Chris Christie

I am not going to make any commitments to the teachers union to do anything until they do something that’s other than in their own self- interest. And everything they have done so far is in their self-interests, and that’s it.

You just have to stand and grit your teeth and know your poll numbers are going to go down – and mine have – but you gotta grit through it because the alternative is unacceptable.

Higher taxes is the road to ruin. We must and we will shrink our government, and that means making some tough choices, tightening our belts.

And I just think that we’re at a point in our economic life here in our state – and – and, candidly, across the country, where increased taxes is just the wrong way to go. The people of our state are not convinced that state government, county government, local government has done all they can with the money we already give them, rather than the money that we have before.

Given my last position, that I was the first U.S attorney post 9/11 in New Jersey, I understand acutely the pain and sorrow and upset of the family members who lost loved ones that day at the hands of radical Muslim extremists. And their sensitivities and concerns have to be taken into account.

Today is the day for the complaining to end and for statesmanship to begin. Today I am taking action to cut state spending and balance the budget this year.

You know, at some point there has to be parity. There has to be parity between what is happening in the real world, and what is happening in the public sector world.

And on this you have my pledge – unlike in the past, when you stood up and did what was right, this governor will not pull the rug out from underneath you – I will sign strong reform bills.

Today we must make a pact with each other to end this reckless conduct with the people’s government.

Is there any wonder why we are in such big trouble? Any question why the people don’t trust their government anymore, and demand a change?

I can guarantee you this, that more pension and benefit reforms which I will consider arbitration reform to be one of them, are things that when they come to my desk, they will be signed.

Someone has to stay on the line and say, no, we can do this by cutting spending and reducing the size of government. That’s what I was committed to doing.

If we make the tough decisions now, we will be one year ahead of 80 percent of the states in the race to economic growth. If we fail to act, we will fall even further behind… by going first, we can become first.

Our state is in crisis. Our people are hurting. Now is the time when we all must resist the traditional, selfish call to protect your own turf at the cost of our state. It is time to leave the corner, join the sacrifice, come to the center of the room and be part of the solution.

A retired teacher paid $62,000 towards her pension and nothing, yes nothing, for full family medical, dental and vision coverage over her entire career. What will we pay her? $1.4 million in pension benefits and another $215,000 in health care benefit premiums over her lifetime.

The people elected us to end the talk and to act decisively.

I said we are going to balance an $11 billion budget deficit in a $29 billion budget, so by percentage, the largest budget deficit in America, by percentage, larger than California, larger than New York, larger than Illinois. And we’re going to balance that without raising taxes on the people of the state of New Jersey.

One state retiree, 49 years old, paid, over the course of his entire career, a total of $124,000 towards his retirement pension and health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life and nearly $500,000 for health care benefits – a total of $3.8m on a $120,000 investment.