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Gov. Christie Unveils New Ideas, Then Leaves New Jersey

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie unveiled plans to re-create a state prison as a drug treatment facility and slash the estate tax but immediately left New Jersey for the presidential campaign trail, raising questions about how he'll push for his priorities.

After spending much of 2015 outside of New Jersey pursuing the Republican presidential nomination, Christie delivered his State of the State address Tuesday and laid out an agenda he will likely have to tackle while on the road — and working with a Democratic Legislature that looks increasingly unlikely to give him any political victories.

Christie's plans to transform the Burlington County prison into a drug treatment facility for inmates won praise from Democrats, and some Democratic leaders recently have called for lowering the threshold for the estate tax to make New Jersey more competitive. But they faulted him for not addressing a fund for road and bridge work that's going broke and staying mum about how he'd pay for his new initiatives.

For example, eliminating the estate tax, could cost about $400 million, Democrats say. They see the costs of Christie's priorities as linked to the broader state budget — and the public pension payment in particular.

Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald, a Camden County Democrat, argues the governor would likely have to use money that ought to go toward public pensions, a contentious issue that's already ended up in court once.

"He didn't talk about where he's going to get the money," he said. "But we know that's going to come from the pension."

The fight between Christie and Democrats over pensions goes back to a 2011 agreement that fell apart after revenues fell below projections. Christie shorted the payment after pensioners had already given up cost-of-living increases, angering labor unions and Democrats and touching off a court battle that resulted in a victory for the governor.

Now Democrats are seeking to go around Christie by pushing a constitutional amendment requiring the state to make quarterly pension payments. Christie devoted a good portion of his speech to calling on voters to reject the proposal, saying the cost would either require deep spending cuts or unappealing tax hikes.

That fight is playing out as Christie also tries to achieve his drug treatment and estate tax goals, difficult policies to achieve with divided attention, experts say.

"You can have a conversation with the voters of New Hampshire or you can have a conversation with the voters of New Jersey and the Legislature of New Jersey," said Fairleigh Dickinson University political science professor Peter Woolley. "But you can't have both at once. Nobody is that good at multi-tasking."

Christie has rebutted the claim from the start of his presidential campaign, arguing he regularly talks with his Cabinet and uses modern technology to run state government.

"I'm on the job every day," Christie said recently on Fox News when asked about his time out of the state.

He also regularly charges Republican presidential rival Sen. Marco Rubio with absenteeism for missing votes and protects himself against similar critiques in New Jersey by highlighting his cooperation with lawmakers.

The highest-profile and most recent example was a deal between Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto over bringing casinos to northern New Jersey. Christie appeared with Democrats in Trenton, saying he helped broker the deal.

But that's an issue that saw widespread agreement — except among some southern New Jersey lawmakers — and didn't require Christie's approval.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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