by Smita Ghosh
“If that’s the kind of New Jersey you want to live in, that’s find by me,” Chris Christie noted threateningly at a Town Hall meeting in Hamilton Township. Chris Christie wasn’t talking about Snooki’s Jersey Shore, or reported bed bug sightings in Hackensack and Paramus. In fact, Christie was referring to the state-wide effects of Judge Barry Albin, who has been a frequent target of some of the Governor’s recent barbs.
Governor Christie announced on an April radio show that he would ignore future Supreme Court rulings in Abbott v. Burke, an education funding case, if they required that he committ more state money to education. Last year, Christie chose not to re-nominate Judge John Wallace for the New Jersey Supreme Court, citing Christie’s desire to “change the direction” in which the court was moving. Wallace’s seat has not yet been filled. Christie’s recent remarks, as well as his comments about Wallace, herald a development that the Philadelphia Inquirer cleverly titled “Christie v. Court,” and threaten, for some, an abuse of Gubernatorial power.
Christie’s recent politicking–just today he chided the “do-nothing” legislature for their inaction on school reform–coincides with this week’s school board elections in the state. Additionally, Christie may be basking in the glow of some conservative attention: at the Conservative PAC conference this February, Ann Coulter suggested that Christie could beat Obama if he became the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Christie hasn’t announced his candidacy, and recent polls of New Jersey voters show that Obama would still win over Christie in a hypothetical face off.