Tag: Chris Christie

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Chris Christie Proposes Tracking Immigrants the Way FedEx Tracks Packages

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By REUTERSAUG. 29, 2015

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Saturday that if he were elected president he would combat illegal immigration by creating a system to track foreign visitors the way FedEx tracks packages.

Mr. Christie, who is far back in the pack of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, said at a campaign event in New Hampshire that he would ask the chief executive of FedEx, Frederick W. Smith, to devise the tracking system.

Immigration has become a top issue in the Republican campaign, with the front-runner, Donald J. Trump, having vowed to deport the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country and to build a wall along the United States’ southern border.

“At any moment, FedEx can tell you where that package is. It’s on the truck. It’s at the station. It’s on the airplane,” Mr. Christie told the crowd in Laconia, N.H. “Yet we let people come to this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them.”

He added: “We need to have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in.”

He said 40 percent of illegal immigrants are allowed into the United States legally with a visa and then stay longer than their visa allows.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/us/politics/christie-proposes-immigrant-tracker-similar-to-fedex.html?_r=0

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Superior Court Approves ExxonMobil Settlement

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A Superior Court Judge today approved a $225 million settlement between the State and ExxonMobil to resolve liability for damage to the environment and injury to natural resources caused by contamination from the corporation’s refinery operations in Bayonne and Linden, as well as other facilities and service stations in New Jersey, Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin announced.
Politicker Staff, Politickernj Read more

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Christie: Agencies confirm that pension is long-term issue

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Gov. Chris Christie’s office says recent actions by credit-rating agencies confirm his view that the cost of New Jersey’s state’s pension system is a long-term issue. (Associated Press) Read more

Christie comes out swinging at N.J. teachers’ union in N.H. Just as soon as Gov. Chris Christie took a seat on stage at an education summit in New Hampshireon Wednesday, he came out swinging against New Jersey’s largest teachers union. (Matt Arco, NJ.com) Read more

 

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N.J. structural deficit nearly same as when Christie took office

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New Jersey is more than $10 billion short on what it would cost to fully fund schools, pensions, transportation projects, Medicaid and other programs, according to an estimate prepared by the state’s nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services and obtained by NJ Advance Media. (Samantha Marcus, NJ.com)

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/07/nj_structural_deficit_at_102b_nearly_same_as_when.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

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Chris Christie returns to his roots to announce run for president

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By Associated Press

June 30, 2015 | 6:09am

NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who spent three years as president of his high school class, is returning to his alma mater to announce he’s running for president of his country.

The Republican governor is set to launch his campaign Tuesday in the old gymnasium of Livingston High School in the town of Livingston, New Jersey, where he experienced some of his first political victories. Christie remains close to many of his former classmates, who had inklings even then that a career in politics was in his future.

“If you were to poll and ask who would one day be governor, I think Chris would have overwhelmingly won,” said Harlan Coben, now a best-selling author, who served as student council president when Christie was senior class president and played with him on the Little League baseball team in the town about 20 miles west of New York City.

In an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his 35th high school reunion earlier this year, Christie, who also served in student government during his junior high school years, talked about some of the lessons he learned from those early races. Among them: Always vote for yourself.

“The first race I ever ran in, I did not vote for myself. I voted for the other person because I actually thought that you know it was conceited to vote for yourself. And I wound up losing the election by two votes,” he said. “So I learned always to vote for yourself, that’s the first thing.”

https://nypost.com/2015/06/30/chris-christie-returns-to-his-roots-to-announce-run-for-president/

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New Jersey Democrats Move to Raise Taxes

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TRENTON—State Democrats plan to advance budget bills Tuesday that raise taxes on high earners and corporate profits to shore up the state’s underfunded pension system, a proposal likely doomed because Republican Gov. Chris Christie has pledged to veto any tax increases.

The annual budget dance in Trenton typically leads to interparty fighting in June, but observers said that this year’s proceedings were particularly defined by gridlock, resulting in more political theater than fiscal negotiations.  (Haddon/Wall Street Journal)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-jersey-democrats-move-to-raise-taxes-1435020808

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Pension tidal wave is about to crash down on taxpayers

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STEVEN MALANGA • | JUNE 15, 2015 | 12:01 AM

The New Jersey legislature, looking to solve a budget crisis back in 1992, passed a bill that changed some of the accounting principles of the state’s government employee pension system. The technical changes, little understood at the time, made the system seem in better financial shape than it actually was, allowing the legislature to reduce contributions for pensions by $1.5 billion over the next two years. Legislators seized those extra dollars and redirected them into other spending.

