For years, Atlantic City was a shining center of gambling and entertainment on the East Coast; now it's struggling to stay afloat

Jennifer Brown/The Star-LedgerKelly Bickar Hanken of Atlantic City rides her scooter down the boardwalk past the casinos. Atlantic City, once a shining center of gambling and entertainment, has fallen on hard times.

ATLANTIC CITY — Four years ago, some Atlantic City casino customers were shelling out $1,000 for a brownie sprinkled with edible gold dust in a Baccarat crystal they could take home.

Nowadays, some wait until 11 p.m. to eat so they can get a steak dinner for $2.99.

At the beginning of 2007, Atlantic City's 11 casinos were at the top of a wave of prosperity. Starting with the 1978 opening of Resorts, the nation's first casino outside Nevada, Atlantic City for years was the only place to play slots, cards, dice or roulette in the eastern half of the United States. The cash kept pouring in, the busloads of visitors kept coming and the revenue charts went one way: straight up.

And then, they didn't. Now, battered by competition from casinos all around it, Atlantic City is in a fight for its very survival.

The resort is furiously trying to remake itself into a vacation destination that happens to have gambling, but with no guarantee it has a winning hand even as other threats loom, including the possible expansion of casinos to north Jersey racetracks and a growing push for online gambling.

Intoxicated by years of success, Atlantic City missed numerous opportunities to diversify its offerings, widen its customer base and fend off competition that clearly was on its way even 20 years ago.

"The atmosphere was a total irrational exuberance; it truly was," said Robert Griffin, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts, who worked at Trump properties here in the 1980s and 1990s. "There was a feeling that there was no end to the good times and that the money would never end."

Then, disaster struck the nation's second-largest gambling market. A perfect storm of competition right on its doorstep in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware, coupled with the recession, pummeled Atlantic City worse than any other casino market. In four years, a billion and a half dollars vanished, along with thousands of jobs and tourists. Pennsylvania, with its 10 casinos, is poised to knock Atlantic City into third place at some point next year.

How did things go so wrong so fast?

MISSTEPS

Cars streamed into Atlantic City on May 26, 1978, and people lined the Boardwalk for blocks, waiting to get inside Resorts on the first day it was legal to gamble there.

People bought tickets for buffets they had no intention of eating, just to sneak inside the casino earlier than the rest. Men relieved themselves into plastic coin cups to avoid losing their spot at the tables by going to restrooms. And cash — more than anyone had ever seen and more than management could imagine — flooded into the counting room, to the point that it took nearly an entire day to count it.

"It was euphoria," said Steve Norton, who was Resorts' executive vice president when it opened and now runs a casino consulting firm in Indiana. "I mean, it was an unbelievable time."

One after another in the 1980s, casinos kept coming. Revenues reached a high point of $5.2 billion in 2006.

And then the Pocono Downs harness racing track in Luzerne County, Pa., added slot machines and opened them to the public on Nov. 14, 2006. Suddenly, people in the heart of one of Atlantic City's key feeder markets could drive 10 or 20 minutes to play the slots instead of making a three-hour round trip to Atlantic City. In less than four years, there would be 10 casinos in Pennsylvania, all of which now offer table games, too.

They took in nearly $2.5 billion last year, approaching Atlantic City's $3.6 billion. So far this year, they are running neck-and-neck: $996 million for Pennsylvania, and $1.1 billion for Atlantic City.

"If you didn't anticipate this competition coming, you were asleep at the wheel," said Israel Posner, executive director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute of Gaming at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

David Schwartz, director of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research, said Atlantic City can be successful again, "but it's going to require a reinvention."

"Basically, the city needs to stop looking backward and start looking ahead," he said.

A look back reveals many missteps and lost opportunities. The most obvious: a failure to reinvent the resort as a place to go for more than gambling. Atlantic City belatedly jumped on the bandwagon, adding non-gambling amenities over the past eight years like celebrity restaurants, spas, shopping and top-name entertainment. The Borgata even built a stand-alone luxury hotel called the Water Club, and Harrah's indoor pool has become a cash cow, doubling as one of the city's hottest nightspots.

John Munson/The Star-LedgerCarmen Ducalo, of Staten Island, plays a slot machine at the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.

But back then, anything customers couldn't bet on was seen as a waste of money.

"Nobody wanted to build anything other than casinos," Norton said. "The property values shot up so high, it didn't make sense to build anything else."

There's plenty of blame to go around. Casino owners focused only on their own properties instead of the market as a whole, a habit that Atlantic City is only recently shaking off. Competing against each other instead of Las Vegas was the city's playbook for decades.

Now, the casinos are banding together for joint marketing efforts, and will chip in to help sponsor the biggest names in entertainment, rather than letting one casino pay the whole cost of a Britney Spears or Lady Gaga show, or a rodeo. And three casinos are even thinking of jointly funding a new convention or trade show center in Atlantic City to draw badly needed midweek business.

New Jersey also erred by failing to approve legalized sports betting in 1991 when it was given the chance to do so ahead of a nationwide ban, gambling experts say. A state senator sued the federal government in 2009 to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, but the suit was dismissed by a federal judge last month.

FIGHTING TO STAY ALIVE

When Griffin, the Trump CEO, lays his head on the pillow at night, he worries that New Jersey will one day succumb to political pressure from lawmakers in the more populous northern part of the state to expand casino gambling to the Meadowlands racetrack, 10 minutes from New York City. Analysts expect it would instantly become a $1 billion market. State law now allows casino gambling only in Atlantic City.

"That would devastate us," he said. "This would become a two-casino town; it wouldn't even take five years. That's what keeps me up at night."

Maddie Downey, a bartender at the Showboat, has her own worries. The single mom has already lost one casino job when the Sands closed in 2006, and worries that gas prices will stay near $4 a gallon, keeping people away from Atlantic City.

"I'm just glad to have this job," she said. "I just hope it doesn't get any worse, and I hope the price of gas comes down."

When the Indian-run Foxwoods casino opened in Connecticut in 1992, it was the closest casino to Atlantic City — and a sure sign that more were to come. Mohegan Sun, another tribal casino, opened in Connecticut four years later. The resort responded by allowing its casinos to stay open 24 hours a day; they formerly had to close for a few hours in the wee hours of the morning. It also introduced new games like poker, keno and racing simulcasts.

But the money kept coming in, and the two Connecticut casinos didn't prove to be a major problem for Atlantic City, which sat on its cards. No new casinos opened until the Borgata in 2003, which would usher in a new era of grand dreams — very few of which would ever come true.

The Borgata touched off a casino arms race, with companies from across the country vying to build the next mega-resort here. At the start of 2008, there were plans for as many as four new casinos; MGM Mirage unveiled a $5 billion, three-tower casino project that would have been the largest ever built here.

Pinnacle Entertainment blew up the Sands to make way for its own $2 billion casino resort, modeled on a beach house. Before setting off the explosives that would bring it down, then-CEO Dan Lee spoke of the importance of keeping the market fresh, new and exciting. The challenge, he said, is "to compete in this new world, or be the next implosion."

