By Lauren Wanko
NJ Today
It’s the first time in the gubernatorial race we’re hearing from Sen. Barbara Bouno’s daughter Tessa Bitterman.
“Growing up, my mom was always there for me no matter what and when I told her I was gay, I had no doubt she’d continue to be there unconditionally,” Bitterman said in an ad. “As governor, she’ll stop the bigoted policies that have been at the cornerstone of Chris Christie’s social agenda.”
This morning we asked Sen. Buono in Englishtown about the motivation for releasing the video, whether it was linked to the Supreme Court’s much anticipated ruling on same-sex marriage.
“I had dinner with my daughter Saturday night after I came home from California,” Buono said. “And she said, ‘Mom I want to do this, I think I need to do this.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And I warned her. I said, ‘This is gonna be national news because the governor has a national presence.’ And she said, ‘I feel really strongly about it and I want to do it.’ And I have to tell you I’m so proud of her. My daughter said she needed to do it and she thought it was important so I went with it. That’s it.”
Gov. Christie vetoed a gay marriage bill last year, insisting the issue should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide.
Buono’s daughter also released an email — “I have been deeply shocked by Chris Christie. As governor, he has been a giant roadblock to New Jersey achieving equality for all. By failing to support marriage equality, Christie is blatantly delegitimizing an entire group of people.”
The governor’s response?
“I’m sure from reading the letter that Sen. Buono’s daughter loves her a great deal and is completely supportive of her mother for governor. I didn’t expect to get her vote,” Christie said.
As for Buono’s pick for lieutenant governor, the senator isn’t giving any hints just yet, although lots of name are being mentioned.
“Some of them I’ve never even heard of, but that’s people like to talk and to speculate and that’s understandable. But we’re going through a process now and we want to make sure we have somebody who’s gonna be a good partner, that’s good for New Jersey and that’s willing to work hard,” Buono said.
The latest polls indicate Christie has a significant lead over Buono. The senator says there’s still more than four months until election day and right now New Jerseyans aren’t focused on the election.
“Those very same polls that you will see that governor’s popularity in the aftermath of Sandy, those very same polls show that his job approval numbers on the issues of pocketbook issues that are most important to people, that will drive them to the polls are nothing to crow about — well under 50 percent. So if I were the governor and I had his record on jobs and the economy, on property taxes the highest they’ve ever been before I’d want to be talking about anything but, I’d just want to be talking about Sandy too,” Buono said.
As for Sen. Buono’s next stop on the campaign trail, she’s headed to a fundraiser in Washington D.C. this evening.