by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The Richmond Times-Dispatch had an interesting article about Mark Christie. Christie served a member of Virginia’s State Corporation Commission for 20 years until Trump appointed him to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in his first term. In January, Trump named Christie to head FERC. Then, in June, Trump fired Christie without explanation.

In the article, Christie has some important comments and warnings regarding the production and regulation of energy in the Commonwealth. I am not qualified to weigh in on those topics, but I do have a bone to pick with Christie on another matter.

Christie came to Virginia state government as a senior member of Gov. George Allen’s staff. A large part of Allen’s campaign for governor was devoted to tearing down government. In his inaugural address, he lamented that state government was too big and had “lost touch with the people.” He complained about the “heavy, grimy boot of excessive taxation and spending and regulation.” He declared, “In recent times, the will of the people has been frustrated by an unholy alliance of well-heeled interests, entrenched bureaucrats, and political opportunists.” He eliminated 5,500 state positions, five percent of the workforce, through buyouts.

Christie and the rest of Allen’s senior staff were no less zealous in their denigration of state government. At a meeting early in the administration co-chaired by Christie, in a response to a comment by me, Christie looked at me and said, pointedly, “Anything government does, the private sector can do better and cheaper.”

What has always irritated me most about Christie and his cohorts in the Allen administration was their ultimate hypocrisy.

When the administration was over, many of them chose not to go into the private sector, which they had lionized, but to continue making their living off government. After two years in private law practice, Christie took the position of counsel to the Speaker of the House of Delegates. From there he was elected to several terms on the State Corporation Commission and finally appointed by Trump to FERC. From 1993, when Allen assumed office, to 2025, with the exception of two years in private practice, Christie was a government employee, despite declaring that the private sector could do anything better than government. Rather than being employed directly by government after Allen left office, other senior staff in his administration ended up in law firms or trade associations lobbying government. In effect, they joined the” unholy alliance of well-heeled interests, entrenched bureaucrats, and political opportunists” decried by their former boss.

In the RTD article, Christie cites an email last spring from DOGE to FERC employees saying,” We’ve had a lot of questions about the offer of an early retirement. You should take it because you will give up your low-productivity government job and get a high-productivity job in the private sector.” He voiced his frustration that the email “went to all our employees, including employees who were working on the very permits for gas pipelines and (liquefied natural gas) facilities that this administration wants to get built.” That DOGE email was an echo of the message that Christie and others were sending to Virginia state employees three decades ago.