TRENTON — Judging by Gov. Chris Christie’s State of the State speech Tuesday, his second year in the office will look much like his first. He will confront unions by seeking merit pay for teachers and reductions in public employee benefits. He will tangle with the Democratic-controlled Legislature on budget cuts and pension reform. And he will continue to...
TRENTON — Judging by Gov. Chris Christie’s State of the State speech Tuesday, his second year in the office will look much like his first.
He will confront unions by seeking merit pay for teachers and reductions in public employee benefits. He will tangle with the Democratic-controlled Legislature on budget cuts and pension reform. And he will continue to show "Jersey attitude."
Saying the state is turning the corner on years of mismanagement and a devastating recession thanks to his leadership and policies, Christie pledged to remain steadfast.
"There is much work still to be done," he said. "We cannot turn back now."
Christie, already a proponent of tenure reform, explicitly called for eliminating the lifetime job protection for teachers. He also previewed a push for tax reform, which he promised would be "comprehensive" instead of "piecemeal." But he revealed little, saving details of his plan for his budget proposal next month.
The State of the State speech, Christie’s first, ran nearly 40 minutes. That included 19 interruptions for applause from lawmakers from both houses of the state Legislature, who gathered in the Assembly chamber for the annual ritual.
While previewing the speech last week, Christie promised no surprises, and he didn’t deliver any Tuesday. The speech’s themes — education reform, fiscal responsibility, public employee benefits — have been trademarks of his term so far, and he promised to pursue unfinished business from his first year in office.
"Will we turn back, because the road is too hard?" he said. "Or will we press on, because the future is too important?"
Democrats said Christie has ignored job creation, criticizing him for clinging to plans they say have damaged the state.
"We cannot continue the course, we can’t afford to," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), also the state chairman of the Democratic Party. He said Christie has launched a "wholesale assault on our education system" and forced higher property taxes by cutting state aid to municipalities.
Republicans described Christie’s speech as a powerful challenge to lawmakers.
"It offered a stark choice between returning to the status quo or embracing our future and continuing on a new trajectory," Sen. Thomas Kean (R-Union) said.
Christie, whose bombastic manner has made him a national YouTube sensation in the Republican Party, made no apologies for being "ready for a fight."
"You’ve got to go all in and show a little Jersey attitude," he said. But that in-your-face approach was not on display Tuesday.
"To this Legislature, and to the public watching or listening today, ‘thank you.’" he said. "We haven’t always agreed, and we haven’t always gotten exactly what we’ve wanted, but we have achieved compromise, and the people of New Jersey are better off as a result."
Christie highlighted bipartisan proposals capping increases in property taxes and arbitration awards at 2 percent.
He also started his speech with a moment of silence for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of the Saturday shooting in Tuscon, Ariz., that left six dead.
"We had an extraordinary tragedy this past week, an attack on public life in America," he said.
Christie peppered his speech with references to former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, who he described as "one of my personal heroes." He also recognized two people in the audience he has worked with on school reform: Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, and former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, a lightning rod on education issues.
Christie said he will continue pushing for the expansion of charter schools and merit pay for teachers.
"Teaching can no longer be the only profession where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure to perform," he said.
The New Jersey Teachers Association blasted his proposal to eliminate tenure.
"He wants to strip teachers of due process rights in order to fire more of them," President Barbara Keshishian said in a statement.
On financial issues, Christie said New Jersey was back on the right track. He pointed to Illinois, which is considering a 75 percent income tax hike.
"Is that what we want for New Jersey?" he said. "No."
But he warned that the pension system was still veering toward bankruptcy.
"This cloud hangs over us and almost every state in the union," he said. "It is one of the reasons New Jerseyans pay the highest property taxes in America."
He said pension benefits must be curbed in order to save the system, saying, "I am proposing pension reform for the firefighters who every day put their lives in danger to serve the public, and who have the right to expect that when the time comes, the public will serve them."
Hetty Rosenstein, New Jersey director of the Communications Workers of America, the largest state workers’ union, said Christie’s call for sacrifice is undercut by his decision to allow a tax surcharge on the state’s wealthiest to expire last year.
"Gov. Christie is putting the entire burden on middle class workers and taxpayers — with drastic cuts in services and jobs," she said in a statement.
Carl Golden, former press secretary to Republican Govs. Christie Whitman and Tom Kean, said Christie’s budget speech, scheduled for Feb. 22, will be the true indicator of his plans, rather than the broad strokes of Tuesday’s speech.
"Your priorities are driven by where you’re putting your money," he said.
Megan DeMarco, Matt Friedman and Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.
By Ginger Gibson and Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau