the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, Govenour Murphy has caved saying he will sign the states $38.7 billion budget by the midnight Sunday deadline, in order to avoid a shut down. The Democratic governor said his exact actions on the budget “are still to be determined.”The governor added the dramatic flair saying , “I can”t play politics with innocent lives in the state,” Murphy said. “I’ve taken shutting this government down off the table.” Murphy added he wanted to reassure New Jersey residents and visitors that politics wouldn’t spoil their planned Fourth of July revelry or shutter important state services.A shutdown would have likely closed state parks and beaches, shuttered government services like courts and the DMV, and left thousands of government workers furloughed.
The announcement produced an immediate flurries of high fives at the statehouse among those allies of legislative leaders who gave Murphy a budget without the millionaire’s tax and rainy day funding he craved.
Senate President Steve Sweeney issued the following statement earlier this week in response to Governor Phil Murphy’s latest misguided and misinformed tantrum:“The Governor is repeating himself with a series of misguided and misinformed tantrums in an attempt to distract attention from his legislative and policy failures. His statements have been inconsistent on the facts, but they have become consistently wrong.
“I want to be clear in stating that when it comes to recognizing which side I am on, I am on the side of the taxpayers of New Jersey and our hard working middle class families who want public officials to actually take their side, not just repeat empty rhetoric. We understand the people we represent, including working people who rely on public transit, families in need of special education and home care, students at four-year colleges and young mothers in need of maternal care, among the diverse needs of people throughout the state.
“The reality is, Phil Murphy has no real agenda, no realistic plans to fix what is wrong in New Jersey, and no idea how to address the property tax crisis, the state’s most demanding problem. And, when it comes to choosing sides, Governor Murphy is more beholden to selfish, special-interests groups such as the leadership of the NJEA and CWA than to everyday working people.
“Those of us in the Legislature and the working people throughout the state will continue to work together to confront the real challenges and to move New Jersey forward – with or without the Governor’s participation.”