Jersey officials could manipulate their pension system because local governments have latitude in how they run their own retirement plans. So what they did was not unique. Around the country, state and local officials have increasingly discovered over the years that they can exploit the complex and sometimes ill-defined accounting of government pension systems, as well as loopholes in their own laws governing those pensions.

Over time, elected officials came to promise workers politically popular new benefits without setting aside the money to pay for them, declared “holidays” from contributions into pension systems and changed their own accounting systems midstream to make the systems seem better funded — all just ways of passing obligations on to future taxpayers. In the process, government pension systems became one of the chief vehicles that state and local politicians used to massage their budgets.

Now we face the consequences. Our elected representatives played a deceptive game of chicken with pension funds. And now the chickens have come home to roost.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pension-tidal-wave-is-about-to-crash-down-on-taxpayers/article/2565965#.VX74V8aLkzQ.twitter

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Assembly Republicans say Democrats, not Christie, to blame for N.J. economy

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TRENTON — Facing a difficult battle to take control of the lower house of the state Legislature in November, state Assembly Republicans defended Gov. Chris Christie’s stewardship of New Jersey’s economy on Thursday.

“Some people want to blame the governor. The governor has been the only thing between your wallet and the state Assembly Democrats, period,” Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union) said at a press conference Thursday in front of the Statehouse, standing with several members of his caucus and a couple non-incumbent candidates.

“He’s vetoed or blocked all of the tax-raising attempts by the Democrats,” Bramnick said.

Democrats hold a 48-32 majority in the Assembly, and have been in command of the lower house since 2002. With just a few competitive Assembly races expected in November, most who pay attention to state elections give Republicans little chance of taking control.

Christie, a Republican, has an approval rating in the 30s in New Jersey as he travels around the country preparing for a widely expected run for president.

Federal data released Wednesday showed that New Jersey’s economy was one of the slowest growing in the nation in 2014.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/assembly_republicans_say_democrats_not_christie_to.html

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Christie: Unions ‘need to get realistic’ on pensions, benefits

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AMES, Iowa — After winning a major ruling at the state Supreme Court allowing him to cut payments New Jersey’s pension system, Governor Christie had defiant words for labor leaders and Democratic leaders in the state Legislature on Thursday.

Christie, a Republican, called on public workers to accept reductions in their health benefits if they want to secure more funding for the troubled pension system. It is the only way forward, Christie said, because he will not raise taxes to fund the retirement system.  (Rizzo/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-unions-need-to-get-realistic-on-pensions-benefits-1.1354451

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Chris Christie Lays Out Education Plan

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Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey leaned on the podium with his right elbow, his standard let-me-give-it-to-you-straight stance, and gave one of his classic blunt warnings, this time setting up a nearly hourlong speech laying out his educational platform.

“It’s time we had a conversation about education that isn’t defined by ideological dogma or by narrow, personal, institutional interests,” Mr. Christie told the packed room at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. “Lets talk about what real educational reform for America looks like.”  (Corasaniti/The New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/11/chris-christie-lays-out-education-plan/

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BREAKING :Supremes side with Christie on pension payments

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Posted by Matt Rooney On June 09, 2015 0 Comment
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Did you hear that noise, Save Jerseyans?

It’s thousands of public sector union heads exploding in unison.

The New Jersey Supreme Court issued an 5-2 opinion in the pension payment case (Christopher Burgos v. State of New Jersey) on Tuesday morning, reversing a lower court’s directive to the Christie Administration to make a billion dollar pension payment. Click here to read it. For a little background on the Christie/pension payment controversy, click here.

The majority opinion (which did not include Chief Justice Rabner) relied on the text of the Debt Limitation Clause:

“No matter how worthy the cause to be advanced by Chapter 78, the Debt Limitation Clause speaks directly to this situation and, in pertinent part, commands:

“‘The Legislature shall not, in any manner, create in any fiscal year a debt or debts, liability or liabilities of the State, which together with any previous debts or liabilities shall exceed at any time one per centum of the total amount appropriated by the general appropriation law for that fiscal year, unless the same shall be authorized by a law for some single object or work distinctly specified therein. . . . [N]o such law shall take effect until it shall have been submitted to the people at a general election and approved by a majority of the legally qualified voters of the State voting thereon.’”

