Assembly Democratic spokesman Tom Hester Jr. released the following statement on Monday:
“The rhetoric and press releases issued today by the governor’s office on affordable housing are beneath the intellectual level of an immature teen-ager, let alone the New Jersey governor’s office.
“Assembly Majority staff met just last week with the deputy commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, Commissioner Grifa’s chief of staff and the governor’s counsel office, and they were all well aware of the plan to introduce affordable housing reform legislation today.
“As a matter of fact, the administration has seen two drafts in the last week.
“In addition, Majority Leader Cryan and Speaker Pro Tempore Green had meetings with the Senate to reach agreement on a reform plan that passes constitutional muster.
“This issue is too serious and important to New Jersey to be reduced to juvenile press releases and misleading public comments from the governor’s office. Perhaps it’s time the governor’s office decided to work cooperatively to advance reform rather than doing everything it can to prevent it from happening.”