Friday, August 6, 2010

NJ GOV HAS A NEW SPARRING PARTNER

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has had and is still having well documented fights with various public employee unions. Today, a new feud may have emerged despite the fact that Christie is in the middle of a two-week vacation.

Following yesterday's Assembly Budget panel hearing, Assembly Democratic Budget Committee chairman, Lou Greenwald released a statement saying,“Governor (Chris) Christie may be content with his victory laps and confabs with the Queen of England, but this budget deficit clearly shows the impact of his failure to meet obligations such as funding pensions, property tax relief and school aid.” Governor Christie can try to solve problems by avoiding obligations and pretending they don’t exist, but that's like a family saying, 'We're going to tighten our belts and we're going to live within our means, but we’re not paying our bills.’ A family wouldn’t do that, and neither should the state.”

The response from Christie’s office came quickly. Press secretary Michael Drewniak said, “Assemblyman Greenwald held a mid-summer partisan dog-and-pony show today in which he again failed to take any responsibility whatsoever for his and former Governor (Jon) Corzine's failed stewardship over ballooning spending and tax increases which brought us to where we are today. This politically motivated show hearing comes from the same Assemblyman who once famously said that the Legislature needed the “courage to spend.”

Drewniak wasn’t done. He added, “Governor Christie's budget was balanced without tax increases – an accomplishment Assemblyman Greenwald could never claim over his years as budget chairman. Rather than make any difficult decisions at all, he urges restoration of budget cuts and increases in spending. He voted for Jon Corzine’s tax increases, and even proposed having towns levy their own income and sales taxes,” says Drewniak. “Today’s hearing – in which Assemblyman Greenwald professes concern about deficits – comes from the same legislative leader who sponsored a bill last week that would have added $100 million in spending without any funding source or budget cuts. New Jersey taxpayers want this budget mess that Governor Christie inherited fixed. They’ve had enough, and they’ve had enough of inaction, failed leadership and politically motivated show hearings.”

This could get entertaining.


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