Yet by the end of 2008, Pinnacle and MGM's projects imploded on their own, and Revel, the first of the new projects to actually put shovels in the ground, was limping along. It would run out of money in 2009 and halt construction on the interior. Morgan Stanley, its major financer, walked away from the project, deciding it was better to take a nearly $1 billion bath on the deal than to stay in Atlantic City.

After scouring the globe for financing, including asking the Chinese government, Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis finally secured new financing in February 2011 that allowed the project to resume, with some state tax incentives.

"Every market got hit, but nobody faced the amount of new competition coming online as much as Atlantic City did," said Larry Mullin, who was president of the Borgata at the time and now runs an Australian casino company. "We were just exposed. Nothing was going to stop the convenience customer from trying a product that was closer to them. I just don't think there was any silver, magic bullet. It was a very tough situation."

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerGovernor Chris Christie takes the stage as he holds a press conference outside the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall last July.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Torn between demands from the New Jersey casino and horse racing industries, New Jersey's incoming governor, Republican Chris Christie, sided in 2010 with the casinos, which provided more tax revenue to the state's coffers. He refused to allow slot machines at the racetracks — something the racing industry has long wanted to keep pace with its competitors in other states.

New Jersey staged a quasi-takeover of Atlantic City's casino and tourist zones; Christie called it "a partnership." But the new tourism zone is run by the state and takes charge of many functions Atlantic City's often dysfunctional municipal government had long struggled with, including safety, cleanliness and economic development. (At one point just a few years ago, four of the previous eight mayors of Atlantic City had been arrested on corruption charges.)

The $30 million in annual payments that the casinos had to pony up to the horse racing industry, in return for keeping slots out of the tracks, will now be used to market Atlantic City nationally. The state rewrote many of its famously strict regulations for casinos, removing, among other things, minimum staffing requirements. They even allowed casinos to keep some jackpots that had built up on progressive slot machine games that they decide to cancel.

State-mandated economic redevelopment funds collected from each casino will now be used solely for projects within Atlantic City; before, the money was spread around the state.

The help cannot come too soon. Casinos are selling at fire-sale prices. Within the past year, The Tropicana, Resorts and Trump Marina have all sold for about 10 cents on the dollar from their values of just a few years ago. The Atlantic City Hilton stopped paying its mortgage in 2009 and is looking for a buyer. The casinos have shed nearly 15,000 jobs since 1997, with more layoffs to come.

The extra marketing money is crucial to Atlantic City's future, said Frank Fantini, a Delaware casino consultant and publisher.

"If it can create that same, "I gotta go party!' atmosphere that Las Vegas has, it ought to be able to work," he said.

Griffin, the Trump CEO and Casino Association president, said Atlantic City should bottom out at around $3.5 billion, then slowly start to grow again.

"There's a lot of pain coming, but I strongly believe that in 2012 you're going to see us coming back," he said. "I definitely think better days are ahead for Atlantic City."

Could that be a new marketing slogan for Atlantic City? Most of America seems to know that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Yet how many people can correctly cite Atlantic City's tourism slogan, "Always Turned On"? The resort is thinking of a new slogan.

The effort has been going on for three years.

TRENTON — School board members in New Jersey will be required to pass criminal background checks under legislation signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie. The Christie administration announced the bill signing today. The new law disqualifies anyone convicted of certain crimes from serving on a board of education or charter school board. Assemblyman Jerry Green says it only...

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerMembers of the Spotswood school board at a press conference in this 2010 file photo. A new law now requires school board members to go through criminal background checks.

TRENTON — School board members in New Jersey will be required to pass criminal background checks under legislation signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie.

The Christie administration announced the bill signing today.

The new law disqualifies anyone convicted of certain crimes from serving on a board of education or charter school board.

Assemblyman Jerry Green says it only makes sense that those who are ineligible to teach in New Jersey's schools be prevented from presiding over them. The Union County Democrat was one of the bill's sponsors.

The law covers crimes ranging from reckless endangerment and drug possession to burglary and murder.

TRENTON — State Police Supt. Rick Fuentes was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to continue leading New Jersey’s troopers today, but not before facing pointed questions about drunken driving within his ranks. Even as he touted the State Police’s accomplishments, Fuentes acknowledged that troopers have struggled with alcohol in recent years. "This is not just a State...

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerNJ State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Statehouse where Fuentes was re-nominated for his position.

TRENTON — State Police Supt. Rick Fuentes was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to continue leading New Jersey’s troopers today, but not before facing pointed questions about drunken driving within his ranks.

Even as he touted the State Police’s accomplishments, Fuentes acknowledged that troopers have struggled with alcohol in recent years.

"This is not just a State Police issue," he said. "In the law enforcement community nationally, alcoholism and divorce occur with significantly greater frequency than in many other professions."

Fuentes said there was a "disturbing spike" in alcohol-related incidents — including drunken driving, domestic violence and disorderly conduct — from 2007 through 2009. However, he said stricter policies put into place in January 2010 led to a 77 percent decline in cases involving drinking that year.

Much of the questioning today focused on a March 2009 crash where Det. Sgt. William Billingham rear-ended a Philadelphia resident in a violent highway collision in Camden County. Billingham wasn’t charged or suspended in connection with the accident until two years later. Prosecutors now say Billingham, who has pleaded not guilty, was drunk at the time.

Troopers also wrote Billingham’s fictitious undercover information on the State Police report, which a lawyer for the crash victim described as a cover up.

The day after The Star-Ledger reported details of the crash, Fuentes issued new policies requiring ranking officers to respond to arrests involving troopers and alcohol. He also ordered troopers to report to their superiors when they show their undercover IDs to other cops after being pulled over or involved in a crash.

Asked why the memo was only issued after the article was published, Fuentes said. "Some of those things about that motor vehicle stop came to light to us and the command staff as a result of that. I felt that I had to respond given the publicity that was associated with that."

The crash and the State Police's response to it is currently under investigation by the Attorney General's Office, and the American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey asked senators not to confirm Fuentes until the probe has been completed.

"If it turns out that Colonel Fuentes intentionally protected this officer, hiding his identity and taking no action to correct the actions of the troopers at the scene, he does not belong in the role of police superintendent," Executive Director Deborah Jacobs wrote to senators.

But Fuentes was widely praised by senators today.

"I’ve heard nothing but good things about the colonel," said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union).

Fuentes, 52, joined the State Police in 1978 and has been superintendent since 2003, making him the longest-serving trooper leader in recent years. His nomination now goes to the full Senate for final confirmation.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie arrived at his son's baseball game this afternoon aboard a State Police helicopter. Right before the lineup cards were being exchanged on the field, a noise from above distracted the spectators as the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked...

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerGov. Christie exits a New Jersey State Police helicopter in Wayne in this file photo. Today he took a brand-new helicopter to his son's high school baseball game.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie arrived at his son's baseball game this afternoon aboard a State Police helicopter.

