Chris Christie has burst onto the national scene in recent years. Despite having many critics and detractors he has become something of a darling of the mainstream media, and is viewed by many as a potential successful Republican candidate for the presidency. Is Bridgegate his obituary or an opportunity to overcome adversity?

::::::::

Chris Christie has burst onto the national scene in recent years.   Despite having many critics and detractors he has become something of a darling of the mainstream media, and is viewed by many as a potential successful Republican candidate for the presidency.

The George Washington Bridge scandal has cast a dark cloud over the Governor, one that has the potential for ending his presidential ambitions, and perhaps even his governorship and his political career.   It has also given us a glimpse of behavior we have not seen Chris Christie display in public in the past.   While claiming ignorance of the scandal as it was hatched, developed, and eventually began to unravel, Christie has taken responsibility, expressed outrage, fired staffers he claims lied to him and betrayed him, and displayed un-characteristic    humility and remorse.   He has strived mightily to assure us that this is not how business should be conducted on his watch.   Whether he has been truthful about his pre-knowledge and/or involvement (and we still do not know why those Fort Lee access lanes to the GW Bridge were ordered closed by members of his staff, inflicting much inconvenience on the public and not inconsiderable public endangerment), a close look at Chris Christie's career reveals a pattern of entitlement, bullying, vindictiveness, and a disturbing lack of respect for ethics and the rule of law.   The Bridge scandal is wholly consistent with Christie's past behavior, and renders his denials less than credible.   Only his defensive posture seems to have changed, and perhaps that should be seen as a sign that he fears his past ability to deflect criticism out of sheer bluster and arrogance may finally be wearing thin.  

The GW Bridge Scandal and Governor Christie's potential culpability should not be evaluated in a vacuum.   History matters.   What follows represents a modest attempt to document the underside of Chris Christie's public career.   It is not intended to be the definitive accounting of Christie's pattern for bad or questionable behavior, merely an attempt to document a disturbing pattern of conduct that has so far been largely ignored by the majority of the mainstream media.

COLLEGE DAYS:

In what may have set the stage for his future career, Christie was accused, while an undergraduate student at the University of Delaware in the mid-80's, of cronyism, bullying, and creating a self-sustaining student government political machine.   After being voted president of the Delaware Undergraduate Student Congress in 1983, Chris Christie, aided by his younger brother Todd (about whom you'll read more later), was accused of using "undemocratic tactics" to appoint friends, including his brother, to committee chairmanships in   order to control the student government, including being succeeded in the presidency by Student Congress Secretary, Mary Pat Foster,   the future Mary Pat Christie.   One Fellow member of the Student Congress at the time wrote: "Cronyism" has caused frustration and disgust of many hard working members, and led to the resignation of five voting members by mid-year."   "When a member perseveres in his or her student government work, and then witnesses the appointment of the president's friends or even his brother to committee chairmanships one begins to wonder about the legitimacy of DUSC."   "Something is lacking in our student government. It is known as representative democracy. Mr. Christie and his executives were able to appoint a surrogate as Nominations Chair, and this chairman then had the power to appoint committee chairmen." "Therefore, Chris Christie's deputies, chairmen and fellow Campus Action officeholders, could constitute a majority of the voting members of DUSC. That is not democracy."   (based on original reporting by TPM: "What Christie Did To Get A Reputation As A Political Bully Even In College." Read their report here).

THE EARLY DAYS:

Christie practiced law from 1987 to 1994, rising to partner in the Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci law firm in 1993.   In 1994 he entered politics, winning election to the Board of Chosen Freeholders for Morris County, New Jersey as a Republican. His defeated opponents sued him for falsely claiming during the campaign that they were under investigation for violating certain local laws, a suit Christie settled out of court after apologizing for the error.   After losing an election bid to join the New Jersey General Assembly in 1995 Christie returned to Dughi, Hewitt & Palatucci, this time as a lobbyist working with Bill Palatucci in the Trenton office, lobbying, among other things for energy de-regulation, blocking expansion of securities fraud law, and for a higher education license for University of Phoenix, a controversial institution of higher learning with excessive tuition costs coupled with only a 17% over-all graduation rate and a reported graduation rate of only 5% for its online program.   (Pallatucci went on to become a member of Governor Christie's inner circle as a trusted confidant, and is expected to be a key member in any future Christie political campaign team).   During the 2000 election Christie set the stage for his future successes by becoming a "Pioneer" bundler for the George W. Bush presidential campaign, raising more than $100,000 for the future president.   He also served as corporate counsel for the Bush campaign. His eventual reward was his appointment to the post of U.S. Attorney for New Jersey after Bill Palatucci passed his resumé on to Karl Rove.   Apparently Christie's service to Bush during the presidential campaign was not quite enough, at least not at first.   Christie had never been employed in law enforcement, nor practiced criminal law.   His nomination to the position of U.S. Attorney would be certain to be controversial.   Bush made it clear after the election that Christie would not be named to any top Federal posts, but that was before the money began to flow.   Chris and Mary Pat Christie (never particularly generous political contributors in the past) donated $20,000 to the GOP.   Brother Todd Christie and his wife each donated $37,000.   In late 2001 Christie was nominated for the post of U.S. Attorney and took office in January 2002.   In March of 2002 Todd Christie donated $225,000 to the national GOP followed by other smaller amounts which ultimately brought 2001-2002 contributions to the GOP by the two brothers and their families to more than $500,000.

