In case you missed it, in Sunday's paper I wrote about the growth in the lobbying business in the Christie era:

Are you in the governor's crosshairs? Does he want to enact policies that you object to? Care to respond?

No problem. It'll cost you just $10,875,011.

That's what Gov. Christie's chief nemesis, the New Jersey Education Association teachers union, spent last year for "communications" lobbying: an anti-Christie campaign that featured TV ads, radio spots, and a plane that flew up and down the Jersey Shore proclaiming Christie's love for millionaires.

The ads are needed, the NJEA says, to counter Christie's free arsenal (his regular national TV interviews, 45-minute news conferences and near-weekly town hall meetings) and the firepower of his allies (multimillion-dollar ad campaigns by a pro-Christie political action committee, supportive talk shows on 101.5 FM, and the state Republican Party, which recently sent two young videographers to NJEA headquarters hoping to catch union bosses doing something unflattering).

Click here to read the rest of the article.

This morning at Bordentown Regional High School, just a few miles away from the scene of the gov's latest controversial remark, Christie was asked if he had any regrets about calling a Rutgers-Camden student/Navy SEAL/former Democratic Assembly candidate an "idiot" at a town hall meeting last week.

The answer was not surprising, at all: NO.

"He acted like an idiot, he's an idiot," Christie said.

He added: "Just because he's a Navy SEAL doesn't give him any reason to be a jerk."

Christie said he allowed William Brown to speak for more than two minutes against the proposed merger of Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University. But he was interrupted several times. The screaming match that ensued ended with Brown being escorted outside and Christie saying this: "And let me tell you something, if, after you graduate from law school, you conduct yourself like that in a courtroom, your rear end's going to be thrown in jail, idiot."

Christie explained his reaction this morning. "If you're going to yell and scream and not allow me to give a thoughtful answer to your question I'm going to give it back to you," he said. "And I have absolutely no regret about it."

He said that he honors Brown's service overseas. But he also noted that he has a "political agenda" and "wanted to try to make me look bad."

"If you're going to do that, and come to a town hall meeting to do it, then you're going to get shouted at back," he said. "That's my style, that's the way it goes."

Christie was similarly unapologetic at the end of the town hall meeting last Thursday in Florence. He recounted what had just happened and told the crowd: "Damn, man, I'm governor, can you just shut up for a second?"

Christie reiterated that the merger, with the Rutgers-Camden Law School included, would go through, and he cited today's supportive editorial in the Inquirer. "He can cry his crocodile tears all he wants," he said.

"It's going to be a major research university in South Jersey."

UPDATE: Just received a statement from Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D., Camden) on this incident: "Unless Governor Christie is using his town hall meetings to audition for a spot on the Real Housewives of New Jersey, he should apologize immediately for his immature and nasty remarks. Legitimate policy disagreements should never devolve into school yard taunts, especially with so many tough issues facing our state...Governor Christie should remember that he works for Mr. Brown and millions of other New Jersey citizens, not the other way around.”

UPDATE: Full story in Friday's paper, here. And video below.

FLORENCE — Gov. Christie told a Rutgers-Camden law student Thursday that his school will definitely merge with Rowan University, sparking a yelling match that led the governor to dismiss him as an “idiot.”

At a town hall meeting in front of hundreds of people at the Roebling firehouse, Christie said current Rutgers-Camden students would be able to graduate with Rutgers degrees. But that did not placate William Brown, 34, a former Navy SEAL and second-year Rutgers-Camden law student, who asked about the future.

“What about my son? What about my neighbors? What about my friends?” Brown asked.

Christie tried to explain why he was going to make sure the merger happened despite what has become an increasingly mobilized and vocal opposition. But Brown repeatedly interrupted the Republican governor.

“Listen, pal, I sat here and listened to your story and your position...and if you decide what you want to do is put on a show today, let me tell you something, I can go back and forth with you as much as you want,” Christie said.

Christie said not everyone at Rutgers is against the merger, and he was “providing opportunities for a bigger and better university.”

