By David Cruz
Correspondent
In general, there is no upside — for Republicans — to override a Chris Christie veto. In fact, it’s never happened to a Christie bill, although it’s been tried, like today’s attempt to override the governor’s veto of Assembly bill 961.
The bill — which passed both houses unanimously — calls for the state to issue an annual “debt affordability analysis report,” which would estimate state revenues and debt over the next decade. The idea being that with $90 billion in debt for pensions and benefits and about $40 billion debt for other state funding outstanding, it would be good to know what the state’s debt situation is before issuing any more debt. But this morning, Republicans got word from the treasurer’s office that it would be inappropriate for the state — as the issuer of the debt — to also issue an affordability analysis.
“It is just something that is not done,” said Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick. “Analysts do it. [Office of Legislative Services] does it. We could assign OLS to do it, but once we do it, we jeopardize a whole host of issues, including running afoul of the [Securities and Exchange Commission].”
But, even some Republicans looked at that rationale sideways.
“When you’re asked to cast a vote on a bill and it seems innocuous and it’s got a hidden landmine that perhaps only an expert would see,” said Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, “It would sort of behoove those experts to tell us about that in advance rather than make us look a bit indecisive later on.”
Democrats scoffed at the notion of holding off on the override vote. They contend the administration had plenty of time to raise concerns. The real concern, it was suggested, was the governor’s political reputation, which would have taken a hit from a successful override.
“Hours before the vote this mystery comes to the forefront and everybody says, ‘Hold it,’” scoffed Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald. “I say don’t hold it. I say don’t hold it because they’re not holding it. I say don’t hold it because this document is actually helpful to us in revising public policy so that we can ultimately fix things like pension and health care.”
In the end, Democrats fell two votes short of an override, with 23 members abstaining. One member confided that, of course, the governor played a role in the vote. The governor may give you some wiggle room on an override if you’re having a crisis of conscience, said the member, but on this vote there was no room for conscientious objectors.