Chris Christie Goes on Weight Watchers to get ready for fall race

You may have not noticed it, but Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie has been slimming down over the years. This is in preparation for his long-awaited run for governor.

He was probably at his chunkiest in 1995, when he was elected to the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders ----as you can clearly see in above photo. Perhaps this was one of the several reasons he was not re-elected in 1997. At that time he tried Slim-Fast for the first time, and it had a moderate to little effect on his weight.



In 2001, after raising mucho dollars for then presidential candidate George W. Bush, Christie was appointed the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He was a bit thinner than in his days as a freeholder, but still fairly hefty.





Finally, as you can see here in his official gubernatorial candidate photo----you can clearly see the effect Weight Watchers has had.

Perhaps he has been a bit too successful, and needs to ‘bulk’ up again for the fall race.

...Pants on Fire

Though Chris Christie has called the practice "pension abuse," the AP is reporting that one of his top political advisers and fundraisers, John Inglesino, has a state job for $3,000 -- the minimum needed to remain in New Jersey's pension system.

He got the job from State Sen. Joe Pennacchio the day after his term as freeholder ended, when he would have no longer been earning credit towards a pension. It also happens that Inglesino's firm got one of Christie's no-bid contracts while he was US Attorney.

Christie had an interview scheduled with the AP yesterday, but he "abruptly canceled" it after the news broke.

Now State Senator Joe Vitale (see below for the press release he issued today) is asking Christie to call for the release of any documents that demonstrate the work Inglesino has done. "We all deserve to see exactly what this “political adviser” did in his state taxpayer funded job that allowed him to pad his pension."

This was Christie's take on pension padding a few months back: "The pension abuse is terrible,'' Christie said in a March interview on New Jersey 101.5. "I mean, let's face it. Part-time employees, people making $5,000 on somebody's staff being eligible for a pension? Being eligible for health benefits. On our dime? I would end it.''

These are his close friends. If he wants to end the pension abuse, he can start with them.

Links:
AP: Christie campaign adviser on N.J. state pension rolls
AP: Christie ducks questions on adviser's pension

For what it's worth, it wouldn't be the first time Christie's words don't match his actions.

Niiiiice!

If only more like people Trout endorsed Christie….

At another time and another place, maybe even in an alternate universe of New Jersey, Chris Christie the US Attorney would have been prosecuting this person. But the time, place and date is now, New Jersey in the current universe and the Republican gubernatorial primary.

So, alas, he is Chris Christie the gubernatorial candidate, and this person endorses him instead. Wonder what he has to say about that. We emailed but have yet to hear back.

The person is Sheriff Deborah Trout of Hunterdon County. And in a recent letter to the Hunterdon County Democrat [the newspaper of record, not the political party] she endorsed Christie for governor. Trout said that she “was honored to join with Republican sheriffs statewide to endorse” Christie for governor. She cited his record of fighting corruption and putting “corrupt politicians” in jail. Finally, Trout made note that Christie will work with law enforcement officials to clean up out cities, and reform Trenton.

If he wants to do all that and more, maybe he can start with the Hunterdon sheriff’s office itself.

Trout has flouted the law so many times that an independent recall effort was kicked off earlier this year. And her office was raided by the Hunterdon County prosecutor’s office, too. Here are just some of the reasons why Trout faces such problems...

• Trout endangered public safety through her inept Background Checks: Trout appointed several people to her staff who have been charged with lying about their backgrounds on their employment applications. One employee was stripped of his license to carry a weapon and was barred from public employment in the State of NJ.

• She violated citizens' 1st Amendments Rights: Sheriff Trout and Undersheriff Mike Russo sent emails to a Moderator of a local online forum demanding that he remove posts criticizing the Sheriff's Office, informing him that "several individuals that post on this forum are currently under investigation for Criminal and Civil Prosecution".

• She required her employees to sign “Loyalty Oaths" promising not to run against her when she runs for re-election.

We are sure that Chris Christie is damn proud to have Trout on Team Christie.