TRENTON — State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) spiced up a press conference today by poking fun at Gov. Chris Christie. The two showed a power point presentation in the form of mock diary of Christie’s summer vacation activities, as if written by Christie himself in crayon. It recounted the elimination of film and television...
N.J. Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union).TRENTON — State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) spiced up a press conference today by poking fun at Gov. Chris Christie.
The two showed a power point presentation in the form of mock diary of Christie’s summer vacation activities, as if written by Christie himself in crayon. It recounted the elimination of film and television tax credit that caused the production of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” to move to New York City; meeting Queen Elizabeth II (“God Save the Queen… especially if she needs health care in New Jersey,” it read); referred to a recent National Governors Association meeting he attended in Boston as “sleep away camp.”
The diary also showed a picture of Christie raising his fist in triumph on election night, saying he challenged “Jersey Shore” stars “Snooki” and “The Situation” to a fist-pumping contest.
“We figured it’s been a long summer, and maybe we could just use a little levity,” said Weinberg. The presentation was put together by Senate Democratic staffers.
After that, the tone of the press conference took a serious turn as Weinberg and Stender criticized Christie for “ideological arm twisting”of seven Republicans who had voted with Democrats to restore the family planning funds to the budget, but most of whom said today in a statement they would vote against it if it came up for an override.
State Sens. Diane Allen (R-Burlington), Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R-Somerset), Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean), Christopher Connors (R-Ocean), Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) and Robert Singer (R-Ocean) all said they would reverse their yes votes in an override because state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff convinced them that the money Democrats had earmarked to pay for the restoration would put the state’s prescription drug program in a $5.6 million deficit.
The $7.5 million would fund 58 clinics in the state, 29 of which are run by Planned Parenthood. Christie vetoed the bill purely on monetary grounds, saying the state did not have the money to pay for it. But Weinberg and Stender, noting other restorations, said the veto was actually to appease the party’s conservative wing.
“This isn’t about money. I believe it’s about his ideology, his personal beliefs. And those beliefs, based on this, are that he doesn’t believe women should have birth control,” said Stender, who added that she thinks lessening access to birth control will result in more abortions.
"He’s turned his back on the women of New Jersey,” she said.
The lawmakers said that 40,000 patients would no longer have access to the centers because of the cut.
Related coverage:
• N.J. Democrats to launch campaign to override Christie's veto of $7.5M family planning funds
• Gov. Christie vetoes bill restoring $7.5M grant for family planning
• N.J. health chief is questioned about Christie's $7.5M grant cut for family planning clinics
• N.J. lawmakers encourage Gov. Christie to restore $7.5M for women's health, family planning clinics
• N.J. legislators push to restore family planning funds in budget