Treaty I Am From New

Treaty

I am from New Jersey and therefore I have chosen Governor Chris Christie as the topic of my essay. Chris Christie (born 6 September 1962) took office as the 55th current Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010. Upon his election to the governorship in November 2009, Christie became the first Republican to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years. In early 2011, he considered entering the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. In October 2011 he ultimately decided not to run.

He is governor of the state for almost one year and nine months. Christie is an attorney by profession. Prior to his election as governor in 2009, he served as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. From 2004 to 2005, Christie served as a member of the seventeen-person Attorney General's Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys (The White House: Office of the Press Secretary 3).

Task 2: Among those to endorse Christie in the primary were former New Jersey Governor, Thomas Kean, Sr., former New York City Mayor Rudi Gulliani, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and business man Steve Forbes. In addition, all county GOP organizations endorsed Christie, as did several New Jersey congressmen (New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2009 5). The following interests groups endorsed Christie: The New Jersey Restaurant Association; The Family Research Council and The New Jersey Environmental Association and The National Federation of Independent Business (see New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2009 11). Christie has raised about twice as much money as competitor for the office of New Jersey Governor Steve Lonegan, and he has six times as much left to spend: $3 million to just under $500,000, according to reports their campaigns submitted to the Election Law Enforcement Commission. Both candidates participated in New Jersey's public campaign financing program, which provides 2-to-1 matching funds for candidates that agree to spending limits. It also requires Christie and Lonegan to face off in two debates next week. Christie reported raising $1.8 million and receiving about $2.9 million in matching funds for a total of $4.7 million. Lonegan reported raising $935,000 and receiving about $1.3 million in matching funds for a total of $2.3 million. Each has spent between $1.6 million and $1.8 million so far, including on advertising that has grown increasingly negative. A third Republican candidate, Assemblyman Rick Merkt did not raise enough money to qualify for public funds and thus was not included in the debates. His ELEC report shows he raised about $44,000 (see Heininger 1-2). There seems to be no publicly available data on how much money was donated to Cristie's election campaign and by which sponsor. The only reliable Internet source I could find reports that that Herbert Stern, a Christie mentor, John Inglesino, a close friend and fundraiser, another partner in Stern's law firm and their wives gave $23,800 in donations to Christie's campaign for governor. The donations were matched 2-1, under New Jersey's campaign finance laws, bringing the total amount to $71,500 (N.J. GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's deferred prosecution agreements 1-3). Seeking to promote their own agenda, interests such as political action committees (PACs), corporate and union representatives, and wealthy individuals are known to use the lure of money -- legally and illegally -- to win access to key decision makers and gain their support on issues affecting them. Campaign contributions are the most common way that money is used to influence politics. Regulated by federal law, these contributions can be considered illegal depending on the amount contributed, the source of the contribution, and how the money is spent (Politicians and Ethics 1). T his being said, I personally find it very questionable both from a legal and ethics point-of-view to have politicians in office who have such a very close and intense connection to business interests.

Task 3: From 2004 to 2005, Christie served as a member of the seventeen-person Attorney General's Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys (The White House: Office of the Press Secretary 3). He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association and was a member of the Election Law Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. I do not see any critical issues in Christie's membership in these committees or associations. But I see a critical point in Christie's 1998 registering as a lobbyist for the law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci, alongside fellow partner and later, gubernatorial campaign fundraiser Bill Palatucci. Between 1999 and 2001, Christie and Palatucci lobbied on behalf of, among others, GPU Energy for Deregulation of New Jersey's Electric and Gas Industry; The Securities Industry Association that blocks the inclusion of securities fraud under the state's Consumer Fraud Act; Hackensack University Medical Center for state grants, and the University of Phoenix for a New Jersey higher education license. I would imagine that if an elected state official has worked successfully in the lobbying business for some years he might feel tempted to support these entities in his current governor position even though the lobbying activity has ended a decade ago.

Task 4: New Jersey's current political and governmental system is seen as a stacked deck in favor of special interests, with middle-class taxpayers getting the short end of the stick (see Issue Position: Government Reform 2). The voters of Christie had several goals: They wanted to put New Jersey citizens back in charge of their Government. This included that citizens have a meaningful ability to petition for action, especially when they are frustrated by the productivity (or lack thereof) of their elected officials. Christie supports giving New Jersey citizens two mechanisms by which they can propose policy changes on their own: At the municipal level, many New Jersey voters already have the ability to propose and change local laws through the initiative and referendum process (I&R). The Christie Administration gave voters those same powers on a statewide basis. Specifically, Christie amended the State Constitution to create a responsible initiative and referendum process. By supporting this process, New Jersey put voters back in charge of their government by allowing them to place public questions on the ballot. The petition process contains safeguards so that qualifying petitions must demonstrate substantial support from all regions of the State. The signature threshold is high enough to ensure that the General Election ballot contains widely supported initiatives and referendums. The Christie administration also required Transparency Websites for State & Local Government & School Districts. After all the many corruption scandals New Jersey over of the past years I think the votes for Christie will have certainly been of such nature that the main contributors from both parties are in favor of. On the negative side, there are numerous claims of nepotism, corruption and misuse of deferred prosecution agreements. In 2006, while New Jersey GOP gubernatorial candidate Christie approved seven deferred prosecution agreements while U.S. Attorney for New Jersey in the amount of multi-millions each, among the beneficiaries his younger brother, Todd, a former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan involved in alleged stock fraud case in the range of multi-millions. Herbert Stern, Christie's mentor got a 10 million contract to monitor the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, accused of double billing for services covered by Medicare. Christie's close friend and fundraiser John Inglesino, a partner in Stern's law firm, was paid $325 per hour for his work as counsel on the monitorship. Stern, Inglesino, another partner and their wives later gave $23, 800 in donations to Christie's campaign for governor. The donations were matched, 2-1, under New Jersey's campaign finance laws, bringing the total amount to $71,500. There are also several other incidents reported going into the same direction of nepotism and corruption (for all see N.J. GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's deferred prosecution agreements 1-3). The votes of these persons are certainly what the major contributors would favor. In all these cases, the right to elect public officials was misused by the voters in order to receive very substantial financial benefits and a violation of New Jersey's campaign finance laws. I would strongly condemn this policy.