A Man To Watch: Mike DuHaime - A Key Christie Operative

by: Bill Orr

Sat Feb 19, 2011 at 08:30:00 AM EST

        He's a remarkable talent. This guy has a lot of raw talent. He's just got great judgment. - Karl Rove talking about Mike DuHaime in 2008

Governor Christie who appears to be his own man, speaking from his seemingly singular gut with ideas that he says are his own, has in fact benefited tremendously from the skills and advice of key advisors. One such advisor is Mike DuHaime, who after serving in key positions in three national presidential campaigns, went on to become the lead strategist for Christie's victory in 2009. DuHaime's influence has been recognized in the press by both PolitickerNJ and TIME. He was ranked number 7 on PolitickerNJ's 2010 Power List following Bill Palatucci, Mary Pat Christie, Jeff Chiesa, Steve Adubato, Rich Bagger, and David Samson. In 2010 TIME listed DuHaime in its "40 under 40" where his comments were indistinguishable from those of his boss: "The most overlooked issue these days is the unsustainable escalating costs of pensions, benefits and salaries associated with a public workforce."

This week we heard comments from DuHaime complimenting Christie following his speech to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington,"He didn't go seek the attention. He did big things and then went and talked about it. He's completely turned Trenton upside down." Duhaime appears confident but self-deprecating, humble, likable and measured - the opposite of Christie. However, he does not act entirely behind the scenes and has spoken in public occasionally helping us to understand his influence better. Among other matters he has weighed in on strategy in the governor's campaign, Reform Jersey Now, and has been teaching a popular course on "Political Campaigning" at Rutgers with Maggie Moran, his Democratic counterpart during the Christie-Corzine campaign.

More beneath the fold

Further evidence of Christie ascendancy

by: Rosi Efthim

Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 05:44:15 PM EDT

In POLITICO's round-up of rising stars, 50 Politicos to Watch, Christie's architect Mike DuHaime shows up on a hotly-anticipated list of "politicians, bureaucrats, administration officials, campaign gurus, military brass, fixers and party hounds you need to keep an eye on." A purely subjective list, selected by POLITICO reporters and editors, but you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows:

Top 2012 staffer gets

Gentry Collins, Mike DuHaime, Anne Hathaway, Rob Jesmer, Nick Ayers

Like fellow "get" Gentry Collins, current political director at Michael Steele's RNC, DuHaime did his time running the politics of the national GOP. From there, he ran Rudy Guiliani a Noun + a Verb + 911 for President. But it was Camp Christie that earned DuHaime his swagger. He ran the campaign, then pulled a key role in his boss' transition.

More recently, DuHaime pops up as the mouthpiece for Chris Christie's highly-questionable non-disclosure slush fund Reform Jersey Now that the Governor is skating away from now that its funding issues have been exposed.

With appearances on popular news/chat shows like Morning Joe, in crafted public appearances before hand-picked audiences, talking tough to teachers, and picking fights with reporters, and mowing down Democrats much of the time, Christie is looking like a hot property.

The GOP's engaged in a national effort to Get Their Shit Together as they try to advantage a mid-term election, bereft of heroes and endlessly tripped up by an embarrassing national Chair, and too many of its rising stars petering out by quitting (Palin), by poultry (Sue Lowden) and what's this? ... agoraphobia? (Sharron Angle) or otherwise crashing around looking stupid.

You can see why Chris Christie, whose souffle has definitely not fallen yet, would look good to them. And why DuHaime, Christie's Karl Rove, would look even better.

Christie's new pay-to-play organization

by: Hopeful

Tue Jun 08, 2010 at 10:00:00 AM EDT

The "chief strategist" of the Christie campaign explained how the scheme works to NJ.com:

As a 501(c)(4) organization, the group is not required to publicly disclose its donors. [Mike] DuHaime said it will voluntarily disclose donor information to state and federal regulators at least once a year, but declined to say when that would begin.

He said the group can accept unlimited contributions and will not restrict them based on New Jersey's pay-to-play laws, which ban those with state contracts worth more than $17,500 from donating more than $300 to statewide campaigns. "We're going to fully disclose, so people can make their own judgment on it," DuHaime said.

Contributions need not come from people: Democrats point out that the website asks for corporate money. I suspect there may not be any actual disclosure next year, nor need a "voluntary" disclosure be complete. (Here's a good example of how a 501(c)(4) was used to "pay to play" in Florida. The donors were kept secret.)  

Eliminating the independent State Commission of Investigation and soliciting unlimited donations sends a very clear message. This is not going to end well.

This doesn't pass the smell test

by: Jason Springer

Sat Jan 31, 2009 at 02:36:34 PM EST

To a PolitickerNJ.com question about what his campaign consultant, Mike DuHaime, was doing at Union Station when the chamber train pulled into D.C., Christie explained, "Mike DuHaime was in Washington for a separate event. He was going to a Republican National Committee (RNC) meeting."

Christie shows how not to launch a campaign

by: Jason Springer

Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 11:30:00 AM EST

The "Dear Friend" e-mail from a Bill Stepien was signed by Christie but not received by some media for two hours after others. There wasn't a contact number to ask questions. Replies to the e-mail referred folks to state Sens. Bill Baroni, R-Mercer, and Joe Kyrillos, R-Monmouth, both of whom were out of state.

Rumor at the State House is Christie is hiring Michael DuHaime to run the operation. DuHaime's recent campaigns included Republicans Rudy Giuliani for president, John McCain for president and the 2006 Republican U.S. Senate campaign, the one where the Democrats took over the Senate. He was deputy campaign manager for former congressman Bob Franks' 2002 U.S. Senate bid.

The pre-announcement announcement was poorly handled and his supporters who think Christie is the only hope to save New Jersey had better pray it's better handled from here on.

Christie decided to declare himself Mr. Mom while walking out from picking his kids up from school for an impromptu press conference. On Reporter's Roundtable this week, Michael Aron told us just how last minute the presser was:

"That was a quickly improvised press availability.  By the way, as of 10:30 Thursday morning, there was going to be no access to Christie.  And by 12:30, they had said if you get to the school by 2:15, you can see him bringing his kids out from school and he stopped and talked for a while."