Governor Christie is obviously not content with 15% approval ratings. He must want them to go lower. And he’s doing a great job, drawing a line in closed beach sand about the state budget that was supposed to be approved by June 30. The problem is that Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto refused to include Christie’s proposed grab of $300 million dollars from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield. That money was supposed to fund the governor’s opioid addiction program, which has been the part and parcel of his entire second term agenda.
Even a proposed compromise, where the bill would allow the next governor to take none, some or all of the $300 million didn’t move Prieto who saw it as the power move that it was. And it lit up the previously dark, ugly, cobwebbed closet that modern Republicans would rather that voters not see because it contains the hypocrisy that has driven their bankrupt agenda for decades. They won’t dare raise taxes, and they pretend that businesses should make their own decisions without government regulations. But when it comes to funding that the state desperately needs, they will put their meaty fists on any company they believe makes too much money or does big business with public workers.
Hence, Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the state’s largest public worker health insurer. It’s not enough that many public workers, including hundreds of thousands of public school teachers, have had their take home pay reduced because of rising health insurance payments which, by the by, Chrtistie forced by taking away their collective negotiating rights (with some Democratic help. Thanks a bunch.) It’s now gotten to the point that Christie wants to weaken BSBC by taking away some of its surplus.
This is not all Christie, though. Senate President Steve Sweeney was able to get enough Democratic votes last week in that body, but the bill hit a wall in Prieto’s Assembly. The result is a nasty political fight that has real consequences for the public and for state workers. This is the kind of fake leadership that Christie has demonstrated for almost 8 years and it’s now spread to Washington. I’m assuming that Christie is just waiting for Trump to fire Jeff Sessions so he can move to Justice.
Which, in the present political atmosphere, really means just us.
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