Surprisingly Christie is given No$Money to Trump’s Campaign
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| Christie helped raise more than $100,000 in bundled donations for Bush in 1999. Bush named him U.S. Attorney for New Jersey in 2001. If Bush was Clinton She would be in Jail for a quid pro quo |
Donald Trump's biggest New Jersey supporters — including Gov. Chris Christie — aren't putting their money where their mouths are.
Despite becoming the first vanquished presidential candidate to endorse Trumpin February and serving as his transition planning chief since May, Christie has yet to donate to Trump's 2016 campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission filings that cover donations up to Oct. 1.
In the past, the governor has donated the maximum allowed under law to GOP presidential candidates, including $2,500 to Mitt Romney's 2012 White House bid and $2,000 to George W. Bush's 2004 reelection effort.
Christie also helped raise more than $100,000 in bundled donations for Bush in 1999. Bush named him U.S. Attorney for New Jersey in 2001.
A spokesman for Christie declined to comment on whether the governor has given any money to Trump.
First Lady Mary Pat Christie, who gave the maximum allowable donation to Romney's 2012 bid as well as her husband's 2016 run, hasn't donated to Trump in 2016 either, records show.
The governor's brother, Todd Christie, a multimillionaire Wall Street investment banker who was named one of the Trump campaign's 15 New Jersey "victory finance chairs" last July, also appears not to have donated to Trump's campaign, according to the FEC database.
Todd Christie has donated hefty sums to presidential candidates and other Republican campaign committees that have higher donation limits, including $50,000 during Romney's 2012 presidential bid and $75,000 when John McCain ran in 2008.
Calls and emails to Todd Christie were not immediately returned.
William Palatucci, who is general counsel to the Trump transition and a longtime adviser to the to governor, has in the past given the maximum allowed amount to Christie's presidential campaign, Romney's 2012 bid, Rudy Giuliani's 2008 campaign, and Bush's reelection bid in 2004.
But Palatucci hasn't given anything to Trump this cycle, according to the FEC database.
Palatucci did not return a call or an email seeking comment.
A spokeswoman for the FEC, Judy Ingram, noted that donations recorded in the FEC database were current up to Oct. 1, and cautioned that Christie and others may have given Trump a donation of less than $200, which is not legally required to be reported by the presidential campaign.
In August, Christie held a $5,000-a-head fundraiser in Bernards for Trump's transition.
In May, Trump hosted a fundraiser to help Christie retire his 2016 campaign debt.
On Wednesday, Trump told CNN he plans to spend at least an additional $40 million of his own money on his campaign, to which he has given nearly $60 million since the beginning of the 2016 contest.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
"Our governor did not give any money to Trump?" asked Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-Bergen), who donated $1,000 to Christie and then $250 to John Kasich after the New Jersey governor dropped out. "I find that hard to believe."
In October 2015, State Sen. Mike Doherty (R-Warren) became the first New Jersey lawmaker to endorse Trump. And in July 2016, Doherty gave $1,000 to Trump's campaign.
By the FEC's measure, Doherty's $1,000 check was the largest single donation Trump received from a state official in New Jersey.
State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris), an outspoken Trump supporter, in May gave $850 to the New Jersey State Republican Committee, but said he hasn't written a check for Trump.
His own campaign gave $1,000 to Christie's presidential bid last year, the most it's allowed to give to a federal candidate in an election cycle, and so it can't give to Trump.
Pennacchio isn't barred from giving his own money to Trump, but he noted he's still smarting from debts from his failed U.S. Senate bid in 2008 and a Congressional run in 1994.
"I owe myself an awful lot of money from past federal adventures," Pennachio said.
He also said in this campaign, money isn't everything.
"There are two things that matter in elections: People and money," he added. "Given my choice, I'd always prefer more people than money."
State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen), who is frequently seen at public events wearing a Trump campaign baseball cap, gave $500 to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, and another $500 to the Republican National Committee that same year.
He doesn't show up in the FEC database as a Trump donor in 2016, but he said that's because he's given two $100 donations to the mogul's 2016 White House bid, a donation level that is not required to be listed.
Cardinale said that Trump's willingness to largely self-finance his campaign in the primaries may be hurting him in the general election, especially since "New Jersey is something of a piggy bank" for presidential campaigns.
Assemblyman Robert Auth (R-Bergen) another Trump supporter, hasn’t donated to Trump so far this year, records show. The way you show support in politics is to help a campaign monetarily but you don’t see this on Trump’s men. All is oral. I mean vocal.
Claude Brodesser-Akner cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com.
Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser.
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