Christie lashes out at Obama, highlights work in New Jersey

His comments came hours after lawmakers reached a deal to seek a referendum on expanding casinos to northern new Jersey.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney says he will introduce a bill Tuesday to have the state take over Atlantic City’s finances.

It will also require that both venues be owned by existing Atlantic City casino operators, while the Assembly bill applies that requirement to just one casino. “We have to do what needs to be done to bring financial stability and responsibility to the city”.

Christie also took a shot at President Barack Obama in advance of tonight’s State of the Union Address. That is aimed at stabilizing Atlantic City’s tax base, which has been eviscerated by casinos’ declining value because of competition from neighboring states.

Christie said it will be the first major rate increase in more than a decade and comes after a review process that’s lasted several years. Christie suggested that to accomplish that goal, taxes would have to be raised by 3 billion dollars or spending cut by the same amount, affecting everything from hospitals and schools to law enforcement.

Christie has used the economic data to paint a picture of his tenure as a reformer whose policies helped the state recover despite an adversarial Legislature. “If we choose to keep investing in and supporting innovation in our system, there’s no reason we can’t achieve many more success stories like Allison’s”. That equals $6,717 per person, which is “completely unacceptable and unsustainable”, Sweeney said.

New Jersey would be the second state behind Hawaii to raise the smoking age to 21.

“It’s easy to imagine that Christie had Granite State voters on his mind when he devoted a substantial portion of his speech to drug treatment and policy”.

In particular, he wants to turn a shuttered state prison into a drug abuse treatment facility for inmates, the excerpts said.

Attendees react to U.S. Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie whi …

The changes were surprising given that the aid package had already passed the full Legislature and presumably was awaiting action by Gov. Chris Christie. “This expansion and the revenues raised will also provide a boost to the state’s equine industry and will help with the needed diversification of Atlantic City so it will not be dependent on extraordinary state aid”.

Local Democrats criticized Mr. Christie for giving what they described as a political speech.

Democrats balked at cutting the tax immediately, saying it could open a hole in the budget of up to $500 million, but some, like Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, have called for phasing it out over time. “I don’t think it was a presidential speech, but it wasn’t a speech for New Jersey”.

“I will lead Republicans and Independents to say no to this outrage”.