Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop lampooned Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) 4th of July beach fiasco in the first TV ad released by his re-election campaign.
[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SRNenu07Lw[/fve]
“I’m Steve Fulop and they used to say politics in New Jersey is no day at the beach – until suddenly it was!,” Fulop exclaims in the 30-second ad, where he is prominently featured in a beach chair similar to the one Christie sat in while enjoying Island Beach State Park with his family over 4th of July weekend.
Normally, this wouldn’t have drawn much attention, but Christie faced intense backlash since the beach day came in the midst of a government shutdown where state-run parks and beaches – including Island State Park – were closed (h/t NPR).
“This commercial was a fun way to show that while negative politics in New Jersey can go as far as causing government to come to a grinding halt, here in Jersey City, we have remained focused on continuing to build a better city for all of our residents, putting people before politics,†Fulop said in a statement.
While the mockery of Christie is impossible to miss, the video also highlights some of Fulop’s accomplishments, during his first term: building three new schools, new parks and playgrounds, opening 500 new small businesses and hiring 250 new police officers.
Furthermore, the ad was produced by Mark Putnam of Putnam Partners, a nationally recognized political media consultant, and the ad will run in several cable systems in North Jersey over the next several weeks, the Fulop campaign noted.
Fulop, considered a leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate until about a year ago, and Christie have had an icy relationship ever since then-Councilman Fulop would not endorse the governor’s re-election in 2013.
Christie referred to Fulop as a Hudson County political boss last year, just about two weeks after Fulop created a website asking Christie to resign.
A spokesman for Christie’s office did not return an email seeking comment.
