Like a shadow of an asteroid about to hit the world...

Christie’s shadow still hangs over New Jersey GOP

By MATT FRIEDMAN

Chris Christie is still sucking up all the oxygen in New Jersey’s Republican Party.

During Christie’s eight years as governor, Republicans would often say privately that he was using the party to promote his own presidential prospects while refusing to spread resources won by his national stardom to help the party build a bench.

But even after Christie’s presidential prospects crashed and he left office as the most disliked governor in state history, the New Jersey GOP is still, in some ways, the party of Christie — at least based on whom it has recently nominated for statewide offices.

In 2017, Republicans chose Kim Guadagno — who, despite some private differences with Christie, served as his loyal lieutenant governor for eight years — as their gubernatorial nominee over then-Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who had been openly critical of the governor.

Now, in the upcoming race for U.S. Senate, New Jersey Republicans have tapped Bob Hugin, a self-funding former pharmaceutical executive who looks and sounds nothing like Christie, but who has numerous ties to the former governor’s inner circle.

Hugin is facing an uphill battle in his race against incumbent Democrat Bob Menendez, despite the fact Menendez survived a corruption trial late last year after the jury deadlocked but was found by the Senate Ethics Committee to have violated federal law.

Hugin was encouraged to run by Bill Palatucci, who is widely considered to be Christie’s closest political confidant. Palatucci, New Jersey’s Republican national committeeman, still occasionally advises Hugin.

During Christie’s first term, Hugin’s New Jersey-based company, Celgene, poached Christie’s chief of staff, Richard Bagger, to become a high-ranking executive at the firm. Christie even attended a 2014 groundbreaking for Celgene’s new headquarters — built with the help of millions in tax incentives awarded under a previous Democratic administration — where he playfully poked at Hugin for hiring Bagger.

“In case any of you thought that I was holding any grudge ... I wanted to make sure I was here today to let you know all is well between me and Hugin. No hard feelings,” Christie said at the time.

Christie’s ties to Celgene have also been controversial.

Under Christie’s leadership, the state settled a lawsuit for $1.5 million with a former prosecutor in Hunterdon County who said he was fired for complaining the Christie administration stepped in for “corrupt political purposes” to quash an indictment against the county sheriff and two of her underlings. Among the original charges: One of the defendants, Undersheriff Michael Russo, allegedly made a fake law enforcement ID badge for Robert Hariri, a Christie donor who was also a high-ranking executive at Celgene.

Among the other Hugin-Christie connections:

— Hugin was a major funder of Christie’s presidential campaign and the Republican Governors Association when Christie led it. After Christie abandoned his presidential campaign, Hugin followed Christie’s lead and backed Donald Trump, donating more than $200,000 to the effort to help get Trump elected, according to campaign finance filings.

— Hugin sat on the board of Choose NJ, a nonprofit that funded Christie’s travels that were ostensibly meant to promote New Jersey for business, but which were also criticized as a way for him to lay the groundwork for a presidential run.

— Two of the top staffers of Integrity NJ, a super PAC formed to boost Hugin’s efforts, have close ties to Christie. Its executive director, Peter Sheridan, took the job immediately after leaving his post as Christie’s last state-paid aide for his transition out of office. Its chairman and senior adviser, Phil Cox, worked under Christie when he chaired the RGA and then established the super PAC America Leads that was meant to boost Christie’s presidential bid. Hugin donated $250,000 to America Leads, according to FEC filings.

— When Hugin tried to pre-empt news stories about his fight against admitting women to an elite eating club at Princeton University while he led the school’s alumni board, his campaign, in a news release, quoted Regina Egea — another former Christie chief of staff — to back Hugin for his support for “equal pay for equal work” for women. Egea runs the new conservative think tank Garden State Initiative.

Hugin, for his part, has sought to distance himself from Christie’s own positions. For instance, he’s run as a pro-abortion rights candidate while Christie opposed abortion and famously cut money for family planning centers from the state budget.

Democrats say that won’t be enough to help Hugin.

“I still think it’s Chris Christie’s party, and I feel the voters of New Jersey will reject anyone connected to Chris Christie,” Democratic State Committee Chairman John Currie said.

Menendez spokesman Steve Sandberg said in a statement that Hugin is “nothing more than a partisan Republican,” noting that he has “donated hundreds of thousands to Donald Trump and Chris Christie.”

The Hugin campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Palatucci said in an interview that it’s “certainly accurate in terms of Bob and Gov. Christie having a long and deep-standing relationship.” But, while Hugin has staffed his campaign with many people who worked on Christie’s previous campaigns, he has also hired many who did not.

“He’s really reached out to a lot of people who unified the party. He’s got people working for him who worked for Kim Guadagno, Jack Ciattarelli and in other races across the country,” Palatucci said. “I think it’s really smart on Bob’s part to bring a wide range of staff consultants who have a perspective other than the most recent campaign in New Jersey.”

At least one New Jersey Republican who was openly critical of Christie insists Hugin isn’t a continuation of the Christie era.

“Bob Hugin is new blood,” said Ciattarelli, the former Republican gubernatorial candidate, who also served six years in the General Assembly. “He certainly has ties to former Christie confidants and colleagues and advisers, [but] Bob Hugin, at the end of the day, is his own man.”

Matt Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University, said part of the reason for the links between Hugin and Christie is that there’s only so much Republican political infrastructure to go around in New Jersey, where Democrats dominate both in numbers and money.

“There’s an infrastructure for both Democrats and Republicans that changes from one to the other,” said Hale, who recently joined the Highland Park Borough Council after the local Democratic Party nominated him for a vacant post. “I think the tough part for Hugin is Chris Christie’s the most unpopular politician in New Jersey. I think Donald Trump is more popular than Christie in New Jersey. The more those connections get out, the more Bob Menendez is going to tie him to Christie.”