Boss's gift to Christie: Nearly firing him
The Star-Ledger
May 18, 2007
by Tom Moran
Chris Christie was in Florida watching his children splash around a pool two months ago when he received an urgent e-mail from a senior official at the Justice Department telling him to call.
It was from John Elston, a man he had known for years. Christie stepped into his hotel room, dialed Elston's number, and got the shock of his life.
Elston had a warning for him. The growing scandal over the firing of eight United States attorneys was about to come his way.
Christie, in fact, had only narrowly escaped being fired. His name was on one of the original kill lists. It was removed only a few weeks before the decisions were made final. This one was a close call.
"I was speechless," Christie says. "I just could not believe I was someone who was being actively considered for being fired. It makes you search yourself and ask: `Was I doing my job well?'
"But I came to the conclusion that afternoon that this wasn't really about me. It was about them."
The responsibility for this entire mess, Christie says, lies squarely on the desk of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Christie has spoken with Gonzales since that day at the pool, but he has not bothered to ask why he was on the list, and why he was taken off.
"He doesn't even recall, from what I've read, why he approved the people who were fired," Christie says. "The people who were fired deserve answers. I'm curious. But on the other hand, I've got a job to do and don't want to get distracted."
So does Christie believe that Gonzales should resign?
He won't go that far. But he won't defend Gonzales either, a telling omission if ever there were one.
"He's my boss," Christie says. "I don't take any view on that. I just don't think it's appropriate."
Listen carefully, and you can hear the walls around Gonzales crumbling. Christie was speaking the day after the Washington Post reported he was one of 26 U.S. attorneys considered for firing, news that deepened the scandal.
Also yesterday, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, predicted that Gonzales would not survive.
As for Christie, he was never given an explanation for any of this, even when he pressed Elston, the man who put his name on the list.
But given what we now know about the breathtaking incompetence of Gonzales and his senior staff, no reasonable person can hold this against Christie. If this crew didn't like him, that's probably a good sign.
The irony here is thick. We know now that Christie was almost fired by his fellow Republicans at the same time Democrats were criticizing him as a partisan hack - during the 2006 election season.
Democrats were angry then because Christie had issued a subpoena seeking information on a real estate deal of Sen. Robert Menendez. His Republican opponent, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., made that subpoena the centerpiece of his campaign.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg called Christie's behavior "sinister." U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.) accused him of trying to "steal" the election. And so on.
So how will this latest news play? It could go either way.
The near-firing helps inoculate Christie against charges that he is a political servant of the White House. But his critics could just as easily argue that his friends in the White House protected him in the end.
Christie says he racked his brain trying to understand this one, and none of the familiar explanations seem to fit.
Voting rights cases that have created friction in other U.S. attorney jurisdictions have not been an issue in New Jersey, nor have immigration cases. Christie has prosecuted plenty of gun cases, another Bush administration priority. And he says that no one at the White House or the Department of Justice has ever contacted him about a corruption case - even his many prosecutions of fellow Republicans.
The latest official evaluation of his office came in 2003, roughly 18 months after he took over. And it was full of praise for Christie's management skills.
Desperate for some theory, Christie is wondering if it was personal, not political. He was appointed for a two-year stint on a panel of 17 U.S. attorneys who offered advice on policy, from guns to white-collar crime. And he wonders now if his blunt style was too much for the Washington crowd.
"Some of my colleagues told me I said things in a very Jersey way - with not a lot of varnish," he says. "Maybe that angered people."
Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the Democrats' most fierce critic on the firings, said yesterday he found it "befuddling" that Christie was on the list. And Patrick Meehan, the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, said his fellow prosecutors were puzzled as well.
"It's astounding," Meehan said. "Among his peers, Chris stands out as one of the most admired. If you were to create a list of the U.S. attorneys who have had the greatest impact, Chris would be one of the top two or three names I'd put on it. This defies explanation."
For New Jerseyans, the big question is how this could affect Christie if he decides to run for governor.
"I think about that only because people bring it up to me all the time," Christie says. "But I don't focus on that. If I do my job the best I can. . . . The future will take care of itself."
Let's pause here for a reality check. Christie knows his record on corruption makes him a star in New Jersey, and creates a delicious contrast with Democrats who can't seem to get their act together on ethics.
Republicans here are on a monumental losing streak, and Christie remains their best hope of breaking out of it.
Gonzales could not change that, even if he wanted to.
Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or (973) 392-1823.
