Governor Christie’s remarks after meeting with the NJ Congressional Delegation about recovering from Hurricane Sandy

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Governor Christie on Saturday Night Live

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Christie Administration Announces Disaster Unemployment Assistance Available in Eight New Jersey Counties Impacted by Storm

Trenton, NJ –The U.S. Department of Labor announced that it approved Governor Chris Christie’s request for eight (8) New Jersey counties to qualify for federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance as a result of the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy.

This special assistance program pertains to people in and around portions of New Jersey that were declared a federal disaster area, including Atlantic, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union counties. Federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) is available for persons, including self-employed individuals, who were living or working in the affected counties at the time of the disaster, and who are unemployed as a direct result of the damages caused by the storm.

At this time, the assistance is available only in connection with those areas declared a federal a disaster area, including Atlantic, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union counties. Additional counties may be added to the disaster declaration following continued damage assessments by local officials, representatives of the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

If you are unemployed because of the disaster that began on Oct. 28, you should FIRSTfile for unemployment insurance benefits through the Internet by going to www.njuifile.net.

The Internet processes claims faster. However, if needed, people may also file a claim by telephone by contacting the state Department of Labor’s Re-employment Call Centers at:

North Jersey (201) 601-4100

Central Jersey (732) 761-2020

South Jersey (856) 507-2340

A 30-day deadline ending December 3, 2012 is in effect for filing claims resulting from Hurricane Sandy.

For additional information regarding Disaster Unemployment Assistance or for FEMA services please call the FEMA emergency number at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. Information is also available via the Internet at www.disasterassistance.govand www.fema.gov.

For information on all New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development programs and services visit http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/index.htmland www.Jobs4Jersey.com

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Christie activates National Guard and Airmen, Closes State Offices, Closes NJ Transit and PATH. Suspends tolls on GSP north and Atlantic City Expressway. MVC Operations Suspended

Governor Chris Christie has activated the National Guard to assist New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy.

State offices will be closed on Monday.

NJ Transit and Access Link will gradually shut down all operations starting at 4PM and continuing until 2am Monday morning.

The PATH system will close at midnight.

Tolls on the Garden State Parkway North from Cape May through the Driscoll Bridge are suspended.  Tolls are suspended both ways of on the Atlantic City Expressway.

The Motor Vehicle Commission’s operations are closed on Monday.  All scheduled drivers tests, both road and written are cancelled on October 29, 30, and 31.

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He didn’t call them idiots, or nudniks

The Asbury Park Press is still struggling for relevance and their trying to get it by attempting to set Governor Chris Christie’s agenda and schedule.  Their likelihood of success is less than that of Star Ledger Editorial Board Editor Tom Moran’s attempts to get Christie to improve his manners.

Back in May, APP ran an multi-part expose on the Lakewood School System.  So few people read about it, cared about it or took it seriously that when Christie came to Freehold for a Town Hall Meeting the following week, no one brought it up.  That prompted an front page editorial rant that bashed Christie, Congressman Chris Smith and others not directly responsible for the mess in Lakewood for not paying attention to the APP Neptune Nudniks.

Last week the governor visited a private school (publicly funded) in Lakewood that serves the developmentally disabled.  The Nudniks responded with another front page rant and by getting the Lakewood Board of Education President to write an open letter to the governor complaining that he is not paying attention to them on their schedule.

Yesterday, the Nudniks sent a reporter to a Christie press conference in Hackensack about a new solar power farm to ask him about the Lakewood Schools and why he hasn’t visited:

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Dwek smeared Oxley, Kyrillos and Handlin

Swarmy swindler Solomon Dwek  told federal investigators in 2006 that Joe Oxley, Joe Kyrillos and Amy Handlin were in his pocket, according to a Star Ledger report posted on NJ.com Monday night.

Dwek’s claims became public in an FBI report prepared in August of 2006 that was recently released after former Hudson County Assemblyman Louis Manzo unsuccessfully sued the U. S Attorney’s office to recover $100,000 in legal fees that resulted from his July 2009 Operation Bid Rig arrest.   Manzo had been indicted twice in the Bid Rig III scandal but all charges against him were eventually dismissed, according to Bob Ingle and Michael Symons writing in their just released biography of Chris Christie.

Dwek alleged that Oxley, while Monmouth County Sheriff, tipped him off about upcoming foreclosures two weeks before the information became public, thereby giving Dwek an advantage in purchasing the properties before the foreclosure auctions.  The FBI’s subsequent investigation of Oxley found no wrong doing.

