Christie calls Senate Budget Committee boss an 'arrogant SOB,' vows to fight Dems for a tax cut

View full sizeGov. Chris Christie speaks and takes questions at a town hall meeting at Lake Riviera Middle School in Brick today.

By Jarrett Renshaw and MaryAnn Spoto/Statehouse Bureau Staff

BRICK
— It was a day for heat but little light.

Gov. Chris Christie gave Democrats a preview today of the tongue-lashings they can expect all summer — or until they relent and give him a tax cut he has been seeking since January.

A day after Democrats sent Christie a $31.7 billion budget, the hard-charging governor amused a town hall crowd in Brick Township by calling the Senate budget committee chairman an "arrogant SOB."

And resorting to an earthy warning that gained him national attentional last summer, he urged the public to tell lawmakers "to get the hell off the beach and back to Trenton and deliver my tax cut, right now."

But Christie’s fiery comments — the first since Democrats sent him their budget Monday night — gave no indication as the July 1 deadline neared whether he would sign the spending plan, shut down the government or do something in between.

Christie called Sarlo an "arrogant SOB" and accused him of holding taxpayers hostage.

Completing the exchange, Sarlo said in a telephone interview: "I have too much respect for the office of the governor to resort to name calling. The fact is, he has a budget that is on his desk that reflects his priorities and includes a tax cut. He should sign it."

For months, Christie warned Democrats he wouldn’t negotiate a budget unless it included a tax cut. But in recent days he has tempered his threats and signaled that he might veto portions of the bill and then publicly browbeat the Democrats, as he took relish in doing today.

Democrats contend that while they, too, would like to enact a tax cut, the state might not be able to afford it if the economy doesn’t perk up.

Christie appeared to have a compromise with Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) last month, but a news conference to announce a deal was abruptly cancelled. Weeks later, Sweeney agreed with party leaders to delay the cut.

The governor said today that instead of digging in his heels, he agreed to work with them, but "I got fooled."

Related coverage:

N.J. Assembly sends $31.7B budget to Gov. Christie

N.J. Senate passes $31.7B budget plan

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