It is safe to say that former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean Sr. is responsible for Chris Christie’s political career. When Christie was 14 years old, it was Tom Kean Sr. who held his hand and brought the young teenager into politics.
In an interview with the Washington Post published Saturday, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean Sr. (R) had some rather interesting things to say about the possible brain behind the Bridgegate scandal, Chris Christie.
“On the one hand, I think he’s got a lot to offer,” Kean Sr. said. “I think he’s the most able politician since Bill Clinton. On the other hand, you look at these other qualities and ask, ‘do you really want that in your president?’”
Earlier in the week, Kean Sr. expressed similar sentiments to the Associated Press, saying that barring new details, he thought Christie would “survive” the bridge scandal. Yet the events set precedent for a thin margin of error in the future.
“If there’s a pattern of these things, if other incidents emerge with similar characteristics, that’s going to be a real problem,” Kean Sr. told the AP.
Kean Sr.’s relationship with Christie reached rocky ground in November, when the governor maneuvered to ouster his son, Tom Kean Jr., as GOP leader of the New Jersey state Senate. The move left Kean Sr. “as surprised as I’ve ever been in my life in politics,” the AP noted.
