'At some point, people have to be held responsible,' Christie says of the Democrat-led Legislature's refusal to act on his proposals
Gov. Chris Christie addresses the crowd at a town hall meeting in Woodbridge in March. Christie hammered Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Democratic legislators Tuesday at a similar gathering in Jackson for their inaction on his proposals.JACKSON — Gov. Chris Christie came out in full force yesterday, slamming legislators for inaction on his proposals and painting a picture of lazy and ineffective bureaucrats who rarely bother to show up to work.
At a town hall meeting in Jackson, Christie also turned the tables on Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who last week said the remaining bills among Christie’s proposals to rein in property taxes are redundant and unnecessary.
Sweeney said he was tired of hearing Christie warn that Democrats would be to blame if property taxes jumped this year because they have not acted on the property tax measures, which the governor calls his “tool kit.”
Tuesday, Christie read quotes from Sweeney, who during the winter called for the passage of the remaining bills.
“He not only talks about pension and health benefit reforms, you heard what he said, we have other tool kit items,” Christie said. “Except now, he calls all those things garbage.”
At the standing-room-only meeting, his 13th of the year, Christie listed changes he has proposed, namely to pension and health benefits, teacher tenure and ethics rules. The “do-nothing” Legislature has failed to act on his proposals, he said.
“They promised you they would do this, and what have they been doing?” Christie asked. “At some point, people have to be held responsible.”
Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), the Democratic State Committee chairman, called Christie’s comments ironic because he is the “do-nothing executive.”
“Christie is more interested in chest-pounding and sabrerattling than he is in enacting progressive legislation designed to put New Jersey back to work,” Wisniewski said in a statement.
He added, “Instead of signing bills to provide health care for women, property tax relief for seniors and jobs for New Jersey families, the governor chose to veto them and is simply making his latest You-Tube moment at another highly produced, taxpayer-funded town hall.”
Sweeney’s spokesman said Christie’s “tool kit nonsense” has been “officially disproven.”
“The remaining bills will do little to help the thousands and thousands of New Jersey residents that had their rebates eliminated by the governor,” spokesman Chris Donnelly said. “It is time for the governor to actually own up to his responsibilities and do his job.”