Gov. Jon Corzine has agreed to debate his top two opponents in the November election after state regulators deadlocked over whether to overhaul the schedule. With Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett accusing Corzine of orchestrating the debate calendar to his political advantage, the Democratic governor said he would take part in the two debates sanctioned by the Election Law Enforcement Commission, regardless of when they take place.
That was a shift for Corzine, whose campaign had indicated he would not participate in a televised debate on Oct. 1, leading sponsor New Jersey Network to ask ELEC to postpone the event until Oct. 22.
ELEC will consider the debate schedule again Wednesday.
Christie and Daggett are required by law to take part in the ELEC debates because they are accepting public financing. Corzine, a multimillionaire who is largely self-funding his re-election bid, is not obligated to participate.
NJN said it made the request in the interest of having all three major candidates go head-to-head.
The proposed delay drew strong objections from Christie and Daggett, who said Corzine wants to hold down viewership and compress all three debates into a one-week period when many voters will have made up their minds.
Christie and Daggett pointed out that moving back the NJN debate would affect the remainder of the debate schedule because the lieutenant governor’s debate must be the second of three. That debate is currently scheduled for Oct. 8, but it would have to be moved until after the other gubernatorial debate on Oct. 16. Sponsors of those two debates also objected to changing the schedule during the ELEC meeting.
Before the meeting, Christie called the request “ridiculous” and said Corzine wants to avoid discussing his track record as governor.
“He should just stop hiding,” Christie said at an event in Jersey City.
At an event in Plainsboro, Corzine downplayed the controversy.
“We will debate,” the governor said. “As you know, there are always debates about debates.”
A campaign spokesman, Sean Darcy, later said Corzine believes “the public is better served having the two gubernatorial debates later in October” because “more people will be tuned in.” But “we are prepared to participate in both ELEC-sanctioned debates regardless of whether or not the NJN debate is rescheduled.”
While Christie blasted Corzine over the debates, Democrats tried to keep Christie on his heels after a string of negative publicity. Corzine’s campaign launched a negative ad about the former prosecutor’s loan to a subordinate in the U.S. attorney’s office, and U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.) and Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) renewed criticism of Christie for the lucrative no-bid federal monitoring contracts he awarded while U.S. attorney.
The congressmen released correspondence between Christie and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), the chairman of a congressional subcommittee that called Christie to testify in June at a hearing that Christie later called a “political circus.” Cohen said Christie’s follow-up answers were “incomplete” and “unsatisfactory” and set a Sept. 4 deadline for a more detailed response.
Christie said many of the issues were covered in a written statement to the committee, which is looking into reforming “deferred prosecution agreements” like the ones Christie oversaw, including one worth up to $52 million to his former boss, ex-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. The Republican National Committee dismissed the congressmen’s objections as “a political witch hunt” and “an attempt to distract New Jersey voters from the failed leadership of Governor Corzine.”
{Star Ledger/Matzav.com Newscenter}
