Residents feel effects of N.J. government shutdown
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jerseyites were feeling the impact as a state government shutdown took effect Saturday, shuttering parks and other public sites and disrupting ferry service to Liberty and Ellis islands.
Among those affected were a group of Cub Scouts forced to leave a state park campsite and people trying to obtain or renew documents from the state motor vehicle commission, among the agencies closed by the shutdown.
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Chris Christie and the Democratic-led Legislature returned to the Statehouse on Saturday to try to resolve the shutdown, the state’s first since 2006 and the first under Christie. It came about after leaders failed to reach an agreement on a new budget by Friday night’s deadline.
Andrew Spears, a leader with Cub Scout Pack 124 in Tinton Falls, said his group was told to leave Cheesequake State Park on Saturday morning.
His group of roughly 45 — including about 25 children — had planned to camp all weekend.
“We knew this was probably coming, but it’s still a shame we have to head out,” Spears said.
Also closed was Island Beach State Park, where the state owns a residence that the governor can use.
Christie said earlier last week that he and his family were planning to be there for the Fourth of July holiday, but he amended that Friday to say he would stay in Trenton this weekend if government remained shut down but his family would still go.
Asked Saturday if it was fair for his family to be able to use the park while others couldn’t, Christie was defiant.
“The governor has a residence at Island Beach,” he said. “Others don’t. That’s the way it goes. Run for governor and you can have the residence.”
Remaining open under the shutdown will be New Jersey Transit, state prisons, the state police, state hospitals and treatment centers as well as casinos, racetracks and the lottery.
Liberty State Park was closed, forcing the suspension of ticket sales and ferry service from the site to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
The latter two sites remained open.
Christie and the lawmakers are in a stalemate over whether to include legislation affecting the state’s largest health insurer in the state budget.
Christie is demanding that the $34.7 billion state budget include a provision requiring that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield spend some of its reserve fund on public health initiatives — particularly the governor’s drug treatment initiative.
Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto opposes the plan, saying that the legislation could lead to rate increases on the insurer’s 3.8 million subscribers and that the legislation is separate from the budget.
Christie reiterated his stance during a news conference Saturday, calling the standoff “embarrassing and pointless.”
He also repeatedly referred to the government closure as “the speaker’s shutdown.”
He later addressed a joint session of the Legislature, focusing mainly on the Horizon issue during a speech that lasted about 30 minutes.
“Government is closed over a transparency and accountability fight,” he told the lawmakers. “Let’s do it today and then go home.”
Protesters, reporters and members of the State Assembly were greeted at the Statehouse by hundreds of signs plastered on doors and walls with a picture of a smiling Prieto.
“This Facility is CLOSED Because of This Man,” the signs read, listing a telephone number for Prieto’s office.
Similar signs were spotted at other closed locales, including Island Beach State Park.
The signs were authorized and made by Christie’s office, which called them “official government advice.”
Prieto remained steadfast Saturday in his opposition, reiterating that he won’t consider the plan as part of the budget process but would consider it once a budget is signed.
Referring to the shutdown as “Gov. Christie’s Hostage Crisis Day One,” Prieto said he has made compromises that led to the budget now before the Legislature.
“I am also ready to consider reasonable alternatives that protect ratepayers, but others must come to the table ready to be equally reasonable,” Prieto said.
“Gov. Christie and the legislators who won’t vote ‘yes’ on the budget are responsible for this unacceptable shutdown. I compromised. I put up a budget bill for a vote. Others now must now do their part and fulfill their responsibilities.”
Prieto said a vote on the budget that remains deadlocked 26-25, with 24 abstentions, will remain open until those 24 abstentions change their minds.
At least nine other states failed to reach budget deals by late Friday before the start of their July 1 fiscal year, experts at the National Conference of State Legislatures said, though many states have provisions that allow operations to continue so the consequences will not be felt immediately by residents.
Not so in New Jersey, where the state’s constitution requires the government to suspend spending aside from public safety and emergency services if a balanced budget is not in place by the start of the fiscal year.
Illinois on Saturday entered an unprecedented third year with no full state budget, as lawmakers continued meeting in Springfield.
Residents were no longer able to buy tickets for two multistate lotteries, and at least one credit rating agency warned that the state’s rating could be lowered to junk, below any other state.
In Maine, the state government shut down on Saturday after a budget impasse between Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, and lawmakers from both major parties stretched beyond the midnight deadline.