Chris Christie made it official on Wednesday. He stated that he “enthusiastically” seeks the office of Governor of New Jersey.
That makes it official and it seemingly completes the Republican field in the race for the Republican nomination for Governor.
Chris Christie is seen by some as a knight in shining armor of sorts.
As one of the most corrupt states in the nation, being the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie was quite busy. Many of his prosecutions, over the past eight years, involved political corruption. So many that it made Washington, D.C. look more like a sleepy town in Utah than the cauldron of corruption that it is.
With 132 convictions and zero acquittals, Christie was a success at his job. While Trenton politicians were double dipping and ripping off constituents, Chris Christie was cleaning their messes up.
So it is only logical that Chris Christie run a campaign that highlights the restoration of faith in government. We need a restoration of faith in the process, a process that New Jersey politician have been abusing and using to increase the size of their own pockets at the expense of taxpayers.
As one who has rooted out wrongdoing, Chris Christie understands how politicians corrupt the process. He knows the type of advantages that they try to take and that knowledge will help to make Christie an effective reformer. He knows what needs to be changed in order to limit the opportunity for political corruption. He also understands the need for transparency in government.
In his announcement he called this election “a moment of challenge and opportunity” and indeed it is.
The challenge for Christie will be convincing people that not only is he the “good government candidate” but that he is the small and effective government candidate.
I do not think any of the other three candidates running against Christie will challenge Christie’s crime busting credentials but they will challenge his ability to reform government and the extent to which he will reform it.
That is where a great deal of the momentum in this campaign will lie.
New Jersey has seen some of the nation’s highest taxes in most every category possible. For it, we have only accumulated debt. And with that debt there has been no improvements of services or education. There has been no great leaps in transportation capabilities or the quality of life we have. All we have seen is an increase in the size and scope of government.
In addition to that we have seen state mandates such as the mandatory low income housing units that municipalities will be required to construct under the orders of the Council on Affordable Housing.
Reform of government is needed.
Right now, under Democrat rule, all we have is a burdensome bureaucracy that raises taxes and uses those raised taxes to legislate new social engineering programs. And through it all, people and businesses are fleeing New Jersey.
The hemorrhaging must stop but not only do we need a tourniquet, we need a transfusion. We need more than a band aid, we need a totally different approach.
So Chris Christie can only run so far on a campaign against the “culture of corruption .” He must show us that he is a candidate for change.
In his announcement for Governor, one of the most interesting things I heard from Christie was his promise that he “will not worry about a second term.”
That is a good start. One should not worry about reelection before they have won an election. But I do like the message he intended to send with that statement.
New Jersey needs a leader who is more concerned about their state’s citizens than their next election. We need someone who, despite the sticks and stones that may be thrown at them by legislators, they are willing to stand up to them at any cost, even if it means making any number of them opponents.
Christie promises to “restore trust and faith in the idea that government can work”. He now has the opportunity to convince us that he is the man to do that. But he cannot do so as a one issue candidate.
Corruption is only part of our problem. The other part of the problem is an out of control govenrment and innefectual legislature.
Christie promises to spend every day from now till the June primaries and beyond, defining his positions on the issues.
I look forward to that.
It has taken him quite some time for him to get to this point so I can only assume that he is fully prepared and I know that I am ready to be won over by the right Republican.
To compensate for the tax increases he figured his customers will have to see a price increase of about 8%, but due to the dismal state of our economy he can’t increase prices right now, so he decided that he has to lay off 7 of his employees instead.
This problem was really eating at him because he sees his employees as family and he just didn’t know how to choose who will have to go.
So this is what he did…
He walked through the company parking lot and found 7 Obama ‘08 bumper stickers on his employees’ cars, and decided that those employees would be the first to be laid off.
Says the small business owner………”I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change, so I gave it to them.”
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