Right before the lineup cards were being exchanged on the field, a noise from above distracted the spectators as the 55-foot long helicopter buzzed over trees in left field, circled the outfield and landed in an adjacent football field. Christie disembarked from the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about a 100 yards to the baseball field.

During the 5th inning, Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie got into the car, rode back to the helicopter and left the game. During a pitching change, play was stopped for a couple of minutes while the helicopter took off.

Christie's eldest son, Andrew, was the starting catcher for Delbarton High School, in Morris Township. The governor played the same position of catcher when he was in high school.

The game was being held at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale in Bergen County. Christie watched the game from the stands, flanked by State Police security guards.

"It is a means of transportation that is occasionally used as the schedule demands," said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak in an email. "This has historically been the case in prior administrations as well, and we continue to be judicious in limiting its use."

The governor had no public events on his schedule, offering no insight to where he might have been traveling from. He had a private meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion, in Princeton. He is meeting with a group of Iowa donors who have publically expressed a desire to persuade him to run for president in 2012.

Christie was ferried to the field in a brand-new AugustaWestland helicopter, purchased at a cost to taxpayers of $12.5 million.

The State Police has received two of the five helicopters purchased so far, according to testimony from Attorney General Paula Dow during a May budget hearing. They were purchased to replace aging Sikorsky helicopters that the State Police have flown for about two decades.

The helicopters, which can reach nearly 200 miles per hour with its twin turbo-shaft engines, are designed for homeland security duties and transporting critically injured patients.

By Ginger Gibson and Donald J. Brower/Statehouse bureau

Chris Baxter and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

TRENTON — Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said today she would not move forward on legislation to change health and pension benefits without significant support from her caucus, staking out a position in stark contrast with Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a fellow Democrat. "That is not an option for me," Oliver (D-Essex) said. The Star-Ledger reported three weeks ago that...

Patti Sapone/The Star Ledger Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver in this 2010 file photo. Oliver said today she won't move on legislation to change health and pension benefits until she sees more support from Democrats.

TRENTON — Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said today she would not move forward on legislation to change health and pension benefits without significant support from her caucus, staking out a position in stark contrast with Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a fellow Democrat.

"That is not an option for me," Oliver (D-Essex) said.

The Star-Ledger reported three weeks ago that Sweeney (D-Gloucester) is prepared to push benefits legislation for public employees through his Democrat-controlled Senate with the support of all 16 Republicans and a small minority of his own members.

Oliver’s comment is the latest indication that the push for changes to health and pension benefits faces a tougher road in the Assembly, where she leads a caucus more sympathetic with the public unions.

The unions oppose Sweeney’s plan, which would increase contributions on a sliding scale based on salary.

"I support collective bargaining as the solution to the issue of health contributions, and I’m not alone in that belief," said Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union). "I think there’s a very dynamic discourse going on with that topic. My sense is that the majority of the members think it should go to the bargaining table."

Oliver said she would not move forward with the bare minority of Democrats needed to pass the legislation — that would be eight votes — if all Republicans are on board. But she would not say whether she would move ahead with a more robust minority.

"I haven’t determined that," Oliver said. "But I was responding to reports that the senate president was prepared to move a bill forward with seven votes from senators. I wouldn’t do it with eight."

Despite her seemingly tougher terms, Oliver has been in discussions with Sweeney and Gov. Chris Christie in an attempt to hammer out a deal. They met as recently as Friday in a nearly empty Statehouse, as lawmakers and staffers prepared for the holiday weekend.

In addition, two officials with knowledge of the negotiations but who were not authorized to speak publicly about them said the three are to meet again today. Oliver would only say that she will be in Trenton and "it’s possible I might swing by the governor’s office again."

Just blocks away, at the nearby Trenton War Memorial, unions members plan to rally with the Rev. Jesse Jackson today to protest what they consider an assault on collective bargaining rights.

The unions warmed up yesterday at a rally with Jackson in Camden, where he said a "toxic wind" was sweeping across the United States to wipe out collective bargaining rights. In New Jersey, public sector unions say changes to their health benefits should only be made through collective bargaining.

"Workers are being dumped on as if you are the reason we’re in an economic crisis," Jackson said. "State workers must hold ranks and fight back. When we fight back we never lose."

Asked about her meeting with Christie and Sweeney on Friday, Oliver said the discussion centered mainly on the budget. She would not say whether they talked about legislation on pensions and health benefits.

"I don’t report everything I talk about on a daily basis," she said.

Sweeney could not be reached for comment.

Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau

Christopher Baxter and Ginger Gibson contributed to this report.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie will travel to Iowa this summer to participate in an education summit. The governor, who has insisted vehemently that he isn't running for president, is going at the request of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, said Christie political strategist Mike DuHaime. Christie campaigned for Branstad when he was running for office last year. Tuesday night,...

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie, left, will travel to the midwest this summer to participate in an education summit at the request of Gov. Terry Branstad, right.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie will travel to Iowa this summer to participate in an education summit.

The governor, who has insisted vehemently that he isn't running for president, is going at the request of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, said Christie political strategist Mike DuHaime.

Christie campaigned for Branstad when he was running for office last year.

Tuesday night, Christie hosted a group of Iowa Republican donors at the official governor's residence in Princeton, a group that had hoped to court the governor to run for president in 2012.

Christie has insisted he isn't running, saying once that he might have to commit suicide to prove he isn't seeking higher office in 2012.

Related coverage:

• N.J. Gov. Christie campaigns for GOP Iowa candidate Terry Branstad

• Gov. Chris Christie will head to Midwest to campaign for GOP gubernatorial hopefuls

New disclosure reports show about one in three state lawmakers received a second public paycheck last year.

Cassi Alexandra/the Jeresy Journal State Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) also collects taxpayer-funded paychecks as assistant superintendent and mayor of North Bergen. Sacco was paid $278,260 last year

TRENTON — About one in three state lawmakers received a second public paycheck last year, new disclosure reports show.

Of New Jersey’s 120 senators and Assembly members, at least 36 held a second publicly financed job. They worked as teachers, mayors, municipal prosecutors, police officers, school administrators and adjunct college professors.

Some made generous public salaries in addition to their $49,000 part-time legislative pay. For others, the second job on the public payroll such as a part-time college professor or town attorney provided a small addition to their income.

The practice, has been criticized by Gov. Chris Christie, who wants all public workers — not just legislators — restricted to one public paycheck, except for those who are already retired from one job and receiving a pension. Public workers could still take other government jobs, elective or otherwise, but they’d only be able to earn a salary for one of them.

"You get one, that’s it," said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie. "It would eliminate a lot of the people who make this their living for life."

Since 2008, all politicians in the state have been banned from serving in more than one elective office, although those already holding office were allowed to remain and to keep seeking re-election. In addition, the ban did not address those holding more than one unelected public position.

