Democrats accuse Christie of not having vision in speech

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey Democratic legislative leaders say Gov. Chris Christie failed to lay out a vision for the state in a State of the State speech that focused on bipartisanship.

New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Vorhees, talks during a news conference with the state democrat's rebuttal to Gov. Chris Christie's The State address, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, in Trenton, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

State Senate President Steve Sweeney says the Republican governor's address on Tuesday was "the state of the state about nothing."

“It is disappointing not to have a future. There’s a lot of things that we were expecting to hear and I gotta be honest with you, we all said around said, ‘he didn’t say anything. He talked about the past.’ no vision, no view, no focus on the future of this state,” Sweeney said.

Assembly Speaker Vinnie Prieto (D-Secaucus), criticized the governor for failing to tackle some of the state's tougher issues.

“There were no major announcements. He did not tackle the tough things that we have to do. I would call it a dry speech. It wasn’t anything that really gave a reflection of the state of the state,” Prieto said.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg criticized Christie for publicizing how many Facebook and Twitter followers he's gained alongside the state's improving unemployment rate.

Some Democrats said it was good that Christie talked about issues such as doing more to help people with drug addictions.

For his part, Christie called on the lawmakers to cut taxes and praised them for cooperating with him on some programs.

Christie's annual address comes as he prepares a presidential run.

Townsquare Media's Kevin McArdle contributed to this report.

Prieto & Greenwald Response to 2015 State of the State Address from NJ Assembly Democratic Office on Vimeo.