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The Real Story: Both Assembly and Senate were and are ready to pass the Budget. However, the Governor has INSISTED that the Legislature ALSO AND SIMULTANEOUSLY pass a measure...(that) would raid a surplus garnered by NJ Horizon Blue Shield and Blue Cross...allowing the Governor to apply that entity's money...to the NJ deficit, caused by the Governor not demanding higher income residents pay higher taxes...
Christie knows that the measure by itself would not pass...Not only that, the Governor would "allow" an extra $350 million for schools, legal aid for the poor, and other programs to be included in the Budget if the Legislature agreed to vote...Unfortunately, that split democrats (who are in the majority in both houses)...(I)t's on the Governor, not the Legislature.
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Those
ninety-three cents on the dollars Christie left on the table in the Exxon settlement would sure come in handy right now -- wouldn't they have been a smarter company to raid?
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TheGuardian.com: Even for a US state governor with six months left in office and an approval rating of just 15%, it was an unusually bold move.
First, you order a government shutdown that closes all state parks and beaches on the eve of the 4 July holiday weekend. Then you...spend a good chunk of Sunday soaking up the rays with your family on a pristine stretch of sand that – thanks to your order – you have entirely to yourselves. Asked about reports that his family was staying at the state residence at Island Beach state park while it was closed to the public, Christie...(said) “I didn’t get any sun.”
Told of the existence of aerial pictures of the governor sitting on the beach with...family members, his spokesman, Brian Murray, conceded Christie was “on the beach briefly.” But Murray insisted: “He did not get any sun. He was wearing a baseball cap.”
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NJ.com: Howard and Betty Height are not the governor, but they have a house on Island Beach State Park. So do five other families.
But while Gov. Chris Christie and his family tanned, the other families burned -- with anger. The other Island Beach residents were ordered out of the homes Friday night under the threat of arrest. They packed up and drove off, right past the governor's summer retreat, its lights ablaze with activity...
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CNN: "That's just the way it goes," Christie said Saturday in response to a reporter's questions during a news conference. "Run for governor and you can have a residence."
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Meanwhile, Christie got special "Greetings from Asbury Park"...
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Rawstory: (At a) 2011 press conference...during Hurricane Irene...(Christie) told people "sitting on the beach at Asbury Park” to “get the hell off the beach”...On Monday (7/3/17)...(a) crowd of beachgoers in Asbury Park...cheered...after a plane flew over the beach pulling a banner with... “Tell Chris Christie: get the hell off Island Beach State Park...”
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...and a meme was born...
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NJ.com: Gov. Chris Christie announced he is ending the three-day state government shutdown...State-run recreation sites will reopen on the Fourth of July...
He'd offered to blunt his veto pen in exchange for two bills the Legislature also delivered: one pledging the state lottery as an asset to the public pension fund and another giving the state more control over the state's largest health insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. That proposal deeply divided Democratic lawmakers...
Christie blamed the state Assembly leader Vincent Prieto for the budget impasse...Prieto, who had refused to allow it to be put to a vote in the lower chamber...and the state Senate health committee chairman tasked with tinkering with the bill...with state Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Horizon CEO Bob Marino...Within hours they had a new bill and a deal...which Christie promptly signed after making what he called "minor changes" to budget language...
...(T)he full restoration of government operations (on 7/5/17) will return about 30,000 furloughed state employees to work...
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Did I call Christie a lame duck? Make that a
quadriplegic duck! But seriously, folks, with six months left to his regime -- oops, I mean governorship, we can only hope that he'll allow us to "close the books" on this thread quietly. As for life after politics, I'm pretty sure that Exxon won't hesitate to hire him!