A Star-Ledger review of the recent disclosure reports filed with the Office of Legislative Services shows:

• Of the 36 or more lawmakers with more than one public job last year, 26 were Democrats.

• At least 19 of the lawmakers earned more than $50,000 from their other government job.

• Seventeen had husbands or wives on a government payroll.

• At least 17 lawmakers received public pensions, and five took advantage of a state law allowing them to retire and collect pensions for the elected office they currently hold.

FRIENDS WITH MONEY

Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who earns $111,772 as a Union County undersheriff, said Christie’s proposal to limit the number of public paychecks would make it hard for those in less lucrative lines of work to serve in the Legislature.

"Not all of us are worth millions like Chris Christie and his pals," Cryan said. "It cuts out a voice for hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans … teachers, police and firefighters."

Counties with strong party political machines tended to have more lawmakers with more than one government paycheck. Of the nine lawmakers who live in heavily Democratic Hudson County, for instance, seven had other public income. Of the eight lawmakers from Republican-dominated Ocean County, three had other public jobs, two received public pensions and two had wives with public jobs.

The state’s top two lawmakers — Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) — both earned a government income on top of the $65,333 they each make as legislative leaders. Sweeney donated his $17,908-a-year salary as a Gloucester County freeholder to charity, and left that office at the end of last year. Oliver earned $83,048 as assistant Essex County administrator.

POLITICS OF PERCEPTION

But it is state Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) who has the distinction of collecting the most from his public positions, earning salaries as senator, mayor of North Bergen and assistant superintendent of schools there.

Although the financial disclosure form doesn’t break down the various incomes, other public records show that Sacco earned a total of $278,260 last year — most of which came from his job as assistant superintendent.

His constituents don’t seem to mind, however. Sacco was re-elected mayor on May 10 with 83 percent of the vote.

"The only people who really matter in this whole conversation are the people that he represents," said his spokesman, Paul Swibinski. "They have an extraordinary public servant who does a terrific job representing them. That’s why he is so popular and why people don’t care about this issue."

Most lawmakers do not earn the amount of public money Sacco does. For instance, Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), reported that he made less than $10,000 last year as an adjunct professor at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

"If they had to pay me minimum wage, they would have owed me substantially more," Carroll said.

He earned an additional $29,000 as the planning board attorney in Montville, though he said that under ethics laws, he did not have to report that income on his disclosure form.

Carroll said he favored barring lawmakers from holding several government jobs to boost their pensions, though he added that he thought attorneys should be able to represent several municipalities on a part-time basis.

"The idea of limiting people to one part-time job is silly," he said.

PRIVATE BUSINESS

The legislative financial disclosure forms are vague, so it’s hard to put together a detailed picture of lawmakers’ income. For instance, the top income category is "over $50,000," making it impossible to tell whether someone is making $51,000 or $1 million.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, who is a municipal prosecutor for several Mercer County towns and an adjunct professor at the College of New Jersey, said he did not think it was fair to single out public employees.

He noted that some state legislators, though they do not hold a second public position, work for companies that do business with state and local governments, creating a potential conflict of interest.

"I have more problems with the persons who will remain nameless who have private-sector jobs only because they have an Assembly position," he said. "There’s more pernicious activity with the ones who have private jobs than public jobs."

Indeed, some lawmakers work for companies that have millions of dollars in public contracts.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, collects a $4,996 annual salary as mayor of Wood-Ridge. But his main employer, the engineering firm Joseph M. Sanzari Inc., had $29 million in public contracts last year, according to disclosures filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.

His counterpart in the Assembly, Lou Greenwald (D-Camden), works for Remington & Vernick Engineers, which did $23 million in public work last year.

The law firm of state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) had slightly less than $4 million in public contracts, which he said accounted for only about 15 percent of the firm’s business.

"And, by the way, it’s none of the work that I do," he said. "They lend to the profitability of the firm, there’s no doubt about that. But there are 60 lawyers involved."

Wisniewski says Christie has 'selective memory and selective outrage'

MONTVALE — A brand-new State Police helicopter was Gov. Chris Christie’s ride of choice yesterday as he traveled to and from his son’s baseball game in Bergen County.

His office won’t say where he came from or where he went afterward. But about an hour and 10 minutes after leaving the game, Christie arrived, by car, at the governor’s mansion in Princeton to meet with a group of Iowa businessmen trying to recruit him for a presidential run.

The use of state helicopters has opened New Jersey governors to criticism for decades, especially when it did not involve official state business.

“It is a means of transportation that is occasionally used as the schedule demands. This has historically been the case in prior administrations as well, and we continue to be judicious in limiting its use,” said Christie’s spokesman Michael Drewniak in an e-mail. He declined to answer additional questions.

As the game at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale was about to begin, a noise from above distracted the spectators who watched the 55-foot-long helicopter buzz over the trees in left field, circle the outfield and land in an adjacent football field. Christie left the helicopter and got into a black car with tinted windows that drove him about 100 yards to the baseball field. The governor watched from the bleachers as his eldest son, Andrew, played starting catcher for Delbarton School. Christie played the position of catcher in high school as well.

During the fifth inning, Christie and first lady Mary Pat Christie got into the car, rode back to the helicopter and departed. His son’s team won the game, 7-2.

The Republican governor traveled in an AgustaWestland helicopter, which can reach nearly 200 miles per hour, that was purchased for $12.5 million and added to the state fleet May 4.

The helicopters are designed for law enforcement, emergency medical transportation and homeland security duties, said Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office. Helicopters not outfitted specifically for medical use can also be used to ferry executives, he said.

Loriquet said the contract for the helicopters was signed in 2009 during the Corzine administration.

He did not have a cost per hour for the choppers. When former Gov. James E. McGreevey reimbursed the state for using choppers for political use in 2002, it was at a rate of $1,200 an hour.

The governor had no public events on his schedule, offering no insight about where he might have been traveling from or if he took a detour on his way to Princeton.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) said he has no objection to the governor attending his son’s game or meeting with Iowa donors, but said he does not believe the governor should use the helicopter to link the two.

“The people of the state of New Jersey should not be required to pick up the tab so he can meet with Iowa donors at Drumthwacket,” he said.

Wisniewski also objected to Christie using Drumthwacket to host a political event, pointing out that he doesn’t live in the house and that it would be like meeting donors in the governor’s office.

“It’s not just contributors, it’s people who want him to run for another office with a political agenda. That’s where he’s crossed the line,” Wisniewski said. “He’s a governor who as U.S. attorney would rail against elected officials blurring the line. But this governor has selective memory and selective outrage.”

By Ginger Gibson and Donald J. Brower/The Star-Ledger

Chris Baxter and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

Was it inappropriate for Gov. Christie to take a helicopter to son's game?online surveys Related coverage: • Gov. Christie's helicopter rides raise ire of Democratic lawmaker • Gov. Christie arrives at son's high school baseball game in State Police helicopter

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerA state police helicopter is shown in a January file photo.

