By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
NJ Today
The governor’s choice to coordinate post-Sandy rebuilding is Marc Ferzan of Lawrenceville. Christie said the state has also contracted with former FEMA director Jamie Lee Witt’s consulting firm.
Ferzan is a former prosecutor now in the private sector at PricewaterhouseCoopers and someone Christie has worked with and trusts.
“Rebuilding our state is the most important and pressing challenge before us. I’m naming Marc to this position because of the importance and urgency of the effort and my commitment to getting it done efficiently and effectively for the people of our state,” Christie said.
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Ferzan will assemble a team and work in the State House.
“New Jersey is my home, it’s where I grew up. My family is here, my friends are here and the destruction I recognize has and will continue to touch all of us in the weeks and months and years to come,” Ferzan said.
The governor also revised the state’s damage estimate upward. On top of the $29.4 billion for repair and response that he announced last week, he is adding $7.4 billion for supplemental mitigation, protection and prevention.
“We will be submitting that information today to the White House, to our our congressional delegation and to our partners in New York state and Gov. Cuomo’s office,” Christie said.
Christie said $500 million has already gone out the door in disaster assistance. According to FEMA, $233,000 state residents have registered for assistance. Thirty thousand homes were damaged or destroyed. Another 42,000 homes impacted in other ways.
On the political front, he said his high approval numbers in this week’s polls are sure to fade.
“I enjoy it as much as the next guy would enjoy it. But I’ve seen this movie before. It’ll come back down,” said Christie. “If they stay up in the 70s that would be wonderful, but I don’t expect that to happen, no.”
We asked if, like many others, he’s waiting to see whether Cory Booker seeks too run against him.
“I’m not waiting for anybody in particular, Michael. I made my decision. They’re gonna nominate somebody. So whoever they nominate I’ll run against,” Christie said.
Christie today called Hurricane Sandy “our Katrina” and said he wants to see the federal government to reimburse at least 90 percent of New Jersey’s costs. He said he’s working with New York Gov. Cuomo for massive reimbursement, not competing against New York.
“In Katrina, they’ve already spent $112 billion. Our requests together I think are about $78 billion,” Christie said.