Christie and Greenwald Face-Off As Budget Deadline Looms

It plays exceptionally well on the national stage when Republican Governor Christie regales crowds with stories of how he gets things done for the State of New Jersey by working with Democrats.

He doesn't work well with every Democrat or least one Democrat doesn't work well with Christie and that's Assembly Democratic Leader Lou Greenwald.

Greenwald is spearheading the charge to pass a millionaires tax increase for the third time in three years to help fund property tax relief for middle class New Jerseyans. Christie vows to veto it for the third time in three years. Greenwald also confirms Democrats will delay any tax cut until they're convinced State revenues match Christie's estimates.

Christie says there's no point in Democrats passing yet another millionaires tax bill because everybody knows how the movie will end.

Greenwald fires back saying, "That's the new movie, 'Groundhog Day' meets 'Dumb and Dumber' with the Governor's failure to understand his trickle-down economics have not worked."

The Governor has made no secret of the fact that he will definitely veto the millionaires' tax hike, but he's not surprised Greenwald is pushing for it again. Christie says, "That is a man who is obsessed with raising taxes. Taxes can't be high enough for Lou Greenwald…I know Lou. He loves to raise taxes and create new taxes. That's really the bedrock of his career."

Complete Coverage of the NJ Budget Battle

"I will make it really clear...I will not negotiate a budget with the state Legislature unless they cut your taxes...it's that simple. I am not going to continue down this road where we get promised tomorrow and tomorrow," said Christie at a town hall meeting last week.

Greenwald says, "He hasn't negotiated a budget with us in the last three years. It's nothing new."

Christie administration officials, meanwhile, have been preparing for a state government shutdown if a budget deal is not reached by July 1st. While he doesn't think that will happen, Christie says it won't be pretty until then.

Last week Christie predicted, "It's going to get a little ugly the next 18 days…The clock is ticking."