Related coverage:

• Gov. Christie's helicopter rides raise ire of Democratic lawmaker

• Gov. Christie arrives at son's high school baseball game in State Police helicopter

Sen. Barbara Buono asserts Christie has 'potentially violated the law'

TRENTON — After news surfaced that Gov. Chris Christie took a ride on a state helicopter Wednesday to attend his son's baseball game, Democratic lawmakers fired off tersely worded responses.

"If these reports are true, the governor has potentially violated the law by using public resources for private purposes," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex). "This is a serious breach of public trust and necessitates a full accounting of his use of government resources, particularly, the state police helicopter. The Attorney General and U.S. Attorney should demand all records of the governor's travel to ensure that he has not made a habit of using taxpayer dollars for personal or political travel."

Wednesday, Christie used a state police helicopter to fly to a baseball game in Bergen County, where his son Andrew was playing. He left the game, along with First Lady Mary Pat Christie aboard the helicopter. An hour-and-a-half later, he arrived via car at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton, for a meeting with a group of GOP donors from Iowa who were trying to court him to run for president in 2012.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) chided the governor for what she called his "do as I say not as I do" attitude.

"I can’t remember how many times I had to skip political events because my children had games or school activities," Vainieri Huttle said. "Leaving in the fifth inning to meet with wealthy Iowa political donors says something about the Governor’s priorities. Perhaps his presidential courters can help him foot the bill so our taxpayers aren’t on the hook for such perks when he is calling for sacrifice.”

Other Democrats called on the governor to reimburse the state for the cost of flying the helicopter to the game.

"To use these vehicles to shuttle between both a personal and a political activity is an outright abuse of taxpayer dollars," Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Bergen) said in a statement. "I’m sure every resident of this state would love to have access to these helicopters when they’re stuck in traffic on the Turnpike or Parkway and missing an important appointment. Sadly, we don’t all have that luxury."

Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has sparred with the governor before, said the governor is proving his calls for "shared sacrifice" don't apply to him.

"The governor must publicly detail his use of state police helicopter, and rectify this lapse in judgment by immediately reimbursing the taxpayers for all costs associated with personal and political trips,” Watson Coleman said.

The governor's office said today they had no further comments at this time.

"It is a means of transportation that is occasionally used as the schedule demands. This has historically been the case in prior administrations as well, and we continue to be judicious in limiting its use," said Christie’s spokesman Michael Drewniak in an email last night.

POLITICAL TURBULENCE

Governors of both parties have come under fire for their use of state helicopters -- sometimes after criticizing their predecessor for the same thing.

Republican Gov. Tom Kean had the state purchase an executive helicopter for $4.7 million in 1985; he used it for 1,039 flights in during his second four-year term.

Next, Democratic Gov. Jim Florio sold two of the helicopters and insisted his administration "isn't about flying first class. It's about delivering first-class service to the people with no frills." But he used the helicopter even more than Kean, logging 2,319 flights.

That led to fierce criticism from Republican Gov. Christie Whitman during the 1993 gubenatorial campaign. "I'll sell it. I'll take the money I save and use it to cut taxes," she said in a television advertisement. Once she took office, the state instead spent $443,000 to retrofit the helicopter for emergency medical work.

Then Whitman herself landed in hot water in 1997 for taking another State Police helicopter to a hockey game at the Meadowlands. However, she used the helicopters far less than her predecessors in her two terms in office.

Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey was the next to stir controversy for helicopter use. The Democratic State Committee ended up reimbursing the state $18,200 in 2002 for 14 flights taken for political and personal reasons, such as attending a state lawmaker's wedding.

Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), a friend of Christie's who was the Republican state chairman at the time, criticized McGreevey's "personal extravagance," saying: "At a time when he is cutting school funding and raising our property taxes, Governor McGreevey should be held accountable for how he spends every one of our hard-earned tax dollars."

After being blasted by Republicans for 277 helicopter trips in his first year in office, McGreevey cut that total to 19 trips in his second year. The Democratic State Committee and outside groups ended up paying back the state for eight of those 2003 trips.

After McGreevey resigned in 2004, Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) stepped in as acting governor for 14 months and avoided any helicopter controversy of his own. "He's not a helicopter-and-Drumthwacket kind of guy," Rutgers University political science professor Ross Baker said in 2006.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine was up next. Thanks to his status as a multimillionarie, he personally contracted with a private service for political and personal trips, keeping his use of State Police helicopters at low numbers.

After he nearly died in a high-speed highway accident on the Garden State Parkway in 2007, a special panel recommended increased use of state helicopters. That led Corzine to begin taking to the skies more, but still less than previous governors.

Staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie has taken the state helicopter 35 times since taking office in January 2010, including to survey flood and storm damage, according to State Police. State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes released a statement arguing the flights don't cost the taxpayer anything. Fuentes said the time police pilots fly the governor count as training time....

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie has taken the state helicopter 35 times since taking office in January 2010, including to survey flood and storm damage, according to State Police.

State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes released a statement arguing the flights don't cost the taxpayer anything.

Fuentes said the time police pilots fly the governor count as training time.

"It is important to understand that State Police helicopters fly daily homeland security missions, and use flight time for training purposes, more so lately as we acclimate our pilots to the new aircraft," Fuentes.

Fuentes said because of this, the flights have no extra cost to the

"Therefore, there is no additional cost to taxpayers or the State Police budget, nor is there any interference with our daily mission by adding the state’s chief executive to any of these trips," Fuentes said. "Any flights transporting the Governor would be subordinated to priority needs for our aircraft including rescue and emergent law enforcement missions."

Fuentes pointed out that Christie is on duty 24 hours a day

"His transportation, safety and security are my responsibility, and he therefore travels with the State Police Executive Protection Unit, whether on state or personal business," Fuentes said in a statement. "As part of our long-standing security protocol, the EPU provides secure, protected travel by vehicle in the overwhelming majority of the Governor’s business and personal travel, except in those rare instances when the Governor’s schedule warrants use of air travel."

On Tuesday, Christie used a state police helicopter to fly to a baseball game in Bergen County, where his son Andrew was playing. He left the game, along with First Lady Mary Pat Christie aboard the helicopter. An hour and half later, he arrived via car at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton, for a meeting with a group of GOP donors from Iowa who were trying to court him to run for president in 2012.

Christie's trip yesterday included one hour of flight time, which costs $2,500, said State Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones.

The helicopter left downtown Trenton, flew to the field in Montvale for the baseball game, and then flew to Princeton. Jones did not specify the exact landing sites.

Previous Coverage:

• Gov. Christie's helicopter rides raise ire of Democratic lawmaker

• Gov. Christie arrives at son's high school baseball game in State Police helicopter

• Poll: Was it inappropriate for Gov. Christie to take a helicopter to his son's baseball game?

• Your comments: Gov. Christie takes state helicopter to son's H.S. baseball game

What if Christie took public transportation, or drove himself to Drumthwacket?

