Monday, September 15, 2014 7:31:32 PM
Odd Couple: Christie, Pelosi attend prisoner re-entry center ceremony
September 15, 2014, 7:41 AM Last updated: Monday, September 15, 2014, 7:10 PM
By Melissa Hayes
State House Bureau
The Record
Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, front, leads dignitaries in saying the Serenity Prayer at Martin's Place. U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, center, holds hands with Gov. Chris Christie.
jennifer brown/special to the record
Governor Christie and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi put aside their partisan political differences — and at one point clasped hands in prayer — to celebrate the opening of a drug treatment and workforce development center in Jersey City Monday.
The celebration of Martin’s Place, named after Martin Luther King Jr., drew a mix of politicians to the heavily Democratic city. Former Gov. Brendan Byrne, a Democrat, and former Gov. Tom Kean, a Republican sat alongside Christie, a Republican considering a run for president.
While a handful of people stood up and applauded Christie after his remarks, the packed crowded jumped to its feet for Pelosi, a California Democrat. Former Gov. James McGreevey, himself the subject of an HBO documentary Pelosi’s daughter made about his work with drug addicts, tried to get the enthusiasm for Pelosi out before Christie arrived.
“We’ve got to get all these Democratic spirits out of us before the governor shows up,” McGreevey said drawing laughs and applause. “Let’s give it up one more time, then we’ve to get proper and white bread and all that stuff.”
Christie appeared on stage for a conversation about drug treatment and prisoner re-entry programs with McGreevey, now the executive director of Jersey City’s employment and training program.
McGreevey asked Christie, a former federal prosecutor who supports drug treatment over prison for non-violent offenders, how to make the issue of drug addiction and incarceration part of the national conversation.
“If we acknowledge that it’s a disease then we can begin to remove the stigma from the idea of second chances and treatment as the alternative to deal with that disease,” Christie said. “Any other disease of course the first thing you would say to a friend it to go and get treatment not to go to jail.”
McGreevey asked Christie if he would take the issue to the national level, by acknowledging that the governor is considering running for president in 2016.
“I know Governor Christie is thinking about the best public housing in the nation,” McGreevey said drawing a few laughs from the crowd.
“You’re bad, man,” Christie quipped in response.
The conversation between the two governors mirrored one they had at an event five months ago in the same city. Christie again spoke then about his decision to expand the state’s drug court program, making it mandatory for non-violent offenders to be sentenced to treatment programs instead of jail.
On Monday he also spoke about his efforts with Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature to overhaul the state’s bail system, giving judges the ability to release non-violent, low-level offenders without bail and another measure – which must be approved by voters – to amend the constitution to allow violent criminals to be held without bail.
Christie repeated a line that he often says, that every life is precious and that if someone is pro-life they must support second chances.
“It seems to me that if you’re pro-life you’ve got to be pro-life for the entire life, not just when they’re in the womb,” he said drawing supportive responses from the crowd.
Pelosi, who spoke after Christie, cited the governor in her remarks saying she agreed that judges should be given the discretion to decide bail and that every person who wants a second chance deserves one She said she was proud to be speaker of the house when Congress passed the Second Chances Act, a bill that made federal funding for Martin’s Place possible, which was signed by President George W. Bush in 2008.
She said Martin’s Place has national significance, because it can serve as an example for other communities and states across the country.
“I’m here is to say thank you because you are not only helping people here, you’re helping people across the country because you’ve served as a model that this can be done,” she said.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-Hudson, a sponsor of the Second Chances Act, noted that many of the politicians in the room were given a second chance – he noted that he had a failed attempt at U.S. Senate before later being appointed to a vacant seat, that Christie had a failed re-election attempt as a Morris County freeholder, that Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop had an unsuccessful bid for Congress and that McGreevey, who left the governor’s office amid scandal now runs a program that helps people reclaim their lives.
“If in fact it is okay to get a second chance in political life, why is it not worthy to get a second chance in life pure and simple,” he said drawing applause from the crowd.
Fulop said the center will be open to general members of the community, but it will have programs specifically tailored to the formerly incarcerated to help them become successful members of society.
“Every single year thousands of people leave the prison system and jail system and return to cities just like Jersey City and without help those people return to the same environment as prior to incarceration and without change that cycle will repeat itself again and again and again,” he said.
