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TUESDAY 07.19.16

CHRISTIE CHIDES
GOP TRUMP FOES
Gov tells party that not supporting presumptive
nominee is same as working for Clinton victory

Questions
mount in
shooting of
retired cop
ALEX N. GECAN @GEEKSTERTWEETS

LITTLE EGG HARBOR - Details remain scant in a

police shooting that left a retired police lieutenant dead
in the woods near his Sycamore Drive home Saturday.
What authorities have said so far is that 57-year-old
Patrick Fennell, known in his neighborhood for hosting
street parties for children and helping neighbors, fled
with a handgun into the woods near his home on Saturday evening. He was shot to death by a SWAT officer
around 10:30 p.m.
Neighbors interviewed said police swarmed Sycamore Drive on Saturday evening and told them to remain indoors until around 11 p.m. Police provided no information as to the reason for the shelter-in-place order.
Ken Mandel, who lives down the street from the Fennell household and is a retired sheriffs sergeant from
Bergen County, said he figured the dustup was either a
car accident or a domestic dispute.
But then, later in the evening, he heard the telltale
See FENNELL, Page 9A

PHOTOS BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Gov. Chris Christie is surrounded by photographers Monday night at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, site of the
Republican National Convention. Below: Presumptive nominee Donald Trump introduces wife Melania to the crowd.

DUSTIN RACIOPPI @DRACIOPPI

Asserting his role as a top surrogate for Donald

Trump, Gov. Chris Christie opened the first day of the
Republican National Convention chiding fellow Republicans who refused to back Trump as the partys
presidential nominee and portrayed him as a softhearted family man but an unequivocal leader.
As the party prepares to formally crown its polarizing candidate in the role of standard-bearer, Christie is interceding with a message for Republicans in
Cleveland and voters across the country: Get behind
Trump or get four more years of failed Democratic
leadership.
For the first time since Trump denied him the running-mate role last Friday, Christie appeared in public saying that he approved of the selection of Indiana
Gov. Mike Pence and that he was openly considering
options for his political future.
Several times during a brief question-and-answer
session with dozens of Michigan Republicans on
Monday morning, Christie was asked if he would accept the job of attorney general in a Trump administration. Delegates also referred to Christie as the
next attorney general and was even hypothetically
put into the position by a man who asked Christie to
promise to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her use of
private email.
But those possibilities for Christie will only exist if
Trump defeats Clinton, the presumptive Democratic
nominee, this fall. A Monmouth University poll released Monday said Clinton holds a 3-percentagepoint lead among registered voters and a 2-point lead
over those most likely to vote, a narrowing between
the two candidates as they prepare to accept their
parties nominations this week and next.
The Republican Party entered its convention in

ALEX N. GECAN/STAFF PHOTO

Retired NYPD Lt. Patrick Fennell was killed Saturday near his
Little Egg Harbor home.

MORE FROM THE CONVENTION

New Jersey delegates say Ohios open-carry gun law and
expected convention protests dont have them fearing for
their safety. Page 5A
At NAACP convention in Ohio, Hillary Clinton takes swipes
at an absent Donald Trump. Page 10A

As the gavel falls at the GOP convention Monday, Ohio

Gov. and former candidate John Kasichs rift with Donald
Trump and his campaign hits feud levels. Page 1B

Visit APP.com for all the latest Republican

National Convention news, videos & photos.

See CHRISTIE, Page 10A

For Christie, 4 years makes a difference

CHARLES STILE
POLITICAL STILE
Four years ago, Chris Christie
preached the gospel of bipartisan
cooperation and principled compromise in his much-anticipated keynote address to the Republican National Convention.
Now, Christie has adopted the role
of a partisan enforcer, bluntly warning delegates to get in line behind real estate tycoon
Donald J. Trump, even if they are less than enamored with the presumptive Republican nominee for
president.
If you are not working for Donald Trump,
youre working for Hillary Clinton, Christie told a
breakfast gathering of Michigan delegation in Cuyahoga Falls, 40 miles south of Cleveland.
Christie will return to the Republican National
Convention stage tonight, demoted to a supporting
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cast of speakers who will testify to the talents and

strengths of Trump. Christie once stood near the
center of the GOP universe and was widely considered one of the partys best performers; now he is
not even listed as a headliner.
He is scheduled to speak before Tiffany Trump,
Donald Trumps daughter with ex-wife Marla Maples and now the general manager of his winery.
Christie brushed aside suggestions that hes
facing a humiliating demotion. In his eyes, Christie
has come a long way from being a failed one-term
freeholder from Morris County two decades ago.
He noted that Trump has given him the coveted role
of chairman of the transition team for a possible
Trump administration a job that could, at least
for a short time, make him one of the most powerful
people in Washington.
Only one person gets the vice presidency, and
so Im honored to be considered, Christie said
See STILE, Page 10A
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VOLUME 137
NUMBER 172
SINCE 1879

Seaside plan may

harm feral cats,
says advocate
JEAN MIKLE @JEANMIKLE

SEASIDE HEIGHTS - A proposed ordinance to control the boroughs feral feline population will almost
certainly result in significant suffering, injury and
death to numerous Seaside Heights cats, a national organization that advocates for humane treatment of cats
has charged.
Rebekah DeHaven, senior attorney and associate director of humane law and policy for Alley Cat Allies,
said the ordinance which bans feral cat colonies from
beachfront areas and business districts here will
force the relocation of felines and lead to the removal of
many cats to local shelters, where they likely will be
euthanized.
DeHavens letter is the latest salvo in the ongoing
battle between advocates for Seasides felines and the
boroughs elected officials, who say a trap-neuter-return program here was not successful in controlling the
cat population of several hundred in a resort town of
See CATS, Page 7A