Chris Christie is mentioned in two episodes of The Bob Zadek Show, in each case as a supporting figure in a broader policy discussion rather than as the subject of an interview. The excerpts do not present a dedicated treatment of his career, record or views; they invoke him as an example — once of a Republican officeholder unsympathetic to technological disruption, once of a governor whose support was needed to pass bail reform in New Jersey.
Innovation and the Tesla franchise fight
In the 2014 episode with Derek Khanna on regulatory barriers to innovation, Bob Zadek raised Christie while discussing Tesla’s difficulty selling cars directly to consumers. Zadek described Christie as “a classic RINO governor” and said he was unsympathetic to Tesla and therefore sympathetic to Big Auto, because he was protecting the franchise network Derek Khanna - What’s Stifling Innovation? (2014). The remark came in the context of Khanna’s criticism of Governor Rick Perry over Texas law that made it illegal for Tesla to sell cars to consumers through a Tesla dealership — Khanna noted that in Texas Tesla could not even tell a buyer how much the car costs. Zadek placed Christie alongside Perry as an example of Republican officials who had sided with incumbent automobile dealers rather than with innovation.
Zadek framed the underlying issue as one of principle rather than of favoring any particular company. He said the Republican platform should not support Tesla per se but should support innovation, and that Tesla, Uber, Lyft and similar businesses were all technology-driven. He argued that if Republicans became the party of innovation and technology, and took the position that they opposed any policy that protects the old and stifles innovation, they would attract young voters. In the same discussion Khanna said Uber was banned in a number of jurisdictions, including cities where Republicans had historically had difficulty competing, and that Republicans should champion the issue in every such city Derek Khanna - What’s Stifling Innovation? (2014).
The broader frame for the Christie reference was what Zadek and Khanna called creative destruction. Khanna credited the economist Joseph Schumpeter with the term, describing it as new companies coming to the fore, providing new services, and forcing incumbent firms to innovate or die. He said that when big companies face a disruptive challenger, instead of innovating they often open a lobbying office in Washington and seek a law or regulation to protect their market model. Zadek characterized this as companies that cannot compete on the merits running to Washington or to state houses for governmental protection, kept on life support artificially at everyone’s expense. Khanna cited studies saying such rules add about 12% to the cost of buying a car, describing that as a 12% tax paid not to the government but to crony capitalists Derek Khanna - What’s Stifling Innovation? (2014).
Bail reform in New Jersey
Christie appears again in the 2018 episode with Scott Shackford on how bail traps the poor in jail. Shackford said New Jersey had completely changed its bail system and was being seen as a potential model for other states. Under New Jersey’s constitution, he explained, unless someone was charged with a capital crime they had to be offered bail of some sort — either money bail or some opportunity to get out of jail prior to trial. The result, he said, was that some very dangerous people who had not been convicted but had a lengthy history of violent behavior, known gang members, people stalking girlfriends, still had to be offered bail How Bail Traps the Poor in Jail with Scott Shackford (2018).
Shackford said New Jersey pursued two goals in reforming its bail system. One was to make it possible for low-level defendants charged $5,000 bail they could not afford to get out of jail if they were not a threat to the community and not a flight risk — and he said most of them are not flight risks. The other goal was to change the state constitution so that if someone is believed to be a danger to the community, bail need not be offered at all. Shackford said this second goal was how reformers got people like Governor Chris Christie — who was governor at the time the legislation passed — along with some conservatives and tough-on-crime figures to support the change. In the environment New Jersey created, Shackford said, either a defendant is released with a set of conditions or is not released, and money is not a factor How Bail Traps the Poor in Jail with Scott Shackford (2018).
The discussion of protective detention preceded this account. Shackford described the public safety concern that a defendant, even if presumed innocent, might commit other crimes if released — returning to drug dealing, or attempting to interfere with the trial. He noted that in many states there is a constitutional right to be free prior to trial unless the courts decide the defendant will run away or is a danger, but that in a lot of states constitutional requirements for bail do not take into account the nature of the crimes charged How Bail Traps the Poor in Jail with Scott Shackford (2018).
Across episodes
The two episodes touch Christie in unrelated policy contexts four years apart, and the excerpts show no development in how he is treated. In 2014 Bob Zadek cites him as a Republican governor protecting automobile franchise networks against Tesla; in 2018 Scott Shackford cites him as the governor whose support helped pass New Jersey’s bail overhaul by appealing to conservatives who wanted dangerous defendants held without bail. The earlier treatment is critical and the later one is neutral-to-favorable, but the excerpts offer no account of Christie’s reasoning in either case, and no through-line connecting the two references.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not state Christie’s title beyond his being governor of New Jersey at the time the bail legislation passed, nor do they give the name of that legislation, the date it passed, or the constitutional amendment procedure Shackford alludes to. They do not report Christie’s own words on Tesla, on bail, or on any other subject, and they do not describe his party affiliation, electoral history or any office he held after the governorship. Nothing in the excerpts indicates that Christie was ever a guest on the show, and no episode is devoted to him.