Battle of Democratic Leadership in the Assembly [AUDIO]

In late June, just days after the New Jersey legislature passed the public employee pension and health benefits reform bill, Governor Chris Christie gave a private speech to bigwig conservative donors in Vail, Colorado. He claimed Speaker Sheila Oliver asked him for help in keeping her leadership position in the event of a coup by her fellow Democrats looking to oust because she supported the reforms. Oliver accused Christie of telling a "blatant lie" and called him "mentally deranged."

Sources tell Townsquare Media that a leadership vote is expected in the Assembly very shortly after tomorrow's elections and could come as early as this week. We're told Majority Leader Joe Cryan is trying to topple Oliver who is definitely gathering up support.

Last week, Oliver gave a speech to supporters in Newark. She said, "Those who say I should not hold the mantle of leadership, the same things are being said across our country about this president. This president is presented with the same set of variables that I'm confronted with in the state capital. And you know something? He's going to prevail just as I'm going to prevail."

Asked recently if he would support Oliver again as he claimed to have done in June, Christie said, "It seems as if I offended the Speaker when I talked about that before so far be it for me to want to offend the Speaker again. If she wants to be on her own, she's more than welcome to be on her own……I'm not going to get involved in talking about whatever their (Democrats') internal caucus maneuvering may be in the aftermath of the elections. They'll have to make their own judgments on that. If I receive a phone call again asking me for help I'll consider that phone call in the context of the day, but I certainly make no commitments and wouldn't want in any way to imply that my help were needed because I certainly wouldn't want to offend the Speaker in apparently the way that I offended her before by telling the truth."

Throughout early June and right up until the day the State Senate and General Assembly voted on the reform measure, union leaders and members clogged the streets of Trenton railing against the bill and threatening retribution against lawmakers who voted in favor of it. Democrats got the brunt of the unions' anger.

Even on the day of the vote, it was not as sure bet the bill would pass. According to Christie, bi-partisanship ruled the day, albeit, oddly as the Governor claims he went to bat for Oliver. Below is a transcript of the Governor's closed-door speech at the Koch Brothers 2011 Summer Seminar.

"She (Oliver) was takin' a beating at the hands of her own party. At 5:30 she called me and she said to me, "Governor, I don't know how this is going to play out, but I'm going to, I want to post the bill but I think when I go on the floor, my own party's going to take a run at me to remove me as Speaker. So I can't post the bill." She said, "I think the only way I survive is if the 33 Republicans in the chamber will agree to vote for me for Speaker. Can you work it out?" [scattered laughter] So I said, "Give me five minutes." [laughter]

So I went down to the Republican Assembly caucus room. I stood at the front of the room and I said, "Ladies and gentleman, it's a historic day today. You're going to get an opportunity to cast two historic votes." [laughter] "The first one, of course, is about pension and benefit reform and I know that everybody in this room supports it. The second one is a little more unusual." [laughter] I said, "Probably for the only time in my governorship I'm going to actually ask you to vote for a Democrat. I said Sheila Oliver is under siege. And she wants to do the right thing. And we cannot be slaves to party or partisanship. She is right on this issue and she is with us on this issue. So if they take a run at her on the floor, I need all of you to vote for her for Speaker." I had these men and women look back at me like, "What?" [scattered laughter] And I said to 'em, "We were sent here to lead. Not to preen and posture, posture and pose. To lead. A public office to lead. We need to do this. So raise your hands. Are you with me or aren't you?" All 33 of them raised their hands and said they were with me.

And so I went back to my office, I got on the phone and I called the Speaker, and I said, "You just got 33 new votes." And she said, "Well, you just got yourself a bill." And she went on the floor, she led the debate, another two and a half hours of debate. They never took a run at her. It was the Minority Leader who suddenly went over to the Majority Leader of the Assembly, it was the guy who was gonna take a run at her, and said, "By the way, we've got her back, so don't try it." [very scattered chuckles] They didn't. They opened up the board, they cast the votes, by then 46 to 32, with 33 Republicans and 13 Democrats, we passed health and pension reform that will save the taxpayers of New Jersey over the next 30 years at least 132 billion dollars."

At a press event in Atlantic City in September Christie was asked about the leaked audio. He confirmed that what is on the audio is what he said and he added that he was "proud" that he helped Oliver retain her position. The Governor also said there were only 32 Republican Assembly members in Trenton that day. He said Assemblyman Pete Biondi was sick.