Governor tries to promote the Jersey Shore in a series of visits, but gets criticized by opponents in Trenton Watch video
BELMAR — Gov. Chris Christie kicked off the first of a series of stops to promote the Jersey Shore in Belmar today, where he touted his administration's efforts to keep state funding flowing to a region vital to New Jersey's economy.
Wearing a bright blue polo shirt tucked into khaki pants, Christie shook the hands of dozens of well-wishers and posed for photos as he made his way down the boardwalk.
Back in Trenton, the rails against the governor started even before the tour officially started. As his office announced plans Tuesday of the beach tour, Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) criticized Christie for his veto of legislation to control pollution flowing into Barnegat Bay via storm water runoff and for his pulling the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
"I encourage everyone to visit our great shore communities but promoting natural resources requires more than photo opportunities," McKeon said.
The storm water runoff bill, sponsored by McKeon and Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes III (D-Middesex), authorized the Ocean County Planning Board to develop a pollution management plan for the bay. But Christie vetoed it because it called for a fee on new development within the bay’s watershed to fund the improvements to storm water systems.
Today, Christie dismissed McKeon’s criticisms as election year rhetoric.
He also defended his decision to pull New Jersey out of a network of 10 northeast and Mid-Atlantic states from Maine to Maryland attempting to control carbon emissions through cap and trade, saying the state already exceeds the goals for air quality levels set by his predecessor, Jon Corzine.
"The air quality here is better now than it was and better than the Corzine administration's goals were, so he's playing politics with this stuff," Christie said.
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