CHRISTIE ESCAPES THE U.S. ATTORNEY PURGE LIST:

At one point it appeared that Christie's new career might be cut short.   In a scandal that would embroil President Bush and his Attorney General Alberto Gonzales it became known that 26 U.S. Attorneys deemed insufficiently loyal to the President or in insufficient compliance with his agenda were being systematically purged from office in 2005 and 2006.   A new list containing four additional targets of the purge was subsequently leaked, and Chris Christie's name was on it.   Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Robert Menendez was engaged in a tight race for re-election against Republican challenger Tom Kean.   With less than two months to go before the election word leaked on September 8^th that Menendez was being investigated by Chris Christie's office for conflicts of interest and ethics violations.   Menendez charged that it was a politically motivated smear, and the fact that no further details emerged and no indictments resulted lent some credibility to the claim.   Menendez was comfortably re-elected.   Christie's name was also removed from the list of U.S. Attorneys to be purged.   In fairness, no evidence exists to prove that the two events were related, but it is certainly appropriate to speculate about it.   Christie certainly made no attempt to downplay the Menendez rumors during the campaign, and that fact alone made him complicit in an attempt to use the power of the U.S. Attorney's office in an effort to affect the outcome of the election.   It is also an established fact that Christie's name was on the purge list, and then it wasn't.

A U.S. ATTORNEY WITH A PENCHANT FOR NO-BID CONTRACTS:

Deferred prosecution agreements have become increasingly popular with government agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and with U.S. attorneys as an alternative to expensive, time-consuming, and potentially risky courtroom litigation and trials.   It involves an arrangement in which a prosecutor agrees to forego a trial, and the defendant agrees to fulfill certain requirements in return.   The New York Times made its opposition to such agreements clear in a December 2013 editorial: "The use of deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements allows companies [and individuals] to avoid criminal charges if they pay substantial penalties, improve their compliance programs and cooperate with authorities. The companies do not plead guilty. They are not convicted of any crimes. They do not receive criminal sentences."  

As a U.S. Attorney Chris Christie was very fond of deferred prosecution agreements, and apparently even fonder of the opportunities they provided him when it came to doling out well-compensated no-bid contracts to monitors who over saw them.   He negotiated seven such agreements while in office and awarded seven no-bid contracts to oversee their execution.

Among the most controversial agreements entered into by Christie involved a $311 million settlement with Zimmer Holdings of Indiana involving kickbacks of manufacturers of knee replacements.   Among Christie's five handpicked monitors appointed to oversee the agreement was former U.S. Attorney General, and former Christie boss, John Ashcroft, whose Washington, D.C.-based law/lobbying firm stood to make over $52 million, one of the largest such contracts ever awarded a federal monitor. Zimmer Holdings objected to the Ashcroft Group's high fees which included a $750,000 per month charge designated specifically for John Ashcroft and two other executives. Christie refused to intervene. The Ashcroft no-bid contract did not go unnoticed in Washington, and Christie was called upon to explain to Congressman John Conyers to explain why "there was neither public notice of the contract nor any public bidding for the assignment."   Instead of providing answers Christie simply walked out of the hearing .

Christie also came to terms with Biomet Orthopedics, which also manufactured medical devices.   That monitor contract, worth a reported $10-12 million, went to David Kelly, a former Manhattan U.S. Attorney.   What made his selection notable was Kelly's role in prosecuting a stock fraud case involving Chris Christie's younger brother, Todd Christie.   Todd was a Wall Street trader who came under the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly engaging in over 1600 improper trades from 1999-2003.   Todd Christie, was one of 15 traders accused by the SEC of defrauding investigators of roughly $19 million.   Eleven of the fifteen traders were eventually indicted by U.S. Attorney David Kelly.   Todd Christie was one of four who were not even though he was thought to be one of the most culpable of the accused traders, having personally made more than $1.4 million on the trades.   Instead Todd settled civil charges in which he acknowledged making "hundreds of trades in which customers had been systematically undercharged."   One of the traders who was indicted profited to the tune of only $14,000.   Todd Christie's settlement involved no fine and no admission of wrongdoing.   Chris Christie would later insist that "my bother committed no wrongdoing," offering as evidence that neither Kelly nor the SEC had indicted him.

Christie mentor Herbert Stern received a $10 million no-bid monitor contract to oversee a settlement with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey for alleged double-billing for Medicare services covered by Medicare.  

Debra Wong Yang, a well-connected former colleague of Christie's was given a no-bid monitor contract to oversee the Deputy Orthopaedics Inc settlement, and John Carley, another well-connected Republican lawyer, monitored a non-prosecution agreement involving Stryker Orthopedics.

A $300 million settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb included the highly unusual provision calling for the endowment of a professorship at Seton Hall Law School, from which Christie had graduated.   Such requirements were later specifically barred by the U.S. Justice Department.

David Samson was appointed to monitor Christie's deferred prosecution agreement with yet another medical device manufacturer, Smith and Nephew, Inc.   Samson's law firm, Wolff & Samson, also did legal work for Christie's 2008 Gubernatorial campaign, billing it more than $18 million for legal work and rent.   Samson, an elder statesman in New Jersey politics who prefers working behind the scenes, is now himself under scrutiny in the Bridgegate scandal.   He is Chairman of the Port Authority, New Jersey's top representative on that body; founding member of the influential Wolff & Samson law firm; and chaired Christie's transitional team for governor. E-mails he wrote to other Port Authority officials expressed his chagrin with Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye's attempts to reopen the Fort Lee traffic lanes to the GW Bridge, accusing Foye of "stirring up trouble," adding that   "In this case, he's playing in traffic, made a big mistake."   Samson was the direct supervisor of Bill Baroni who resigned from the Port Authority last month as a result of his role in the lane closings.   His Wolff & Samson law firm also represents the Rockefeller Group whose proposed government-subsidized Hoboken redevelopment project has also become part of the still-expanding Bridgegate scandal.   Samson is one of 17 people subpoenaed last week in connection with the scandal, and has retained former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff to represent him. 

HATCH ACT VIOLATION ALLEGATIONS:

It was widely believed by those in the know in New Jersey that Chris Christie would eventually run for Governor.   There was nothing wrong with harboring such ambitions until Karl Rove let slip that while still U.S. Attorney Christie met with individuals to plan the logistics and strategy for the planned run which, if true, represented a violation of the Hatch Act which "is intended to ensure federal employees do their jobs without regard to partisan politics."   In August 2009   Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) called for an investigation by the Office of the Special Counsel (OFC), into Christie's recently-revealed conversations with Karl Rove about a potential run for governor while Christie was a U.S. Attorney.   The OFC ultimately advised CREW that it would not investigate the alleged Hatch Act violation "because no meaningful disciplinary action could be taken against him. When OSC finds a presidential appointee has violated the Hatch Act, its only recourse is to recommend the President of the United States take disciplinary action against that appointee."   The OSC acknowledged that the CREW charges against Chris Christie "ordinarily would trigger an investigation by OSC and, if the facts warranted, a recommendation to the President of the United States for appropriate action."   CREW's Executive Director Melanie Sloan observed that "the Office of Special Counsel's letter clearly indicates that were he still the U.S. Attorney, he would be under investigation for such conduct."

MOST LIKELY TO EXCEED:

In November 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General reported on an audit it had conducted regarding submitted expenses from all U.S. Attorneys.   As with other Federal employees, there are guidelines defining allowable expenses while travelling on the government's dime. The vast majority of U.S. Attorneys were found to generally follow the expense guidelines, but there were four exceptions where the audit found a pattern of excess expenses submitted for reimbursement.   One in particular " was the U.S. Attorney who most often exceeded the government rate without adequate justification. "   That U.S. Attorney was identified in the report as "US Attorney C," but was subsequently revealed to be none other than Chris Christie, and the report seemed to reveal a pattern of entitlement and arrogance unequaled among the other   92 U.S. Attorneys .   15 of Christie's vouchers submitted for reimbursement for lodging exceeded the allowable government rate (65% of all vouchers submitted by Christie), and in 14 of those 15 vouchers insufficient justification was found for exceeding the government rate.   On average Christie exceeded the government rate by about $150 per night, and by as much as $242 per night.   The report stated that "U.S. Attorney C was the U.S. Attorney who most often exceeded the government rate without adequate justification."   As one example, Christie travelled to Boston and "stayed at the Nine Zero Hotel at a cost of $449 per night, which was more than double the government rate of $220 per night in Boston.   On that same trip Christie prearranged a car service to and from the airport at a cost of $236 rather than taking a cab for the 4 mile trip.   Christie also prearranged a car service when he travelled to London on official government business at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of $562.  

The report noted that the Inspector General's office had sought to discuss his expense vouchers with Christie, but that " U.S. Attorney C declined our request for an interview ."

THOSE DAMN MOTORCYCLISTS:

You really don't want to be driving on the same road as Chris Christie, at least not if it is Christie who is behind the wheel.   Christie received 25 violation points since 1985 including six accidents and 13 moving violations.   Those are the ones we know about because Christie has been known to pull rank as he did in 2002 when he struck a motorcyclist while driving the wrong way on a one-way street and avoiding a ticket In the process. In that case the Elizabeth Director acknowledged that Christie had informed the police officer on the scene that he was the U.S.   Attorney, and while declining to accuse the officer of allowing that fact to influence his decision not to issue a citation, he did concede that "I think the facts speak for themselves." In that incident Christie's car was towed and the motorcyclist was taken to the hospital, but Christie, who was uninjured, was permitted to proceed on his way to a political event.   Christie has been less than candid about the incident, telling Talking Points Memo that the cyclist had not filed suit against Christie when in fact he had.   The clerk of the court informed TPM that the suit had been dismissed, indicating there had been an out-of-court settlement.

THE NEW JERSEY SURVEILLANCE STATE: BRING IT ON

While serving as U.S. Attorney, Chris Christie was no protector of the right to privacy, or of the need to trouble himself with obtaining court warrants before tracking New Jersey residents.    His office routinely tracked people through their cell phones without obtaining search warrants.   The American Civil Liberties Union flushed out the documents from the Justice Department as part of an ongoing lawsuit over cell phone tracking.   ACLU staff attorney Catherine Crump noted: Tracking the location of people's cell phones reveals intimate details of their daily routines and is highly invasive of their privacy. The government is violating the Constitution when it fails to get a search warrant before tracking people this way.

True to form, Chris Christie defended the legality of his warrantless surveillance, blasting the ACLU for engaging in "overblown hyperbole."

ENTER GOVERNOR CHRISTIE:

Despite largely favorable media coverage and superlative adjectives often lavished upon him by his supporters, Chris Christie's reign as Governor of New Jersey has been largely confrontational and definitely controversial.   Anyone caught off guard by Bridgegate or expressing faith in the Governor's innocence based on high opinions of his character are either in denial, simply have not been paying attention, or share his hubris and sense of entitlement.

EDUCATION:   WHAT'S A LITTLE PRIVATIZATION AMONG FRIENDS?

Governor Christie has become a strong advocate for expanding for-profit, privately managed schools in k-12 education, championing school voucher expansion while slashing as much as $1.6 billion in state funding of public schools and waging a public war with the teachers union.

When it comes to Chris Christy advocacy, acting on the old adage "follow the money," can often be revealing. According to "Think Progress,"   Christie's "public-private school pilot program" was designed with the assistance of Acting   Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf, the, former president of Edison Schools, Inc., the world's largest for-profit operator of public schools.   During his career as a lobbyist, Christie's law firm, Dughi, Hewit and Palatucci, acted as a registered lobbyist for Edison Schools.   The firm also represented Mosaica Education, a for-profit charter school operator, and the University of Phoenix, a for-profit online university on whose behalf Christie personally lobbied.

OR A PIDDLING $400 MILLION EDUCATION GRANT?

Christie found himself on the receiving end of harsh criticism in August 2010 when it was revealed that New Jersey had narrowly missed out on a $400 million federal education grant because of a flawed application.   This particular incident is notable because it has many elements in common with Bridgegate where Christie accused his Deputy of lying to him, fired her, and subsequently threw her under the bus.   In the case of the education grant Christy accused his Education Commissioner, Bret Schundler,   of deliberately misleading him, fired him, and then threw him under the bus.   Unlike bridgegate, however, Schundler was not about to go quietly.   Instead, Schundler, risked the legendary Christie wrath by daring to hold Christie accountable.   Schundler revealed that Christie had never been all that excited by the grant opportunity in the first place.   The Governor had told him the "money was not worth it" if it meant he had to cooperate with teachers.   Schundler said he would have been   willing to take the fall for the loss of the grant, but "I will not accept being defamed by the Governor for something he knows I did not do." "The Governor called me a liar this week. That was the last straw." Schundler said he was unwilling to accept any further character assassination directed his way by Christie.   Investigations by the New Jersey Star Ledger and TPMMuckraker aided by e-mails supplied by Schundler established that if anyone was lying it was Christie.   Loss of the grant was precipitated by incorrect budget data on the forms, resulting in a loss of 4.8 points in a competition New Jersey lost by only 3 points. According to Schundler, Christie had decided to hold a press conference where he would accept responsibility for the mistake that had cost New Jersey the loss of the of the grant (much as he accepted responsibility for the closing of the Fort Lee traffic lanes), but then planned to blame President Obama for refusing to allow New Jersey to correct the error.   Schundler told Christie that his office had made no attempt to correct the error even after it was discovered, because the rules of the competition were clear about allowing no revisions once the paperwork had been submitted.   Schundler told TPMMuckraker that he had made this "crystal clear" to Christie prior to Christie's press conference.   Christie proceeded with the press conference in which he stuck with the original script, which he now knew to be a lie, blaming the Obama administration for not allowing the officials to fix the error, and further claiming, falsely, that Schundler had tried to provide data to the officials.   "He just went out there and said the very thing I told him explicitly not to say," Schundler said. "I don't know that he said it intentionally, but he let loose. It's incomprehensible to me that he didn't understand what I said to him."

It turns out that the error in the forms really was Schundler's, and he says that was justification enough for his firing (though not the reason he was fired).   What is more relevant is Christie's willingness to lie in order to shift blame away from himself when something goes wrong, and his comfort with smearing his own officials when doing so is convenient.

HURRICANE SANDY RELIEF ADS -- DOESN'T THE GOVERNOR HAVE A LOVELY FAMILY?

Governor Christie received high praise for his handling of Hurricane Sandy, and for his willingness to work in a non-partisan fashion with President Obama, but even this is now beginning to taint the Governor in ways that once seemed unimaginable.   There are those commercials intended to let the world know that New Jersey was back and open for business and tourism, ads paid for with Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund money.   The winning bid, submitted by a politically-connected   firm, cost the tax payers $4.7 million.   A proposal that would have done the job quite well that would have cost only $2.5 million was rejected.   The notable difference between the winning and losing bids was that the more expensive winning bid included a major starring role for the Governor and his family while the losing bid did not.   The ethics of even producing such an ad was questionable given that the Governor was running for re-election, and every time the ad appeared it would have (and in fact did) functioned as free, expensively produced advertising for the incumbent Governor.   The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development conducted a preliminary investigation into the matter and concluded that a full investigation is justified.

HURRICANE SANDY: PAY TO PLAY IN HOBOKEN?

One has to wonder if Governor Christie's currently weakened and defensive situation is tempting the apparent legion of people he has bullied and offended into striking back while he is down and the iron is hot.   That may well be the case with Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer who came forward last weekend to tell her tale about how disaster relief funds for Hoboken, one of the worst-stricken cities by Hurricane Sandy, were allegedly held hostage in an effort to win her support for a redevelopment project that would have done little for Hoboken, but was strongly supported by Governor Christie and a handful of his close friends.   This incident too is now under investigation and is in the media spotlight.

###

It would be an exaggeration to suggest that this article barely scratches the surface of dark side of Chris Christie (though who knows how many dark episodes have yet to see the light of day), but I did leave a great deal out because I was, after all, writing an article, not a book.   The pattern would seem to be undeniable, the Machiavellian tendencies clear.   This writer remains perplexed how this Teflon politician has managed to win over Democrats, the media, even a progressive or two.

I was reminded of Richard Nixon recently, and his famous "I am not a crook" speech delivered to the nation on November 17, 1973, less than nine months before he resigned the presidency in disgrace on August 8, 1974.   On January 9, 2014 Chris Christie awakened a feeling of déj vû in me when he told the assembled media: "I am not a bully."   Is history about to repeat itself?   One can only hope.

Authors Bio:

I am a retired advertising sales executive/manager and am now Executive Director of the Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC). I am also a member of the Senior Editor Team at Op Ed News. I also serve as Research Director and Board member of Healthcare4ALLPA which is promoting the adoption of single-payer healthcare in Pennsylvania and nationally. I have a long-time interest in progressive politics and journalism and have published numerous articles and blogs over more than four decades. I was a progressive Democratic candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2010. I write primarily about politics, healthcare, journalism, and political assinations, and my work has been published In The New York Times; The Village Voice; The Realist; The Washington Star; New Times, Rolling Stone, three book anthologies, et al.