Email: hayes@northjersey.com
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-pelosi-attend-prisoner-re-entry-center-ceremony-1.1088230#sthash.kmXGomd2.dpuf
September 15, 2014, 7:41 AM Last updated: Monday, September 15, 2014, 7:10 PM
By Melissa Hayes
State House Bureau
The Record
Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, front, leads dignitaries in saying the Serenity Prayer at Martin's Place. U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, center, holds hands with Gov. Chris Christie.
jennifer brown/special to the record
Governor Christie and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi put aside their partisan political differences — and at one point clasped hands in prayer — to celebrate the opening of a drug treatment and workforce development center in Jersey City Monday.
The celebration of Martin’s Place, named after Martin Luther King Jr., drew a mix of politicians to the heavily Democratic city. Former Gov. Brendan Byrne, a Democrat, and former Gov. Tom Kean, a Republican sat alongside Christie, a Republican considering a run for president.
While a handful of people stood up and applauded Christie after his remarks, the packed crowded jumped to its feet for Pelosi, a California Democrat. Former Gov. James McGreevey, himself the subject of an HBO documentary Pelosi’s daughter made about his work with drug addicts, tried to get the enthusiasm for Pelosi out before Christie arrived.
“We’ve got to get all these Democratic spirits out of us before the governor shows up,” McGreevey said drawing laughs and applause. “Let’s give it up one more time, then we’ve to get proper and white bread and all that stuff.”
Christie appeared on stage for a conversation about drug treatment and prisoner re-entry programs with McGreevey, now the executive director of Jersey City’s employment and training program.
McGreevey asked Christie, a former federal prosecutor who supports drug treatment over prison for non-violent offenders, how to make the issue of drug addiction and incarceration part of the national conversation.
“If we acknowledge that it’s a disease then we can begin to remove the stigma from the idea of second chances and treatment as the alternative to deal with that disease,” Christie said. “Any other disease of course the first thing you would say to a friend it to go and get treatment not to go to jail.”
McGreevey asked Christie if he would take the issue to the national level, by acknowledging that the governor is considering running for president in 2016.
“I know Governor Christie is thinking about the best public housing in the nation,” McGreevey said drawing a few laughs from the crowd.
“You’re bad, man,” Christie quipped in response.
The conversation between the two governors mirrored one they had at an event five months ago in the same city. Christie again spoke then about his decision to expand the state’s drug court program, making it mandatory for non-violent offenders to be sentenced to treatment programs instead of jail.
On Monday he also spoke about his efforts with Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature to overhaul the state’s bail system, giving judges the ability to release non-violent, low-level offenders without bail and another measure – which must be approved by voters – to amend the constitution to allow violent criminals to be held without bail.
Christie repeated a line that he often says, that every life is precious and that if someone is pro-life they must support second chances.
“It seems to me that if you’re pro-life you’ve got to be pro-life for the entire life, not just when they’re in the womb,” he said drawing supportive responses from the crowd.
Pelosi, who spoke after Christie, cited the governor in her remarks saying she agreed that judges should be given the discretion to decide bail and that every person who wants a second chance deserves one She said she was proud to be speaker of the house when Congress passed the Second Chances Act, a bill that made federal funding for Martin’s Place possible, which was signed by President George W. Bush in 2008.
She said Martin’s Place has national significance, because it can serve as an example for other communities and states across the country.
“I’m here is to say thank you because you are not only helping people here, you’re helping people across the country because you’ve served as a model that this can be done,” she said.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-Hudson, a sponsor of the Second Chances Act, noted that many of the politicians in the room were given a second chance – he noted that he had a failed attempt at U.S. Senate before later being appointed to a vacant seat, that Christie had a failed re-election attempt as a Morris County freeholder, that Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop had an unsuccessful bid for Congress and that McGreevey, who left the governor’s office amid scandal now runs a program that helps people reclaim their lives.
“If in fact it is okay to get a second chance in political life, why is it not worthy to get a second chance in life pure and simple,” he said drawing applause from the crowd.
Fulop said the center will be open to general members of the community, but it will have programs specifically tailored to the formerly incarcerated to help them become successful members of society.
“Every single year thousands of people leave the prison system and jail system and return to cities just like Jersey City and without help those people return to the same environment as prior to incarceration and without change that cycle will repeat itself again and again and again,” he said.
Email: hayes@northjersey.com
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-pelosi-attend-prisoner-re-entry-center-ceremony-1.1088230#sthash.kmXGomd2.dpuf
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