Christie pitches new pension system

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) called for a major shift in how his state handles its cash-strapped pension system in his Tuesday budget address, a day after a state judge ruled that he has illegally underfunded the system.

{mosads}Christie said he and the New Jersey Education Association, one of his chief antagonists throughout his tenure as governor, have come to an agreement on outlines for a new pension system that would freeze the current plan, give unions much more control over their pensions and limit the state’s future contributions.

Calling it a “far-reaching” and “ground-breaking” “national model,” the likely presidential candidate said the new plan would “change this broken system in order to bring security to their members and fairness to New Jersey’s hardworking taxpayers.”

Christie’s speech comes at a tough time for the possible 2016 hopeful. New Jersey is in dire financial straits, and its credit rating has been downgraded a few times through his tenure. On Tuesday, Christie suffered another blow when a state judge ruled that the New Jersey government had illegally underfunded its pension program.

The governor only made passing reference to the court ruling.

“The numbers do not lie and we don’t need any court to tell us we have a serious problem,” he said. “I have stood behind this podium for five years talking about this problem candidly and openly and as a result we acted in 2011 to acknowledge and begin to repair this serious problem. now we have a bipartisan reform plan which can, once and for all, fix this problem. No one branch of government can wish or order the problem away. We must do it together.” 

Christie’s political star has also dimmed nationally. He was tied for fifth place with five percent support in a new national poll of primary voters released by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling on Tuesday, a big change from his position leading the GOP pack earlier in the presidential cycle.

Christie called for other unions to join the NJEA in backing the plan, though the NJEA pointedly tweeted during his speech that they hadn’t made final agreements on anything.

He also called for a constitutional amendment to allow the state to make payments to the new pension system.