Impeachment Looms Over Christie: But What Is It Anyway?

You know the governor’s in trouble, big, big trouble, when in less than a week after the entire George Washington Bridge debacle blew up in his face members of the New Jersey State Assembly are already talking impeachment. How much are they thinking of it? Well, on NBC’s “Face the Nation” program this weekend, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, one of the most notable Democrats in the Legislature, told millions of viewers that it is a real possibility.

Okay, so what is it? What is impeachment anyway? As an educator, most of my students regard it as the final act of a legislative body, be it Congress or a State Legislature, to literally throw a Chief Executive out of office and/or even sentence such an official to jail. It’s not either of these.

Impeachment is the start of a constitutional process. It is not a judicial process, though it bears some resemblance to one. It is not a process that ends with anyone going to jail or prison or sent into exile. Rather, it is a procedure in which a legislative body, in this case the New Jersey Legislature, formally accuses a member of the Executive branch of a minor or major crime.

To be impeached simply means to be formally accused of wrongdoing, and that’s all. According to the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the State Assembly can formally impeach the governor – or any executive or judicial branch official – by a mere simple majority. There are no 2/3 or 3/5 requirements. There are no judicial or jury trials. There are no arrests. There’s a vote, and if 41 members of the Assembly or more call for impeachment, then the accused official is officially impeached.

Now hold on! What about the thought that impeachment is the same as removal or criminal conviction? As stated earlier, it’s not. After impeachment, the process then moves to the State Senate. There the governor is tried, with the Senate sitting as a jury. The Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court presides, but he doesn’t otherwise influence the process.

The Senate trial and the subsequent vote is not like a normal “up or down” legislative tally. Firstly, all Senators are held to a higher standard, and ordered by the 1947 Constitution not to base their votes on politics on whether or not they consider the official being tried as guilty of the specific offense. If 2/3 of Senate members vote to convict, then at that exact second, the impeached official is removed from power, and reduced to that of an ordinary citizen. Nobody goes to jail, at least not right away. If this happened to Chris Christie, at that moment he would simply get up and, after his conviction, walk out of the chamber and go home to Mendham.

Our State Constitution clearly stipulates that whether a person is convicted or not by the State Senate, the criminal justice process is completely separate. So the State Senate may convict, or may not, but if a Federal or State court accuses the official of criminal conduct, then a criminal trial, fine and prison time is a real possibility. There is no “double jeopardy” issue here.

Let’s back up a bit. Let’s return to the subject of impeachment, because it means more than just being put on trial by the State Senate. Yes, if you’re governor, and get impeached, you remain in power. There’s no doubt about it. For all the time afterward, until you’re convicted by the Senate (or not), you’re still governor. But history has amply demonstrated, especially on the presidential level, that the damage to a Chief Executive’s reputation, his/her image and his effectiveness as a leader is severely, if not permanently, damaged.

This point is especially relevant when one considers the case of former President Bill Clinton. Clinton, who served two terms, lied under oath about having an affair with his intern, Monica Lewinsky. As many readers might recall, Clinton was more or less entrapped into it, but it’s hard to feel sorry for him since he created the situation in the first place. Though the highly partisan Republican House of Representatives impeached him, Clinton was not removed by the U.S. Senate, which failed to reach the 2/3 approval requirement. Nevertheless, as an impeached president, his influence immediately began to wane in Washington. Even to this day, whether people love Clinton or hate him, most of them begin every discussion about him with the line, “Clinton could have been one of the great presidents…if it wasn’t for that Monica Lewinsky Impeachment thing…”

But Christie has not been politically entrapped. He hasn’t been cornered during court testimony to admit to something that could ruin his marriage. Christie could stand accused of a flagrant abuse of power that clearly endangered hundreds of thousands of people, created a chokepoint in the vital Northeast corridor, might legally constitute an act of domestic terrorism, and perhaps causing a death and several injuries and accidents (one involving a school bus en route to pick up children). Additionally, Christie could be accused of obstructing the investigation into his wrongdoings (i.e. the call to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo) and incompetence (not knowing the extent of his own staff’s involvement).

This crisis has opened up several fronts on the governor and his staff. The State Assembly could impeach him, he could then face removal from office, he could face a criminal federal and/or state indictment for committing a crime, and he can be sued for a zillion dollars for his illegal actions. Either way, it’s a heck of a situation for a politician whom just two weeks ago was on the road to the Presidency to find himself in. What the next week or two will bring will be interesting for us, but really stressful for him.