Amid a flurry of reports about Gov. Chris Christie digging on New Hampshire campaign trail time as New Jersey prepares to get hit by a winter snowstorm this weekend, New Jersey Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Chairwoman Annette Quijano (D-20) laced into the Republican candidate for president.
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Jon M. Bramnick, the Republican leader in the State Assembly, said political considerations prevent Christie from entertaining fiscal responsibility while campaigning during the presidential race.
Christie fired off a series of tweets Friday afternoon saying he was putting being governor first but promising to return to New Hampshire to campaign soon.
Christie said he waited until it was clear the storm was coming before deciding to come to New Jersey.
Wednesday, Christie left the Garden State to address the legislators in Concord, N.H. “But I’m not driving a plow truck, OK?”
In October, he returned from the campaign trail when it appeared that Hurricane Joaquin was going to slam into the shore. Thursday night and Friday morning, he had maintained that he was monitoring the situation from New Hampshire and would adjust his plans as necessary. Christie said he felt no need for more evacuations. Obviously, we are being warned that it could even be worse and we find this out with each storm – sometimes it’s less than we expected and sometimes it’s more, so for any governor, it’s time to come home.
“I want to make sure the people of my state feel safe and secure”, he added. “And you remember the interviews afterward, they are like, ‘Yeah we knew there was a problem.’ Well, we need to do something about it”. “I’ll be on another call tonight”, Christie said.
Most of the state is under one of more weather alerts, including a winter storm watch, a blizzard watch, and a coastal flood watch.
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Before Christie had changed course, Democratic Montclair Mayor Robert Jackson said he he had no problem with the governor’s original decision and that much of the critical work of managing a storm response depends on rank-and-file workers.
