Posted on 09/17/2010 3:05:44 AM PDT by Scanian
Chris Christie gets it -- and he didn't need the Tea Party to inspire him.
Christie has been shaking up New Jersey since Day One, and now he's done it again -- proposing an unprecedented tightening of pension and health-care benefits for public employees, in order to shore up a system that's teetering at the edge of bankruptcy.
He wants to raise the normal retirement age for teachers and most state and municipal workers to 65, requiring 30 years service for early retirement instead of 25. Police would have to work 30 years for full retirement, but could retire early with reduced benefits.
He also wants public employees to:
* Contribute 8.5 percent of their salaries toward their pensions.
* Start paying 30 percent of the cost of their health premiums.
* Accept the rollback of a 9 percent raise in pension benefits granted in 2001 -- an increase he admits was put into place by Republicans, who "shouldn't have done it in the first place."
Naturally, this has the public-sector unions -- and their Democratic legislative allies -- screaming bloody murder.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Nobody's perfect. The issue now is if he supports O'Connell. And the mosque issue?...there are lots of issues wrapped up there.
I think Christie has had a lot to do with waking up pro-US sentiment. If he's with us on securing our southern border, sending home invaders, and stopping the budget hemoragging, that's all good.
To be honest, he is a fiscal conservative pretty much, and not so much a values conservative. We need both right now. I’d love for him to vote with us in values matters, and maybe one day he’ll deliver there, as well.
We pay half of the medical payments for our health insurance and more than 8.5% for our retirement. This is a nice start for N.Jerseyans and if the unions there don’t know what a great deal this is, they should look at others’ plans.
His vocal support of Castle and the mosque issue spoke volumes.
CC will have to do a lot more than that to lose support here.
He is a fiscal conservative, he is bold, not afraid to speak his mind, and he argues his case well. We need more people like him in leadership positions.
I may not agree with all of his opinions on other matters, but, frankly there are very few people in the world who would agree with all of my positions.
They want to "Get Theirs" while the "Getting" is good.
Govt emplyees are a plague.
A lot of them move to Florida or other states where their state retirement is not taxed, which I don't have a problem with. What I DO have a problem with are all the Democrat state employees (including most of the teachers) who are hard core (and I mean almost Stalinistic) Democrats.
Taxes, you see, are for "other" people.
Besides, from what I have observed, those who stay in NJ don't fish with the grand kids, as much as do this.
Believe it or not, there are good government employees who are educated, productive, and talented.
But - we have a million slugs in government also. Most of those are Democrats.
His position was quite clear and even Christie-smearing morons should understand it. He pointed out that the issue was being used for political advantage by people who had no power to make any decision, and since he had no power to make a decision he told the reporter that the people whose opinions should be listened to are the survivors of the victims of 9/11.
Anyone who thinks that deferring to the opinions of the survivors is supporting the mosque is either an imbecile or a deliberate and malicious liar.
Tell the truth for once. It feels good once you start.
His job as governor is not to intervene in every situation that involves a NY Post headline. He’s actually doing his job, not telling NJ Transit who they’re supposed to hire and fire.
He didn’t say anything about citizens opposing it. He specifically discussed politicians getting mileage from it. And they are.
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