By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
NJ Today
Gov. Chris Christie met with teens and young adults in an after school program for the developmentally disabled in Middlesex County this afternoon. It was his third visit to a social service program in a week. He said his interest in these programs goes back to his days as a Morris County freeholder. He wants every New Jerseyan to reach his or her full potential and these visits are designed to underscore that commitment.
WATCH VIDEO:
“I think really what we’re trying to do this week is to highlight the things in the budget that are not necessarily the ones that jump out at everybody. People look at some of the bigger numbers and what’s education funding and are you making the pension payment and some of the other things that just kind of jump out. Are you going to continue the business tax cuts? Those are the big kind of headline items that wind up being in the initial coverage but I think you also need to know some of the details of what is in each one of the line items we have in the budget,” Christie said. “And I think coming to some of these places to put an emphasis on two things, one, why am I committing more money to these areas and I need to talk about that and kind of show the people of the state why I think this is so important. And secondly is to make sure that the folks who are working in these places every day who are benefiting from these services understand that I know and care about it. And there’s nothing that says that to them any more clearly than me actually coming.”
In the Q&A with reporters, Christie was asked about the hearing last Friday into the state’s emergency contract with debris hauling firm AshBritt.
“I really thought that the hearings were much ado about nothing,” Christie said. “Sen. Buono got to campaign for governor on taxpayers’ time. Other than that I don’t think there was really much to report.”
Not one town that used AshBritt has complained, he said.
“We had 10 million cubic yards of debris on land in this state. So I know you guys are trying hard, you really are, to make something of this. I know you’re working hard to try to do it, but there’s just nothing there. And I feel badly for all the folks who spent so much time on this and effort for their frustration that they can’t find something wrong,” Christie said. “We got a choice to make. I woke up on Tuesday morning, Oct. 30, with a state that had seven-eighths of its population out of power and was buried under 10 million cubic yards of debris. My job was to get the state back to normal as quickly as possible. And that’s what I did.”
The governor continues to insist AshBritt is a non-story.