His critics “will snipe regardless of the significant initiatives launched and accomplishments achieved during his term, including the past year”, Christie spokesman Brian Murray said in an email to Reuters, adding that Christie on Tuesday would discuss “how he will continue his robust agenda in the months to come”.
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A super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president is going up with a new digital ad on Monday calling New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie too liberal and “wrong on guns”.
The Republican governor and presidential candidate intervened Friday in a standoff between Democratic leaders of the state Legislature, supporting state Senate President Steve Sweeney’s contention that an Assembly proposal for a statewide referendum lacks enough support to pass.
The problem with the amendment is it would require deep spending cuts or unappealing tax hikes, Christie said.
The measure has the backing of the state’s influential public labor unions, but has been vocally opposed by Republicans including Gov. Chris Christie.
Mr. Christie’s speech Tuesday also doubled as a prebuttal to President Obama’s final State of the Union address, which the Democrat was scheduled to deliver later in the day to a joint session of Congress.
“It’s classic Christie, pitting people against each other”, Sweeney said.
The Senate and Assembly bills differ on who could own the two new casinos, and how much of their gambling tax revenue would go to compensate Atlantic City. “Increased reimbursement rates will help improve critical services and provide more treatment capacity”.
Christie’s office had no comment Monday night. His work in the area has also been a big part of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Christie called for lawmakers to abolish the state’s estate tax.
Christie called out lawmakers’ vote for a constitutional amendment to require quarterly payments to the state’s public workers pension fund. He says that would make New Jersey’s other residents second-class citizens.
The democratic state committee claims New Jersey’s property taxes are the highest in the country and that under Christie, New Jersey’s job creation has consistently ranked last in the country.
In a carrot-and-stick approach to state Democrats, Mr. Christie also spoke about his administration’s efforts to serve the poor and vulnerable in New Jersey. The Christie era began with an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, slightly better than the national 9.8 percent rate, and the Labor Department announced last week that the US unemployment rate was unchanged at 5 percent in December – that’s 3/10ths under the New Jersey rate. Bloomberg points to a December 10 Rutgers-Eagleton poll that lists the former US attorney’s approval rating at just 33% among registered voters in New Jersey.
But opinions about how many and their exact locations, along with who gets to run them and how the tax money would be divided up, stalled the process.
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“It is foolish to think that gaming in North Jersey would do anything but cannibalize an already-saturated market in the same way that casinos in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland have cannibalized ours”, said Whelan, D-Atlantic. Mangino also urged Christie to help Sandy victims facing home foreclosure.
