Chris Christie

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Chris Christie (2015)

Christopher James "Chris" Christie (* 6. September 1962 in Newark , New Jersey ) is an American politician of the Republican Party . He was governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018 .

In June 2015, Christie announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential candidacy , but withdrew his application in February 2016 after disappointing election results in Iowa and New Hampshire . A little later, he expressed his support for Donald Trump . Christie is seen within his party as a moderate conservative who pursues a pragmatic course.

Career

As the son of Sondra A. (née Grasso ; 1932–2003) and Wilbur James "Bill" Christie (* 1933), Chris Christie has both British and Italian ancestors. He grew up in the small town of Livingston, New Jersey, where he also graduated from high school . As a young man, Christie moved to Delaware , where he studied political science at the University of Delaware and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984. In 1987 he acquired a professional doctorate ( JD ) at the Seton Hall University in his hometown of Newark. Christie worked for a law firm in Cranford, New Jersey , from 1987 before moving to the Morris County Land Registry in 1994 . In 1997 he was elected head of the office.

Prosecutor

In 2001, Christie was appointed federal attorney for the New Jersey District to replace Robert J. Cleary - a position he took up in January 2002. He was considered a very successful prosecutor in New Jersey, as he stood up against gang crime and child pornography on the Internet. In 2007, investigations by his agency prevented a planned Islamist terrorist attack on the Fort Dix military base . In December 2008, Christie resigned from office.

Governor of New Jersey

In 2009, Christie ran as a Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey. On November 3, 2009 he was elected with 48.5 to 44.9 percent of the vote against the Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine . The swearing-in as governor took place on January 19, 2010. At the same time, the office of lieutenant governor was introduced for the first time in the history of the state of New Jersey , which had previously only existed there in colonial times. Kim Guadagno became the first lieutenant governor .

In 2010, New Jersey failed to apply for federal funding for educational aid in a timely manner. Christie first tried to blame the Obama administration for this.

With an approaching blizzard , Christie flew with his family to Disneyworld in December 2010 and on his return criticized the local mayors for their handling of the weather disaster.

In May 2011, Christie took the state-owned helicopter to his son's baseball game and initially refused to reimburse the cost of the flights.

Unemployment in New Jersey peaked in 2012.

For the 2013 gubernatorial election , Christie stood for re-election. He won the Republican Primary without problems with 91 percent of the vote. On election day, November 5, 2013, he was able to beat his democratic challenger Barbara Buono with 60.5 percent of the vote , who combined 38 percent. His lead was around 460,000 votes with just over two million votes cast. Christie secured a majority in 19 of the 21 counties . His term in office ran until January 23, 2018. Christie was excluded from the November 2017 gubernatorial election because the state's constitution does not allow more than two terms in a row.

"Bridgegate"

Christie's reputation as a pragmatic doer who defies party-political boundaries was badly damaged when it became known in January 2014 that his staff was apparently an act of political revenge against the mayor of Fort Lee for the access to the George Washington Bridge over the daily Driving more than 300,000 cars, throttled them for five days under the pretext of a traffic study in September 2013, resulting in a huge traffic jam. The scandal became widely known as the Bridgegate .

The resigned former employee of the port authority David Wildstein, who was made responsible for the deliberate partial closure of the bridge and who admitted this, claimed in January 2014 that Christie, contrary to his testimony, was informed of the traffic collapse before its end. The governor's office rejected the allegation, insisting that Christie only found out about it after the press reports. Nonetheless, a Bergen County court found Christie reasonably suspicious of an official offense in connection with the arbitrary lane closure and ordered an investigation into it in the fall of 2016. A few weeks earlier, a trial against the three alleged chief perpetrators of the intrigue, including the former chief of staff Christies, had already started before the federal court in Newark (New Jersey) , which is considered to be one of the causes of Christie's vice-presidency under Donald Trump , which shortly thereafter failed .

2016 presidential candidacy

Christie at a 2015 election rally

On June 30, 2015, Christie announced that he would run for the Republicans in the 2016 election for the US presidency. This makes him the 14th candidate to officially apply for nomination in the Republican primary. His campaign slogan is “Telling it like it is”.

In New Hampshire, where the Republican party base is traditionally considered to be moderate, Christie was unable to set himself apart from the other applicants of the pragmatic party wing, although he concentrated his campaign activities on this state. He was well behind Jeb Bush (11%) and his fellow governor from Ohio, John Kasich (16%), after the political career changer Donald Trump had clearly won this area code. Christie's poor performance was seen as a surprise in the US media after he had been publicly certified a few days earlier in a television debate. He criticized the Florida Senator Marco Rubio as too inexperienced, who lost approval as a result of Christie's sharp attacks in polls and also performed poorly in New Hampshire. After poor results in the first two primaries , Christie withdrew his candidacy on February 10, 2016.

On February 26, 2016, Christie was the first prominent politician of the so-called party establishment to give an official election recommendation ( endorsement ) for Trump. Trump had previously won the South Carolina and Nevada primary . Since then, there has been speculation in the American media that Christie, whose term as governor ended in early 2018 due to a term limit, could be a member of his administration if Trump wins the election . So was z. B. named the post of Attorney General , temporarily (until Mike Pence is nominated ) also that of the Vice President .

After his election victory , Trump named Christie chairman of the transition team ; a few days later he reversed this decision and appointed Pence instead.

Political positions

Christie at a public appearance in 2011

Christie takes moderate positions within the Republican Party. For example, he is in favor of stricter gun laws and tolerant treatment of homosexuals and illegal immigrants. From prominent members of his party, u. a. Henry Kissinger and Nancy Reagan , Christie was brought up for discussion as a candidate for the 2012 US Vice President election due to its popularity among the population . In view of the fact that the Republicans are currently predominantly adopting uncompromising right-wing conservative positions and are closely linked to the right-wing tea party movement , a candidacy appeared to be hopeless.

Nevertheless Christie gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention 2012 in Tampa ( Florida ). Political observers noted that Christie put himself and his politics at the center of his speech, rather than presidential nominee Mitt Romney .

While Christie had criticized the Democratic incumbent in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election, he radically changed his mind after the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. Just five days before the election, he repeatedly praised President Obama for his good crisis management: “I thank the President personally for his commitment. The cooperation with him was outstanding, and he deserves great recognition for this. ” In contrast, Christie hardly left a good hair with Romney, who had effectively continued his election campaign despite the catastrophe, even though the election was imminent. Quite a few Republicans interpreted this as "treason," but Christie stood by what he said.

Obama won the election in November 2012. Before New Year's Eve, there was a long tug-of-war between Democrats and Republicans over tax increases (“ fiscal cliff ”), which led to increasing intransigence within Congress. After Republican John Boehner (as spokesman for the US House of Representatives ) for tactical reasons prevented a vote on the approval of US $ 60 billion in aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy (and thus the disbursement of the funds), Christie criticized the Republican MPs, his party friends, extremely sharp and called the situation “disappointing and disgusting”: “Only one side is to blame for the suffering of these people: The (Republican) majority in the House of Representatives and their spokesman, John Boehner ... We do not help innocent victims of natural disasters as Republicans or Democrats, rather than Americans. Or rather: we did it - until last night. Because yesterday evening party politics were preferred to the oath to serve the citizens. To me it was disappointing and disgusting to watch ... Last night the majority in the House of Representatives failed the simplest test of governance, and they did so with blunted indifference to the suffering of the people in my state. ” While many Republicans Christie because of this While the governor was once again accused of disloyalty to his party, other observers are of the opinion that the governor is consciously portraying himself as a politician who, beyond party disputes and ideological conflicts, is concerned about factual politics and the welfare of his voters.

Private

Christie has been married to Mary Pat Christie since 1986 and has four children, two sons and two daughters. He's a Catholic .

Because he was very overweight, Christie had a gastric band inserted in early 2013 . For his courage to talk about it publicly, he was praised by John McCain , among others . Many observers interpreted the operation as a sign that Christie was preparing to run for president.

literature

Web links

Commons : Chris Christie  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Chris Christie  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US officials refute Christie on attempt to fix Race to the top application during presentation
  2. ↑ Christie praises state's efforts battling blizzard ( Memento from January 12, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
  3. ↑ NJ Gov. Christie reimburses state for chopper rides
  4. ↑ http://www.northjersey.com/news/163061946_Nj_jobless_rate_rises_to_9_6_percent.html
  5. ^ The New York Times : Chris Christie Re-elected Governor of New Jersey , Nov. 6, 2013
  6. ↑ "Bridge Gate" battered political star Berliner Zeitung January 9, 2014
  7. ↑ Jessica Glenza, Tom McCarthy: Bridgegate scandal: Christie aides indicted as David Wildstein pleads guilty. theguardian.com, May 1, 2015, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Christie Linked to Knowledge of Shut Lanes - New York Times, January 31, 2014
  9. ↑ US Republicans Might Stumble On Bridgegate - Time Online Jan 9, 2014
  10. ↑ https://www.nj.com/politics/2014/01/chris_christie_responds_to_new_bridge_scandal_allegations.html - nj.com, January 31, 2014
  11. ↑ Myles Ma: Bridge Gate misconduct complaint against Christie can move forward. nj.com, October 13, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  12. ^ Ted Sherman: Game day for Bridgegate trial: How did we get here? nj.com, September 17, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  13. ↑ David Smith: Bridge Gate trial and Chris Christie's role Could mean more trouble for Trump. theguardian.com, September 8, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Nick Gass: Christie: 'I'm sure' Bridgegate was 'a factor' in Trump's VP decision. politico.com, September 15, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  15. ↑ Republican Chris Christie announces candidacy . FAZ.net, June 30, 2015.
  16. ↑ Chris Christie Plans to Drop Out After New Hampshire Flop , The New York Times, February 10, 2016 (English)
  17. ↑ US Republicans: Christie and Fiorina give up. . Spiegel Online, February 10, 2016, accessed on the same day
  18. ↑ Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump , CNN, February 26, 2016 (English)
  19. ^ Nancy Cook, Andrew Restuccia: Meet Trump's Cabinet-in-waiting. politico.com, November 9, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  20. ↑ Alexander Burns, Maggie Haberman: How Donald Trump Finally Settled on Mike Pence. nytimes.com, July 15, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  21. ↑ Chris Cillizza: 4 reasons Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump , Washington Post, February 26, 2016 (English)
  22. ^ Andrew Restuccia, Nancy Cook: Trump advisers steamroll Christie's transition. politico.com, November 15, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  23. ^ David Smith: Chris Christie dropped as head of Trump's White House transition team. theguardian.com, November 11, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016 .
  24. ↑ forbes.com November 22, 2016: Exclusive Interview: How Jared Kushner Won Trump The White House
  25. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Taunts against Romney , October 31, 2012
  26. ^ Wall Street Journal: Reactions to Chris Christie's Speech
  27. ↑ Republican heavyweight on the cuddle course. In: derStandard.at. November 1, 2012, accessed December 4, 2017 .
  28. ↑ spiegel.de January 3, 2013: Top Republicans pull off their own people
  29. ↑ "Disgusting": Republican Christie attacks party friends
  30. ↑ Gastric band surgery: heavyweight Christie is losing weight. In: Spiegel Online . May 8, 2013, accessed June 9, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Christie, Chris
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christie, Christopher James (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician (Republican Party)
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark , New Jersey