It was a brief encounter that said a lot — about a man, a legacy, and what others of his party are thinking. The setting: Princeton Public Library. The occasion: a presentation by Matt Katz, New Jersey State House reporter and author of the biography of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, “American Governor.” The encounter: a disparaging remark about the governor from an unexpected source: prominent New Jersey Republican, former state attorney general, and former state supreme court chief justice Deborah Poritz — the first woman to hold either of those positions.
The judge’s sentences showed little leniency.
As the Bergen Record noted, during a question-and-answer session, Poritz, without identifying herself, “asked Katz, who had described some of Christie’s political talents during his talk, to give examples of how Christie had used those talents ‘for the benefit of the people of New Jersey.’ She mentioned the state’s ongoing problems funding transportation projects and road repairs. She called Christie a ‘bully’ who has been ‘scapegoating public workers’ in New Jersey for years. She took issue with Christie’s budget cuts.”
When Katz gave a few examples, Poritz then asked the stinging question, “What is his legacy? Because I don’t see any.” Ouch!
The article joins another recent barb hurled at the governor by another well-connected Republican, Carl Golden, press secretary for Governor Tom Kean and columnist for the online NJ Spotlight. He too knows the power of a sentence.
Golden’s editorial put a spotlight on Christie’s real legacy: his mean-spirited comments.
Golden was writing about a reasonable question offered by a young woman in New Hampshire where the governor was busy campaigning when parts of his state were suffering after Winter Storm Jonas: Why wasn’t the governor back in New Jersey addressing the needs of battered coastal towns?
The response is the governor’s now infamous, “What do you want me to do? Go down there with a mop?”
Golden responded as follows: “It was a deliberate and cruel humiliation of a young woman who asked what a great many people in New Jersey felt after Christie reluctantly returned to the state, spent a day here, and then fled back to New Hampshire to resume his campaign.
“It demonstrated yet again that his capacity for arrogance and condescension is unlimited. He’s unable, it seems, to resist the temptation to demean and belittle anyone who questions him or expresses an opinion contrary to his.”
If that isn’t ouch-worthy enough, Golden continued by pointing out how Christie accused a reporter of making up stories of damage and publicly ridiculed the claims of the mayor of flooded North Wildwood,” saying he was “’crazy’ for comparing the damage to his community to that inflicted by Hurricane Sandy more than three years ago.”
Golden followed up with his own sentencing: Christie’s “lack of civility and history of insulting and denigrating anyone he considers the least bit impertinent is well known. From calling people idiots to telling them to ‘sit down and shut up’ to suggesting they were intellectually deficient, Christie cut a swath through political civility and achieved national recognition as a new kind of public figure unafraid to smack down opponents whenever and wherever he found them.
“He’s called public employees ‘pigs’ for advocating for their pensions and benefits and accused public school teachers of placing their financial well-being ahead of their commitment to their students.”
Golden said even if Christie intended his sarcastic reply to the young woman in New Hampshire as a joke, it went too far. “Here he stood, the 52-year-old governor, former United States attorney, and candidate for president, treating someone barely out of her teens as unworthy of his time and attention. His lack of respect for her and his refusal to extend the most minimal courtesy was striking. He dismissed her as though she was a six-year-old who asked her father for a second scoop of ice cream.”
Golden then extended his judgment to include “the sycophants with whom he’s surrounded himself may find his persona endearing and clever. To the rest of us, it’s ugly.” He then extended that circle of ugly influence: “Christie’s supporters in the legislature and elsewhere may have cringed in private over this latest incident just as they have in previous similar cases. Their silence in public is likely to continue.”
While the recent comments by Poritz and Golden may seem as if prominent Republicans are just starting to speak up, anyone listening would have heard one of the strongest comments two years ago when information surfaced connecting Christie’s inner circle to the George Washington Bridge closings.
According to the Washington Post, “Former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean, one of the state’s most revered figures and a mentor to current Republican Gov. Chris Christie, contends that the leadership qualities Christie has shown while in office should give pause to voters nationally, as they begin to size up Christie as a potential president.
“’On the one hand, I think he’s got a lot to offer. I think he’s the most able politician since Bill Clinton,’ Kean said. ‘On the other hand, you look at these other qualities and ask, ‘Do you really want that in your president?’”
Poritz seemed to be continuing that questioning and getting responses.
Like the one from award-winning former Star Ledger reporter and editor Bob Bruan who recently noted on his blog, “(Poritz’s comment) is a far more important story than it appears to be — What you have here is a prominent Republican calling out a prominent journalist over the reporter’s failure to portray the reality of just how bad Chris Christie has been as the state’s governor.”
While noting that Katz has “been a cut above” most state house reporters covering Christie and received a Peabody Award for his coverage of Bridgegate” Bruan claims Katz has recently “been showing distinct signs of a concern for a bogus sense of ‘objectivity’ or ‘fairness.’”
Bruan then issues his own sentences: “Poritz’s comments were unusual — and unusually courageous. Most people in public life would not be willing to pick a fight with a sitting governor, especially one of her own party. That she demonstrated how even a good journalist can be bamboozled by someone in power was embarrassing — but, one hopes, therapeutic. Maybe it will encourage other Republicans to find the courage and honesty to speak the truth about Christie — and other reporters and editors to stop treating him as if he were some legitimate national figure.”
Talk about a legacy!
