TRENTON, N.J. - Gov. Chris Christie sought to turn back the clock as he was sworn in for a second term Tuesday, saying voters gave him a mandate in November to “stay the course” and put aside partisan differences, even as Democrats furthered an investigation into whether his administration abused its power.
Christie, considered a likely Republican presidential candidate in 2016, was inaugurated during a snowstorm that forced him to cancel an evening celebration, and then gave an 18-minute address that dwelt on his 22-point election victory in the fall. He did not mention the investigations that have led to the firing or departure of four top aides or associates.
The people making up a broad coalition that returned him to office, he said, “have demanded that we stay the course they have helped set.”
“It was the largest and loudest voice of affirmation that the people of our state have given to any direction in three decades,” Christie said, noting priorities including the economy, education and improving access to jobs for recovering drug addicts. “We have no moral option but to heed the voice of the voters, and that is exactly what I intend to do.”
His speech came less than an hour after Democratic lawmakers announced they were consolidating twin probes into allegations that aides engineered traffic jams in September in the community of Fort Lee as political retribution, apparently against the town’s mayor for not endorsing Christie’s re-election bid.
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, who was on the podium during the inaugural address, said the merger of Assembly and Senate committees was the “optimal approach to ensuring that the people of New Jersey get the answers they need to these questions about the abuse of government power.”
Lawmakers had not decided whether the probe also would be extended to allegations raised during the weekend by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer. The Democratic mayor said Christie’s underlings tied the delivery of superstorm Sandy aid to the low-lying city of 50,000 across from Manhattan to support for a real-estate project.
Zimmer said she was told by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno that the ultimatum came directly from Christie. Guadagno, who also was sworn in Tuesday to a second term, has strongly denied those claims and described them as “false” and “illogical.”
Zimmer met with investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office for several hours Sunday and gave them journal entries she said were made at the time of the conversation at a supermarket opening in May. She also has offered to take a lie-detector test or testify under oath.
The U.S. attorney’s office also is looking into the traffic jams, which happened over a few days when lanes leading to the busy George Washington Bridge to New York City were closed.
Also Tuesday, recent Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said “it makes sense” for Christie to step down as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Cuccinelli said on CNN’s Crossfire that Christie “does not serve the goals” of the association by finishing the rest of his one-year chairmanship.
An aide said Friday that Christie would remain chairman of the association.
Christie has apologized, denied any involvement with or knowledge of the plot, fired a deputy chief of staff at the center of the plot, and banished one of his top campaign advisers. Two officials Christie had a role in getting hired to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge, resigned.
David Samson, a former state attorney general who is chairman of the Port Authority, was at the inauguration. His law firm was involved in the development project that Zimmer said administration officials wanted her to support.
Christie used his inauguration speech Tuesday, as he often does, to bash Washington.
“We cannot fall victim to the attitude of Washington, D.C. The attitude that says I am always right and you are always wrong,” he said. “The attitude that puts everyone into a box they are not permitted to leave.”
Christie’s canceled inaugural gala had been planned for Ellis Island. His campaign directed that food prepared for the $500-a-person event be donated to food pantries in the Jersey City area as several inches of snow fell. Proceeds from inaugural tickets also were used to support three charities.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 01/22/2014