Trentonian Front Page: Big Brother Chris

by: Jason Springer

Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 07:59:48 PM EDT

This is probably not the headline Chris Christie was hoping to make in his campaign for Governor. Take a look at the front page cover of today's Trentonian:

Follow me below the fold as Assemblyman Rick Merckt takes apart Christie on the wireless cell phone monitoring and watch Christie try to turn the attention.

Jason Springer :: Trentonian Front Page: Big Brother Chris

Here is what Assemblyman Rick Merckt had to say about the warrantless monitoring:

Yesterday, I refrained from commenting on the American Civil Liberties Union's complaint against Chris Christie that his office secretly tracked people using the GPS chip in their cell phones without a search warrant. I waited because I wanted to learn more about the allegations and also hear Mr. Christie?s response before drawing a conclusion. Now I have heard Mr. Christie?s explanation, and I must admit that I find his attitude regarding the use of prosecutorial power disquieting, particularly in one who aspires to the most powerful public office in New Jersey.

It's not like Merckt doesn't know what he's talking about as he was a former Deputy Attorney General himself.

Mr. Christie's defense to the ACLU?s complaint boils down to pointing out that he sought court approval to conduct the secret tracking without a search warrant. But this explanation raises more questions than it answers. For example, if his office had enough time to ask a judge for permission to track people's movements via their cell phones, why didn't it have enough time to present evidence of "probable cause" and ask the judge for a search warrant? Also, why did his office persist in secret cell phone tracking without a warrant for nearly a year after the U.S. Department of Justice told U.S. Attorneys to end the practice?
Could it be that U.S. Attorneys who avoided seeking search warrants for secret cell phone tracking knew that a lower standard of proof applies to court approvals, thus allowing prosecutors to "game" the judicial system and track even people for whom there is no "probable cause"?

I highly doubt we'll hear answers to the questions Merckt raises, but he tries to make things more personal to Christie:

Or to put the shoe on the other foot for a moment: Were, say, a reporter caught using the GPS chip in Chris Christie?s cell phone to secretly track his private luncheons with Republican leaders while he was still U.S. Attorney, Mr. Christie would be outraged at the invasion of his personal privacy - and he would be right!

Meanwhile, the Christie campaign must be seeing something in their numbers because they went on the attack today, but not against Governor Corzine. They launched a radio ad attacking Steve Lonegan, whose name they were barely willing to mention until recently on the campaign trail. I still think it's a long shot for Lonegan, but Christie has been playing defense on a variety of issues over the last few weeks. Instead of just offering criticism as he thought his role would be, Christie's learning that there is more to running for Governor.