Posted on 07/07/2017 6:58:30 PM PDT by ModernDayCato
A political line has been drawn in the sand this summer, with the governors of Connecticut and New Jersey taking opposite sides on whether to keep state beaches open during a budget impasse — and throwing shade at each other.
Connecticut still has no budget agreement, but Democrat Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order last week to avert a government shutdown and keep state beaches and parks open for now.
Contrast that with Republican Chris Christie, who basked in the sunshine with his family at a New Jersey state beach over the weekend that was closed to the public because of a budget standoff in Trenton.
By July 4, a budget deal was in place and the beaches reopened, but not before Christie became an internet meme inspiration and got a sunburn from critics, including his longtime adversary Malloy.
“It turned out to be a whale of a story,” Malloy told Hearst Connecticut Media Thursday. “Ultimately, I thought it was a bullying type move. We should not try to punish our citizens for ... government’s failures. (Christie) can read from whatever governor’s (manual) he reads from. I don’t know why punishing his citizens was deemed an appropriate way to put pressure on anyone.”
Christie’s spokesman Brian Murray said Malloy is hardly in a position to be telling New Jersey’s governor how to run his state.
“As Governor Malloy drives GE to Massachusetts and Aetna to New York due to eight years of his failed tax-and-spend policies, he should probably focus on emulating New Jersey’s success with an unemployment rate nearly a full point lower than Connecticut’s,” Murray said. “Despite his misguided comments, we would be happy to give him a seminar on how to grow an economy rather than destroy jobs, as he has done for his entire tenure as governor.”
The animosity between Malloy and Christie has defined their overlapping tenures, with Christie campaigning for Malloy’s GOP opponent, Tom Foley, in 2010 and 2014, when Christie led the Republican Governors Association. Malloy is the current head of the Democratic Governors Association.
From whose state has a better business climate to gun control, the gubernatorial adversaries have clashed early and often, which made the following observation from Malloy Thursday about the budget impasse in New Jersey a rare cease-fire.
“Now I’ll give him credit. They got a budget,” Malloy said.
Connecticut lawmakers aren’t scheduled to reconvene until July 18 for a special session to try to close a $5 billion, two-year budget deficit. Admission and camping fees collected at Connecticut parks and beaches, Malloy said, are enough to sustain state-run recreational facilities. State beaches were such a popular destination during the weekend, the governor said, that they reached capacity early in the day.
Tess Marchant-Shapiro, an associate political science professor at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, said the image of Christie frolicking in the sand will be remembered more than the governor’s ability to consummate a budget deal.
“Christie did manage to parlay (the beach closure) into an agreement this week, which was astounding to me,” Marchant-Shapiro said. “Certainly, I think Malloy’s strategy was wiser.”
Christie and his family were photographed from a plane by NJ Advance Media Sunday on an empty beach in Berkeley Township, where there is an official summer residence for the governor at Island Beach State Park. Christie has said the residence is separate from the park and that he didn’t use any state services there.
But Marchant-Shapiro said Christie’s response to reporters when questioned about the visual of the first family of New Jersey having the beach all to itself didn’t help the governor.
“That line that he made, ‘Well if you want to be on the beaches, why don’t you run for governor?’ That’s just not a politic thing to say,” she said.
As for Malloy’s holiday weekend, he said it was no day at the beach.
“If I was gonna go to the beaches, I would have tried to go to New Jersey,” he said, sarcastically.
So tired of everyone crying “bully” these days.
Whenever I hear it or read it I automatically think the person saying it is weak.
In this case you would be correct. The crap flying back and forth was just hilarious though.
I agree about the hilarity of their banter. They both seem to be having a good time getting under the other’s skin. Ribbing and rivalry without anger and hatred.
Thing is,The state Senate passed a bill that allows the state government to control how much Horizon keeps in its surplus fund before it must contribute to a public health fund.
But the Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, a Democrat, refused to allow the bill to come to a vote in the House, nj.com said, which led to the shutdown over the budget.
Malloy is a tyrant to gun owning citizens.
Oh, wait, Christie is too.
But that's OK...because that's where Malloy gets most of his campaign funds.
Christie is toast. Bridgegate killed him whether or not he was really involved in the decision making. It happened under his watch and was executed by his people so the voters hold him accountable. That’s likely why Trump didn’t give him a position in the new federal administration.
Christie also did a lousy job of heading the Trump transition team. Like many people he must have believed Trump couldn’t win. As a result, Trump wasn’t ready to start putting nominees forward the day after the election and his administration is still not fully staffed six months after taking office.
Chris Christie is yesterday’s newspaper. He will fade away after the next election for governor to collect his federal and state pensions. Perhaps he’ll find a corporate or nonprofit job. He showed great potential but in the end couldn’t go the distance.
Christie is a small fish in a big pond....not worth the effort to support or or denigrate.
We have bigger fish to fry.
Malloy (Communist Idiot - CT) knows all about closing public beaches.
The despicable Malloy closed a popular Connecticut state park and beach on a hot August day so that Obama could land his helicopter close to a fat-cat Democrat donor's multi-million dollar palace for an election fundraising gig.
There was no government purpose for the trip - not even a make-believe fig-leaf of a pretext to justify it. But that didn't stop Malloy from illegally converting CT state property for the use of a political campaign.
At first, Malloy and his trained pets in the CT government lied about the reason for the closure. It was only after he was caught red-handed that he tried making lame excuses for his illegal behavior.
Obama rewarded Malloy well for his illegal acts - giving him a primo seat of "honor" (as if there's honor among Obamunist thieves) at a State of the Union address.
So, idiot Malloy, tell us all about governors who close beaches for all the wrong reasons.
The beach photos were "in your face". Christie knew they were going to be taken.
ALL New Jersey governors over the last 50 years have been bad for the state. But Christie has been one of the least bad of the bad bunch.
As for the state -- I think it's doomed, just like New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, California and the rest of the large high-tax, high-spending indigo-blue states.
Christie put Jared Kushner's dad in jail. That's probably why Trump didn't give him a White House job.
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