TRENTON — New Jersey Transit’s Trip Planner lets commuters enter to and from addresses for travel by rail, bus, light rail or any combination of mass transit.

The trip Gov. Chris Christie took by helicopter Tuesday between St. Joseph Regional High School, 40 Chestnut Ridge Road, Montvale, and Drumthwacket, 354 Stockton, Princeton, returned this message:

We're sorry. We were unable to find a trip between your origin and destination without an excessive walking distance. We have provided a list of transit centers that are near the location you entered. Please make your selection from the list below and click the "Resubmit" button to continue processing your request.

The Montvale train station is listed as 2.17 miles away. Picking it returned this itinerary, optimized to minimize travel time. It is scheduled to take 3 hours and 51 minutes and cost $18.05 one way. It includes a 475-foot walk:

Depart: MONTVALE at 3:57 PM

Board: Train 1630 toward HOBOKEN
Arrive: FRANK R LAUTENBERG SECAUCUS LOWER LEVEL at 4:49 PM
Depart: FRANK R LAUTENBERG SECAUCUS UPPER LEVEL at 5:51 PM
Board: Train 3969 toward TRENTON TRANSIT CENTER
Arrive: TRENTON TRANSIT CENTER at 6:55 PM
Walk 0.06 miles W to S CLINTON AVE AT WALLENBERG BLVD
Depart: S CLINTON AVE AT WALLENBERG BLVD at 7:10 PM
Board: Bus No 606 toward Cc PRINCETON-Exact Fare
Board: RT-206 AT INDEPENDENCE DR at 7:48 PM
Walk 0.09 miles SW to Drumthwacket, 354 Stockton St, Princeton, NJ 08540-4498

Fare
Bus — $2.55
Rail — $15.50
Total — $18.05

MapQuest suggests driving on the Garden State Parkway and Route 1, a 66.82-mile trip that’s estimated to take 1 hour 28 minutes. Tolls would total $2, charged at the Pascack Valley and Essex toll plazas.

1. Start out going SOUTH on CHESTNUT RIDGE RD/CR-73 toward WOODMONT DR. Continue to follow CHESTNUT RIDGE RD. — 0.9 mi
2. Turn LEFT onto GLEN RD/CR-71. GLEN RD is 0.1 miles past COUNTY RD — 0.1 mi
3. Merge onto GARDEN STATE PKWY S (Portions toll). If you reach CLAIRMONT DR you've gone about 0.1 miles too far — 39.3 mi
4. Merge onto US-1 S via EXIT 130 toward TRENTON. — 10.0 mi
5. Stay STRAIGHT to go onto US-1 S. — 13.5 mi
6. Turn RIGHT. Just past FISHER PL — 0.03 mi
7. Take the 1st RIGHT onto WASHINGTON RD/CR-526/CR-571. If you reach US-1 you've gone a little too far — 1.6 mi
8. Turn LEFT onto NASSAU ST/RT-27. NASSAU ST is just past WILLIAM ST — 0.4 mi
9. NASSAU ST/RT-27 becomes STOCKTON ST/US-206. — 0.9 mi
10. 354 STOCKTON ST is on the LEFT. Your destination is 0.1 miles past INDEPENDENCE DR. If you reach FARRAND RD you've gone a little too far.

At least one famous person walked this route. After losing the Battle of Brooklyn Heights on Aug. 27, 1776, General George Washington left from Manhattan the next day and crossed the Hudson into New Jersey. He fought the Battle of Princeton on Jan. 3, 1777, 129 days after arriving in Bergen County.

Star-Ledger staff writer Frank Cecala contributed to this report.

Previous coverage:

• State Police say Gov. Christie's helicopter rides are 'no additional cost to taxpayers'

• Gov. Christie's helicopter rides raise ire of Democratic lawmaker

• Gov. Christie arrives at son's high school baseball game in State Police helicopter

• Poll: Was it inappropriate for Gov. Christie to take a helicopter to his son's baseball game?

• Your comments: Gov. Christie takes state helicopter to son's H.S. baseball game

TRENTON — As the fight to reform pension and health benefits continues inside the Statehouse, hundreds of public workers rallied this afternoon in Trenton with Rev. Jesse Jackson to protect their rights to collectively bargain. “We have never lost a battle that we fought and never won the battle unless we fought,” Jackson said. “And so fight on for...

Jerry McCrea/The Star LedgerThe Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks to workers during a union rally held at Military Park, Newark. He also joined public workers rallying at the Statehouse in the fight against health benefits and pension reform.

TRENTON — As the fight to reform pension and health benefits continues inside the Statehouse, hundreds of public workers rallied this afternoon in Trenton with Rev. Jesse Jackson to protect their rights to collectively bargain.

“We have never lost a battle that we fought and never won the battle unless we fought,” Jackson said. “And so fight on for jobs, fight on for public workers, fight on for teachers, fight on for bus drivers, fight on for police, fight on for the workers.”

The outspoken civil rights leader and former presidential candidate took veiled shots at Gov. Chris Christie and Republicans nationwide, who he blamed for cutting taxes for the wealthy, cutting jobs for blue-collar workers and cutting services for the neediest.

He also made reference to Christie’s trip Tuesday aboard a state helicopter to his son’s baseball game. “Here you cannot get public transportation to work and you send somebody out to the ball game in a helicopter?” Jackson said.

The rally capped Jackson’s two-day “Solidarity Tour” of the New Jersey area aimed at firing up public workers, who are under pressure by Christie and state Republican lawmakers to relinquish some pension and health benefit.

Related Coverage:

• N.J. Assembly Speaker will not move forward on health, pension reform without more Democratic support

• More lawmakers opposed to forcing N.J. workers to pay more for health benefits through legislation

• Gov. Christie seeks to change health benefits of state workers through collective bargaining

• Gov. Christie, state employees union begin bargaining over health benefits

• State workers demonstrate solidarity against Christie's proposed benefit, pension cuts to public employees

State Police say the flight didn't cost taxpayers extra

TRENTON — Facing broad criticism for flying by helicopter to watch his son’s high school baseball game in Bergen County, Gov. Chris Christie refused today to refund the state for Tuesday’s $2,500-an-hour flight.

"The governor does not reimburse for security and travel," a spokesman for the governor, Kevin Roberts, said in an e-mail message. "The use of air travel has been extremely limited and appropriate."

The State Police said the flight taken by Christie and his wife, Mary Pat, had presented "no additional cost to taxpayers."

That didn’t stop a horde of Democratic legislators — and even some conservative commentators — from denouncing the use of the helicopter by a governor who has become widely admired for his insistence on fiscal austerity.

Christie flew from downtown Trenton to Montvale, where his son Andrew was playing baseball for Delbarton, his high school team. He stayed five innings before getting back into the helicopter, accompanied by his wife. From there they flew to Princeton, the police said, for a dinner at Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion, with a group of wealthy Republican donors from Iowa who were in New Jersey to try to persuade Christie to run for president.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) chided the governor today for what she called his "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.

