Christie To Focus On Bipartisanship, Not Scandals, In Inaugural Address

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie applauds during a gathering in Union City, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014. A top aide to Christie is linked through emails and text messages to a seemingly deliberate plan to create traffi... New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie applauds during a gathering in Union City, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014. A top aide to Christie is linked through emails and text messages to a seemingly deliberate plan to create traffic gridlock in a town at the base of a major bridge after its mayor refused to endorse Christie for re-election. "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly wrote in an Aug. 13 email to David Wildstein, a top political appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the George Washington Bridge connecting New Jersey and New York City, one of the world's busiest spans. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) MORE LESS
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) won’t dwell on allegations his administration abused its power to exact political retribution in his inaugural address Tuesday.

Instead, his address calls for New Jersey to be a more inclusive, bipartisan state.

“One of the lessons that I have learned most acutely over the last four years is that New Jersey can really be one state,” Christie’s speech reads, according to excerpts provided by his office. “This election has taught us that the ways we divide each other – by race, by class, by ethnicity, by wealth, by political party is neither permanent nor necessary.”

Christie’s excerpted remarks make no mention of allegations his administration closed lanes on the George Washington Bridge and threatened to withhold Sandy relief funds from the mayor of Hoboken, N.J.

While alluding to the state’s recovery in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, he takes a swipe at the media and pundits who have zeroed in relentlessly on those accusations.

“And, while government has a role in ensuring the opportunity to accomplish these dreams, we have now learned that we have an even bigger role to play as individual citizens,” his speech reads. “We have to be willing to play outside the red and blue boxes the media and pundits put us in; we have to be willing to reach out to others who look or speak differently than us; we have to be willing to personally reach out a helping hand to a neighbor suffering from drug addiction, depression or the dignity stripping loss of a job. New Jersey came together as one community when it mattered most and now we must stay together – people of every background and belief – the government and our people – to help our fellow citizens reach their dreams.”

Christie is scheduled to take the oath of office at noon ET.

Clarification: This post has been updated to show that the excerpted remarks made no mention of the scandals.

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