By David Cruz
Correspondent
Have gov, will travel. By the time his term ends, or he chooses to leave office voluntarily to, perhaps, run for president or something, Chris Christie will likely be the most traveled governor in the history of the state. This year alone, the governor, who is chairman of the National Republican Governors Association, has amassed an impressive travel itinerary. Since a January trip to Florida, Christie has traveled to 31 states and the District of Columbia, mostly on business for the Governors Association.
“The governor has spent a third of his time out of the state of New Jersey,” complains state Democratic Chairman John Currie. “That’s not taking care of New Jersey and New Jersey’s problems. I think he’s a failed governor because of it.”
The governor says all this talk about his travels is silly. “It’s not like I’m incommunicado,” he told us recently. “Nothing changes,” he said. “I’m still the governor.”
“And when I’m in New Hampshire, I’m the governor; when I’m in Iowa, I’m the governor; when I’m in Texas, I’m the governor; when I’m in South Carolina, I’m the governor,” he said recently. “I don’t think there’s any confusion among anybody in the state who the governor is. I don’t think they think Kim is the governor when I’m not here.”
When Christie’s not here, Lieutenant Gov. Kim Guadagno has stepped in, handling most of the ceremonial duties and the very occasional bill signing. But, since the 1940s the governor, by law, has had to formally sign over his duties to his would-be successor whenever he leaves the state, which, to Christie, seems archaic in this age of instant communication.
“It’s not like I need somebody to get the Pony Express to come and bring me a message about what’s going on here,” he added. “I’m in communication; I have WiFi on the plane when I’m on the plane. I have a cell phone with me at all times, so her role doesn’t change.”
Taking a cue from the governor, Republican Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon is proposing a constitutional amendment that would let Christie — and all future governors — maintain their authority, even when they’re out of the state.
“This change would only affect the technicality of the governor leaving the state and having to relinquish his powers,” O’Scanlon said today. “He would maintain his powers. He would continue to be the governor and we would not have an acting governor at that point.”
Guadagno is good-natured about her role as seen here in a parody video produced by the governor’s office. But, on a serious note, the lieutenant governor is in the hospital tonight after breaking her elbow and wrist in a bicycling accident. But, the governor’s office says, she will maintain her title of acting governor. Constitutional crisis averted.