Gov. Chris Christie has found an opportunity to earn lots of money — and he's reportedly coaxing lawmakers to change a law so he can do it.

Christie reportedly is working with New Jersey legislators to revise a state law that bars him on cashing in on a book deal while in office. Christie is in talks with top Democratic and Republican lawmakers to change a law this month to allow him to cash in with an undisclosed book deal, according to The Record, citing sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The deal would let Christie profit from a book while also pushing forward a plan to increase lawmakers' staff salaries, according to the report. New Jersey state law says a sitting governor is barred from receiving or agreeing to receive "any compensation, salary, honorarium, fee, or other form of income from any source, other than the compensation paid or reimbursed to him/her by the state for the performance of official duties."



NJ Advance Media noted two years ago that the same proposal was quietly being discussed. "It's being talked about. I'm not going to deny it's being talked about," Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, a Republican from Monmouth, told reporters. Earlier that same year, Assemblyman John Burzichelli, a Democrat from Gloucester, sponsored a similar bill that stalled.

Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie reported earning just more than $900,000 in income in 2015, according to their tax statements released last week. Christie earns $175,000 a year as governor.



The news comes after revelations that President-elect Donald Trump offered Christie at least three positions in his new administration. But he turned them all down.

Read more: Chris Christie Got Offered 3 Donald Trump Jobs He Didn't Want. So Is He Staying? It now looks entirely conceivable the governor will indeed remain in New Jersey to finish out his second and final term, which ends in January 2018.

