Camden Becomes Gov. Christie’s Bipartisan Selling Point

Posted by Stephen Danley in Camden.

With Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush rumbling about running for president, yesterday’s State of the State speech was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s opportunity to respond. And he went where he has so often gone this year when he needs political support: Camden. 

And then there was this: 

The governor even went so far as to exclude local reporters from an off-the-record briefing with national reporters before the speech, which Paul Mulshine says is because “locals would have burst out laughing.”

This speech is the beginning of the next cycle of Gov. Christie’s involvement in Camden, the part where Camden becomes a personification of his commitment to bi-partisanship. The speech reached a crescendo when the governor stated: 

I am a Republican. She (Camden Mayor Dana Redd) is a Democrat. And it has not mattered for one minute. And I make this offer to every mayor city’s mayor in New Jersey: if you’re willing to put down the sword of partisan politics, I’m willing to extend my hand him partnership and we will rebuild your cities the way we’re rebuilding Camden.

(that clip is at 55:15)

Sadly, as Camden County NAACP President Kelly Francis argues in this excellent piece by Allison Steele, Camden is now a prime example of bi-partisanship for Gov. Christie’s national campaign: 

“Camden’s his poster child, simple as that,” said Kelly Francis, president of the local branch of the NAACP. “All that’s going to be his campaign material.”

Let’s compare that Christie clip to a Matt Katz piece from 2011 titled, Christie’s campaign promises to cities go largely unfulfilled. That piece talks about how New Jersey’s cities were facing the brunt of budget cuts, but also how urban mayors could not speak out about it: 

The Democratic mayors need good relations with Trenton; they rely on the state’s purse for survival.

“Too many mayors in this state will not speak the truth for fear of angering the governor,” said Mayor J. Christian Bollwage of Elizabeth, the state’s fourth-largest city. “That’s sad in a democracy.”

Bollwage, a Democratic mayor for 19 years, added: “Never before have urban communities been treated with such disdain. And more mayors need to speak the truth.”

This is the bi-partisanship of which Gov. Christie speaks. It is control. In 2011, that meant sharp cuts to cities and rising crime. Three years later, the Gov. Christie is running (unofficially) for president and Camden crime is dipping. And three years in the future, Camden will be at the whim of another governor, with another political constituency to please, a part of another politician’s political calculus. 

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