There are a lot of things you can say about Gov. Chris Christie, but calling him a Republican-in-Name-Only probably isn’t one. You might refer to him as a rhino — for his propensity to bully forward — but RINO, that seems absurd.
Of course, I live in New Jersey and have watched Christie govern. He has reached across the aisle on some issues, but he remains the most conservative governor in the state’s recent memory.
That has not stopped the national press, which only knows Christie through his television appearances and his willingness to work with President Barack Obama in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, from calling him a moderate.
Consider yesterday’s visit to the state Chamber of Commerce by Mika Brezinski, from MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Brezinski, who like nearly every national cable host sees things through the skewed lens of Washington and presidential politics, praised the governor for working with Democrats to get things done in Trenton.
Brzezinski said that Scarborough, who served three terms as a Republican congressman from Florida, is a RINO — and so are many others who have been among the most vocal in attacking the “shutdown politics” going on in Washington. The nation’s capital, where Republicans and Democrats don’t like to talk, should take a lesson from the Garden State, she said.
Christie and “Democratic leaders of this state figure out how to work together,” Brzezinski told the audience of about 300, most of whom raised their hands to say they were Republicans.
“And New Jersey, I think, is better off for it. In my opinion, if Washington ran it’s business they way Chris ran Trenton, they’d be in a lot better place. And right now we’re in dire straights.”
It is a nice story, but only partially true. Yes, Democrats and Republicans managed to come together on pension and health benefits reforms and changes to tenure, but these were negotiations that had essentially taken place well before Christie came to office. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) had called or changes in pensions early in the Corzine administration, so when Christie came to office and Sweeney ascended to the presidency that was a done deal.
It is on other issues where you can see the partisan and ideological fault lines — on affordable housing and the state’s fair housing laws which Christie has attempted to rewrite by fiat; on the minimum wage, which is on the ballot because the two sides could not come together; on same-sex marriage, which had to be decided by a court because of a Christie veto; on the state Supreme Court, which is now down two members because of a dispute between Christie and the Democrats over his appointments.
I believe Christie is on the wrong side of all of these issues, and I am assuming he has national ambitions. But it is foolish to allow the national narrative or the view from the Potomac to color how we view what Christie has done or not done here. Shaking Obama’s hand and touring storm-devastated areas with the president might qualify as RINO-ism in some parts, but only if you ignore the full breadth of the Christie record.
Send me an e-mail.
Hank Kalet 