LACEY TOWNSHIP — Pounding a favorite theme of defying expectations, Gov. Chris Christie promised bolder steps ahead during a rally tonight marking his six-month anniversary in office. "It's our time not to let up," Christie told a jubilant crowd of more than 200 crammed inside a community center in Ocean County. "I did not come here for failure. I...
Gov. Chis Christie and his wife Mary Pat wave to supporters after he was introduced tonight at his six-month anniversary rally in Lacey Township.LACEY TOWNSHIP — Pounding a favorite theme of defying expectations, Gov. Chris Christie promised bolder steps ahead during a rally tonight marking his six-month anniversary in office.
"It's our time not to let up," Christie told a jubilant crowd of more than 200 crammed inside a community center in Ocean County. "I did not come here for failure. I came here for success."
He said to expect drastic public employee pension and benefit reforms this fall, saying of an initial round of changes that affected new hires: "You ain't seen nothing yet."
He leaned on the Legislature to pass his "tool kit" of bills that would help towns cope with a recently passed 2 percent annual limit on property tax increases.
And when a mention of President Obama's name drew scattered boos, he said: "I hear you. We'll get to that in 2012." (He was quick to add he's not planning his own presidential run.)
But while stressing that "we've got a lot of hard work to do," the governor also admitted his start has been better than even he envisioned when he was sworn in on Jan. 19.
"Hell, I would've signed up right away for this," said Christie, who was joined onstage by his wife Mary Pat and three of their four children. His father sat in the front row.
Democrats, meanwhile, criticized the Republican governor for taking "victory laps" as a nonpartisan projection showed the state still faces a $10.5 billion budget deficit next year despite Christie's vast spending cuts.
In GOP-friendly Ocean County — which gave him a margin of more than 70,000 votes in last year's election — Christie said he would work to elect Republicans John Runyan and Anna Little to Congress in competitive races this fall. Little, a Tea Party-backed candidate who beat the GOP establishment candidate in the June primary, needs full party support, Christie said.
After running through the laundry list of his early achievements, Christie was mobbed by supporters as he made his way out of the community center. One was Diane Bauernhuber, a third-grade teacher who helped lead the charge for a teacher wage freeze in Lacey Township - the first district to heed Christie's call for a voluntary pay freeze to help absorb his big budget cuts to school aid. Few local teachers unions followed suit.
"You're gonna have more scars than I will," Christie told her.
"It was a bumpy ride," Bauernhuber said later of the wage freeze. "First I thought he disliked the teachers. I still hope I did the right thing...I hope he keeps going."
Others had less serious topics to discuss, with several women gushing over the governor's purple tie.
"You gotta be bold," Christie said.
Lisa Fleisher contributed to this report.
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