Brown yelled: “Nobody at Rutgers wants it, nobody in South Jersey!”

Then Christie stopped trying to explain his position, and called for the next question.

“And let me tell you something,” Christie said, his voice rising. “If after you graduate from law school you conduct yourself like that in a courtroom, your rear end’s going to be thrown in jail, idiot.”

Brown, who was wearing a Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America t-shirt, was then removed from the firehouse by Florence police officers and spoken to outside by a plain-clothed police officer for several minutes.

“It’s freedom of expression,” he told the officers. “This is America.”

Brown gave the officers his contact information and was not arrested.

A Democrat, Brown is a former candidate for state Assembly who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, he said after the encounter. He worries that veterans and other non-traditional students won’t get the same kind of educational opportunities once the merger goes through.

And he added that he thought both Christie’s response and the police reaction was “inappropriate.”

“I think he’s a bully sometimes,” Brown said of Christie. “I was disappointed the governor couldn’t have a debate.”

Like the chancellor of Rutgers-Camden and the vocal majority of the student population, Brown opposes the plan. Christie and South Jersey Democratic officials disagree — they say folding the Rutgers campus into Glassboro’s Rowan University will lead to a more robust research institution.

Although students have asked for some sort of compromise in which Rutgers would keep its name and identity, Christie has said he is not considering any compromises.

It is unclear how Christie will enact his plan — through legislation, for example, or executive order — or when it will go into effect.

At the end of the town hall meeting, Christie was reflective. He brought up the incident, and acknowledged getting heated.

“Now it’s going to be on YouTube somewhere with me calling him an idiot,” he said.

Then he referenced Glenn Paulsen, former powerful chairman of the Burlington County Republicans, who was sitting near the governor.

“I was going to turn there and say to Glenn Paulsen: ‘Damn, Glenn, were we that arrogant in our second year in law school?”

He added: “I cannot imagine standing up in the back of the room saying, 'Shut up, Gov. [Tom] Kean!’”

Christie said the audience might have wondered after witnessing the confrontation: “Where’s this come from?”

And from there, he launched into the story that ends all of his town halls, about visiting his mother — a fiery, tell-it-like-it-is Sicilian — on her death bed.

“We’re all products of our parents,” he said.

Update: Full story in Friday's paper, here.

Pushing back against Gov. Christie’s use of executive power, an appellate court overturned this morning his order to abolish the agency that governs affordable housing.

The move means that the complex and controversial issue of mandating towns to build affordable housing drags on.

And it could prove to have ramifications if the Republican governor seeks to bypass the Democratic legislature and use executive powers to accomplish other goals during his tenure.

Most immediately, the decision reverses Christie’s executive order last June to abolish the Council on Affordable Housing and fold its functions into the state Department of Community Affairs.

“He was asking the court to basically ignore the Constitution and the statutes and saying as executive, he just inherently has this power,” said Adam Gordon, an attorney with the Fair Share Housing Center who argued the case before the three-judge panel three weeks ago.

But the Christie administration vowed to appeal to the state Supreme Court, which has been ruling on this issue for the last 37 years, and "remains committed to Governor Christie's original pledge to abolish COAH."

"We are obviously disappointed with the court decision, which only perpetuates the nightmare New Jersey has endured for decades with the COAH bureaucracy," emailed Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak. 

The Council on Affordable Housing had long been criticized as too bureaucratic and unfair to suburban towns that want more control over zoning decisions. The council was created out of a 1975 Supreme Court decision from a case involving Mount Laurel, in which the court ruled that municipalities have a constitutional obligation to create affordable housiung.

The appellate court at one point citing an argument made by conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in ruling against Christie. It concluded:

“The issue in this case is not whether COAH should or should not be an active participant in developing and implementing policies for affordable housing in New Jersey. Recent events have demonstrated that both the Legislature and the Governor are committed to charting another course for the future of affordable housing in this State....

"However...We conclude that the power to abolish COAH rests exclusively with the Legislature...While the framers of our Constitution intended to create a strong executive in the office of Governor (perhaps the strongest in the United States), they also recognized the need to insulate functions and agencies from executive control.”

