The governor has been unusually adept at corralling the 49 Republicans in the N.J. Senate and Assembly to keep them in harmony with his agenda Watch video
N.J. Sen. Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) in this 2009 file photo. Kean was booted from a press conference after mildly criticizing Gov. Chris Christie's administration. TRENTON — When New Jersey was socked by a December blizzard as Gov. Chris Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno vacationed out of state, Sen. Sean Kean did something almost unheard of among New Jersey Republicans: He criticized the Christie administration.
The critique was mild. Kean simply told a reporter the administration and then-acting Gov. Stephen Sweeney should have declared a state of emergency sooner.
The governor’s response wasn’t mild at all.
At Christie’s first post-blizzard news conference in Freehold, an administration official approached Kean (R-Monmouth) and told him he wasn’t welcome, according to two officials who were there.
Kean — who did not respond to requests for comment — has not stepped out of line again.
Since taking office, Christie has been unusually adept at corralling the 49 Republicans in the state Senate and Assembly to keep them in harmony with his agenda.
Their news releases frequently "praise," "laud" and voice "strong support" for Christie’s actions. At least one Republican abstained from voting on a bill in committee because he wanted to hear the administration’s opinion first.
Christie and his top staffers even regularly visit Republican lawmakers when they hold their private meetings on voting session days — something members of both parties can’t recall ever happening before.
And some of the few Republicans who voted against Christie nominees or expressed skepticism about his proposals privately say they got angry phone calls from administration officials.
"It’s Chris Christie’s agenda," said Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex). "I’ve had my colleagues on the other side of the aisle tell me on voting session days that they don’t know how they’re voting because nobody told them yet."
Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Christie, declined to comment for this report.
In interviews, some Republicans expressed frustration about how Christie deals with the Legislature, but none would do so publicly. The level of control bothers Democrats, whose attempts to undo the governor’s vetoes repeatedly failed because Republicans refused to override Christie — even on bills most of them had voted for.
Sweeney, the Senate president and a Gloucester County Democrat, said he doesn’t negotiate with Republican legislative leaders because he might as well go straight to Christie.
"They don’t exist," he said. "I personally like a lot of those guys, but what’s the sense of even talking to them? At the end of the day it comes down to ‘What does the governor say?’ "
Republicans say pressure from the governor is not the reason they’re always on the same page with him — it’s because he’s pushing policies they unsuccessfully pursued for years under Democratic governors. Now the minority party’s one strength is to vote as a bloc so they don’t stymie the changes.
"The only way to get things through a Democratic-controlled Legislature is to stick together — among ourselves and with the governor," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union). "We’re working as a team. The fact is we’re a team."
In Christie’s first 18 months, Democrats attempted to override 40 of his vetoes — already far more than any Legislature at least as far back as 1960.
In all those attempts, only one Republican — state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) — voted with Democrats to override, on just one bill, to provide $7.5 million for family-planning programs.
Beck said she didn’t get any blowback from Christie.
"I respect him deeply and think he is a great leader," she said.
Leaders of both parties agree all governors cajole, promise and threaten lawmakers. They can refuse to nominate political allies, ignore issues lawmakers hope to push, and, as the de facto heads of their parties, withhold campaign funds.
Gov. Chris Christie during a town hall meeting at the Toms River National Guard Armory in June. It doesn’t always work. Republican Gov. Christie Whitman saw lawmakers from her own party override her veto of a "partial birth" abortion ban in 1996. A decade later, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine shut down state government for eight days in a budget dispute with Assembly Democrats.
Trenton veterans say Christie is the best at enforcing his will on his own party.
"He demands complete and utter loyalty, and not a word should be said otherwise," said state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), who joined the Legislature in 1974.
But while Christie benefits from GOP unity, Republican lawmakers were forced to make votes that could haunt them.
This summer, Democrats attempted to cancel 28 of Christie’s line-item vetoes to the budget they sent him. Republicans were forced to go on record defending cuts that included legal services for the poor, aid to struggling cities and to a center for sexually abused teens (Christie later said he found federal funds for the center and wants to restore the urban aid). Charging Democrats with using political theater, Republicans said they were siding with Christie’s fiscal austerity.
"Republicans have tended to be the grown-ups in this and said we can’t spend more than we have," said state Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington), a moderate who refused to vote on any of the override votes but was counted as a no.
Some Republican lawmakers have balked at Christie’s moves. Last year, Christie was forced to negotiate with several conservatives who didn’t want to vote for the budget because they believed the school funding formula shortchanged rural and suburban districts. He got the votes.
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), who conceded he almost quit last year because of the budget scrap, was later unsuccessfully nominated by Christie for a judgeship. He insists it had nothing to do with his budget vote.
"They attempted to persuade me with logic and eventually it succeeded," he said.
Going into legislative campaigns, Christie has called on voters to give Republicans control, posed for photos with GOP candidates, and is raking in cash.
But turning at least one house of the Legislature over to Republicans could actually make it tougher for Christie to keep his party in line, said Montclair University political science professor Brigid Harrison. Christie, she said, would no longer be the only powerful Republican if there was a GOP Senate president or Assembly speaker.
"I think the governor wants everyone in lockstep, and a competing leader means there are going to be competing ideas and competing loyalties," she said.