New Brunswick, NJ - Buono for Governor Communications Director David Turner released the following statement in response to Governor Christie's new television advertisement:
"Chris Christie is using the same, widely discredited attack because he simply cannot run on his record of economic failure. New Jersey has lost 12,000 jobs in the last two months alone, poverty is at a 52-year high and property taxes are up double digits. Instead of talking about a bill sponsored by his Republican-ally, he should explain his failed economic policies to New Jerseyans."
Christie's pay hike diversion: Editorial
The Star-Ledger Editorial Board
...Why are we even discussing this? Christie's campaign says it highlights a stark difference: Buono voted to raise your taxes and her pay more; he's done neither. But Buono's vote on the pay hike is an odd place for Christie's campaign to take a stand, considering Republicans wrote the bill. If this is a Buono weakness, then the governor is vulnerable, too: He collects the full salary of the office — the fourth-highest in the nation — though many of his recent predecessors, Republican and Democrat, accepted less.
Opinion: What Christie's ad neglected to say
By Brigid Callahan Harrison//The Record
...Pay raises for elected officials are never popular, but criticizing Buono in this situation is a particularly cheap shot. That's because the measure was sponsored by Republicans: state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, one of Christie's closest allies in the Legislature who served as state Republican Party chairman, was a sponsor of the measure, as was Republican Leonard Lance, now a member of the House of Representatives, but who then, as a state legislator, effectively argued that if New Jersey wanted highly qualified jurists, it needed to increase the salaries in the state's judicial system, including the salaries of judges and county prosecutors. The ad also fails to mention that the Legislature that passed the measure was controlled by Republicans — many of the same folks who are sharing the party line with the governor this year.
Stile: Christie TV ad looks at the little picture
By Charlie Stile//The Record
...But what the Christie campaign omits is that the legislation was a bipartisan bill that cleared both Republican-controlled houses of the Legislature and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Christie Whitman. Its primary sponsor was Republican Sen. Joseph Kyrillos of Monmouth County, a close Christie confidant. And then there is another fact that had no place in Christie's reductive, 30-second spot. The legislation also raised the salaries of judges, members of the Cabinet — and the governor. Christie can partly thank Buono for his $175,000 salary. If the bill didn't pass, Christie might be hauling home only $130,000. So if a bill that passed more than 13 years ago was such a bad deal for New Jersey taxpayers, as Christie's attack implies, then shouldn't he take a pay cut and forgo the extra $45,000 in salary that the bill authorized?
Chris Christie raps Buono over pay hike, but who was really responsible?
By John Schoonehongen//Asbury Park Press
...The Buono campaign, however, correctly points out that the pay raise Buono voted for in 2000 enjoyed bipartisan support. Sen. Joe Kyrillos, a longtime Christie ally and former state Republican Party chairman, was a sponsor of the measure. The bill was passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Christie Whitman, also a Republican. That bill, which increased legislators' salaries from $35,000 a year to $49,000, also raised the governor's salary, along with the pay of a number of other government employees, including judges and county prosecutors. The increases were the only pay hikes for legislators in the past 20 years.
Not all NJ governors took full pay
By Matthew Arco//Politicker NJ
...The $175,000 annual salary puts Christie as the fourth-highest paid governor in the nation, following his counterparts in Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois, according to a June survey. Records also show Christie is one of only two governors in recent memory to accept the full state salary afforded to New Jersey's chief executive.
1 comment:
Christie for all his big talk has done nothing.
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