"Bait and Switch" in the Governor's Election?

Governor’s Election a Political “Bait and Switch”:  New Jersey,  Meet Your Real New “Governor”: 

When you cast your vote on November 5, 2013, if you vote for Chris Christie you are not really voting for Christie at all.  You are actually voting for Kim Guadagno as the new “Governor”.  While formal announcements have not been made, political committees have indeed already been formed.  Christie has not – and if he plans to run for President can not - vowed to complete his term as Governor if re-elected.    

Taken together, one need not be Sherlock Holmes to see the evidence that, starting at 12:01 a.m. on November 6, 2013, Chris Christie will be running for President of the United States.    

That some citizens may think that this is a good thing, some citizens may think that this is a bad thing, and most citizens probably do not care one way or another is not the issue.  The issue is that, while Chris Christie will be out of State virtually full-time campaigning for President and attending fundraisers in Iowa and New Hampshire and other places, who will actually be running the Executive Branch of New Jersey State Government on a day to day basis?    

Sure, Christie will be getting paid to run the State Government, but who will actually be running the State Government?    

The answer to that very important question is Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, still a complete unknown after almost 4 years in public office.  What do we know about Kim Guadagno, a relative newcomer to the political scene?    

Who is she?  

  We know that Guadagno is not a “Jersey Girl” so to speak.  She was born and raised in Iowa, attended College in Pennsylvania and Law School in Washington D.C.  We know that Guadagno has apparently been a public employee her entire professional and political life, having never once worked in free enterprise.  Today, in her most recent public job as Lieutenant Governor, she is being paid $141,000.00 per year by the taxpayers to do “whatever it is that the Lieutenant Governor does".  This apparently is little more than wait around for those moments when the actual Governor leaves the State for vacation or business or political purposes.   

 We know, too, that, at least, Guadagno’s husband is from New Jersey, but he, too, apparently has never been anything but a public employee his entire professional life - never once working in free enterprise to earn a paycheck.  We are told that he drives an expensive fancy foreign car with special New Jersey license plates, all in the end paid for by the taxpayers.  At his present public job as a State Appellate Court Judge, “Mr.” is paid $175,000.00 annually by the taxpayers.  Between the two of them, the Guadagno household collects annually $316,000.00 in taxpayer-funded salary, which number does not include the full health benefits and pension credits that are completely unavailable to those of us who live in free enterprise and work for a living - well over $1 million in the last three years alone.  

Good work if you can get it, I guess.   

Several years ago, the insider political wisdom was that, for Christie to win as a Republican in a Statewide election, reality and statistics mandated that he win Monmouth County.  The best way under the circumstances then was to choose someone from Monmouth County as his running-mate.  We know Christie chose Guadagno primarily because she was from Monmouth County, and because she was one of the few Republican elected officials in Monmouth County at that time that had not been arrested or indicted or otherwise implicated in the several “Bid-Rig” public official corruption investigations run by Christie’s own United States Attorney’s Office.  The “Bid-Rig” corruption investigation curiously stopped at the Monmouth County Judiciary.   

 At least, on that basis, we know that Ms. Guadagno did not take any bribes when she was Sheriff.   

 Guadagno’s primary qualifications to be Christies running mate was that (1) she lived in Monmouth County and (2) apparently she was not corrupt.  Ok qualifications for the non-job job of Lieutenant Governor, but hardly enough information to qualify one for actual Governor.   

We know that several years ago, as “Acting Governor”, Guadagno proudly signed with much fanfare a bill moving the New Jersey Presidential Political Party Primary Elections from the month of February back to June, saving taxpayers $10 million with the slash of a pen.  We also know that a little more than 2 years later, Guadagno’s boss, Chris Christie, called for a Special Election for United States Senate which cost that taxpayers $24 million.  That which was saved was then taken back with an additional $14 million price tag, all paid by taxpayers.   

A Disturbing Truth ...

On October 3, 2013, a State Superior Court Judge found that Guadagno and the Division of Elections that she oversees violated State and Federal Election Laws in the administration of that $24 million Special Election.  Those actions are now the subject of a special investigation in the United States Senate - thanks to a petition brought by five of the Candidates before the election even took place.  (the petition and supporting evidence may be viewed HERE:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/176336043/United-States-Senate-filing-RE-NJ-SPECIAL-SENATE-ELECTION-CONTESTED , and the original lawsuit, HERE:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/177393609/Copy-distributed-L-1933-13 ) 

We know that in January 2011 during an unexpected Snow Storm that both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were out of State on long planned vacations, neither one available to deal with what became a State of Emergency. 

These observations are neither "pro-" nor "anti-" Christie, nor are they "pro-" or "anti-" any of the over various candidates for Governor.  In fact, the undersigned, still undecided, may very well vote for Christie - but that is the problem.   

A vote for Christie is not really that, at all.  It is - from a practical standpoint – really a vote for Guadagno.  Further, these observations are not really "anti-Guadagno" (other than the outrageous taxpayer funded salaries that both she and her husband collect – one should have to work in free enterprise).   

The point is that no one knows who she really is.  Little is known and what is known is not flattering.   

If the majority of the voters are satisfied with a Governor administering the New Jersey State Government from other States by giving instructions to Guadagno via IPhone, then that is the will of the people.  

The people should be informed, and fully understand, however, who it is that they are actually voting for.     

                                                                          - Publius