Politicsann coulter immigration reformPoliticsAnn Coulter

Ann Coulter Says Chris Christie Is Dead To Her For Jeff Chiesa's Immigration Vote

Coulter Slams Christie
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Conservative commentator Ann Coulter is going after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) after Christie's appointee to the U.S. Senate voted for the immigration bill.

Coulter tweeted Thursday that Christie is "dead to me" after Sen. Jeff Chiesa (R-N.J.) voted in favor of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate, the Star-Ledger reported. The comment about Christie was part of a series of tweets by Coulter attacking Republicans who voted in favor of the bill, which received bipartisan support. Christie appointed Chiesa to the Senate earlier this month following the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D). Chiesa is scheduled to serve until a Oct. 16 special election to fill the remaining 15 months of Lautenberg's term.

Right after attacking Christie, Coulter listed Republican senators who she wanted to see targeted in Republican primaries when they run for reelection because they voted for the bill. Among those listed were Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).

Coulter received support on Twitter for her attack on Christie; one tweet from an account belonging to @RedKnightNJ attacked Christie for naming Chiesa to the Senate without checking on the immigration bill first. When he was named to the Senate, Chiesa largely deflected questions on immigration policy, talking briefly about border security and saying he needed to study the issues.

Christie said at the time that he expected Chiesa to act on his own and not seek advice from him on Senate votes. Christie reiterated earlier this week that Chiesa acts independently from him.

Coulter, who backed Christie in the past, has been distancing herself from the New Jersey governor recently. Earlier this year, she told a weight joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference when discussing the decision by CPAC officials not to invite Christie to speak.

Chiesa announced his support for the immigration bill on Thursday, saying that "it is the right thing to do." Chiesa has been a longtime member of Christie's inner circle, dating back to when the two worked at the same Cranford law firm in the 1990s. Chiesa served under Christie when the governor was New Jersey's U.S. attorney for seven years. Christie tapped Chiesa as his chief counsel in the governor's office and as New Jersey's attorney general before appointing him to the U.S. Senate.

Christie's spokesman said the governor's office did not have a comment on Coulter's tweet.

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Before You Go

11 Ways Immigration Reform Helps The Economy
Reform Would Help Curb The Deficit(01 of11)
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Immigration reform would reduce the federal deficit by $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years, according to an April analysis by the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. (credit:Getty Images)
Expelling Immigrants Is Expensive(02 of11)
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Expelling the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States would cost $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years, according to CNBC. That's because it costs the government more than $8,000 to deport each person. (credit:Getty Images)
Reform Would Help Fix The Social Security Problem(03 of11)
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Immigration reform would help bolster Social Security because more legal workers would mean more people contributing payroll taxes to its trust fund, according to an analysis from the Social Security administration. Undocumented workers already contribute $15 billion per year to Social Security. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Start Successful Businesses(04 of11)
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More than a quarter of technology and engineering firms started between 1995 and 2005 had a foreign-born owner, according to the Washington Post. One of the founders of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang, is an immigrant from Taiwan. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Save $410 Billion Over The Next 10 Years(05 of11)
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The immigration reform bill proposed by the "gang of eight" senators would save $410 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis from Gordon Gray, the director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. The savings would come largely from a boost in GDP resulting from undocumented immigrants gaining citizenship and in turn likely making more money. (credit:AP)
High-Tech Companies Say Reform Would Boost Their Bottom Line(06 of11)
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Companies like Microsoft and Google have said that immigration reform would help them by allowing for more H1B visas, a special kind of visa geared toward highly-skilled immigrants. The tech giants say they can't find enough qualified people in the U.S. to fill their staffing needs. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost The Wages Of Native-Born Workers(07 of11)
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U.S.-born workers see between a 0.1 and 0.6 percent boost in wages on average with an increase in immigration, according to a January report from the Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative of the nonpartisan Brookings Institution. That's because immigrant workers bring skills with them that complement those of native-born workers, leading to new jobs. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Are Entrepreneurial (08 of11)
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Immigrants are more than twice as likely than native-born Americans to start new businesses, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost GDP By More Than $1 Trillion Over 10 Years(09 of11)
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Immigration reform would boost GDP by $1.5 trillion -- or about 1 percent -- over 10 years, according to an estimate from UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda cited by CNBC. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Create Jobs(10 of11)
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Businesses owned by immigrants created 4.7 million jobs in the U.S. in 2007, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Bring In More Money Than It Costs In Benefits(11 of11)
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Though many critics of immigration reform argue against the cost of providing increased public benefits, analysts say higher spending is not a likely consequence. A Congressional Budget Analysis of George W. Bush's 2007 immigration reform proposal found that it would cost the government $23 billion in more public services, but bring in $48 billion in revenue, according to the Washington Post. (credit:Getty Images)
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