"I can’t remember how many times I had to skip political events because my children had games or school activities," Vainieri Huttle said. "Leaving in the fifth inning to meet with wealthy Iowa political donors says something about the governor’s priorities. Perhaps his presidential courters can help him foot the bill so our taxpayers aren’t on the hook for such perks when he is calling for sacrifice."

Even a conservative talk show host from Fox News, Greta Van Susteren, added to the stream of criticism. She took to her blog to question why the governor had used the helicopter.

"In these very, very difficult times for most Americans, it looks really bad when a politician is spending (or appearing to be spending) taxpayer money in lavish ways," Van Susteren wrote.

Amid the flak, State Police Supt. Rick Fuentes issued a statement saying the pilots would have been in the air training even had they not been ferrying the governor and his wife in the new $12.5 million helicopter.

"Therefore, there is no additional cost to taxpayers or the State Police budget, nor is there any interference with our daily mission by adding the state’s chief executive to any of these trips," Fuentes said.

The use of state helicopters by governors of both parties has been a flashpoint for decades. But the practice has been to reimburse the state for flights not related to official business. In 2002, the Democratic Party paid the state $18,200 for 14 flights by Gov. Jim McGreevey that were deemed political or personal, including one to a wedding.

Gov. Christie Whitman repaid the state when she took a police helicopter to a New Jersey Devils game at the Meadowlands.

According to Fuentes, Christie has traveled on the state’s helicopter 35 times since taking office in January 2010 — far less than previous governors — including trips to survey flood and storm damage. The dates and locations of those trips were not made public.

"As part of our long-standing security protocol, the EPU (Executive Protection Unit) provides secure, protected travel by vehicle in the overwhelming majority of the governor’s business and personal travel, except in those rare instances when the governor’s schedule warrants use of air travel," Fuentes said.

A State Police spokesman, Sgt. Stephen Jones, emphasized that pilots are constantly logging hours in the new helicopters and would probably have been flying even if the governor had not been aboard.

"The destinations might be different," Jones said. "But they’d be logging flight hours — flying over rail systems or transportation hubs or ports or chemical or nuclear facilities."

As for Christie’s use of a car to get the 100 yards from the landing site to the ball park, which was ridiculed by Van Susteren and others, Jones said the cars were there for the governor’s safety.

"If the helicopter got called away for a higher priority mission, then the governor would be transported to his next location on the ground," Jones said.

By Ginger Gibson and Chris Megerian/The Star-Ledger

TRENTON — Uninsured motorists cannot sue for injuries in an accident even if they were a passenger in their car, the Supreme Court ruled today. In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court expanded a law that is silent on what type of remedies passengers in uninsured vehicles have when they get into accidents. "If you’re operating your own...

John O'Boyle/The Star-LedgerSupreme court associate justices Helen Hoens, Barry Albin, Jaynee LaVecchia, Roberto A. Rivera-Soto and temporary justice Edwin Stern listen to arguments during a hearing in this April 2011 file photo.

TRENTON — Uninsured motorists cannot sue for injuries in an accident even if they were a passenger in their car, the Supreme Court ruled today.

In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court expanded a law that is silent on what type of remedies passengers in uninsured vehicles have when they get into accidents.

"If you’re operating your own uninsured motor vehicle, you couldn’t bring a lawsuit. The law is very clear," said New Brunswick attorney Lowell Miller, who represented injured passenger Denise Perrelli. "The law didn’t say anything about if you’re a passenger."

Perrelli, formerly of Paramus, was the passenger in her 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass on Aug. 24, 2006, when a car driven by Bridget Pastorelle pulled into her lane of traffic on the Garden State Parkway in Wall Township, Miller said.

The Cutlass flipped over and the driver, Perrelli’s close friend Geovanni Velverde, was killed. Perrelli suffered a concussion, a broken right arm and fractured fingers, Miller said. She also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from witnessing the Velverde’s death, Miller said.

Without auto insurance, she had to pay her own medical bills or have them picked up by federal or state programs, Miller said.

She sued Pastorelle and her father Paul Pastorelle, the car’s owner, for pain and suffering, but the Pastorelles’ insurance company asked for the case to be thrown out. Saying the law did not prohibit passengers in an uninsured car to sue, a Superior Court judge and an appellate court allowed the case to continue. The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed the case.

State law bars lawsuits brought by people injured "while operating an uninsured automobile" but it contains no definition of "operate" or "operating."

"They changed the law based on what they thought the intention of the legislature was," Miller said. "My whole argument was ‘let the legislature do that.’"

Judge Edwin Stern, writing for the court, said allowing passengers in an uninsured vehicle to sue would circumvent the law’s intention of requiring drivers to obtain automobile insurance coverage.

Kenneth Lipstein, attorney for the Pastorelles, thanked the court "for its consideration of the issue" but declined to comment further.

TRENTON — Democratic leaders edged closer to a deal with Gov. Chris Christie on pension and health benefit reform today, as Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said she may be open to changing public workers’ health benefits through legislation if the governor gives up more ground on his own proposal. "I need to get him to budge a little more...

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerAssembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (left) and Senate President Stephen Sweeney pictured in this file photo with Gov. Christie. Lawmakers are edging towards a deal over health benefits and pension reform for public workers.

TRENTON — Democratic leaders edged closer to a deal with Gov. Chris Christie on pension and health benefit reform today, as Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said she may be open to changing public workers’ health benefits through legislation if the governor gives up more ground on his own proposal.

"I need to get him to budge a little more and I may have a product," Oliver (D-Essex) told reporters today.

Oliver’s comments came after the first of two Statehouse meetings today with Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), and just hours before hundreds of public workers rallied next door with Rev. Jesse Jackson to protest what they called a nationwide assault on collective bargaining rights. The Democrats also met with Christie on Friday.

New Jersey public unions have panned separate proposals by Sweeney and Christie to make workers pay more for health benefits as an attack on collective bargaining rights. They say the benefits should be decided at the negotiating table.

The Star-Ledger reported last month that Sweeney is prepared to push through his health care plan with a small minority of Democrats to pass it along with most or all Republicans.

Oliver, whose caucus is more supportive of the public unions, has been less willing to go along with the plan although she has not firmly indicated her intentions. On Tuesday, she said she would not move legislation on health benefits without the support of a significant number of Assembly Democrats.

She told The Associated Press today that Christie no longer insisted on his original proposal that all workers pay 30 percent of their health care premiums, regardless of income, and that if he gives in further Assembly Democrats may be willing to compromise. Workers now pay 1.5 percent of their salaries towards health care.

Pressed for details later, Oliver declined to elaborate. "My lips are sealed," she said.

Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts would not comment "except to say that Governor Christie continues to work with the Senate President and Assembly Speaker to move reforms forward for the people of New Jersey." Sweeney declined to comment today.

A few hours after the meetings, several hundred public workers gathered at the Trenton War Memorial to express their support for collective bargaining. "We have never lost a battle that we fought and never won the battle unless we fought," said Jackson.

