Conversation at The Economic Club of Chicago, 2/11/14. (Transcript Below)
Greg Brown: Does the GW Bridge situation impact your ability to execute on those priorities for the state?
Governor Christie: Actually, I'm shocked you brought that up. (laughter) Here's the thing about government or about Motorola Solutions. (laughter)
Greg Brown: Stick to government. Stick to government. Stay on government Governor.
Governor Christie: You opened the door buddy. (laughter) Large organizations are dynamic and incredibly creative because they're inhabited by human beings. They're also inherently flawed because they're inhabited by human beings. And some people who worked for me made some significant mistakes in judgment, and when you're the leader of that organization and you're confronted with that, the first thing that happens to you—it happened to me, was extraordinary disappointment, extraordinary disappointment that people that I had trusted had made such bad judgments and had not told the truth. But, you only have a few minutes to wallow in that disappointment and then if you're a leader you have to try to get a handle on the story and then take decisive action, which we did by letting people go and talking to the public about it. We're in the midst of an internal review now, and whatever that internal review discloses we're going to release to the public and if there's more action that needs to be taken I'll take it. But I don't think that it will curtail for the long haul a second-term agenda because I think the public in New Jersey won't tolerate it. The fact is that they expect me and the Legislature to continue to do what we did in the first four years, which is to find solutions to New Jersey's problems and to get things done. And so while, you know, the last six weeks haven't been the most enjoyable of my life I can guarantee you, on the other hand the fact is we need to do our work, and I believe—I had a meeting a week ago today with the Senate President and the new Speaker of the lower house, and they assured me they're committed to moving forward and getting things done, and I believe them. And so the time will tell, but I believe that we're focused on the things we need to be focused on, both in terms of fixing past problems and in terms of moving ahead with a new agenda.