Oxley is the Monmouth County GOP Chairman until Tuesday evening.  He has been nominated by Governor Chris Christie to be a Superior Court Judge.    Christie was U.S. Attorney during the investigation of Oxley.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Christie on Dems Rejection of Kwon to Supreme Court

Governor Chris Christie will be addressing the press corp regarding the Senate Judiciary Committee’s rejection of his nomination of Phillip Kwon to the NJ Supreme Court momentarily.

Watch it here:

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Todd Chrisite: Governor Is Not Running For President

Governor Chris Christie’s brother Todd told the Star Ledger that the governor has not changed his mind about not running for president in 2012.

Christie’s brother, a well-connected Republican fundraiser, said the governor hasn’t changed his mind.

“I’m sure that he’s not going to run,” Todd Christie said. “If he’s lying to me, I’ll be as stunned as I’ve ever been in my life.”

The on again off again Christie for President buzz reached a fever pitch in the last twenty four hours after former Governor Tom Kean, a Christie mentor since childhood, told the National Review that the governor was seriously considering entering the race.

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Christie Vetos Jersey Shore’s $420,000 Tax Credit

Ongoing Questions About Value of Tax Credit Program are Underscored by Award to TV Series of Dubious Value to State

Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie today vetoed the Economic Development Authority’s (EDA) award of $420,000 in film tax credits to the Jersey Shore television program, citing New Jersey’s difficult fiscal climate and the need to direct limited state resources to programs and projects that actually benefit the state.  

In his veto letter to the EDA, which he signed today, Governor Christie noted his long held, serious concerns about the limited value and return on the cost of the New Jersey Film Tax Credit Transfer Program, which was the basis for his veto of legislation earlier this year to “grossly expand” the program.

“We must ensure that our limited taxpayer dollars are spent on programs and projects that best benefit the State of New Jersey,” Governor Christie said.  “I have no interest in policing the content of such projects; however, as Chief Executive I am duty-bound to ensure that taxpayers are not footing a $420,000 bill for a project which does nothing more than perpetuate misconceptions about the State and its citizens.”

The Governor also noted the contradictions coming from legislative supporters of the program who complained about EDA’s award of the tax credit to Jersey Shore just days before their most recent legislative action to expand funding.

“Legislators who championed the Program’s original legislation, and who later sponsored legislation to expand it, must surely have appreciated the consequences of their actions. The tax credit to Jersey Shore illustrates the potential for wasteful spending inherent in the implementation of the Program,” the Governor wrote in the veto letter.

“For such legislators to now complain of its implementation with respect to Jersey Shore is, at best, mystifying.”

Governor Christie concluded by noting that while it appeared “that the EDA felt compelled” to include Jersey Shore in the Program, “I am not so constrained” and vetoed the $420,000 tax credit award.

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ICYMI: Christie’s July 18 Press Conference

Below is a video of Governor Christie’s Press Conference this morning.  Christie starts the conference at the 1:50 mark.

Transcript of the Governor’s Opening Remarks at the July 18, 2011 Press Conference on the Need to Restore Proper Accountability and Oversight in the Transitional Aid Program.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie:

Good morning. We’ll talk this morning about Transitional Aid to cities. First, we have been working extraordinarily hard in the Administration to change what had been basically a giveaway to cities that many of which were fraught with fraud, waste, and abuse, to change that program into a program that was a transition for cities to become self-sufficient without state aid being necessary for them to sustain their operations. And so the things that we’ve been doing over the course of the last eighteen months have been to set and enforce conditions for receipt of the aid though memoranda of understanding to have significant oversight from DCA that was regular and meaningful, and to also put a rigorous application process in place to make sure that the money that was being awarded was absolutely needed because given the fiscal condition of this state every dollar that we expend on behalf of the taxpayers needs to be justified and once that money is allocated we need to make sure that there is sufficient oversight in place to make sure that the money is being spent in the manner in which it was intended to be spent.

These are not groundbreaking management theories. These are things that just need to be done and should be done but candidly haven’t been done in the main before we got here. So when I received the budget in a hurried way two Wednesdays ago after the Legislature passed it our review became clear that the Legislature for whatever reason had taken away the funding and language for us to provide oversight to these municipalities who were receiving municipal aid.