Bob Master, political director for the Communications Workers of America, said the union was "extremely troubled" by Oliver’s comments. "We have said all along that health care is appropriately dealt with at the bargaining table, and not through unilateral acts by the Legislature. So we are very concerned about the direction of the Assembly," he said.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), the Democratic state chairman, was at the rally, and cautioned not to read "a tremendous amount" into Oliver’s remarks. "I think the Speaker is just looking to see if the governor has any interest in a compromise position or if he’s just taking his usual my way or the highway approach," he said.

Matt Friedman and Christopher Baxter/Statehouse Bureau

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Previous Coverage:

• N.J. Assembly Speaker will not move forward on health, pension reform without more Democratic support

• • More lawmakers opposed to forcing N.J. workers to pay more for health benefits through legislation

• Gov. Christie seeks to change health benefits of state workers through collective bargaining

• Gov. Christie, state employees union begin bargaining over health benefits

• State workers demonstrate solidarity against Christie's proposed benefit, pension cuts to public employees

• N.J. Gov. Christie, public workers union fight over changes in employee health benefits

• Christie, unions spar over history of skipping collective bargaining to change health benefits

LACEY — New Jersey environmental officials have granted a water discharge permit to the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, allowing the Lacey Township plant to continue to release heated water back into the creek and out into Barnegat Bay. Although opposed by environmentalists, the permit was the key trade-off the state made in reaching a deal in December with...

Scott Lituchy/The Star-LedgerThe Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in this 2006 file photo.

LACEY — New Jersey environmental officials have granted a water discharge permit to the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, allowing the Lacey Township plant to continue to release heated water back into the creek and out into Barnegat Bay.

Although opposed by environmentalists, the permit was the key trade-off the state made in reaching a deal in December with plant owner Exelon Corp. to shut down the reactor 10 years earlier than planned.

The state's action today had been expected since the deal was cut.

Oyster Creek is the nation's oldest nuclear power plant. The owners had fought a state request to build cooling towers to eliminate the need to discharge heated water into the creek.

The plant is now scheduled to close by the end of 2019.

Previous coverage:

• Oyster Creek should not be shuttered because of Japan disaster, court rules

• U.S. court questions Oyster Creek nuclear license after Japan disaster

• N.J. officials create advisory panel to monitor operations at Oyster Creek nuclear plant

• Oyster Creek license safe despite Japan disaster, Nuclear Regulatory Commission tells court

• Editorial: N.J. nuclear plants should be reviewed in light of Japan disaster

• Japanese Fukushima Daiichi, N.J. Oyster Creek nuclear plants use same reactor design

TRENTON — New Jersey lawmakers are considering whether to stop holding a separate presidential primary election. In 2008, New Jersey held its presidential primary in February hoping to gain more influence over presidential politics. The regular primary election for state offices is held in June. A state Senate committee will vote today on a bill to hold one combined...

Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesFormer Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, will enter the 2012 presidential race today. Also today, a New Jersey state Senate committee will vote on a bill top top holding a separate presidential primary election.

TRENTON — New Jersey lawmakers are considering whether to stop holding a separate presidential primary election.

In 2008, New Jersey held its presidential primary in February hoping to gain more influence over presidential politics.

The regular primary election for state offices is held in June.

A state Senate committee will vote today on a bill to hold one combined primary in June. The state estimates the move would save $8 million to $10 million every four years.

The measure has already passed the state Assembly.

Related coverage:

• N.J. Assembly to vote on measure to move presidential primary to June

• Assembly panel advances bill to move presidential primary to June

• Editorial: Move N.J.'s presidential primary to save money, not to wield influence

TRENTON — A Democratic state lawmaker said today she'll convene a hearing into Gov. Chris Christie's use of a state police helicopter to fly to his son's baseball game. Assemblywoman Annette Quijano told The Associated Press she has concerns over the personal use of a chopper bought to help protect ports and airports and transport people during emergencies and...

TRENTON — A Democratic state lawmaker said today she'll convene a hearing into Gov. Chris Christie's use of a state police helicopter to fly to his son's baseball game.

Assemblywoman Annette Quijano told The Associated Press she has concerns over the personal use of a chopper bought to help protect ports and airports and transport people during emergencies and disasters. Quijano is chairwoman of the Assembly Homeland Security Committee.

"My first reaction was, 'did anyone that needed critical care not get it,'" she said.

Quijano, who was named head of the committee earlier this year, says the hearing will focus on what guidelines, if any, are in place for transporting dignitaries and their families. The hearing will likely be held within two weeks, though no date has been set.

Christie and his wife arrived by chopper and flew off in the fifth inning for the governor's mansion, where a delegation of Iowans couldn't persuade Christie to run for president.

Christie's spokesman says the governor won't reimburse taxpayers.

His spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said the helicopter use was appropriate and the governor "does not reimburse for security and travel."

The governor will face questions today about his helicopter use after a bill signing in Denville.

Related coverage:

• Democrats line up to blast Gov. Christie for helicopter ride to baseball game

• Gov. Christie's helicopter rides raise ire of Democratic lawmaker

• Gov. Christie arrives at son's high school baseball game in State Police helicopter

• Poll: Was it inappropriate for Gov. Christie to take a helicopter to his son's baseball game?

• Your comments: Gov. Christie takes state helicopter to son's H.S. baseball game

TRENTON — A state program to help communities and developers clean up dirty, contaminated properties known as “brownfields” has run out of money and has been temporarily shut down, officials told a Senate panel this morning. “We have $71 million worth of applications in house that have yet to be processed,” said Irene Kropp, deputy commissioner of the Department...

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerMarty Lipp poses in front of the underground storage tank removed from his Maplewood property, which he will now have to pay to repair after the state program ran out of money.

TRENTON — A state program to help communities and developers clean up dirty, contaminated properties known as “brownfields” has run out of money and has been temporarily shut down, officials told a Senate panel this morning.

“We have $71 million worth of applications in house that have yet to be processed,” said Irene Kropp, deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. “All of those have to go through prior to any new applications even being looked at.”

The brownfields program is the second environmental initiative to run out of money this year. Last month, The Star-Ledger reported that a program to help homeowners remove leaky, underground home heating oil tanks had also run dry, leaving many residents in a lurch.

The brownfields fund allows municipalities, developers and other property owners to apply for money to investigate contamination on properties and clean them up so they can be reused and returned to the tax rolls.

The underground tank and brownfields funds are both supported by a constitutionally-dedicated portion of the state’s corporate business tax.

Caren Franzini, chief executive officer of the state Economic Development Authority, said the brownfield fund suffered from the same fate as the tank fund. Legislative changes over time allowed more people to apply and more dollars to be paid per applicant, but no one ensured there would be enough money to cover the demand.

The authority oversees the tank and brownfields funds in conjunction with DEP. Franzini told the Senate Environment and Energy Committee that her agency is considering a comprehensive overhaul of both programs.