Gov on gov violence

Good morning!

Chris Christie is not a fan of successor Phil Murphy’s tenure as governor.

“Horrible governor. Horrible,” Christie said yesterday during an appearance at New Jersey Performing Arts Center. “Worst governor of my lifetime.”

The roughly hourlong chat had Christie expound on everything from Israel to next week’s midterm elections (he thinks the GOP is going to get walloped, and that bad Democratic candidates in Maine and Michigan may prevent Dems from winning the U.S. Senate) to Donald Trump, of course. He did not announce a third presidential run.

But he did weigh in on Murphy’s eight years as governor, accusing Murphy of doing nothing while the state budget ballooned by ~$25 billion and mocking Murphy for his claim that he would make New Jersey fairer and stronger.

“Well, I ask people this question now: Do you feel $27 billion fairer and stronger?” Christie said Thursday.

The Republican ex-governor said he thinks the size of the budget will make it difficult for Murphy’s successor, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, to make decisions on, say, shoring up the state’s Medicaid program after federal cuts.

“I don't know where the governor's going to find the money to do this, except to raise taxes,” he said.

Christie said he largely kept his mouth shut about Trenton politics after he left office and claims that strategy is over.

“I'm done keeping quiet. Because this is my state and I'm never leaving here. I was born here and I’ll die here,” he said.

Asked to comment, Murphy spokesman Mahen Gunaratna noted that Christie left office in 2018 as one of America’s least popular governors.

“His administration devastated New Jersey’s economy, underfunded public education by billions, and ballooned the pension deficit, leading to 11 credit downgrades. Governor Murphy earned nine credit rating upgrades while paying the bills Governor Christie ducked and building the fastest-growing economy in the Northeast. Governor Christie's record was so bad, even Donald Trump passed him over for a job,” Gunaratna said.

Trenton: The New Jersey Assembly met on Thursday and passed a slew of bills focused on human trafficking, a growing crime that’s underreported and often hard to detect. One bill would ax the statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits involving human trafficking and aggravated sexual contact, which now stands at five years in New Jersey. “This is not nearly enough time for someone to process such immense trauma, let alone be able to address it through the legal system,” said bill sponsor Assemblyman Sterley Stanley. The Assembly also passed a bill to hike penalties for retailers who sell tobacco products to anyone under 21.

Courts: A divided New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Mantoloking officials in a case involving a feud between an ex-state trooper and an attorney who sought the trooper’s expunged criminal records. At issue was an email the municipal prosecutor in the case received from a private attorney offering legal advice. The lawyer fighting the state trooper wanted to force the town to un-redact the name of the private attorney, but the court’s majority said nope.

Health: Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled Thursday. New Jersey was one of the states who sued over this. “This win will help people with complex or serious medical conditions stay on Medicaid and keep their healthcare,” Attorney General Davenport Jen Davenport said in a statement. “I will keep fighting to make sure red tape does not hurt those who are already struggling to stay well and maintain their dignity.”

D.C.: Nearly 200 House Democrats signed a letter accusing Trump officials of weaponizing law enforcement against Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D), who is the target of a federal criminal probe. But Ally Goelz at the New York Post notes that dozens of House Dems did not cosign the letter, including our own Rep. Josh Gottheimer. Goelz writes that this group represents areas of New York and New Jersey where “political calculations could make embracing Omar a liability.” That may be true for some of the other Dems who skipped signing the letter, but I don’t think signing it would change Gottheimer’s chances at the polls one bit, nor do I think he would have signed it even if he had no GOP opponent this year. Over the years, Omar’s criticism of Israel has led to public condemnation from Gottheimer.

Elections: Nicole Rosenthal at NJ Advance Media reports that New Jersey has removed from the voter rolls a teenaged green card holder whose family criticized the state after they discovered the teen had been registered to vote. The Sherrill administration told Rosenthal that press accounts about this teen have been inaccurate, but it also confirmed that she was removed from the voter rolls. GOP officials want an investigation.

Halloween: CNN aired its segment on the Clifton dentist in a war with town officials over his gigantic Halloween display, which the town cited for encroaching on the public right-of-way and fire safety issues. The dentist wasn’t the firebrand on camera that he is on Facebook, but we at least now have this instantly iconic moment in New Jersey journalism: