Trenton – New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech released the following statement today upon learning of the governor’s intention to close the current budget shortfall by cutting the pension payments the state will make over the next two budget years:
“The governor just came up with a very clever way of saying he’s ignoring the very law he signed that requires him to work the state back to full pension payments. In blaming his predecessors for shorting the system and creating the situation we’re in today, he’s only continuing that exact same type of irresponsible budgeting.
“Every dollar we short the pension system today will only grow into more dollars taxpayers will have to put in at some point down the road. Pure and simple, it is yet another rhetorical budget gimmick from the governor who pledged to end budget gimmicks. His plan is to starve the system in the name of ‘reform’ and kick the can to his successor.
“The governor’s failure to even consider ways to create new revenues or to claw back overly generous corporate handouts smacks of putting politics before what’s right for our state. This is not a budget fix. It’s simply a short-sighted attempt to reset the pin in the grenade.”