New Jersey Votes for Governor—More Ethics Questions for Christie
New Jersey voters are heading to the polls today in a critical and tight race for governor between AFL-CIO-endorsed Gov. Jon Corzine, a supporter of working families, and his opponent, former George W. Bush political appointee Chris Christie.
It’s a fight that will determine whether New Jersey will move forward with Corzine’s agenda that helps working families, or whether New Jersey will be taken backward with Christie’s failed ideas on health care, education and workers’ rights.
Meanwhile, even more ethics questions are emerging about Christie. An investigation at the blog Blue Jersey—complete with phone records—into Christie’s conduct as U.S. attorney, suggests that Christie used his position to aid his political party, including
slipping information damaging to Democrats to the press while holding tight to information that could hurt Republicans.
More Concerns Emerge for Christie as New Jersey Election Approaches
In six days, New Jersey residents head to the polls to vote for governor—and former Bush political appointee Chris Christie is at the center of yet another scandal. The Star-Ledger reports that near the end of his tenure as a Bush-appointed U.S. attorney, Christie defied requests of his co-workers and hired a political crony’s son as an assistant U.S. attorney.
It’s the latest in a list of allegations that Christie misused his office as U.S. Attorney, through potential violations of spending limits on travel and hotels, deferred prosecution agreements, the use of his position to get out of driving violations, a questionable loan to an employee who may have given aid to his political campaign and planning his run for governor with Bush political operative Karl Rove while still serving as U.S. attorney.
Shameless: Christie Ad Features Obama—Even Though Obama Supports Corzine
The New Jersey governor’s race is just two weeks away, and President Barack Obama is in the state today to support Gov. Jon Corzine for re-election.
So why is his challenger, Chris Christie, releasing a Web video that’s basically a minute and a half of Obama speaking, accompanied by pictures of people with Christie signs?
Christie must be desperate to make voters think Obama is supporting him to distract from voters’ real concerns: New Jersey working families increasingly are questioning his stands on key issues like women’s health care, his ethics and his support of George W. Bush.
As blogger Josh Marshall puts it, “the facts are now campaigning against him.”
Shuler in Pennsylvania: We Must Inspire Next Generation
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Speaking at last night’s annual dinner of the Southeastern Area Labor Federation of Pennsylvanian, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told the state’s union members we must get energized and active so that we can address the needs of a generation of young workers left behind by an economy that isn’t working:
We need to reach out to millions of unorganized workers who just don’t see us as the answer to their problems. To tell you the truth, they don’t see us at all. Above all, that means young workers in their 20s and 30s….They don’t have a connection to the union movement….No wonder young workers don’t realize what we have to offer them.
Shuler, who has been traveling nearly non-stop since becoming the youngest person ever elected as a top AFL-CIO officer last month, cited the AFL-CIO report “Young Workers: A Lost Decade,” which found that workers under age 35 have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis. The economic hardship damages their earning power now and well into the future.
Christie: I ‘Plead Guilty’ to Strong Support of Bush
In the race for New Jersey governor, Chris Christie is casting himself as a fresh face and a reformer—but the fact is that he’s a longtime crony of former President George W. Bush.
Here’s how Christie, in a 2007 appearance, described his actions on behalf of Bush and his subsequent appointment to a Bush administration political office:
Listen, I plead guilty to having raised money for Governor George W. Bush because I thought he was the best person to be President of the United States. And I did it in a completely appropriate fashion and enthusiastically for the President.
There’s no mystery to the fact that I was appointed to this job because, in part, I had a relationship with the President of the United States. Anybody who receives a political appointment—I am a political appointee—there’s going to be some measure of politics involved with that appointment.
(A hat tip to Daily Kos, where the video was posted this morning.)
Union Members Mobilize as Christie Spending Comes Under Fire
In three weeks, New Jersey voters will head to the polls to vote for governor, and it’s a tight battle between New Jersey State AFL-CIO-endorsed Gov. Jon Corzine and former Bush political appointee Chris Christie.