A bipartisan agreement has been reached to fix the state’s anti-bullying law — considered the toughest in the nation — in the wake of complaints that is too onerous on school districts.

Republican Gov. Christie announced support Tuesday for an amended bill backed by both parties that will be fast-tracked through the Legislature. It will add $1 million into the Bullying Prevention Fund to help school districts meet the law’s requirements, and it will create a task force to assist with the implementation of the law.

“We know that students have the best opportunity to learn and achieve when they’re in an environment that is safe and free from bullying and intimidation,” Christie said at a news conference flanked by the state’s most prominent gay activist and legislators from each party.

The announcement comes as a high-profile bullying-related trial continues in New Brunswick. Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman, committed suicide in 2010 after allegedly being observed in a live webstream during an intimate encounter with a man in his dorm room. His then-roomate, Dharun Ravi, is on trial on bias intimidation and other charges.

The Anti—Bullying Bill of Rights, which was signed in the wake of Clementi’s death, requires schools to adopt anti-bullying policies, train teachers to deal with bullying and designate staff members to investigate student complaints of bullying — even those that don’t occur on school grounds.

Episodes of bullying must also be reported to the state Department of Education.

In January, a state panel, the Council on Local Mandates, responding to complaints from school districts, said the law amounted to an unfunded mandate on school districts due to the cost of the staffing and training requirements. Christie had 60 days to offer a fix, or the law would be nullified.

Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality who has sparred with Christie over gay marriage, had only praise for the governor at Tuesday’s Statehouse news conference.

He said most children who identify as gay report being bullied, and those who are bullied are far more likely to commit suicide.

“In the rough and tumble of politics it’s nice to see the governor and our Democratic leaders really put kids first,” Goldstein said.

Gov. Christie today implored the New York Police Department to at least make a phone call first if it needs to do surveillance on New Jersey Muslims, and he pushed back on related "ridiculous" comments from a New York Republican congressman.

The growing controversy stems from an Associated Press investigation into post-9/11 NYPD surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey mosques and colleges, including Rutgers University (an undercover agent even went whitewater rafting with college students).

Christie, a former U.S. Attorney who led the prosecution of terrorism cases, last week said the NYPD acted as if they are "masters of the universe" whose "jurisdiction is the world." 

That sparked a response from New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly ("people have short memories as to what happened here in 2001") and U.S. Rep. Peter King (R., NY), who said: "I wish Chris Christie was more concerned about keeping people alive than he is about trying to score cheap political points."

Christie, in extensive remarks at a Statehouse press conference today, noted that unlike King he led prosecutions of several terrorism cases from the time he became U.S. Attorney in 2002. He said the NYPD simply needs to call the Joint Terrorism Task Force in New Jersey (which is made up of two NYPD officers) if it wants to come into the state.

Christie asked: What if the NYPD was surveilling potential terrorists that FBI officers in New Jersey, or New Jersey state police, already had their eyes on?

"Peter King learned the same thing from 9/11 that I learned from 9/11…which was the biggest reason, the biggest reason that law enforcement failed pre-911 was failure to coordinate with each other and failure to share information," Christie said.

"They need to get with the program, and coordinate more."

Christie said the state Attorney General will determine if the NYPD's work in New Jersey is illegal. And he said he is reviewing executive orders, signed by former Gov. Dick Codey, that grant the NYPD some powers to operate in New Jersey.

Christie dismissed the fact that King came to Kelly's defense. "This is New York politics, and they're defending each other, and I get that, and that's fine," he said.

And he dismissed King as being an authority on such things. "I did this work, as opposed to Congressman King. He never prosecuted a terrorism case, I prosecuted a number of them," he said.

In case you missed it, the gov is still not running for president. I wrote today (here) about how the Christie Runs For President show is returning for a second season, and sure enough, on CBS's Face The Nation this morning Christie was again asked if he's running.

