ELIZABETH — Union County Democrats today called the closure of a state Motor Vehicle Commission office in Elizabeth "extremely partisan," and the mayor said he found part of a letter Gov. Chris Christie sent him concerning the shutdown to be "real cute, like we see on Fox News." Mayor J. Christian Bollwage took a starring role at the Assembly...
The Motor Vehicle Commission branch office in Elizabeth has closed down.ELIZABETH — Union County Democrats today called the closure of a state Motor Vehicle Commission office in Elizabeth "extremely partisan," and the mayor said he found part of a letter Gov. Chris Christie sent him concerning the shutdown to be "real cute, like we see on Fox News."
Mayor J. Christian Bollwage took a starring role at the Assembly State Government Committee hearing in Trenton, where he and Majority Leader Joe Cryan (D-Union) argued the closure was pure politics on the part of Christie and MVC chief administrator Ray Martinez.
"It was a strictly partisan call, one that I believe the governor and Mr. Martinez will work with their political supporters and eventually find a new location in months or years to come — probably around 2013 for the re-election opportunity," Bollwage testified.
They were invited to speak by a sympathetic chairwoman, Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union). No one from the Motor Vehicle Commission testified at the meeting. Instead, Stender received a letter from Jonathan Pushman, a legislative liaison at the MVC.
He wrote that the Elizabeth office and two others — one in Bridgeton and one in Wyckoff — were closing as part of a plan that will save the agency about $1 million this year. Assemblywoman Caroline Casegrande (R-Monmouth) pointed out that two other offices operate in Union County, and another operates in neighboring Newark.
After hearing about the testimony today, the governor’s office fired back, saying the decision was based on low customer volume at the Elizabeth office compared with other locations.
"Yet they hold a hearing to unveil a partisan plot against them," said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie. "That’s just baloney. The real partisans here are obvious."
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