Gov. Chris Christie may have had one eye on a national audience when he announced he’d been working with a long-time political opponent — the teachers’ union — to forge an agreement on wholesale pension reform. But Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg suggests he’s still got work to do here. She spoke with NJTV News Correspondent David Cruz in Teaneck.
Weinberg said there is no deal to save the pension system as Christie indicated in his speech. She said she was underwhelmed with the budget address and shocked that Christie didn’t even mention the Transportation Trust Fund, which is expected to run dry in June, or discuss health care or education.
“He talked about a phantom deal which doesn’t exist as if he somehow has negotiated an answer to our pension problem. He is definitely functioning on a different reality plane than the rest of us, but we’ve got from now until June 30 to work on a budget. I certainly hope he gets engaged. I hope he stays in the state long enough to get engaged. And I just think this was a travesty what we heard today,” Weinberg said.
Weinberg said legislators would be happy if Christie’s pension commission and labor unions come up with a solution that is acceptable for everyone, but that’s not currently the case.
“It’s time for the governor to start getting back down to the reality of life in New Jersey. We are at the bottom of every single economic indicator. Whether you’re talking about our unemployment rate, our bond ratings, the growth of our economy, we are behind all the states around us,” Weinberg said. “So it’s time for him to stop doing this kind of rose colored glasses outlook and get back down to we need to grow the economy here so that we can have the income to pay for many of our obligations. We need to talk about the Transportation Trust Fund and we need to solve our pension problem.”
While Weinberg said it would be nice if all the unions were involved in negotiations instead of just the NJEA, she said teachers are responsible for about 65 percent of the pension problems so they have a larger stake in it.
“But I don’t think they negotiated. They presented a road map that the pension commission looked at. That’s all it is, it’s a road map. And to have spun that into some kind of a negotiated deal again is an indication to me of the governor thinks he can continue getting away with ‘I make a statement and it’s true,'” said Weinberg. “He had a whole section of his speech as if it’s some kind of a bill and to raise taxes by 27 percent that he was going to veto. I mean, it’s like I was sitting there watching and wondering am I functioning in the same environment as he’s functioning?”
Weinberg said there’s no doubt that a constitutional amendment will be needed to force Christie to make the pension payments. “There’s no doubt that after the way the governor reneged on this deal that we’re gonna need a constitutional amendment,” she said.