No sooner had he gotten back to his old job than Chris Christie’s taken on a new one as high level advisor stumping for Donald Trump. If he’s in line for a bigger role in the Trump camp, he’s not saying but he is talking. NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron spoke with Anchor Mary Alice Williams about Christie’s latest remarks.
Aron: He’s talking about what everyone is talking about — Donald Trump. He campaigned with Trump today in Ohio and Kentucky. They’re in Florida this evening. Last night he did an hour’s worth of talking on his monthly radio show Ask the Governor. Talked about Trump, talked about his own failed presidential bid, talked a little bit about state issues. Here he is being asked by host Eric Scott what it felt like to lose in the run for the White House:
“I have to tell you something. We were right from the beginning. Obviously I was and as I said that night, I was and Mary Pat and the children, were disappointed that it didn’t go better. That’s natural. We all put a lot of work into it and a lot of time and a lot of our heart into it. But it was never what our whole life was about and it was not what I’ve wanted to do my entire life so I got back to work. And It’s interesting because a lot of the phone calls you get it’s like you feel like you’re at your own wake. You know, ‘Are you OK?’ And people mean it nicely. Most of the phone calls and text messages and emails were all very concerned just as your question just was about us. But I have to tell you we’re all fine. Everybody’s back to doing what they do.”
Williams: There are people who are saying he’s still eyeing 2020, maybe 2024. Did anything about his future come up?
Aron: Yeah. Eric asked him about his future. It’s usually his critics who say, “Oh, he’s eyeing 2020 or 2024.” Christie didn’t sound all that eager. Let’s hear:
“I don’t know. Who knows. When you’re sitting here like two weeks out from having done it you think to yourself no way. I don’t know if I can ever go through that again. But I learn in this life that you don’t say absolutely not to anything because you don’t know where life’s going to take you.”
Aron: So he sounds pretty grounded and he sounds reasonably re-engaged with New Jersey. But he was asked about Trump. They spent about five minutes on Trump. Christie said he’s known Trump for 14 years, that he’s going to be an informal advisor to Trump, try to influence Trump. And said he’s a good guy. Let’s hear this:
“He has been a leader in his company. He has been a leader from a charitable perspective with many different organizations. And quite frankly he’s been a very good father. And if you look at his children, his children have been enormously successful. They’re bright, they’re articulate, they’re poised, and you know this. That doesn’t happen by accident. You look at Ivanka and Erik and Donald Jr., now I don’t know Tiffany and Barron all that well, they’re younger, Tiffany’s in college I think now and Barron is I think 10 years old, I don’t know them all that well. But I do know the older three children very well. And Donnie and Eric and Ivanka are extraordinary people. Incredibly successful, incredibly poised, incredibly articulate and successful. I know as a father and you know as a father that that doesn’t happen by accident.”
Williams: Meantime, back at the ranch there are critical decisions to be made here in New Jersey about the budget, roads, pensions. Did any of that come up?
Aron: Yes. A little bit of news was made last night I would say. Again, Eric Scott brought up the subject of the Transportation Trust Fund. Christie says he likes rolling back the estate tax, which is linked to the Transportation Trust Fund and a hike in the gas tax, but he wouldn’t go near a hike in the gas tax, at least not last night. Eric came back, tried to get him to talk about it. Let’s hear this cut:
“My view [on a hike in the gas tax] is that the only thing that I’ve heard from Democrats in terms of solving the Transportation Trust Fund is a tax increase. All tax increases must originate in the Assembly, so they need to do something. I can’t do anything. This fiction that the governor can fix TTF, I did five years ago without new taxes. But if they’re solution which is all I’ve heard and you’ve heard publicly from the Democrats is a tax increase, well then they need to step up and put their proposal forward.”
Aron: I find that a little disingenuous because he says any tax increase must start in the Assembly, but any governor can draft a bill and hand it to the Assembly and say, “Pass this.” So he is keeping his hands far away from this presumed gas tax hike.
Williams: But he did get into something critical to the state yesterday. He nominated Judge David Bauman to fill a long-vacant seat on the state Supreme Court. Bauman would have to be confirmed by the Senate. Senate President Steve Sweeney said he won’t even consider it because it would put four Republicans and two Democrats on the court and he doesn’t like those odds. What’s Christie’s response to that?
Aron: The governor’s office put out a very harsh statement today. “Today the Senate president turns 70 years of bipartisan tradition on its head by failing to satisfy his constitutional duty to consider the nomination of Judge Bauman. He claims that four Republicans would be ‘packing’ the court. Yet Senate President Sweeney sat quietly for eight years spanning Democratic Govs. McGreevey, Codey and Corzine when the court was composed of four Democrats, two Republicans and one Independent. With a Republican governor in office, the Senate president now reverses himself, fabricates history and makes dishonest arguments of political convenience. For six years the Senate president has blocked the confirmation process on this seat. Given the Senate’s unanimous support for Judge Bauman less than a year ago … to do anything less than a swift confirmation is nothing more than bald, obstructionist politics.” PolitickerNJ just wrote that these two are on a collision course. On this matter they’ve been colliding for six years.
Williams: And Bauman was nominated by Christie in 2012. So this is another go round of the same thing. Let’s wrap this up. It seems that Gov. Christie has his foot on each ice flow here, one for the state and one out on the campaign trail. What do you see happening in the near future?
Aron: Well, I’m seeing some calls for him to resign. Phil Murphy, who wants to run for governor next year has called for him to resign. Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli