Democrats and Republicans statewide spent nearly $70 million on state legislative races in 2007, combining to oust three State Senators and one Assemblyman. Spending much less money, Christopher J. Christie, the United States Attorney, was responsible for unseating three Senators and two Assemblymen – making him more effective at tossing incumbents from office than any party leader in New Jersey, even our Winner of the Year.
And Christie’s ability to deliver no-bid contracts worth huge amounts of money to his friends and former colleges – like a deal worth up to $50 million for John Aschcroft, and mega million dollar contracts for Herbert Stern and John Inglesino at UMDNJ, GO P ex-N.J. Attorney General David Samson and David Kelley, a former U.S. Attorney in New York – might make party leaders like George Norcross, Glenn Paulsen, Charlotte DeFilippo and Joseph Ferriero envious. It’s possible that Christie gives out more contracts than several of the party bosses.
Like an effective boss, Christie has been able to avert public criticism – maybe because his name doesn’t actually appear on a ballot (although that may change in 2009.) Neither party has been willing to publicly criticize him – perhaps because of Paul Byrne’s old rule about not ticking off the U.S. Attorney – but suddenly Rep. Frank Pallone took the lead just before Thanksgiving, becoming the first Democrat in seven years to take Christie on.
READ THE POLITICKERNJ.COM 2007 YEAR-END REVIEW
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