WASHINGTON, D.C., January 12, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Governor Chris Christie is caught in a conflicting message about whether he has or has not ever made a personal donation to Planned Parenthood.
Rival Marco Rubio raised the issue, saying last week that “Chris Christie personally contributed to Planned Parenthood.”
Christie denied the allegations this weekend on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
“Well, I never donated to Planned Parenthood. So, that's wrong,” the New Jersey governor told host John Dickerson.
Dickerson followed up, “So, just on the Planned Parenthood – never donated, never supported?”
“No, no,” Christie responded.
In 1994, Christie told the Newark Star-Ledger, “I support Planned Parenthood privately with my personal contribution and that should be the goal of any such agency – to find private donations.”
The author of the article, Brian Murray, is now Christie's spokesman in the governor's office.
Christie's campaign denies that he ever made a personal contribution to the abortion provider but will not comment on the quotation, made while Christie was running for office in Morris County.
As governor, Christie has repeatedly vetoed state funding for Planned Parenthood, saying the state cannot afford the expense while it is in such a fiscal mess. He also pledged to sign the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, if elected president.
The New Jersey governor also appeared to revise his past support for Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In an unbroadcast segment of Sunday's interview, Christie told Dickerson, “I didn’t voice support for Sonia Sotomayor.”
Yet in 2009, Christie said in a campaign press release that Sotomayor had “more than proven her capability, competence, and ability.”
Christie added, “I support her appointment to the Supreme Court and urge the Senate to keep politics out of the process and confirm her nomination.”
Dickerson also asked about the governor's conflicting messages on whether he supported an assault weapons ban, which he favored in 2009 but now says he opposes.
The issues have arisen as Rubio has filled the void left by Jeb Bush as the preferred candidate of the Republican establishment, a nod that once belonged to Christie.
Unlike Christie, Rubio has moved to show he can represent the full spectrum of Republican voters, including religious conservatives who are pro-life, relish religious freedom, and support natural marriage.
Chris Christie has been less supportive, as governor and as a presidential hopeful in the crowded 2016 GOP field.
When asked about the religious freedom issue inherent in the Hobby Lobby decision, he replied, ” I don’t think that’s the most central issue that we need to talk about.”
Christie also said he would make no accommodation for clerks like Kim Davis, whose deeply held religious views would not allow her to issue a same-sex “marriage” license.
He was also the second governor in the United States to sign a bill barring minors suffering from unwanted sexual attraction from seeking reparative therapy – one of many reasons Christian conservatives are unlikely to vote for Chris Christie in the primaries.
Transcript:
Dickerson: You said Marco Rubio is trying to slime his way to the White House, when he — when a super PAC running an ad said that you supported Common Core, you once supported an assault weapons ban, and that you donated to Planned Parenthood.
Why — which one of those is wrong?
Christie: Well, I never donated to Planned Parenthood. So, that's wrong.
Secondly, for him to be trying to characterize my conservative record in that way is contrary to what Marco himself said. Marco himself has said that I was a conservative reformer in New Jersey.
So, here is the thing. I'm not going to spend my time talking about Marco Rubio. OK? If Marco wants to think that — this is a guy who stood up and really lectured Jeb Bush on the debate stage: Someone has told you that, by criticizing me, it helps you.
Well, apparently, that same someone is now talking to Marco. I'm not going to fall for that. You saw my response to Marco. It was the play on an ad where I talk about the dangers of Hillary Clinton being president.
The fact is, I'm going to keep focused on defeating Hillary Clinton. Marco wants to continue to say stuff about me, I'm happy to stand by my record of having made decisions.
Dickerson: So, just on the Planned Parenthood, never donated, never supported?
Christie: No. No.
Dickerson: All right, Governor Christie, thanks very much.
Christie: Thanks, John.
