Christie for president? Wife quits her job
TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie has said he'll announce whether he's running for president as early as next month, but his wife has already quit her Wall Street job in what could be a sign that a Christie campaign is a go.
Kevin Roberts, spokesman for the New Jersey Republican, said in an email Friday to the Asbury Park Press that first lady Mary Pat Christie has left her $510,000-per-year job at Angelo, Gordon & Co., which manages hedge funds and alternative investments.
A spokesman for the company said Christie was a managing director and that she has already departed.
"Mrs. Christie has decided to take a hiatus from her work in the finance world to spend more time with her family and young children,'' Roberts said.
On their 2013 tax return, Mary Pat Christie reported $510,552 in earnings. Chris Christie gets paid a $175,000 salary as governor.
Seton Hall University political scientist Matthew Hale says Mary Pat Christie's career change is another sign that her husband "absolutely'' will run for president.
Fox Business Network reported that people close to the Christies said Mary Pat told her employer that the reason for her resignation was that her husband was close to making his entry into the race official.
Christie told Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon earlier this week he'll announce whether he's running sometime in May or June. That was a slight break from Christie's earlier statements that he would announce in "late spring, early summer.''
"I thought he was going to run for president before Fallon and before Mary Pat quit," Hale said. "But now it seems like they're pushing up the clock.''
Hale said a wild card exists, with indictments expected from federal prosecutors in the investigation into the George Washington Bridge scandal. Christie's political allies were involved in the September 2013 lane closures.
A week ago Mary Pat Christie said she was unsure of what she would do about her job if her husband ran for president.
"I do have a great job," she said on the Today show. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with regards to that, but I know I want to spend a lot of time with my family."