Read the letter where Chris Christie tells Phil Murphy to take a hike

Updated Dec 12, 9:14 AM;
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/12/christie_murphy_clash_over_the_budget.html

By Matt Arco and Samantha Marcus
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

That really short honeymoon is over.

Gov. Chris Christie and Gov.-elect Phil Murphy are at odds over the incoming governor's request that Christie refrain from spending extra money or doing anything to worsen the state's finances during his final month in office.

Murphy's 14-item request came in the form of a letter sent to Christie's office last week.

"Chris, deep appreciation for this and for all!" was scrawled at the bottom by hand, with Murphy's signature.

Christie responded in a letter of his own Sunday, saying, in essence, that he's still the governor until Jan. 16 and Murphy should take a hike.

"As you might imagine, I was shocked to be informed that your personal letter to me (along with a wonderful handwritten note at the bottom) has come into the possession of the press before I was even able to craft a reply," Christie wrote after Politico NJ obtained a copy of the letter.

Murphy's request and Christie's response signal increasing friction between the two men.

&quot That) was quite a letter," Murphy told reporters at a public event in Newark Monday, regarding Christie's response, before he was whisked away by staffers.

In his letter, Murphy asked Christie to freeze spending and hiring and veto legislation that would cost the state money in light of "the fiscal challenges we presently face as a state."

His letter outlined those challenges, including unreliable tax revenues that he warned could leave the state with "significant shortfalls" by the end of the fiscal year in June. The 14 steps range from freezing all new appointments and reappointments to boards and commissions -- of which Christie has made many in the past month -- to alerting Murphy's team to any major financial transactions.

"These necessary steps," Murphy wrote, "will provide meaningful assurances that the state's finances will not be jeopardized as we transition from one administration to the next."

In return, Christie accused Murphy of embellishing the state's immediate fiscal woes and calling for extraordinary and unwarranted financial measures.

Christie sent an identical list of demands to his Democratic predecessor, former Gov. Jon Corzine, in 2009 while the state was in the grips of the Great Recession. At the time, Christie said he was inheriting "a horrible bag of problems" -- specifically, a $2.2 billion shortfall that had to be closed in the second half of the fiscal year.

He made the case that Murphy is being dealt a better hand.

"I can only wish to have inherited a budget in the shape that I am passing to you," Christie told Murphy. "There is no basis for comparison whatsoever between the fiscal shape of the state today versus this time eight years ago."

The state has consistently rung up revenue shortfalls under Christie's administration, as tax collections fell short of overly optimistic projections and he's had to slash spending to balance the budget.

Murphy's letter expresses concern that this year's budget is built on shaky ground, including $200 million in "projected, but uncertain revenues," $125 million in "unidentified" health care savings, $854 million in projected "lapsed" funds, $300 million to $600 million in Medicaid funds the federal government is trying to claw back, and an "indeterminate amount of excess budgetary costs due to an inability to fully account for corporate tax credits issued by the Economic Development Authority."

Efforts to rewrite the federal tax code "would generate even more fiscal uncertainty," said Murphy, who has called the legislation bad for New Jersey and its residents.

In his response, Christie slights Murphy for skipping a transition meeting on the budget, saying if he had, "I am confident you would not have to rely on obviously inaccurate, second-hand information."

Christie stood by the $200 million his Treasury Department expects to take in through modernizing tax collections and said his budget doesn't count on the $125 million in health care savings.

In addition, Christie said his administration is disputing results of the Medicaid reimbursement audit, and he called Murphy's claim the budget includes $854 million in lapses -- or mid-year spending reductions -- "fiction."

He conceded that predicting when EDA credits earned by businesses hiring and building in the state will be cashed in can be tough.

But assuming revenues for the rest of the year hold up, he added," the budget "continues to progress in good shape," he said.

Christie's letter did end on a friendly note: "Merry Christmas to you, Tammy and your children," he wrote.



*Still an asshole to the end