"The state’s economy is in ruins, and yet the governor is mocking the pain and suffering he’s causing middle-class families."

Christie posts then removes YouTube video mixing Hollywood with pension reform
By Salvador Rizzo | The Star-Ledger
on July 15, 2014

"The state’s economy is in ruins, and yet the governor is mocking the pain and suffering he’s causing middle-class families."

Trenton- Gov. Chris Christie’s staff, usually known for its social-media savvy, posted a YouTube video today that featured the unlikely combination of Hollywood-movie explosions and a governor talking pension reform.

And a few hours later, they pulled it down.

With the feel and dramatic score of an action-film trailer, the video clip by Christie’s press shop was meant to tease the governor’s plan to reform New Jersey’s troubled pension system, facing $40 billion in unfunded liabilities and growing, which Christie says he will unveil by summer’s end.

There were no details in the video, but there were plenty of gags, things blowing up and tag lines like "no pain, no gain." Also, the Rock made an appearance.

Christie’s staff even spliced some shots of one of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson’s movies. But Matt Katz, a reporter for WNYC, tweeted tonight that Johnson asked not to be included in the video, leading to its removal.

The clip’s light-hearted approach struck some New Jersey Democrats and the leaders of public employee unions as tone deaf. After all, they said, Christie had cut $2.4 billion from the legally required pension contributions he had vowed to make in 2010, saddling the ailing pension system with more long-term debt.

John Currie, chairman of the state Democratic Party, issued a statement saying, "The state’s economy is in ruins, and yet the governor is mocking the pain and suffering he’s causing middle-class families."

"Sadly, the governor’s bizarre Hollywood fantasy is not the action drama his team imagines, it’s a horror film that never seems to end," Currie said.

Christie’s most popular YouTube videos attract hundreds of thousands of viewers, and have helped build his brand as a potential presidential candidate. This one was posted around lunchtime and removed by about 7:30 p.m.

Christie’s spokesman, Michael Drewniak, who emailed the link to reporters earlier in the day, did not respond to messages asking why it was removed.

Christie has long touted a couple of laws he signed overhauling the pension system — getting public workers and taxpayers to chip more into the pension system every year until it regained its footing over 30 years — as his biggest achievement during his first term in Trenton.

But that was before Christie had to backtrack this year after his administration was far off the mark in forecasting state revenue for April. The Republican governor cut two legally required pension payments in the state budget from a combined $3.8 billion to $1.38 billion, spurring lawsuits from public-worker unions.

The cuts allowed Christie to balance his budgets, but they are projected to make life harder for the next governor, increasing the unfunded liabilities in the pension system by $4.2 billion over five years.

Christie says the current defined-benefit plans for New Jersey public workers who retire are too costly to sustain. But Democrats say the plans would be fine if Christie had kept his promise to make the bigger payments.

Instead, they proposed raising taxes on the state’s wealthiest earners and businesses to generate enough money to sustain the pension payments this year, but Christie vetoed their proposals.

"I was quickly sickened after watching Governor Christie’s latest Hollywood video," said Eddie Donnelly, president of the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association.

Donnelly said that pension contributions for firefighters rose from 8.5 percent to 10 percent under Christie’s first-term overhaul, and unlike the governor, firefighters can’t skip their payments.

"Our pension system does work," he said. "It is sustainable, and public safety personnel are not the cause of the current pension situation."