NYT: If he runs for president, Chris Christie might highlight the themes he mentioned in his speech at the Reagan Presidential Library, promising a new era of bipartisanship and compromise like the one he largely takes credit for achieving as governor of New Jersey.
…. Mr. Christie’s brief tenure at the helm of New Jersey’s government in Trenton has been marked by as much acrimony as there has been agreement … he presided over two years of loud yelling, back and forth …. he once said to reporters, of a state senator in her 70s who had criticized him, “Can you guys please take the bat out on her for once?”….
After a tough budget battle in June, Stephen M. Sweeney, the Senate president and one of Mr. Christie’s allies in the Legislature, called him “a bully and a punk,” “mean-spirited,” “spoiled,” “vindictive” and “a cruel man,” adding, “I wanted to punch him in his head.” Not exactly the stuff of happy-go-lucky bipartisanship and easygoing compromise.
… Mr. Christie’s adversaries in New Jersey – who include most of the Democratic lawmakers and the unions – take issue strenuously with his contention that his administration has represented “leadership and compromise,” as he said in the speech.
Some of the most important pieces of legislation of his tenure have gotten through the Democratic Legislature with mostly Republican support, while most Democrats voted against them. And the unions, in particular, have bristled at the governor’s decision to single them out in his efforts to deal with the state’s finances.
In town halls across New Jersey, Mr. Christie has been assailed by teachers who have accused him of attacking their profession and pushing through anti-union legislation by bullying Democratic legislators….
Richard L. Trumka: “Any worker in New Jersey who’s experienced Chris Christie’s idea of compromise, which panders to corporate interests and leaves working families behind, will tell you that it’s not working for them.”
Full article here
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