N.J. Mayor Now Remembers Christie's Request For An Endorsement, A Week After Saying He Didn't
Source: Talking Points Memo
In a bit of a shift from what he said last week, the New Jersey mayor at the center of the George Washington Bridge scandal now says he does remember someone close to Gov. Chris Christie (R) reaching out for an endorsement.
Fort Lee, N.J. Mayor Mark Sokolich told the New York Times that Christie sought support from Democratic leaders throughout the state because he wanted a historic landslide:
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Sokolich ultimately decided to endorse Christie's Democratic challenger, Barbara Buono, but he said he never reached out to the governor's office to give his final answer.
The mayor did not tell the Times the name of the official who reached out. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was Matt Mowers, the Christie campaign's regional political director, who made the request to Sokolich.
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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mark-sokolich-chris-christie-endorse
From the Times article:
http://nytimes.com/2014/01/13/nyregion/a-bridge-to-scandal-behind-the-fort-lee-ruse.html
One day last spring, though, he was the person asked to give. A member of Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election campaign staff came calling to see if Mr. Sokolich, a Democrat, would endorse the governor, a Republican. There was scant doubt that Mr. Christie would win. But his ambition was to win big. He joked that he wanted to eclipse the landslide record held by his mentor, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, who prevailed by 40 points in 1985. His advisers hoped to demonstrate such broad support that Mr. Christie would become his party’s logical presidential candidate in 2016. The campaign vigorously courted Democratic officials and notified reporters of fresh conquests.
Mr. Sokolich, however, was noncommittal. “I said, ‘Yes, I’ll consider it, because I’ll consider anything,’ ” he recalled.
He chewed it over with local council members and two objections arose: It would be rude to State Senator Barbara Buono, the Democratic candidate for governor, and they were miffed at Mr. Christie for his decision to spend millions of dollars to hold a special election to fill New Jersey’s vacant United States Senate seat three weeks before Election Day.
And so the mayor let the request go. “I never called and said no, I never called and said yes,” said Mr. Sokolich, who would not name the official who had reached out to him. “I think they interpreted my response to that conversation to be a no.”
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Re Matt Mowers: he left Christie's staff to become executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/11/chrsitie_staff_member_hired_as_new_hampshire_gop_executive_director.html
The state party announced the hiring of Christie's regional political director Matt Mowers today, the day after the Republican governor won a blowout re-election as he weighs a 2016 presidential bid.
Mowers was responsible for managing Christie's political operations in eight New Jersey counties. He has worked for the Christie administration since 2010.
"New Hampshire Republicans have an enormous opportunity to make significant gains in 2014 if they focus on the traditional Granite State principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility," Mowers said a statement.
He did not mention New Hampshire's traditional role for vetting presidents as the first state in the nation to host a presidential primary.
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