Unemployment Is 9.8% and Christie Has Been AWOL
Trenton – Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg issued the following statement on Tuesday imploring Governor Christie to face up to the reality of his failed record on the economy and urging him to get back to work for New Jersey:
“New Jersey continues to have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and Governor Christie has been AWOL too often, campaigning out of state for Republican candidates who want to get elected to jobs of their own. He should be hard at work in New Jersey helping to put people to work here.
“On Wednesday, he’ll be in Massachusetts. Yesterday, the governor was campaigning for Linda McMahon in Connecticut, the woman who got rich as an owner of World Wrestling Entertainment, entertaining fans with wrestling matches that suspended reality in favor of staged events. It’s play acting with animated grunts and choreographed falls. It’s the type of staged, false presentation the governor has perfected here in New Jersey. But ignoring reality in the wrestling ring is one thing, ignoring economic reality here in New Jersey is something far different.
“The unemployment rate of 9.8 percent is far above the national average of 7.8 percent and higher than all our neighboring states. We are 47th in economic output, state revenues are far below the governor’s projections, the credit agencies are warning of a downgrade, personal income is flat and more people are being pushed out of the middle class. We can do better.
“Democrats have been proactive on jobs and the economy. We are fighting for a fair minimum wage, we recently introduced a tax-credit plan to create jobs and we created the “Back To Work” package of bills designed to spur growth and jobs. Unfortunately, the governor vetoed most of them. He should follow our lead in working here in New Jersey for the people of New Jersey.”