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In his second trip outside the U.S. in three months, Christie, 52, plans to press for expanded North American energy ties, as he did during a September visit to Mexico, according to an advisory released by his office.
The trip provides a chance for the second-term governor, who has said he’ll announce whether he’ll run for president early next year, to build his foreign policy credentials while differentiating himself in a crowded Republican field. It also will allow him to highlight energy moves he’s made as governor that may be little known outside New Jersey.
“I don’t see how this trip will bring any direct benefits to
New Jersey as much as win over Republicans in the heartland,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch. “When presidential candidates make these trips, it’s only about posturing.”
Christie will be in oil-rich Calgary tomorrow. The next day, he’ll meet with government leaders in Ottawa and address business executives in Toronto.
Pipeline Battle
During his Mexico trip, he called for an end to the 39-year-old ban on crude-oil exports and approval of TransCanada Corp.’s stalled Keystone XL pipeline. Last month, a U.S. Senate measure to force a decision from President Barack Obama on the project, envisioned as the cheapest way to get Canadian crude oil to the world’s largest refining market on the Gulf Coast, fell one vote short of passage.Christie, the first Republican elected New Jersey governor since 1997, took office in 2010. In 2011, he angered Democrats and environmentalists when he withdrew the state from the Northeast carbon-trading group known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, calling it a costly failure.
In 2012, he vetoed a bill to ban fracking in the Garden State, favoring instead a one-year moratorium that expired in 2013. In August, he rejected legislation that would have barred New Jersey from accepting fracking waste for disposal.
‘Little Marker’
Christie is among Republicans who have said that fracking, which frees gas trapped in shale, can create jobs and make the U.S. energy-independent. A boom in shale-oil production has boosted domestic output to the highest level in three decades. Environmental groups that typically back Democrats oppose the process, saying it can harm water and air quality.“It’s a little marker to everybody,’” Republican pollster and consultant Mike McKenna said of Christie’s energy focus. “It sort of says, ‘Hey, I get the importance of what’s going on here -- I understand that we are in the midst of a once-in-a-century energy boom.’”
Julian Zelizer,who teaches history and public affairs at Princeton University, said the trip also allows Christie to show himself as a statesman, after almost a year under fire in his home state over the biggest political scandal of his tenure.
Christie’s record-high approval attained after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 has fallen since the disclosure in January of e-mails linking allies to politically motivated lane closings at the George Washington Bridge.
Scandal Aftermath
Almost a year later, the matter remains the subject of investigations by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in Newark and a legislative panel in New Jersey. Christie has denied any role in the traffic jam.In recent months, Christie has attempted to shake off the scandal with public appearances. In the second half of this year, he set fundraising records as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. His party picked up two new governor’s seats in the Nov. 4 elections, bringing its total to 31.
“For him, some of the early stuff, whether it was the RGA, whether it was Mexico, or this trip are more important than some of the other candidates,” Zelizer said. “He’s literally rebuilding his image and he’s shifting attention away from the bridge to international affairs and his policy positions.”
During Christie’s RGA leadership, companies and people involved in energy production or related industries gave more to Republicans and less to Democrats, according to public filings with the Internal Revenue Service.
Political Giving
The companies donated at least $15 million through September, up from about $9.5 million in all of 2010, the most recent comparable election cycle, the filings show. During the same period, the industry’s giving to the Democratic Governors Association fell to about $2.8 million from $3.5 million.“You don’t give money to people who are trying to kill you,” said Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican consultant.
Christie said in September that Mexico and Canada have too often been an afterthought for America and should be a foreign policy priority. Mexico and Canada are the top two U.S. export markets and purchase one-third of U.S. goods sold abroad. Mexico is New Jersey’s second-biggest export market and Canada is its largest trade partner, according to his office.
During the Mexico trip, Christie didn’t discuss immigration. Republicans are divided over the issue, which some in the party point to as a reason for Mitt Romney’s 2012 loss to Obama. With Congress stalled over immigration legislation, Obama said last month he would use his executive power to let millions of undocumented residents stay in the U.S. legally.
“Energy is less controversial than immigration,” said Murray, the pollster. “A fight for energy independence on the North American continent continues to be a fight between Republicans and Democrats, so this was an easy call.”
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