Christie's cabinet is ordered to prepare for state shutdown in case of budget standstill

Cabinet received memo today —

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie arrives in the Assembly Chambers at the New Jersey Statehouse to deliver a budget speech in this Star-Ledger file photo. Christie today ordered his cabinet to begin planning to shut down state government July 1 if there is no deal by the constitutional deadline.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today ordered his cabinet to begin planning to shut down state government July 1 if there is no budget by that constitutional deadline.

"The administration remains highly confident that the budget process will be successfully completed in advance of the legal deadline," according to a memo to the Cabinet from Christie chief counsel Jeff Chiesa.

He cautioned, however, "it is appropriate to begin to engage in departmental contingency planning for the unlikely outcome that a budget is not enacted by June 30th … It will be necessary to shut down most operations of state government."

The document, obtained by The Star-Ledger, was dated Thursday and distributed today.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said his office is preparing for all possible outcomes. The governor proposed a controversial $29.3 billion spending plan in March.

"A government shutdown would be costly and disruptive and must absolutely be avoided," Drewniak said. "But we still have to be responsible, prudent and prepared."

If a new budget is not enacted by July 1, the law requires that a "state of emergency" be declared and that the state stop paying its bills or incurring new expenses until a spending plan is in place. In 2006, Jon Corzine’s first year in office, a budget showdown between the governor and fellow Democrats in the Assembly led to a weeklong shutdown.

As this June opened, it appeared the Republican governor and Democrats who control the state Legislature were close to an agreement on contours of a final budget. Last week, Democrats were openly saying they would provide the handful of votes necessary for Republicans in the Legislature to push through a budget that cuts everything from tax rebates to school funding.

Behind the scenes, though, some lawmakers in recent days began lobbying for hundreds of millions of dollars in restorations that Christie says cannot be covered.

Assemblyman Joe Malone (R-Burlington), the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, said "there was an inordinately large amount of requests by the Democrats. If they’re going to continue in that course, then really we probably will have a shutdown."

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) disagreed, saying the governor’s memo was nothing more than contingency planning and challenged any notion the two sides are having a tough time.

"It’s an indication of Gov. Christie as a first-time chief elected officer making provision for a worst-case scenario," Oliver said of Chiesa’s missive. "That’s a smart thing to do. We’re so early on, I don’t think a dispute has erupted yet."

Derek Roseman, spokesman for Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said, "There is really nothing to this. The senate president has said many times that no one is even considering a shutdown."

Chiesa’s missive outlines a shutdown that would leave only "a very limited" number employees working in each department. It says only those whose jobs are "essential" to health, safety and public welfare would work during a shutdown and "some departments will have few or no essential employees during a short-term shutdown." He instructed all cabinet members to submit plans to his office by June 21.

By Josh Margolin/Staff Writer and Chris Megerian/Staff Writer