newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ADELE SAMMARCO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The “will he or won’t he” run for Vice President dance continues as Governor Chris Christie coyly careens around the issue.

As the New Jersey Governor strategically two-steps reporters by repeatedly saying, “he’ll consider it if asked,” the Romney campaign is wasting no time pouring over other possible Vice Presidential running mates.

This as Christie plans to attend a fundraiser with Romney on June 26 at the Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel in Iselin.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual for Christie, who ordered the state to conduct new inspections of halfway houses after a New York Times report about problems in the state’s halfway house system.

“Governor Chris Christie ordered new inspections Monday of New Jersey’s large, privately run halfway houses, saying his administration would ensure that the system operated ‘effectively and safely.’

Christie issued a statement in response to The New York Times "that examined the state’s troubled halfway-house system, which has beds for approximately 3,500 parolees and state inmates finishing their sentences,” the Times reported.

“‘I am calling on the Department of Corrections commissioner, Gary Lanigan, to immediately step up inspections of all halfway houses and report any violations and recommendations for changes to the deputy chief of staff for policy,” Christie said in a statement. “While many of the disturbing accounts reported in today’s New York Times documenting lax oversight and accountability in some of New Jersey’s halfway houses took place prior to this administration, we have an obligation to ensure the community placements program is effectively and safely operating today.”

As Christie continues to conduct Garden State business by artfully swatting away second-in-command rumors from reporters, Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s name has been tossed into the proverbial hat of possible Romney Vice Presidential running mates.

However, some Republican sources close to the Former Massachusetts Governor say Rubio is currently not being vetted by his vice presidential search team.

In fact, Rubio has not been asked as of late to turn over any financial documents typically required of potential vice presidential candidates.

Yet, pundits on both sides say it is still too early to tell if Rubio may be asked to go through the vetting process.

Further fueling Vice Presidential speculation on a national level, Senator Marco Rubio said he was troubled by the White House’s decision not to consult him about its immigration move when staffers knew he was developing a plan to tackle the issue of undocumented students.

“Why wouldn’t someone [from the White House] call me?” Rubio asked. “I’m trying to find a solution here, not a talking point. I’m trying to find an answer here, not a bumper-sticker slogan,” Rubio said Friday.

“The president’s is a two-year solution that expires after two years and does not really solve this in a lasting way. It just gets him through the election.…The White House never called us about this. No one reached out to us and told us this was on its way. And, I mean, if they were serious about a real solution to this problem and not politicizing it, then why don’t you reach out to people.”

Rubio told the Wall Street Journal that his efforts to craft an alternative to the DREAM ACT were disrupted after the Obama administration’s immigration move last week.

“People are going to say to me, ‘Why are we going to need to do anything on this now. It has been dealt with. We can wait until after the election,’” Rubio told the WSJ. “And it is going to be hard to argue against that.”