Christie says doing right thing trumps re-election

Gov. Christie said he hadn't been given much chance of winning New Jersey's gubernatorial election. He was running in a heavily blue state and being outspent by a wealthy incumbent Democrat.

So when he won, Christie said, he made up his mind to do what he thought had to be done to get the state's fiscal house in order - even it meant he'd be a one-term governor, and even if it meant going up against powerful unions and a Democratic-controlled legislature.

"I'm a Republican in New Jersey, and I'm playing with house money," he said Tuesday during a speech in Philadelphia before the Committee of Seventy, a non-partisan government watchdog group. "What I mean by that is, you can do everything perfect for the next three years of my term, and, given the Democrats in my state, I could wind up losing if I chose to run for reelection.

"What that frees you up to do is not be a panderer, not be an incrementalist, not be somebody who is trying every day to look into your eyes and say, 'What answers do you want? What do you want to hear?' " Christie said. "Not trying to curry a little bit of favor with each interest group in order to try to keep them all kind of on board with you, so maybe you can sweep by in three years and get reelected."

Christie, who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, was warmly received at the Committee of Seventy's annual breakfast at the Hyatt at the Bellevue in Center City. The event was attended by 600 people, including U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, U.S. Rep.-elect Patrick Meehan, and Mayor Nutter.

"Playing with house money is about doing exactly what you think the right thing to do is and what you think your state needs, and to let the political chips fall where they may," Christie said. "Until our elected officials start to take that attitude, all this rhetoric about being willing to make the rough decisions is just rhetoric. And I don't care which party you're talking about.

"Neither party in recent history has a track record that tells you they are willing to put aside the pandering and step up and do the things we all know need to be done," the governor said.

"The difference now is that people are watching," he said. "It's put-up or shut-up time for Republicans. We've been given a probationary lease on life in Washington, D.C., by getting the House of Representatives. If we don't do what we said we were going to do, we are going to be sent to the wilderness for a very long time."

Christie described the battles he's had with Democrats on taxes and spending, and how he was compared in derision to Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte but took it as a compliment since they were "great leaders of the past, people I really admire."

"People want to be treated like adults again," and will accept the truth, the governor said.

Still, when he dished out some views on efforts to rein in growing pension obligations, he was roundly booed at a convention of firefighters in Wildwood.

"I said, 'Come on. Get it out of your system. Let's go.' They finally calmed down," Christie said. "I said. 'I understand you feel betrayed. I understand you're disappointed. I understand you're scared. I understand you're worried about your future.

" 'Now, for 20 years, governors have been coming to this convention and lying to you, promising you benefits that they had no idea how they were going to pay for, promising things that were bankrupting, bankrupting, the public treasury,' " he recalled saying. " 'So I understand you feel angry and betrayed. I completely understand. Why are you booing the first guy who comes here to tell you the truth?' "

The governor said there was "no political up side to telling them the truth. . . . Look at the reaction I got. But I don't care, because I'm not going to leave this place worse than the way I found it."

Christie also blasted the educational system in New Jersey as failing the state's children.

"If we ran a business that way, we'd be out of business," he said. "We have to reward the great teachers and get rid of the bad ones. But to do that, we have to stand up and fight the unions."

The governor has specifically targeted the New Jersey Education Association, the primary teachers union in the state. NJEA president Barbara Keshishian says New Jersey's public schools are the best in the nation.

"Gov. Christie's attitude toward public education is clear," Keshishian said recently. "He has spent his entire term as governor defunding public schools and demonizing the people who work in them."

Christie said Tuesday that by being willing to fight, "we're changing the conversation on the other side of the river."

He said the stakes are high but the rewards are great.

"If we do the right things over the course of the next couple years, we will put America and this region back on the right track, and when we do, we can put our heads on our pillows gently at night knowing we have done everything we need to do to meet that solemn obligation," he said. "The fight I am having in New Jersey is a fight not only for New Jersey's future, but for America's future. . . ."

"I came to Philadelphia this morning because I didn't want anybody to think our work is done because another election cycle is over," he said. "Our work has just begun. I will continue to do what it is I need to do in New Jersey, no matter the consequences."