'They just voted to basically put people to death in urban areas by not funding these programs,' said Senate President Sweeney
Senate President Stephen Sweeney looks on during a Senate session at the Statehouse in Trenton. The Senate held the session in an attempt to override Gov. Chris Christie's line item vetoes.TRENTON — One after another, Democrats painted the plight of New Jersey’s struggling cities in stark terms Tuesday as they tried to overturn hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts at the hands of Gov. Chris Christie.
And for the second day in a row, the Democrats failed to come up with the votes needed to override any of the governor’s vetoes.
"They just voted to basically put people to death in urban areas by not funding these programs," Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said after Republicans blocked an attempt to restore $139 million in aid to 21 cities and $50 million in funds for public safety in 150 municipalities.
Police layoffs in Camden, Newark and other cities were followed by a rise in violent crime. Democrats and members of the Christie administration have said they are open to negotiations to restore those funds.
"There’s going to be blood on the hands of a lot of folks," said state Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden). He said his city, which has had to lay off police although it has among the highest crime rates in the country, is in desperate need of the $1.4 million it hoped to get.
Democrats also made a futile attempt to allow cities to continue collecting sales tax in Urban Enterprise Zones, restore $3 million for an after-school program in urban districts and $48 million in college aid.
Republicans dismissed the day’s efforts and said Democrats were grandstanding by trying to spend money the state doesn’t have.
"Legislative Democrats ignored the amount of revenue we actually have and added a billion dollars in new spending, making it impossible to pay for everything," said Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for the governor.
To get their message out, state Republicans launched a radio ad boasting about Christie’s $29.7 billion budget as a success that is "holding the line on spending, no Trenton gimmicks and no new taxes."
Rick Gorka, a spokesman for the state Republican Party, said the organization is spending "considerable six figures" for the ads, which will appear on stations in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.
Christie budgeted $149 million for transitional aid in February, but after Democrats sent him a larger budget two weeks ago, he cut the funds to a total of $10 million.
State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) defended the cuts, however, saying things had changed since February, including Christie’s decision to award an additional $150 million in school aid.
"Those things all needed to be financed, so there were some corresponding shifts along the way," he said. "This was like ‘Back to the Future.’ This was back to the McGreevey/Corzine era of do anything, say anything."
It was the second day Democrats tried to overturn cuts to the $30.6 billion budget they sent Christie. They voted on 13 resolutions and failed every time along party lines, 24-13 — three votes short of the number needed to override.
Monday, Democrats fell short 15 times on votes needed to restore funds for child abuse programs, women’s health facilities and other social services. They plan to try to overturn the 11 remaining cuts, though no date was set.
Patrick Murray, a pollster at Monmouth University, said the exercise was less about restoring funds, since the results were a foregone conclusion, and more about trying to reunite a fractured Democratic Party in the wake of a divisive vote to sharply increase the cost of health and pension benefits for about a half-million public employees.
"They have to make some amends with their base," said Murray.