Would Christie throw his hat in the ring if Republicans don't have a candidate by the time the convention rolls around in August?

"No," Christie said. "I'm with Gov. Romney, and if there's one thing people know about me it's that once I make up my mind, I don't change it."

What about VP?

Job does "not really" interest him. But he would listen if Romney came to him to talk about it. Then he dropped the line that has become standard for him in such interviews: "If you're a betting man, Bob -- and I know you are -- bet on me being governor of New Jersey next year."

Nonetheless, at the end of the program, host Bob Schieffer reiterated that Christie could get in the race as a candidate for prez: "We just may be getting started with all of this."

Here's my story from today's paper:

Check your local listings: The Christie Runs for President show returns this spring for a second season.

Like the Jersey Shore spin-off now being filmed, this one will feel familiar to any longtime viewer as it picks up where it left off, with cable-news graphics that say things like: "Will he or won't he?"

Last season ended in the fall, when Gov. Christie told a packed news conference that he decided not to run. This season begins with a twist that, like any reality show, is borderline preposterous.

Christie's name is being thrown around anew - not as a candidate on primary ballots but as someone who would be chosen on the floor of the Republican convention in August after the party deadlocks on the four actual candidates. Right now, none of the four has anywhere near the 1,144 delegates needed to run against President Obama.

Yet there hasn't been a "brokered" GOP convention, in which power brokers make deals to mass delegates for a candidate, since 1948. And even then, nominee Thomas Dewey had actually won primaries, unlike Christie.

Plus, Christie is the most vocal surrogate for Mitt Romney, who would presumably have to step away from a quest he's pursued for the better part of a decade in order to make way for the first-term New Jersey governor.

Despite all of this, over the last week Christie's name has repeatedly surfaced on cable news and political sites as the white knight to save the GOP at the convention. Others mentioned: former Florida Gov./presidential son/presidential brother Jeb Bush, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Read the rest of today's story, here.

After the Republican governor of New Mexico, Susana Martinez, came out in support of Gov. Christie's veto of a gay marriage bill last week, Martinez's gay hairstylist called her up.

"I said, 'You should be ashamed with yourself,'" Antonio Darden told the Huffington Post. "I just couldn't believe she said it."

Darden refused to cut her hair again. "I said 'no.'..If we are good enough to do a service for you, we should be good enough for equality," Darden said.

Christie offered a new defense of his veto the other day on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and ended up in a screaming match with gay Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart. The exchange was pretty entertaining -- but also interesting. Christie said his position is the same as President Obama's on the issue. Both support civil unions, and neither support gay marriage (although Obama says his position is "evolving").

"The evolution ends after Election Day 2012 when he doesn't have any more political risk," Christie said. "This is the type of cowardice we don't want."

Could this line of argument resurface in the general election? Capehart got the last word, writing a post about his exchange with Christie, here. But Christie has a point: Neither Obama nor Christie endorse gay marriage.

See video below:

In case you missed it, more news on the Whitney Houston flag flap in today's paper. I wrote about a little-known Christie veto of a bill that would have required flags fly at half-staff for the deaths of active service members:

PALISADES PARK, N.J. - A month before his controversial order to honor the late Whitney Houston by flying flags at half-staff, Gov. Christie rejected a bill that would have required the deaths of active New Jersey service members to be reported to local and county leaders to ensure a similar show of respect.

Despite unanimous support from Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature, the Republican governor let the measure die by not signing it. That's known as a pocket veto.

The bill is of renewed interest because of outrage that followed Christie's order to fly flags in the state at half-staff last Friday, the day before the New Jersey pop star's funeral. Social media exploded with commenters saying a singer with a history of drug abuse should not be afforded the same honor given to slain service members.

Asked at a news conference Wednesday about the bill he vetoed last month, Christie said he did not remember it. He noted that many pieces of legislation were sent to his desk in the waning hours of the legislative session. And he reiterated that he had ordered flags lowered to mark the deaths of dozens of service members, police officers, and public officials, as well as a high school baseball coach and E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons.

Read the rest of the story, here.