NJ gov: 'I was wrong' about state worker contracts

By BETH DeFALCO

HADDON HEIGHTS, N.J.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday said he was wrong to think he could alter a renegotiated state worker contract that allowed workers to keep pay raises and take furloughs in exchange for a no-layoffs pledge.

The contract had been agreed to by Democratic former Gov. Jon Corzine, who reopened the workers' contract in late 2008 after state revenues plunged and the state's budget deficit ballooned.

The agreement deferred for 18 months the 3.5 percent raise state workers were due on July 1, 2009, and ordered 10 furlough days in exchange for a no-layoffs pledge through December 2010. State workers are now due that raise on Jan. 1 on top of the 3.5 percent they're due on July 1.

While campaigning, Christie said he would not be bound by Corzine's pledge and would do everything possible "to make sure we don't have to honor this deal."

"(Corzine) may be unwilling to say no to the state worker unions, but I'm going to be willing to say no to them," Christie said around the time the deal was signed.

On Tuesday, he said he would stop it if he could but it wasn't possible. He said his lawyers have told him that laying off state workers would accelerate the raise payment schedule under the current contract.

"I was wrong," he said, explaining that during the campaign he was talking about what he "thought should be true."

"I cannot just disregard the law," Christie said. "We're not showing leadership, but I didn't make that deal, Jon Corzine did. What an exquisite pair of handcuffs he put on his successor."

Christie said Corzine kowtowed to the union to avoid the political embarrassment of having Vice President Joe Biden cancel his appearance with the then-governor at his primary night victory party rather than cross a picket line.

"It was a primary Election Day deal to get Joe Biden to come speak for Jon Corzine," Christie said.

Corzine spokesman Josh Zeitz fired back, saying the labor concessions were designed to save the state $300 million over 18 months, two-thirds of the savings coming under Christie's governorship. Zeitz said if Christie began laying off workers on July 1, he would lose "just a sliver" of the savings realized by the contract Corzine renegotiated.

"Today the governor portrayed a stunning ignorance of the labor agreement," Zeitz said. "It shows he has to stop shooting from the hip and start reading from his briefing memos."

Christie's options for balancing the budget in the coming year are limited because he has promised not to increase taxes. He also promised not to cut K-12 school aid but went back on that last month when he froze $475 million in school aid payments by requiring districts to use their surpluses instead.

CWA State Director Hetty Rosenstein said the union's leaders were pleased with the governor's acknowledgment that the deal was ironclad but disappointed that he had not agreed to a meeting with them to talk about the upcoming budget.

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Associated Press writer Angela Delli Santi contributed to this report from Trenton.