To: Governor Phil Murphy
Fund the pension, obey the law
The pension and benefits reform bill you signed in 2011 made a binding contractual commitment to pay down the unfunded liability of the pension system. To argue that your own law is unconstitutional is the height of hypocrisy.
Stop putting millionaires and corporations ahead of the law. Obey your own law and fully fund the pension.
Why is this important?
In 2011, Governor Christie championed and signed a law that cut workers' benefits and locked the state into making scheduled payments into the pension system. The Christie Administration now has the audacity to argue in court that its own law is unconstitutional.
Governor Christie says he has no money to make the pension payments. He's right! He's given it all away to corporations and to people who make more than 99% of us! Last year when the Legislature passed a budget that raised taxes on New Jersey's wealthiest residents and most profitable corporations in order to follow the law and honor our commitments, Chris Christie vetoed those revenue raisers and then claimed poverty to defend cutting the pension payment.
A pension is not a perk, it's deferred compensation that workers have earned. And I want to remind you who these workers are. They are the workers who go alone and unarmed into dangerous areas and knock on the door to ensure kids are safe, workers who teach our children, workers who patrol our streets, and workers who maintain our towns and cities. And these extravagant benefits that Governor Christie wants to cut? The average New Jersey state worker pension is $26,000 a year, less than every state in the region.
The Christie Administration has said that when you won't raise taxes you're going to have to make choices. And it is extremely clear who Governor Christie has chosen. It's not you, it's not me, and it's certainly not the pensions upon which 1 in 7 New Jerseyans depend.
Tell Governor Christie to obey his own law and fund NJ's pensions.