Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) was asked about his secret meetings with the billionaire Koch Brothers this evening on a local New Jersey town hall radio show, and whether his private meeting had any affect on his surprise decision to unilaterally withdraw New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced "Reggie) last May.

The Governor failed to tell the truth in his response during tonight's appearance on the monthly Meet the Governor radio show on New Jersey's 101.5FM. Moreover, he purposely conflated two entirely separate events in order to mislead in his evasive response.

The question arose out of our story published last Wednesday in Mother Jones, featuring exclusive audio from inside the Koch brothers' ultra-confidential 2011 Summer Seminar near Vail, Colorado, where Christie delivered the keynote address to hundreds of corporate millionaires and billionaires on June 26th, after being introduced by oil tycoon and hard right political activist David Koch.

During his introduction to Christie --- whose presence at the secret political strategy and fund raising session had been kept a secret from his constituents until we broke our story last week --- Koch revealed that he had met with the Governor privately "five months ago."

"We met in my New York City office and spoke - just the two of us - for about two hours," said Koch, who, with his brother Charles, had taken extraordinary security measures to help ensure that nobody outside of the event would ever hear what had taken place inside of it.

The Kochs have spent millions funding the Global Warming Denial Industry and lobbying against RGGI, an agreement among 10 Northeastern states to create a cap-and-trade market to curb pollutants --- such as those emitted by many of Koch Industries' plants --- and to invest the profits into clean energy initiatives.

Tonight, Christie was asked directly about the private meetings, but managed to bamboozle the show's host Eric Scott --- and the voters of New Jersey along with him --- in his answer, charging that the issue has only come up because "reporters don't do their homework." It seems it may have been Scott who hadn't done his, as he allowed Christie to deflect the question from the private, one-on-one meeting Koch revealed he'd had with Christie, and instead claim that the June meeting in Colorado couldn't have affected his decision on RGGI, since it took place a month after his announcement about it.

"I don't know how a conversation I...had two months after I did something, could have an effect on what I did," said Christie, knowing exactly how he was scamming both Scott and his constituents who were listening tonight...

The question came near the end of the hour-long show [relevant audio and transcript posted at the end of this article], as Scott asked about "a little bit of controversy this week" concerning Christie's "trip to Colorado," where he "met with a pair of billionaire oil industry brothers."

The Governor downplayed the event, and the name "Koch" was never uttered by either of the men. "Actually I went and spoke at a conference that they were sponsoring. There were about 400 people there."

When Scott asked whether he'd spoken "with these two individuals [the Koch brothers]...as has been reported," that's when Christie began his bait and switch.

"Well...Sure, they were there," said Christie. "I spoke with them and 398 other people."

"Was there a private meeting with those individuals?," Scott pressed.

"He...they welcomed me and said hello and we talked for about a minute and a half, and I went to give my speech," Christie responded.

"I guess the concern is, or the question that was raised is, was there any connection between that conversation and your withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative...That's the connection that..."

"Sure," Christie interrupted sharply, "And that's because reporters don't do their homework. I had already withdrawn from RGGI months before I gave the speech in Colorado. Two months before hand....So, I don't know how a conversation I could have...had two months after I did something, could have an effect on what I did."

"So that wasn't even a relevant topic of conversation then?" asked Scott, clearly unaware of the two different meetings in question.

"No, cause I'd already done it! And I, and I went there two months later!...And I already said, by the way, they didn't even raise it with me," Christie retorted.

Now, the facts are that Christie's withdraw from RGGI was actually on May 26th, exactly one month prior to his June 26th keynote for the Kochs, not two months prior, as he states. But the real bait and switch is where Christie asks, incredulously, how his meeting with the Kochs in Colorado could have had anything to do with his withdraw from RGGI a month prior.

In fact, it's the private meeting with Christie that David Koch revealed during his introductory remarks which are the concern, though apparently Scott wasn't fully up to speed on the issue. Neither, apparently, was the reporter who asked a similar question of Christie earlier today, allowing him, at that press conference as well, to deny discussing RGGI in Colorado, as reported by AP. That reporter (not AP's Beth DeFalco, whose story is linked), was also not fully up to speed on the issue, and thought the concern had to do with conversations about RGGI in Colorado, versus at the private meeting with Koch in NYC, five months prior to the RGGI withdraw.

So, it's true, "reporters don't do their homework." But that's exactly what helped Christie fool two of them today.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, told AP's DeFalco on the night the Christie story broke --- Part 2 in our exclusive Mother Jones series on the secret Koch tapes --- that he felt the admission by Koch during his introduction to Christie in Colorado was "the smoking gun that shows [Christie's] been working with the Koch brothers from the beginning."

On the show tonight, Christie then proceeded to equate disclosure about his secret trip to Vail for the political and fund raising speech for the Koch crowd to a two-hour family trip to the University of Delaware football game he'd taken over the weekend.

"Going to a University of Delaware football game is different than going to a conference where there are potentially influential individuals who could affect policy," 101.5FM's Scott challenged.

"You don't think there weren't influential people who could affect policy at the University of Delaware football game?," Christie responded. "You know the Vice President of the United States went to University of Delaware, so he's fairly influential."

Christie insisted there was no public business carried out during his "personal trip" to the Koch seminar, and that it was no different than a private vacation with his family, or even a trip to the deli. "I'm there to give a speech. I go in, I give my speech and I go," he told Scott.

In fact, during his speech, in which he spent nearly an hour detailing his work as Governor in New Jersey, and how he felt much of what he had done needed to be applied to the rest of the nation, Christie revealed he'd done much more than simply "give my speech and...go." As he noted at the very top of his speech (complete audio and transcript here), he'd spent time throughout the day meeting with the hundreds of corporate barons and politicos on hand...

The next day, on one of three cable news shows Christie would appear on, in-studio in New York City, he also alluded to having spoken the day before with TX Gov. Rick Perry, who was also at the Koch seminar, along with Governors Bob McDonnell (VA) and Rick Scott (FL).

"We're incredibly transparent about what I do and when I do it," Christie insisted to Scott. "The state party puts out my political schedule, when I'm doing political fund raising. They tell people where I'm going and what I'm doing. My office puts out when I'm traveling, both inside the state and out of the state on official business, when I'm going to be doing public appearances. But I also, ya know, went to the deli on Saturday, do I need to tell people that too?"

The state Republican Party only admitted that Christie had traveled to Colorado --- and claimed that they had paid for the trip --- after it was revealed in the Mother Jones article. The trip was not on the Governor's public calendar.

Christie continued: "Now, I'm thinking --- I haven't made up my mind yet --- but I'm thinking of taking to New York for dinner. Do I have to let the press know that I'm going to New York on Thursday for two hours to take my wife to dinner, and let them know where I'm going?"

Scott responded, "Well, I kind of think that's different than going somewhere and giving a speech that could have an impact on policy."

"I don't," said the Governor.

During his Koch speech in Colorado, Christie was highly critical of President Obama, for, in his words, having "failed the fundamental test of leadership, which I believe is to tell the people who hired you the truth, unvarnished truth."

In addition to not telling "the people who hired" him the truth about his keynote at the Koch conference for a full two months until we revealed it last week, and about his private meeting with David Koch several months prior, the Governor once again failed to tell the "unvarnished truth" tonight on the Meet the Governor radio show in New Jersey.

The audio from the 9/13/11 Meet the Governor on NJ's 101.5FM, concerning Christie's meeting with the Kochs follows below [appx 7 mins]...

The text transcript from that part of the segment is here...

                 

Article Categories: Mainstream Media Failure, Accountability, Environment, Chris Christie, Koch Industries