Gov. Chris Christie blamed the pension mess buildup on previous governors, naming in particular Christie Whitman and Jim Florio — who pushed back. NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron caught up with Florio at last night’s 80th birthday party for Gov. Tom Kean. Florio said that he was troubled by a couple of things he had seen last week regarding Christie’s comments on the pension fund.
“I was just troubled by a couple of things,” Florio said. “One was that the treasure of New Jersey, one of the governors, is that you don’t speak ill of other governors, sort of a civility test. This governor obviously doesn’t adhere to that but then he went out and started blaming governors, as who he said was responsible for the current pension fund. I don’t think that’s a good idea, but he did it. But my acknowledgment was that if you’re going to name the governors, be accurate. He named me as one of the governors responsible for the pension deficit. And I in fact was the last governor to fully fund the pension system and so I think it’s a tragedy that the staff of the governor provided him with misinformation that he disseminated.”
In response to the governor’s statement on past governors being responsible for the current pension fund, Florio drafted a statement that was forwarded to NJTV and The Star-Ledger. Florio said that he will not follow up and that he is comfortable with the fact that the message is out. He said Christie likely knows about what he said and that he also hopes that the governor’s staff does not provide Christie with mistaken information going forward.
Whether he expects an apology from Christie, Florio said, “No. I assume as it was said, I can’t believe that he would purposely say something that was not true. Therefore it was probably an inadvertent staffer.”
Florio was in attendance for Kean’s 80th birthday party, one of several being held. In 1981, Florio ran against Kean for governor, in one of the closest elections in modern New Jersey history. There was a recount, which saw Kean come out ahead of Florio. When Kean ran for reelection in 1985, Florio did not run but instead waited until the elections in 1989 and was elected governor. Despite the rivalry in 1981, Florio said that he has become good friends with Kean.
“We’ve become very good friends and we’ve talked about it a number of times about the fact that our campaign in 1981 was the last truly civil campaign, no negativity at all on the issues and we’re kind of proud of that,” Florio said. “Since that time we’ve worked closely together in some respects. I’ve teased Tom a number of times about how he conceived of a whole lot of interesting projects — the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, where we are now — and I had paid for them. But he laughs and acknowledges the fact that we’ve collaborated that way.”
Florio said that being governor for four years highlights his career, along with his 16 years as a congressman.
As for keeping himself occupied now, Florio says that he has a law practice that keeps him busy, as well as teaching at the Bloustein School at Rutgers University. He also said that he is involved with non-profit organizations.
When asked about how New Jersey is faring at the moment, Florio said, “Well, we could be doing much better, much, much better. We got a lot of problems that are built in. They’re dealing with pension problems, obviously is one. Health care problem that we have in New Jersey as well, another problem. But we could be doing much better.”
When asked if he enjoys being on the political scene, Florio said, “We all should be on the scene, doing things in politics.”