We shall see. Hopefully he is back from vacation.
Governor Christie is neither an out-and-out RINO nor a true social conservative. He is very comfortable with gay civil unions and very uncomfortable with gay marriage (either out of conviction or political alliances with social cons).
So far, social conservative opposition to the bill has failed to capture the public imagination amid a failure to focus on a message that has traction with the public at large. For example, concerns about the free-speech threat to the first amendment rights of kids and teachers to tell gays in and out of school that there is no gay gene have failed to arouse popular anger and protest.
This article is a welcome, albeit, last-minute attempt to change that by focusing on an issue that Joe six-pack can relate to.
The Gov has kept totally silent on the issue and is waiting for the last minute to move. He has probably made his decision more on the basis of policy and law than on any moral considerations. He has three options:
1) Ignore the bill and it automatically becomes law. This is unlikely because Governor Christie is too “in your face” to do nothing.
2) Veto it entirely. Unlikely because the risk of override by the State Senate is too great.
3) Veto it conditionally as long as offending sections chosen by the Gov are not removed. It then goes back to both Assembly and Senate. Intel from a reliable source is that the Gov is expected to use a conditional veto. It would take 2/3 of the Senate (the Assembly is a foregone conclusion) to override the veto and depending on what he vetos, the rationale he uses and a rallying of some public support for his position he may or may not survive an over-ride.
A big question for social conservatives is whether he will use the conditional veto on the “week of respect” and teaching parts of the bill.