The Other Shoe Drops

When word came out last week that Governor-elect Chris Christie had "approved" $1.2 billion in Transportation Trust Fund borrowing and then Christie sort of confirmed it the next day during his press conference with NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I resisted the temptation to criticise him. "This Is Turning Trenton Upside Down?" was my working headline. But I had a sense that something else was up.

The source of the story, the Associated Press quoting Corzine's team had me wondering what this was a set up for or distraction from. The AP has been anything but objective when reporting on all things Christie. Their NJ reporter Angela Delli Santi is more qualified to be a Blue Jersey blogger than she is to be an "objective" journalist. The best that can be said about her is that she doesn't hide her bias. However, her prose should be on the Op-Ed page, not on the news page.

This is how I imagine that this "news" story happened. Someone on Corzine's team called the friendly Delli Santi and said, "we were scheduled to issue $225 million in transportation bonds, but decided to issue the entire $1.2 billion we would have borrowed between now and June if we won." (The source didn't mention that this way their bond counsel and bankers earn their fees) "The Christie transition team approves of this." Delli Santi calls the Christie team and is told, "the Corzine administration consulted with us on this and many other issues." The AP runs with the story and headline that Christie "approved" the borrowing.

I would have loved some red meat from Christie on this. A quote condemning the borrowing and a pledge to renegotiate the pork laden contracts they are funding. A condemnation of "prevailing wage" and paying a union member $75 per hour to waive an orange flag. Instead he said these were Corzine's projects and he needs to pay the bills. He said he would be irresponsible not to approve paying those workers. Red meat would have made me feel good, but it would not have reduced any of the borrowing that Corzine was going to do. Still, something else must be up.

Yesterday the other shoe dropped.

The Star Ledger is reporting that "two weeks of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations" over lame duck patronage appointments resulted escalated political warfare as Corzine announced dozens of nominations to coveted posts on state boards and commissions over Christie's objections.

During this transition period, Christie is both building his team and attempting to limit the damage that Corzine can do on his way out. With no legal power to thwart Corzine all the Christie team has to work with is negotiation, PR, and the threat of having GOP Senators use Senatorial courtesy to block appointments. The vast majority of the Corzine's nominees are from counties with Democratic Senators.

I'm chalking up the transportation borrowing story to gamesmanship on Corzine's part and Christie's conciliatory response to part of the negotiations over other matters.

Christie has a press conference at the State House at 10am this morning. Maybe we'll get some red meat now that Corzine has played his nominations hand.