Governor Christie- The Four Rules
- 8 years ago
Governor Christie lays out the four rules before engaging in a question & answer session with town hall participants. (Transcript Below from 4/30/13 LBI Town Hall)
Governor Christie: We have four rules real quick. Rule #1 is please don't yell out questions. Please do what he did. Raise your hand and I'll call on you. If you yell out questions I won't answer them. Second rule is when I call on you please wait to get the microphone. I've got men and women running around here with microphones. They'll come to you so that everybody in the room can hear you. We have over 600 people in here today. I want everybody to be able to hear your question and I want to hear it too, and please tell me your name and where you're from so I don't say hey you in the blue shirt. I'd rather call you by your name. Third is less of a rule and more of a bit of advice. When you get that microphone in your hand you are going to feel an undeniable but indescribable, gravitational-like pull, to give a speech. Take my word for it; it happens, it happens. So when it does happen, when it does happen I'll listen to you for a while. But here's the cue, OK? When I start going uh huh, that means I get it. Let's ask the question, and not because I don't want to listen to your speech but because we've got lots of people here and I want to get to as many questions as I can before I have to go. The fourth rule is this: Now there are a number of people who I see here who have been to town hall meetings before, in addition to my father, and for those of you we lovingly call you repeat offenders. Welcome back. However, there's a number of you who I don't recognize, who are new here. You may have never seen a town hall in person before, but you may have seen excerpts from my town hall meetings on YouTube or the evening news and seen some of my more colorful interactions with my constituents. Here's the thing: this is a great country and an amazing state and I am sure there are people in this room who disagree with me on one thing or another and welcome, and if I happen to call on you and you have a disagreement, that's great. I welcome you to express it, and if you do express it in a reasonable and respectful way I'll give you a reasonable and respectful disagreement in return. However, we have all these cameras here today 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, cameras here today. If because we have all these cameras and reporters here today you decide that today is the day you want to show off for your friends, today is the day you want to take the Governor of New Jersey out for a walk, that's OK. You can give it a try if you like. But for purposes of that exercise I want to remind you we are all from New Jersey, and what that means is if you give it you are getting it right back, all right? So let's get to work.
Governor Christie: We have four rules real quick. Rule #1 is please don't yell out questions. Please do what he did. Raise your hand and I'll call on you. If you yell out questions I won't answer them. Second rule is when I call on you please wait to get the microphone. I've got men and women running around here with microphones. They'll come to you so that everybody in the room can hear you. We have over 600 people in here today. I want everybody to be able to hear your question and I want to hear it too, and please tell me your name and where you're from so I don't say hey you in the blue shirt. I'd rather call you by your name. Third is less of a rule and more of a bit of advice. When you get that microphone in your hand you are going to feel an undeniable but indescribable, gravitational-like pull, to give a speech. Take my word for it; it happens, it happens. So when it does happen, when it does happen I'll listen to you for a while. But here's the cue, OK? When I start going uh huh, that means I get it. Let's ask the question, and not because I don't want to listen to your speech but because we've got lots of people here and I want to get to as many questions as I can before I have to go. The fourth rule is this: Now there are a number of people who I see here who have been to town hall meetings before, in addition to my father, and for those of you we lovingly call you repeat offenders. Welcome back. However, there's a number of you who I don't recognize, who are new here. You may have never seen a town hall in person before, but you may have seen excerpts from my town hall meetings on YouTube or the evening news and seen some of my more colorful interactions with my constituents. Here's the thing: this is a great country and an amazing state and I am sure there are people in this room who disagree with me on one thing or another and welcome, and if I happen to call on you and you have a disagreement, that's great. I welcome you to express it, and if you do express it in a reasonable and respectful way I'll give you a reasonable and respectful disagreement in return. However, we have all these cameras here today 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, cameras here today. If because we have all these cameras and reporters here today you decide that today is the day you want to show off for your friends, today is the day you want to take the Governor of New Jersey out for a walk, that's OK. You can give it a try if you like. But for purposes of that exercise I want to remind you we are all from New Jersey, and what that means is if you give it you are getting it right back, all right? So let's get to work.