TOM HESTER SR

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Governor tells Republicans about her plea at secret Colorado meeting

Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex) asked Gov. Chris Christie to provide the Republican support necessary for her to remain as head of the lower house in return for her support of his legislation to cut health and pension benefits for public employees, according to leaked audio published in Mother Jones Magazine.

The audio is of Christie’s closed-door comments to conservative donors, including the oil billionaire Koch brothers on June 26 in Colorado. Christie also told the conservatives that he favors cuts in social security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

The governor did not disclose that he left New Jersey to attend the Colorado event.

Christie said Oliver asked him for Republican support to stay in power if the majority of Assembly Democrats who opposed the legislation tried to oust her as speaker as part of an attempt to prevent the bill from moving. Christie agreed to help Oliver and directed Assembly Republicans to back her if there was a coup attempt.

No attempt was made to oust Oliver as speaker and the legislation was approved in both the Assembly and Senate in June mainly with Republican votes. But many Assembly Democrats remain angry and Oliver could face opposition when the lower house reorganizes in January.

Thursday afternoon, Oliver insisted to The Star-Ledger that she never asked Christie to help protect her position.

“Governor Christie is making an assertion that I called him and asked him for his help in retaining my speakership?” Oliver said. “Governor Christie is more mentally deranged than some of us thought. Never happened.”

The audio was made during an event hosted by the Koch brothers on June 26, three days after the Assembly approved benefit cuts and two days before Christie signed the bill.

Christie confirmed the account during an unrelated press conference in Atlantic City on Wednesday.

In his comments to the conservatives, Christie said Oliver told him: "I want to post the bill but I think when I go on the floor, my own party's going to take a run at me to remove me as speaker. So I can't post the bill."

Christie also said Oliver told him,“ I think the only way I survive is if the 33 Republicans in the chamber will agree to vote for me for speaker. Can you work it out?"

In a closed-door Assembly Republican caucus, Christie said, "Probably for the only time in my governorship I'm going to actually ask you to vote for a Democrat ... So if they take a run at her on the floor, I need all of you to vote for her for speaker."

The governor said the Republicans were surprised, but he asked for their help in keeping Oliver as speaker to get the legislation. passed. "'Are you with me or aren't you?'" Christie said he asked. "All 33 of them raised their hands and said they were with me."

Christie said he returned to his office and told Oliver. "You just got 33 new votes."

“Well,” she replied, “you just got yourself a bill."

In Atlantic City, Christie told reporters he was "proud" to help protect Oliver as speaker. He said the action shows that "Republicans put policy ahead of politics."

In response to Christie’s support for benefit cuts to seniors and the handicapped, Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), the New Jersey Democratic chairman, said, Christie's "appointment as vice chair of the RGA (Republican Governors Association) confirm the Republican agenda to give tax cuts to the wealthiest among us by cutting critical programs for the elderly and working poor — healthcare and Social Security.

"I condemn his proposals and challenge him to defend them in the light of day, where New Jersey's citizen's -- his constituents -- can hear about them," Wisniewski said. "Democrats understand the hard work it will take to get this economy back on track, but that should not happen through conversations with political donors behind closed doors."

Wisniewski called on New Jersey Republican legislative candidates to declare if they agree with Christie or will support seniors and families.

“Seniors and families across New Jersey have a right to know if the Republicans seeking their votes put the wants of the Tea Party and its billionaire backers before the needs of middle class families in New Jersey," Wisniewski said. "Do these candidates agree with Governor Christie’s call to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits, or will they will stand up to him and stop his continued assault on the middle class? Will these candidates work to strengthen the programs that families rely on for their economic security, or will they end these programs as we know them stranding the very people who depend on them?”