By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
NJ Today
In light of Boston, Gov. Chris Christie was asked about security at New Jersey events, specifically the Super Bowl.
“I’m absolutely confident that you cannot compare the security around the Super Bowl with the security that was at the Boston Marathon. The Boston Marathon’s what we all in law enforcement used to call a soft event. You’re not gonna magnetometer everyone who walks in like you do in the Super Bowl. You’re not going to restrict access to the city streets when a marathon’s going on like we’re gonna do surrounding the Super Bowl. And so it’s a totally different event,” Christie said.
He also gave his first public defense of the administration decision last Friday to privatize the sales and marketing arm of the state lottery.
“All these folks are out there, these members of the legislature on the other side of the aisle who are saying we’re giving away the goose that laid the golden egg. We’re not privatizing the lottery. We are outsourcing the management and marketing of the lottery,” Christie said. “The state still owns the lottery. The state still gets the income stream from the lottery. What the manager gets is a percentage of whatever they increase the revenue in.”
Christie was in Long Branch meeting with business owners about the summer shore season. The press corps asked him about today’s jobs report. Unemployment dropped to 9.0 percent, but Democratic candidate Barbara Buono says only 40 percent of the New Jersey jobs lost in the recession have come back.
“What did you expect her to say? Congratulations on the fact that the unemployment rate went down from 9.3 to 9 when that’s all she talks about?” Christie asked. “The fact of the mater is that New Jersey is making progress and everyone but Sen. Buono feels it apparently.”
He also defended his call this week to revive his tax cut plan despite legislative skepticism.
“[If the majority of the legislature believe] that there aren’t revenues there, then they can stop the tax cut at any time. If they don’t do this now, the conclusion you must draw is that they never were serious about cutting taxes in the first place, that they were lying to the people of New Jersey,” Christie said.
The governor was asked about yesterday’s gun vote in the U.S. Senate and said he’ll talk about that tomorrow when his task force on violence formally presents him its report. He was also asked about the polls in his race with Barbara Buono tightening so much.
“It’s down from 46 to what? Twenty? Really? Well now I’m nervous,” Christie said sarcastically.