DownWithTyranny!: Why Hillary Clinton Supporters Should Be Contributing To Barbara Buono's Gubernatorial Campaign Right Now

Let's leave out, for now, that New Jersey state Senator Barbara Buono, like Hillary, has been a tireless champion for equality and a consistent and successful fighter for women's rights. Keep it in the back of your mind-- along with the well-established fact that Buono's opponent, Chris Christie, has been a loudmouthed sexist pig who has thrown roadblocks in the way of the legitimate aspirations of New Jersey women. He actually vetoed pay equity legislation and even called one bill "senseless bureaucracy" and he cut funding for Planned Parenthood, forcing 6 centers to close. He's New Jersey's first anti-Choice governor from either party since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade.

But the reason Hillary supporters should back Buono against Christie go beyond women and beyond New Jersey. You want Hillary to be the next president and the first woman president? Its an historic aspiration and it's within grasp. But speaking about Christie being a roadblock, he really is the only Republican-- if he could get beyond the GOP's far right nihilistic base-- who could make it tough for Hillary to win. He's barely campaigning in New Jersey-- so sure has the corporate media made him of his impending landslide victory-- that he's been spending time in places like Iowa and Idaho wooing presidential primary voters in those states. And Monday a Quinnipiac poll showed Christie tied with Hillary in a head-to-head match-up, 41-41%, the only Republican who could stop her. Iowans, like so many Americans, are sick of Obama already, are it gives Republicans-- for all their flaws-- a chance to pull ahead.

Iowa voters disapprove 55 - 41 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing, plunging the president to one of his lowest scores ever in any of the nine states surveyed by Quinnipiac University, according to a poll released today.

These Iowa results compare to a 50 - 45 percent disapproval in a May 24 poll by the independent Quinnipiac University. Today, men disapprove 60 - 35 percent, compared to a 54 - 41 percent disapproval in May. Among women, 46 percent approve and 49 percent disapprove, compared to May when 48 percent approved and 45 percent disapproved.

Disapproval is 90 - 6 percent among Republicans and 59 - 37 percent among independent voters, while Democrats approve 82 - 13 percent.

In an early look at the 2016 presidential campaign, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ties New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie 41 - 41 percent. Ms. Clinton tops Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker 46 - 39 percent.

...In the 2016 Clinton-Christie dead heat, Clinton carries Democrats 82 - 8 percent while Christie takes Republicans 80 - 8 percent and the two split independent voters 36 - 37 percent. She wins women 47 - 37 percent, he takes men 45 - 35 percent.

By a 52 - 41 percent margin, Iowa voters have a favorable opinion of Clinton. Christie gets a 42 - 16 percent favorability, with 40 percent who don't know enough about him to form an opinion. Biden gets a negative 38 - 47 percent favorability and 65 percent don't know enough about Walker to form an opinion.

"Christie's favorability ratio of almost 3-1 is impressive. The question is whether he can sustain it as he becomes better known," said Brown. "If so, he could be a strong contender in 2016.

Keeping Christie from damaging Hillary Clinton is a good enough reason for Democrats from outside New Jersey to contribute to Buono's campaign (which you can do here). MSNBC host Steve Kornacki puts it like this: "If the polls are right and Chris Christie wins a lopsided reelection victory this fall, it will put the New Jersey governor in position to seek the presidency in 2016. That’s the conventional wisdom, at least, and there’s plenty to be said for it. After all, by racking up a big margin in a deeply blue state, Christie would be making a powerful statement to Republicans across the country about his electability." But Kornacki, writing for Salon, takes it to the next step. Christie might be forced to resign the governorship if he does decide to jump into the presidential race!

This is the result of two federal rules, one from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board dating back nearly two decades and the other from the SEC in 2011, that drastically curb the ability of employees of Wall Street firms to donate to governors seeking federal office and of the uniquely broad appointment powers that come with the New Jersey governorship. Put together, they have the potential to prevent Christie from raising millions of dollars from a cash-rich sector-- the financial services industry-- that has been particularly enthusiastic about him.

“It affects a huge swath of potential donations,” Ken Gross, a former lawyer for the Federal Election Commission who now runs the political law practice at the firm Skadden Arps, said on Sunday. “Because it not only affects corporate donations where permissible at the state level to a governor or somebody, but also affects [corporation's] PACs and individual executives’ personal giving down to very, very low limits-- $250 or $350, depending on what you’re talking about. So a tremendous impact.”

Enacted in 1994, the first of the MSRB rule bars employees of firms that underwrite state and municipal bonds from donating to any official seeking federal office who has any role in giving business to bond firms. That prohibition was expanded just over two years ago to include employees of firms that advise state pension funds-- effectively doubling, from $2.7 trillion to more than $5 trillion, the market covered.

Penalties for firms found to be in violation of the rule are steep. For example, when a Morgan Stanley executive donated $1,000 to then-Massachusetts Governor William Weld’s 1996 U.S. Senate campaign, the firm was banned from doing business with the state for two years. The rule was triggered because Weld had the power to issue state bonds, and it cost Morgan Stanley millions in business.

More recently, the rules put a severe crimp in Texas Governor Rick Perry’s presidential campaign fund-raising in 2012. As reported by Dan Balz in his forthcoming book, Collision 2012 (a copy of which was obtained by a producer for my MSNBC show):

“According to William Canfield, Perry’s campaign counsel, when Perry began trying to raise money in New York, lawyers for Goldman Sachs told the firm that none of its employees could donate to his campaign. Perry’s campaign hired former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt to examine the issue. Pitt said there was no way around it, and Perry’s campaign essentially wrote off any efforts to raise money from the financial community in New York…”
So far, Perry is the only sitting governor to seek national office after the investment adviser rule was enacted. But when Mitt Romney considered Christie for the No. 2 spot on the Republican ticket last year, the rules were apparently on his mind. Last August, after Romney tapped Paul Ryan instead of Christie, the New York Post reported that the talks with Christie broke down over the SEC issue:

Christie’s aides tried to find a way around the rules-- like passing off power over state bonds and pensions to another official.

But that didn’t satisfy Romney officials. They feared that if Christie ran for veep and didn’t resign, the Obama campaign could challenge any Wall Street donations.
In his new book, Balz provides additional background on the Romney-Christie talks, reporting that Romney raised the issue directly with Christie and asked him if he’d be willing to resign his office in order to join the GOP ticket. Christie, according to Balz, laughed at the question, apparently not realizing at first that Romney was serious.

...If Christie were to resign as governor, he would be replaced by his little-known lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, who is running for reelection with him this year. There would be alternatives to resigning if Christie does run for president. He could, like Perry last year, essentially write off the idea of raking in big money from Wall Street. But given Wall Street’s particular affection for Christie, this would be a costly decision. Christie could also let a supportive super PAC collect the big Wall Street money he can’t and use it to run ads advancing his candidacy. But he wouldn’t be permitted to coordinate strategy with the super PAC.

Next Monday, July 29, Barbara Buono will be Digby's guest for a special live blog session at Crooks and Liars (2PM, New Jersey time; 11AM on the West Coast). Highly recommended!