Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie compared the Occupy Wall Street protest to the Tea Party movement, saying the frustrations at the root of both stem from the same government “dysfunction.”

“We ought to listen to these people,” Christie said today during a meeting with employees at Kearfott Corp. in Little Falls, north of Newark. “Why are they in the streets? Why are they angry? Because government has become dysfunctional.”

--Editors: Ted Bunker, Mark Schoifet.

To contact the reporter on this story: To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey, at tdopp@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net