A Great Choice

He is still perfect.


Christopher J. Christie was 133 and 0 as a Federal Prosecutor. That’s right: One-hundred and thirty-three indictments and 133 convictions. John Wooden-like.

He ran once for Governor and won once. Barrack Obama-like.

And now he has made his first major appointment as Governor-elect: The selection of Richard Bagger as Chief of Staff. In my view, he is still perfect. Don Larsen would be proud.

Richard Bagger is a great choice because Richard Bagger makes great choices and will guide, advise and influence Governor Christie to make good decisions.

I have known Rich for almost two decades now and I know the quality and the character of the man. No one makes the right decisions all the time. But we are judged by the overall record: Do we continually make mostly poor choices or good ones. Rich makes mostly good ones.

A few examples:

As a young Assemblyman serving on the Appropriations Committee, Rich Bagger had to make a decision following a private conversation a young executive director had with him outside of a committee room on behalf of the Speaker. There wasn’t a lot of time to think about it. There weren’t any “trusted advisors” to consult. It was gut check time. Rich made a good decision.

As a new father and devoted husband faced with continuing the pursuit of a promising political career or an equally promising private career in the pharmaceutical industry and given the luxury of time, Rich Bagger consulted friends, presumably family, those who had faced similar decisions, and did his homework. He then made a great choice.

As a member of the Assembly’s leadership, huddled with our team on each and every major issue facing the Garden State in the middle and latter part of the 1990’s, Rich Bagger came to the that large table in the middle room of the Speaker’s suite having done his homework; listened attentively to the views of others; and then, more often than not, calmly and confidently voiced a view in a sure and quiet tone that persuaded others more than a dozen shouts of anger and the banging of fists on tables. Rich Bagger’s choices were respected.

I will leave to others to state the obvious: Bagger understands the state budget and how it gets done intimately; Bagger has the relationship skills and the Legislative experience that will serve the new Governor well; and, Bagger has the political skills that will enable him to say “no” in a multitude of ways that are not offensive.

Westfield-raised, Princeton-educated, Haytaian-trained and hardened in the world of global corporate dealings, Rich Bagger is the right man at the right time and in the right place. Over-used and even trite, but: Bagger and Christie – perfect together!