Fresh from a failure to fix New Jersey’s pension system and its $170 billion deficit, Gov. Chris Christie is scheduled to formally announce his run for the White House next week.
But first, Christie is expected to veto parts of a state budget that would restore $1.8 billion he cut from the state’s scheduled pension contribution. The governor is slated to hold a news conference Friday to explain his rejection of budget changes approved Thursday by the Democratic-controlled Senate and Assembly.
Then next Tuesday morning, Christie has a date at his alma mater, Livingston High School, to tell the world why he should be the next president of the United States. That afternoon, he’ll fly to New Hampshire for the ninth time this year to try to convince primary voters that he should be running the country.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s fiscal dilemma will be in its governor’s rearview mirror as he travels the nation to audition for a new job. And his pledge to fix the state’s pension system is not likely to be repeated in his campaign speeches.
“We will tackle this problem now and we will solve it,” promised Christie during his budget address in February. “That is what real leadership produces for our people.”
“I am committed to working with each and every one of you in good faith to make a promise to the people of this state that we will not push this off...we will not leave it for another day... for another year... for another generation,” said the governor.
Instead, Christie convinced the state Supreme Court that his own pension reform of 2011 was unconstitutional – a decision that legitimized his decisions to strip billions from the pension contributions required by the law.
The full story is online at http://watchdog.org/226135/christie-president-pension-mess/.
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