Now for those of you who have been following the budget for some time you know that I had limited options available to me once that document was given to me to correct this particular problem, really three, one of which wouldn’t correct the problem, that would be just to sign the budget as it was, allocate the $149M to Transitional Aid and now have no funding and authorization for the appropriate oversight that we just laid out. Second would be to conditionally veto the budget, rewrite in the language and money for oversight, and third would be to line item veto out the money for transitional aid and then look to move forward to try to get restored the funding and the language for oversight.

I determined not to take the first course because that would be ridiculous just to sign the budget the way it was. The second course would have precipitated a potential crisis in closing down the government. I didn’t think that this rose to that level to take the risk of closing the government down over this issue when I had the third option available to me which was to line item veto out all the funding except for that funding which had already been allocated and oversight had been given for the funding that we were providing and then to come back later on to make very clear to the Legislature that we’re not going to be providing aid to cities that have histories of management problems, fraud, and waste and abuse, without the funding and authorization for appropriate oversight.

And so today we’re sending a bill down to the Legislature which contains statutory authorization for both the funding and for the language to have oversight over these municipalities who receive Transitional Aid. Also, a supplemental spending bill to restore the full amount of Transitional Aid that was in my original Budget Message.

Let’s be clear: I always wanted to give this money to the cities that need it. That’s why I put it in my budget in the first place. But I am not going to give this money away without the appropriate funding and oversight mechanisms to make sure that it’s spent in a way that is in conformance with the program and is respectful of the money the taxpayers want to spend. So we’re sending this bill down to the Legislature today. Whenever the Legislature wants to come back and pass this bill they have my commitment that I will sign it as long as we have the appropriate oversight that is included in this bill. I will also sign the supplemental to restore the funding to the level that it was at in my budget as proposed in March.

We made this very clear to the Legislature in the immediate aftermath of their passing of the budget. We’ve made it clear through the press statements that we’ve made to all of you in the aftermath as well that we’re not going to give away money without appropriate oversight. In fact when I announced the line item vetoes one of the things that I talked about that day was the elimination of funding for this oversight capability and that’s why I want it in statute so they don’t play these games any more in the budget. Because as you know through the line item veto I can’t add language and so it put me in the position I was in. If it’s statutory and they put other language in there that goes against the statute I can line item veto that language out to the statute which would provide for oversight, aggressive oversight. I did what the people of the state of New Jersey expect. If we’re going to help cities through struggling times like the ones we’re in but we’re going to do it in a way that’s responsible and that’s going to expend money in a way where there is real oversight from the governmental entity that supplies the money and in this instance that’s the state of New Jersey.

And so the bill is going to be submitted today. Whenever the Legislature wants to come back and pass this legislation they have my assurance that I’ll sign it and then the money will be available for those cities that need it. In the meantime, we’re going to go through the application process as we’ve planned to go through before so this work can be done so we’re not playing catch up on that in anticipation that given how strongly some members of the Legislature feel about this I can’t imagine that they would not provide for appropriate oversight for this type of money. We’re talking about nearly $150M; I think everybody would agree that having both the funding and the legal authority for that type of oversight is not only a reasonable thing to ask for but necessary. That’s why I line item vetoed money out in the first place. It was the only way I could get it done without closing down the government and we submit this legislation now in order to provide for the opportunity for the Legislature to do what it is they say they want to do which is to make sure cities have this funding and if they pass it along with the appropriate authorization, money and authorization for oversight by DCA over these municipalities then they have my assurance that I will sign both those pieces of legislation, both the supplemental and the statutory changes that will prevent us from having to be put in this position again because of the absence of statutory language before.

So that’s what we intend to do on Transitional Aid and I look forward to the Legislature whenever they decide to come back to consider this bill and to pass it. It sounds to me like it’s a matter of urgency to them so I trust they’ll be back to do some other stuff over the course of the summer, they’ll come back and do something that’s important to the cities of our state.  I’ll close with one thing. I want to make really clear— I would not have proposed this Transitional Aid in my budget in the first place if I didn’t want to provide it. But I am not going to go back to the old Trenton ways of doing things. And giving away money as we did in Camden, hundreds of millions of dollars in Camden, without any oversight and any results, that’s the old way of doing things. We’re not going to do it that way anymore. If we have the appropriate oversight, we have the ability to enter into these agreements, we’ll do it, if we don’t then that’s up to the Legislature to decide if they want to give away the people’s money in this state without oversight. It’s not going to happen on my watch.

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