJEA" (Press release).
48. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind. (January 11, 2011). "Christie Approval Ratings Strong at End of Inaugural Year" (Press release).
49. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind. (May 24, 2011). "Garden State Voters Feeling Blue" (Press release).
50. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind. (September 27, 2011). Christie Approvals Bounce Back (Press release).
51. ^ Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind. (October 27, 2011). New Jersey Headed in Right Direction. Really. (Press release).

External links

	New Jersey portal
	Biography portal

• Office of the Governor official state site
• Governor Christie on Twitter
• Biography at the National Governors Association
• Biography, interest group ratings, public statements, vetoes and campaign finances at Project Vote Smart
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Christie delivers budget message to joint session of Legislature February 22, 2011.