(PAULSBORO) – Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairman John J. Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) issued the following statement after Governor Christie announced Tuesday that he planned to fill the structural deficits in the current and upcoming budget year by reducing the amount of the state’s obligatory pension payment:
“I find it disingenuous that Governor Christie chose to disassociate himself from any governmental actions that occurred before his administration took office, as if that somehow absolved him of responsibility to deal with the repercussions of those actions.
“Based on his comments today, I’d like to know if the governor plans on calling former Governor Whitman and asking her how she intends to deal with the ramifications of her pension bond scheme that borrowed against the pension in lieu of making payments to the system; or if he plans on calling former Acting Governor DiFrancesco and asking him how he plans to pay for the increased payouts and reduced employee contributions he authorized under his watch.
“Arguably, these are the two single actions that can be easily be described, in hindsight, as the pension system Waterloo.
“When we take the oath of office we inherit the responsibility for all of New Jersey’s government as it is, not as we would like it to be. To pretend to do otherwise is reckless at best.”