“The purpose to be achieved by the Debt Limitation Clause dovetails with the Framers’ intent for a fiscally responsible annual budget process,” the majority continued. “Efforts to dedicate monies through legislative acts other than the annual appropriations act have no binding effect. They are read as impliedly suspended when contradicted by the budgetary judgment of the presently constituted Legislature acting in concert with the Governor in their constitutionally prescribed budget formation roles. Those debt limitation and appropriations-related constitutional clauses conflict with the contractual language of Chapter 78 and thwart plaintiffs’ impairment claims.”

https://savejersey.com/2015/06/supremes-side-with-christie-on-pension-payments/

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Readers say Governor goes easy on PARCC because Pearson Publishing, is headquartered in New Jersey

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Not so fast…Trenton’s Fred Flintstone is still enamored with PARCC testing. Does this have to do with the fact that the owner/operator of PARCC, Pearson Publishing, is headquartered in New Jersey?

“The Governor did, however, [direct] DOE Commissioner Hespe to assemble a group of parents, teachers and educators to reevaluate the situation to come up with new state-centric standards, and he renewed his support for the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams. “We must continue to review and improve that test based on results, not fear or speculation,” Christie declared. “I will not permit New Jersey to risk losing vital federal education funds because some would prefer to let the perfect get in the way of the good.””

PARCC is neither perfect nor nor good. It is perfectly worthless and needs to be jettisoned along with Common Core. The two stem from the same rotten ideology.

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Dropping Common Core may alter little in N.J.

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MAY 29, 2015, 7:05 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015, 11:40 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Governor Christie’s declaration that he will drop Common Core education standards to create ones that are more suited to New Jersey left open the possibility of change. But if other states are a predictor, that change may not be so sweeping.

Several states have moved to replace Common Core and have ended up with standards that look mostly the same, according to education groups. And educators and administrators in New Jersey say the state has made such a huge investment to roll out standards that a total reversal is unlikely.

“It’s in the materials. It’s in the tests. It’s in the teacher training. It’s taught in professional development,” said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve, an education non-profit that helped develop Common Core. “If standards change dramatically, you’d have to make those investments all over again.”

In 2010, New Jersey adopted Common Core along with more than 40 other states. The states repealing Common Core have done so largely in response to political backlash in the conservative GOP, which believes it infringes on states’ rights. Common Core was developed by state officials, with input from private education groups, but the federal government gives financial incentives for states to use the standards.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/dropping-common-core-may-alter-little-in-n-j-1.1345403

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Christie abandons Common Core: “it’s simply not working”

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Posted by admin On May 28, 2015 1 Comment

By The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog

No more than mere weeks away from an anticipated presidential campaign launch, Governor Chris Christie’s long retreat from Common Core just reached the next level Thursday afternoon during remarks on New Jersey academic standards at the Burlington County College’s Geraldine Clinton Little Theatre in Pemberton.

“It’s now been five years since Common Core was adopted,” the Governor declared in prepared remarks. “And the truth is that it’s simply not working.  It has brought only confusion and frustration to our parents.  And has brought distance between our teachers and the communities where they work. Instead of solving problems in our classrooms, it is creating new ones. And when we aren’t getting the job done for our children, we need to do something different.”

https://savejersey.com/2015/05/christie-abandons-common-core-its-simply-not-working/

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Christie compares coverage of GWB and Clinton email scandals; says media bias apparent

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MAY 21, 2015, 5:56 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015, 7:23 PM
BY MELISSA HAYES
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD

Governor Christie said media bias contributed to heavier coverage of the George Washington Bridge lane closures than of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email as secretary of state, as he called for an apology Thursday.

Christie, appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box, said he was branded as “guilty” by media outlets, but an internal investigation he commissioned, a legislative inquiry led by Democrats and a federal investigation have all cleared him of an involvement in the incident.

“I was guilty, guilty. I had done it,” he said. “Now we’re 15 months later, where are the apologies pouring in? Not one thing I said on the day after the bridge situation has been proven to be wrong.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-compares-coverage-of-gwb-and-clinton-email-scandals-says-media-bias-apparent-1.1340265