Early life and family
Chris Christie was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Sondra A. (née Grasso) and Wilbur James "Bill" Christie, a certified public accountant.Christie is of Irish and Sicilian descent.He was raised in Livingston, graduating from Livingston High School.Christie graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1984 and Seton Hall University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree in 1987. Christie was admitted to the Bar of the State of New Jersey and the Bar of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, in December 1987.
In 1986, Christie married Mary Pat Foster, a fellow student at the University of Delaware. After marriage they shared a one-room apartment in Summit, New Jersey. Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking, eventually working at the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. She left the firm in 2001 following the September 11 attacks, only recently returning to work part-time.They have four children, Andrew (born 1993), Sarah (born 1996), Patrick (born 2000), and Bridget (born 2003).Christie and his family reside in Mendham Township.
Achievements
Despite the initial misgivings over his degree of experience, Christie received praise for his history of convictions for public corruption. During his tenure, Christie's office won convictions or guilty pleas from 130 public officials, both Republican and Democratic, on the state, county and local levels without losing a single case.The most notable of these convictions included those of Hudson County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski in 2002 on bribery charges,Essex County Executive James W. Treffinger in 2003 on corruption charges,former New Jersey Senate President John A. Lynch, Jr. in 2006 on charges of mail fraud and tax evasion,State Senator and former Newark mayor Sharpe James in 2008 on fraud charges,and State Senator Wayne R. Bryant in 2008 on charges of bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
Claims of partisan attacks
Christie has been criticized for subpoenaing Senator Robert Menendez during his contested 2006 campaign, just two months before the election.Christie's aides have insisted that they initiated the action in response to an article that appeared in The Record, which reported that in 1994, when Menendez was a U.S. Representative, he had leased his former home to a social service agency that he had helped obtain federal financing.The non-profit group paid Menendez more than $300,000 over nine years to rent the building. Menendez claims to have cleared the arrangement with the Congressional ethics office, a step that had also been reported previously by New Jersey newspapers.According to Menendez, just prior to signing the rental lease, he cleared it by phone with a lawyer on the staff of the United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Following the subpoena, the lawyer, who no longer works with the Committee, came forward to say that while she doesn’t recall the conversation, it probably happened—and that if she were advising Menendez now she would tell him, as she apparently did then, that there was nothing improper about the arrangement.As of August 2009, nothing has come from the investigation.
2012 presidential speculation
Christie has been the subject of ongoing speculation that he may attempt a run for President of the United States in 2012. He consistently denied any interest in launching a presidential bid. In September 2011, a number of press stories cited unnamed sources indicating Christie was reconsidering his decision to stay out of the race; an Associated Press story dated September 30, 2011, indicated a decision on whether or not he would run for president in 2012 would be made "soon".
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