Parker will miss Christie for the headlines and jokes

Fellow columnist Jeff Edelstein pressed his luck yesterday morning with a text message.

“Are you going to miss (Gov.) Chris Christie?,” Edelstein wrote.

Edelstein expected a negative response but received a “Me 2” answer. Columnists, journalists, heck, even comedians look for the person who provides good copy for public consumption. Comedian Larry David could write a lifetime of episodes for “Pardon the Interruption” simply by hanging around Gov. Christie for a month whether it’s in his Mendham home or some Jersey Shore beach.

See what happened there? Every Trentonian reader recalled Fourth of July weekend when a Star-Ledger photographer captured Gov. Christie and his family alone on New Jersey Island Beach State Park. State beaches had closed due to a budget snafu but the governor spent Saturday, July 2 beachside.

Christie delivered this defense. “I’m sorry they’re not the governor,” Christie said of the hoi polloi. “This is a residence. Here’s the problem. We have a residence in Princeton as well and that place is a place where people can go and tour but they can’t if the government’s closed. Am I supposed to move out and stay in a hotel?”

Let’s digress to January 31, 2012. The Trentonian has delivered famous headlines, and front pages (Christie as Dallas cheerleader), some notorious, and this one captured his persona.

“Gov. Christie calls NJ Assemblyman Reed Gusciora ‘numb nuts’ after the pair jousted about civil rights and legalized same-sex marriage.

Gusciora chastised Christie for namecalling, saying the governor delivered such responses when he lacked intelligence and insight.

Reporters and journalists smirked as Gov. Christie had sparred again, this time with an opponent who never backed down during the governor’s two terms.

Christie, seemed to enjoy political pugilists who showed fight, except when Bridgegate arrived. Nothing gained more attention, not even the governor’s impactful appearance at the 2012 Republican National Convention, than that unhappy affair in Fort Lee in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge.

Gov. Christie escaped indictment but most people believed that his subordinates Bill Baroni, David Wildstein and Bridget Kelly worked for the governor when they closed several lanes to cause a traffic jam in Fort Lee in September 2013. The incident allegedly served as punishment for Mayor Mark Sokolich’s refusal to support Gov. Christie’s reelection campaign.

Baroni, a Port Authority appointee and Kelly, a top aide to Christie, were convicted of fraud and conspiracy while Wildstein pleaded guilty and escaped prison.

Christie’s feuds with the NJEA, teachers and a variety of political opponents remain highlights for journalists who never minded his off the cuff responses. His finger-pointing and insolence came with a price as Christie achieved a record-low 15-point approval rating during his final months.

We rarely existed on the same balance beam. One final column remains for this full-throttled governor who lived life without a governor.