TRENTON — The state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Gov. Chris Christie can slash billions of dollars in contributions from New Jersey’s troubled public employee pension system. The court’s ruling caps an intense fight for pension funding and deals a major blow to the state’s labor unions, who challenged Christie’s spending cuts. Christie had sought… Read the rest of this entry »

Governor Chris Christie and former Governor Tom Kean Sr celebrate the first annual Livingston Day, April 11, 2013. Photo by Tim Larsen/Governor’s Office

TRENTON — Former Jersey Gov. Tom Kean had strong words of warning about Gov. Chris Christie’s recent lack of progress in solving the state’s pension crisis, but said the Republican governor shouldn’t be counted out of the 2016 race for the White House. Visiting St. Petersburg, Fla., to give the commencement address at Eckerd College on… Read the rest of this entry »

It was just four years ago that Gov. Chris Christie and Democrats in the Legislature struck a deal on a bipartisan plan to address years of underfunding the public-employee pension system. The legislation mandated increased contributions into the system from both from the state and its workers.… Read the rest of this entry »

TRENTON — Senate President Stephen Sweeney has a message for Gov. Chris Christie: Log off Twitter, come home and work to fix the state’s economy. “He actually needs to be back here meeting with the legislative leadership. He needs to be back here with a plan on what we’re going to do to fix this place,”… Read the rest of this entry »

TRENTON — State Senate President Stephen Sweeney does not leave room for doubt when he says the Democratic-led state Legislature will fully fund New Jersey’s public worker pension system next year. “We’re going to fund it,” he said. Democratic leaders say they’re forging ahead with plans to make a $3.1 billion contribution into a pension system… Read the rest of this entry »

TRENTON — Republican members of the state Assembly Budget Committee on Wednesday criticized New Jersey’s largest public worker union of taking the easy road by shutting down pension talks and demanding full funding without offering any alternatives. The assemblymen, in a brief news conference following a budget hearing on Department of Education funding, leveled accusations of… Read the rest of this entry »

UNION TOWNSHIP — Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick on Tuesday said Democratic legislative leaders shouldn’t side with unions in asking the courts to order the restoration of $1.6 billion in state pension payments cut by Gov. Chris Christie. They should come up with the money themselves. “I think it’s simple: I just don’t think that we… Read the rest of this entry »

TRENTON, N.J. – In his “tell-it-like-it-is” tour of New Hampshire this week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said the country needs a president who isn’t afraid to be honest about the tough fiscal choices needed to overhaul entitlement programs and keep deficits from ravaging the Treasury. He pointed… Read the rest of this entry »

TRENTON — Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded New Jersey’s debt rating, dealing the Garden State its record ninth ratings cut since Gov. Chris Christie took office. The ratings drop by one notch, from A1 to A2, on $32.2 billion worth of bonds underscores the state’s “weak financial position and large structural imbalance, primarily related to continued… Read the rest of this entry »

When Chris Christie privatized New Jersey’s lottery two years ago, he said its new overseers would “modernize and maximize” the games. Instead, a lottery once ranked among the nation’s top performers is now lagging for the second straight year, trailing its state income targets by $64 million seven months into the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, the… Read the rest of this entry »