Christie's Latest Sword Over Head of Democrats

by: the_promised_land

Fri Jul 08, 2011 at 12:00:00 PM EDT

Chris Christie is hinting that he just might be willing to restore some of that slashed urban aid to Democratic cities like Newark and Camden.:

Asked whether Christie had ruled out restoring some of the funds, a spokesman for Christie, Kevin Roberts, said the governor "is always ready to work with the Senate president, Assembly speaker and Legislature."

Steve Sweeney's reaction?

"We'd be happy to talk to the governor," Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said at a news conference Thursday

Talk they will. And give in, on something big, they will.

Here's the deal. The cut in transitional aid to cities - to $10 million, far less than Camden alone received last year - was stunning. It hits very hard core Democratic constituencies - urban mayors, political bosses collected to urban mayors that benefit from the budget. And the reality is that, based on our property-tax heavy system, because places like Camden have lost most of their jobs to the surrounding suburbs, they don't have any other way out.

So the Democrats need to get this money back, really, really badly. There's plenty of room to do it given that Christie left more money unspent in this year's budget than at any time in recent memory. The price will be high, and there is a good chance that it will neuter plans by the Democrats to do any serious oversight this summer. But there is very good reason to believe that the price will be paid.

Watch this story in the coming days and weeks, as Charlie Brown rides again.