When Chris Christie testified to Congress about agreements he brokered as U.S. attorney allowing companies to avoid criminal trials, the GOP gubernatorial challenger hoped to put the issue to rest. When Gov. Jon Corzine signed a $29 billion state budget that increased taxes and cut property tax rebates, he hoped the recessionary spending plan was behind him.
Television and radio ads and Web videos from both campaigns indicate those themes won’t be retired anytime soon, however, as both camps attempt to exploit vulnerabilities they see in their opponent.
“We’ve seen just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the negativity that this campaign is going to take,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “There is no question they are just starting to attack each other.”
Corzine, whose campaign in being privately financed, has released three television ads and two Web ads since winning the primary five weeks ago, including two 30-second TV spots days after his victory over a field of unknowns. Christie, who is running a publicly financed campaign, has considerably less cash than the Democrat but, like Corzine, already has gotten help from the national party and has produced one television ad and four Web ads since the primary.
Neither side will discuss its media budget in the most expensive market in the country. Whether fought on TV, radio or Internet, a nasty media campaign is expected through the Nov. 3 election.
Corzine is going after Christie on ethics, alleging in his newest commercial that the former federal prosecutor rewarded friends and political allies with multi-million-dollar contracts to oversee troubled corporations. Those deals, known as deferred prosecutions, are meant to show Christie as “the same type of politician who uses his position to help his friends,” said Murray.
He said the issue, though complex, may resonate with voters.
“Independent voters don’t want to hear about partisanship, about giving goodies to your partisan buddies,” he said, especially because of a connection to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Ashcroft, Christie’s one-time boss, made $27 million to $52 million or more for his firm in one of the deals.
Christie’s post-primary Web ads attack the economic policies of Corzine, whom his opponent identifies as a former Wall Street wizard.
Two of the spots take aim at the state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
One states that Corzine cut a “sweetheart deal” with state union workers when he renegotiated their contract. The deal defers a 3.5 percent wage increase for 18 months and requires nine furlough days this year, but returns seven as “bankable” days off in coming years.
Another Christie ad accuses the governor of signing a budget that hurts residents and businesses by raising payroll taxes, increasing income taxes and trimming rebates.
Christie expects additional help from national Republican groups to get his message out.
The Republican Governor’s Association produced radio and TV commercials before the primary warning viewers to watch what Corzine does, not what he says.
The ads were in response to a Democratic Governor’s Association spot pointing out that Christie accepted campaign contributions from lawyers to whom his office awarded no-bid contracts when he was New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.
The national groups are restricted by state campaign laws from promoting their candidate, Murray said, but they can air advertising pointing out flaws of the opponent or discussing policy positions.
Corzine has also produced Web ads. The most recent one criticizes Christie for siding with a minority of Republican governors who said they would refuse federal stimulus money for their states. The video says that refusal would cost New Jersey $5 billion, including $2 billion in higher property taxes.
{Star Ledger/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