Christie is now under scrutiny for defying federal rules in his business travel during his Bush administration career. Christie—and a top deputy who took a questionable loan from Christie—exceeded federal spending limits during several taxpayer-funded trips, spending the night in $400 hotel rooms on several occasions.
In addition to questions about his spending while a political appointee, Christie also has been criticized for deferred prosecution agreements with political allies and driving violations.
The question of Christie’s character is tied up with his stances on issues key to working families. When it comes to health care, education, jobs and critical public services, Christie isn’t offering an agenda that helps New Jersey’s working families.
Union Members Ramp Up Mobilization for New Jersey Election
Vice President Joe Biden came to New Jersey yesterday and joined AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler to mobilize union members for the Nov. 3 election. In less than four weeks, New Jersey voters will hit the polls in this critical election for governor. And every day between now and then, union volunteers will hit the streets and the phones to educate union voters about the stakes in the race between Gov. Jon Corzine and his opponent, Chris Christie.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO has endorsed Corzine and made his re-election a top priority this fall. On issues like education, health care and jobs, Corzine has the right priorities for New Jersey’s working families, while Chris Christie, who got a political appointment from George W. Bush after serving as a major fundraiser, would take the state in the wrong direction.
Shuler to New Jersey AFL-CIO: Let’s Build a Dynamic Movement
Continuing her efforts to reach out to workers across the country, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler spoke to the New Jersey State AFL-CIO‘s 2009 political and legislative conference this morning, focusing on the critical Nov. 3 governor’s race and how we can build a union movement that wins for workers today—and into the future.
Shuler encouraged delegates to step up their efforts to educate and mobilize other union members for the upcoming governor’s race, which is just four weeks away. Gov. Jon Corzine is in a tight, hotly contested race against challenger Chris Christie, and every vote will matter in ensuring New Jersey’s working families are protected, Shuler said. Corzine has supported expanded health care for children and seniors and paid family and medical leave for workers, Shuler said, while Christie’s proposals would hurt the state’s schools and infrastructure and benefit insurance companies over patients. Shuler noted that over the past weekend, some 1,000 union volunteers knocked on more than 30,000 doors to get the word out about Christie’s anti-worker agenda, and said that we need to continue and increase that effort in these critical last days:
Above all, I urge you to talk with your union sisters and brothers about Jon Corzine and Chris Christie and the issues that matter—share information and fliers with them—right where you work. And make it your personal goal, first and foremost, to seek out and talk to the members who are still undecided. They are the swing voters. They are the ones who are going to decide the election. All you have to do is one thing: Tell them the truth. When you just tell the truth, they’ll make the right decision for themselves about what’s best for their families and best for New Jersey.
Shuler to Help Kick Off Minnesota AFL-CIO Political Efforts
Today and tomorrow, the Minnesota AFL-CIO is holding its 2009 Political Conference, and newly elected AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will be on hand to mobilize and energize delegates to win all across the state.
Today, the conference will hear from a number of candidates for governor, and Shuler will kick off tomorrow’s session. State AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson, the first woman elected to head the state federation, will lead the conference.
The grassroots volunteer efforts of Minnesota union members and Working America members were critical to electing Sen. Al Franken, a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, in the nation’s closest Senate race last fall. Over the next year they’ll focus on the 2010 race for Minnesota governor as well as key races for the U.S. House.
You can follow the Minnesota AFL-CIO on their blog and on Twitter.
Christie to Cancer Survivor: We Don’t Need Insurance to Cover Cancer Screenings
New Jersey’s race for governor is just over a month away, and voters are taking a close look at what candidate Chris Christie would do on key issues like health care. A new video shows that Christie’s proposals could put insurance companies, not patients, first.
Speaking at the Rebovich Institute at New Jersey’s Rider University on Sept. 16, Christie is asked by an unidentified woman how Christie’s policies would affect her daughter.
Christie responds by saying that in New Jersey, health insurance companies have too many mandates for what they have to cover, and younger people, like the unidentified woman’s daughter, don’t need things like cancer screenings. In response, the woman explains that, in fact, cancer screenings for younger people are important:
I actually disagree with that because I happen to know that she’s now at the age where I had my first surgery for cancer.
