Romney Makes the Wrong Choice

August 14, 2012

Romney Makes the Wrong Choice

(Trenton)- The Republican National Committee confirmed that Governor Chris Christie will give the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this summer.  Chairman John Wisniewski responded to the news of Christie’s convention role:

“Just as he has at Romney fundraisers and public appearances around the country, Governor Christie will go down to Tampa and tout a ‘Jersey Comeback.’  He’ll tell a national audience a fairy tale about New Jersey, giving himself credit for things he didn't do and things that haven't happened yet.  Don’t be fooled.  His ‘Jersey Comeback’ is a myth.   His three years in New Jersey have been a disaster.  If Mitt Romney thinks Governor Christie's record should be highlighted as a model for this country, Americans should be very worried.  Here are the facts:

New Jersey Ranks Near the Bottom Across Important Economic Metrics

• New Jersey has an unemployment rate at 9.6%, 1.4% higher than the national average.  The last time New Jersey’s unemployment numbers diverged so much from national numbers was 1978.   (Star-Ledger, 7/19/12)
• When Christie took office, New Jersey had the 19^th highest unemployment rate.  New Jersey currently has the 5^th highest unemployment rate.  (New Jersey Policy Perspective, 7/17/12)
• New Jersey has been at or above 9% unemployment for Christie’s entire term in office.
• New Jersey ranked 47^th out of 50 in terms of economic growth in 2011. (Star-Ledger, 6/7/12)
• New Jersey ranked 41^st out of 50 in terms of business friendliness in CNBC’s annual rankings. (CNBC, 7/10/12)
• New Jersey ranks third from last in terms of state credit ratings.  (New Jersey Policy Perspective, 7/17/12)

New Jersey’s Infrastructure is Crumbling

• 55% of New Jersey’s highways are in poor or mediocre condition, according to the State Budget Crisis Task Force report.
• That same report found that 35% of New Jersey’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete- the second highest percentage of bridge deficiencies in the country.
• Christie cancelled a vital transportation infrastructure project, the ARC tunnel, which would have reduced round-trip commuting time substantially for the many New Jersey residents who work in New York City, as well as provided thousands of construction jobs for New Jersey workers.   By canceling the project, Christie wasted $600 million that had already been invested to start the tunnel. (Star-Ledger, 10/27/10)

New Jersey’s Middle and Working Classes Are Overburdened

• New Jersey property taxes (the heaviest tax burden for New Jersey families) have gone up an average of 20% since Christie took office, as a result of his elimination of the property tax rebate, reductions of state aid for education, and reductions in municipal aid. (NJ Spotlight, 1/30/12)
• In his first state budget, Christie raised taxes on poor working families by reducing the Earned Income Tax Credit while income taxes for millionaires were being cut. (Bergen Record, 6/29/10)
• Christie line-item vetoed the legislature’s attempts to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit in this year’s budget, telling the working poor that they wouldn’t receive a tax cut unless the wealthiest New Jersey residents did too. (Star-Ledger, 7/3/12)
  
• Under Governor Christie's leadership, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey passed a plan that will raise tolls and fares by 50% on New Jersey's commuters. (PA NYNJ Press Release, 8/19/11)

Christie Supports Cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, Restricts Health Care Access for Women and the Poor

• Christie told an exclusive Koch Brothers crowd that he supports reducing Medicaid and Medicare benefits and increasing the Social Security retirement age, calling Paul Ryan’s budget courageous. (Mother Jones, 9/7/11)
• Christie eliminated more than $7 million in women’s health funding during his first year in office and has repeatedly vetoed attempts to restore that funding, including his most recent line-item veto in the 2013 budget. (ThinkProgress, 7/2/12)
• Christie refuses to implement the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, effectively denying coverage to as many as 245,000 New Jerseyans living below the poverty line. (AP 7/18/12)

New Jersey Voters Most Frequently Call Christie A Bully When Asked To Describe Him

• Governor Christie so frequently resorts to insults that it is clear he lacks the self-control. 
• A Quinnipiac Poll asked voters to select a word to describe Christie. The most common response was “Bully.”  The second most common was “arrogant.” (Courier Post, 7/18/12)
• Governor Christie represents the worst in political incivility.  A rundown of some of his insults:
  • He compared New Jersey teachers to “drug mules.” (Star-Ledger, 4/20/10)
  • He called members of the New Jersey Education Association “thugs.” (ABC News, 4/6/11)
  • He suggested that someone “take a bat” to Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg. (Bergen Record, 4/13/11)
  • He called Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle “a jerk.” (New Jersey Newsroom, 6/2/11)
  • He called a Washington Post columnist an “ignoramus.” (Morning Joe, 1/18/12)
  • He called Assemblyman Reed Gusciora “numbnuts.” (Star-Ledger, 1/31/12)
  • He called a veteran Navy SEAL an idiot. (Star-Ledger, 3/8/12)
  • He called a non-partisan budget officer “a joke,” “handmaiden,” and “the Dr. Kevorkian of numbers.” (Star-Ledger, 5/23/12; Bloomberg, 5/24/12)
  • He mocked the educational credentials of Senator Nicolas Scutari. (Star-Ledger, 5/25/12)
  • He called Senate Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo “an arrogant S.O.B.” (Star-Ledger, 6/26/12)
  • He asked a reporter if he was “stupid” and then called the same reporter an idiot. (Star-Ledger 7/2/12)
  • He chased and shouted at a critic on the Seaside Boardwalk (Star-Ledger, 7/6/12)
    
    

The story Governor Christie will tell in Tampa is a fairy tale.  The real New Jersey story is that the working and middle class families in New Jersey work too hard every day for too little, too many people in our state are still struggling to even find steady employment.  Governor Christie’s ‘Jersey Comeback’ is a fiction and just one more insult from the governor to the people of this state.”

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