Updated Nov. 4, 2009
Christopher J. Christie Jr., the former United States attorney for New Jersey, won a close gubernatorial race against Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Nov. 3, 2009.
Mr. Christie, a Republican, overcame a huge Democratic voter advantage and a relentless barrage of negative commercials to defeat Mr. Corzine, an unpopular incumbent. Mr. Christie held Mr. Corzine accountable for rising unemployment, persistent budget deficits, and his failure to gain control over skyrocketing property taxes, the nation's highest. Voters embraced Mr. Christie even though he offered little detail about how he would fix the state's chronic financial problems and instead appealed to voters hungry for change.
Mr. Christie was appointed United States attorney in 2002. Before that, he specialized in corporate securities and election law and worked on the 1988 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush and as a top fund-raiser for George W. Bush during Mr. Bush's 2000 presidential run. He based his gubernatorial campaign almost entirely on his credentials as a corruption fighter, while battering Mr. Corzine for raising taxes.
Despite initial apprehension among some members of the legal community about Mr. Christie's lack of experience in criminal trials and investigations, he has been widely praised for his aggressive efforts to prosecute political corruption.
Mr. Christie, who has long questioned the ethics of those in power, has promised to put an end to lucrative no-bid contracts for the politically connected. But after he was elected to the Morris County Board of Freeholders in 1994, and his sole bid to ban no-bid contracts was voted down, he approved hundreds of such contracts, including more than 50 for contributors to his campaigns.
After 44 people, many of them Democratic officials and operatives in Jersey City, Hoboken and several other communities, were charged in a bribery sting in July 2009, Mr. Christie accused Governor Corzine of lacking the character and courage to reform what he called "the broken state we are all living in." Mr. Corzine's popularity nosedived along with New Jersey's economic fortunes.
In August 2009, Mr. Christie's campaign was jolted by news that he lent $46,000 to one of his top aides in 2007 but failed to disclose it in his financial records. Though there is no prohibition on a Justice Department superior giving an underling a loan, news of the loan and Mr. Christie's failure to disclose it nonetheless rocked his campaign, which had been enjoying months of smooth sailing.
A contrite and humble Mr. Christie apologized for failing to report the loan on his tax returns and financial-disclosure forms. Ms. Brown resigned less than two weeks later.
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