Christie, Malloy renew attacks on each other after Connecticut trip

Christie, Malloy renew attacks on each other after Connecticut trip
By Brent Johnson | The Star-Ledger
on July 23, 2014

TRENTON — The rivalry between Gov. Chris Christie and Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy has apparently been renewed, according to published reports.

Christie, a Republican, and Malloy, a Democrat, butted heads a few years ago over their stance on tax hikes and public worker pensions. Malloy even dubbed himself "the anti-Christie."

On Monday, Christie — who has been traveling the country as chairman of the Republican Governors Association — visited Connecticut to campaign for Tom Foley, one of the GOP hopefuls challenging Malloy's re-election bid this year.

There, he blasted Malloy's economic record and vowed to return to the state "again and again and again" to help elect a governor that could do better.

"I know, as a guy who has won twice in a blue state, these are winnable races," Christie told reporters during an appearance at a diner in Greenwich, according to a report by the Hartford Courant. "We'll be here a lot between now and Nov. 4."

On Tuesday, Malloy responded by slamming Christie for his position on gun control and his own economic record in New Jersey during an interview with the Associated Press. He also chastised Connecticut Republicans for aligning with Christie.

"I want everyone to look at New Jersey and assume that Tom Foley would do the same thing, or (John) McKinney would to the same thing to Connecticut that he's done to New Jersey, which is basically drive it closer and closer to bankruptcy," Malloy told the news agency. "That's what they're embracing when they embrace Governor Christie."

Foley, the state GOP's endorsed candidate, and state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney will battle in August's primary for the Republican nomination to face Malloy in November's general election.

Christie and Malloy's rivalry stretches back to 2011, when Malloy proposed raising taxes in his state by $1.5 billion. Christie responded by saying he would "be at the border to take Connecticut's jobs when he does it."

"I suppose I'm the anti-Christie," Malloy later told reporters.

This is the second time Christie has endorsed Foley, the former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. He backed Foley over Malloy when the two previously battled for the governor's office in 2010 — a race that ended with Malloy being elected to his first term.

"Gov. Malloy's thrilled I'm here today," Christie said during his appearance in Connecticut on Monday. "And I know that he'll be thrilled when I come here again and again and again to do the best I can to make sure that Connecticut has a governor that will bring growth to the state and jobs and its economy.

"Dan Malloy's had four years to do that," he added. "He hasn't done it. And so he can say whatever he wants about me. I happen to like Dan personally. I think he's a decent guy. I just don't think he's a good governor. He tends to say a lot of inflammatory things about me, and I'm just not going to return fire on a personal level."

Malloy criticized Christie, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, during a few public appearances Tuesday.

"I don't mind comparing Connecticut on a whole bunch of fronts to New Jersey. I don't at all," he said, according to the Courant report. "You look at what his leadership has done to the state of New Jersey, increasing debt substantially, un-funding the pension plan .. it is a disaster waiting to happen."



Newtown gun control advocates protest Chris Christie’s Connecticut trip
About 150 protesters - including several dozen from Newtown, Conn. site of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School - gathered on a quiet street in Greenwich where New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was attending a fund raiser for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Tom Foley. The protesters were there to speak out against Christie’s veto of a bill that would have limited gun magazines to ten rounds. (video by Brian Donohue / The Star-Ledger)
Christie was recently faced with a sudden $1.7 billion gap in the state budget. He chose to fill it in part by reducing planned payments to the state's public-worker pension system — rejecting a plan by Democrats to hike taxes on millionaires and businesses instead.

Unions filed a lawsuit to stop him and critics said the move will saddle New Jersey with more long-term debt, but Christie said the state's pension system is too costly to sustain and promised to unveil new reforms later this summer.

Malloy also criticized Christie for declining to meet with parents of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting earlier this month when they visited New Jersey to urge him to sign a gun control bill introduced in the wake of the massacre to reduce the size of ammunition magazines from 15 to 10 rounds in New Jersey. The 2012 shooting killed 26 students and teachers in Newtown, Conn.

Christie vetoed the bill, calling it "trivial" and saying he didn't believe it would prevent such shootings. He added that he did not meet with the parents because he had already decided to sign the veto and did not want to be hypocritical.

"Here's a governor that refused to meet with the survivors of Newtown and called their concerns trivial," Malloy told the AP on Tuesday. "If that's what Republicans want to tie themselves to in our state, god bless them. I hope he comes a lot."

Jerry Labriola Jr., chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, called it "unfortunate that Dan Malloy must resort to inflammatory language concerning a neighboring governor."

Labriola praised Christie as a leader with the ability to bring people together.

"However, what our governor fails to mention is that, like in Hartford, the purse strings of New Jersey are controlled by a Democrat legislature," he said. "So, I'm sure that much of Gov. Christie's free-market agenda is being stymied by the Democrats' blue-state brand of big government and overreach."