Mission Accomplished: Will GOP Legislators Rebuke Christie and DeCroce?Governor’s Deceptive Remarks on Jobs Follow DeCroce’s Outrageous Comments About the Unemployed

(Trenton) - Governor Christie yesterday took ownership of the New Jersey economy and declared mission accomplished on job creation. Ironically, a former Reagan Administration official dismissed Christie’s overzealous remarks, where he took credit for a slight reduction in unemployment as statistically insignificant in the same Wall Street Journal article. Christie’s comments followed those of Assembly Republican Leader DeCroce that unemployment benefits were “too good” and “those people” would work harder to find a job if they received less benefits.

Today, New Jersey Democratic State Committee Chairman John Wisniewski challenged every Republican Legislator to answer two questions:

• Do they agree with the Governor’s deceptive remarks about New Jersey’s “rosey” economic picture?


• Do they agree with the callous remarks made by the leader of the Assembly Republicans about the unemployed in New Jersey, many of whom are trying to get back on their feet to find a job?
  

“We have unemployment over 9.2% and economic experts say that NJ has yet to achieve any traction that would show an expansion of jobs. And yet, this Governor has the nerve to stand up and declare Mission Accomplished,” said Wisniewski. “Chris Christie wants to have his cake and to eat it too, while Alex DeCroce just wants to let them eat cake. They can’t have it both ways. They need to make clear whether they stand with those who aspire to get back on the job and those who are woefully under-employed, or whether they stand with the state’s 16,000 multimillionaires who have benefited from their special tax schemes.”

A Star Ledger Editorial today questioned DeCroce’s non-apology saying it was not accepted and that his unemployment comments show he's clueless. Here’s more from the Editorial:

• His wife, Betty Lou, the municipal clerk in Roxbury, was handed a job as a deputy commissioner for the Department of Community Affairs. She received a raise from $90,806 to $130,168 with the new position in Trenton. That’s a politically connected 43 percent raise on an already hefty public paycheck, not to mention a booster rocket to her pension during an economic downturn and government downsizing.
  


• Why is that important now? Because that salary and pension, like the paychecks the DeCroces have been cashing for decades, will be funded by New Jerseyans, many of whom are out of work and struggling to pay their bills, with the state’s unemployment rate at 9.2 percent.
  


• Amazingly, Alex DeCroce believes some of the people helping to pay his and his wife’s mortgage are lazy, shiftless couch potatoes who should have their unemployment checks cut off if they haven’t been able to find a job.
  


• Alex DeCroce backpedaled yesterday with a limp apology, saying his comments were made to “a gathering of business leaders” (in other words, he didn’t want regular folk to hear them).
  


• By the way, most of the state’s unemployed workers are receiving less than $550 a week. That’s near the top of the benefit scale. And in New Jersey, that doesn’t go very far. The top weekly benefit is $600. The average this year is $393.
  


• Oh, and over 52 weeks, that $550 benefit amounts to $28,600 — much less than his wife’s raise.
  


• The jobless would rather work; because they know the longer you’re unemployed, the harder it is to find any job. There is no future in handouts, but right now they desperately need one.
  

The Home News Tribune called out DeCroce’s comments in their Editorial as well:

• It's a stunningly arrogant view that reveals a complete misunderstanding of the ravages of the lousy economy that our expert lawmakers have helped create. Does DeCroce believe all the state and the nation need is a little more personal ambition to solve the unemployment problem? And that he's sharp enough and bold enough to help instill that ambition?

• DeCroce says the benefits reduction is an option to help replenish the state's depleted unemployment fund — technically true, but an absurd notion nonetheless. The state is supposed to destroy the effectiveness of a program for the purposes of providing money for that program?
  

• So all DeCroce's plan will do is punish those in genuine need trying the best they can to find a new job. That is bad policy, and shouldn't be given even a moment's consideration in the Statehouse.
  

Statistics show that workers are struggling under Chris Christie and unemployment benefits are far from what DeCroce would claim:

• Unemployment is at 9.2% in New Jersey.


• There are over 412,000 people in New Jersey looking for work.


• Nearly 1 in 11 New Jersey residents have no job at all.
  Despite what DeCroce would have you believe, the average collection for unemployment is only $393.