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Gov. Chris Christie Judges out of order on pension pay protest
Gov. Chris Christie doesn’t think much of the lawsuit seeking to exempt judges from the new pension and benefit reform law.
The argument, when the case is heard by Mercer County Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg on Sept. 16, will center on whether the law violates the state constitution by making the judges pay more into the pension plan.
“This lawsuit by the judges is absurd. They should be ashamed of themselves,’’ Christie said at a news conference in Burlington City this week. “These are the highest-paid people in state government, $165,000 a year, and after 10 years they’re entitled to a full pension. The average judge in New Jersey puts $50,000 into the pension fund and in their first year they get paid $107,000. In the first six months into their retirement they exhaust what they put in and the rest is on the back of the taxpayers. And they’re suing over this?” (Jordan, Gannett)