Pubdate: Thu, 10 Apr 2014
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Jerry Iannelli

REPEAT TOPICS AT CHRISTIE FORUM

Medical Marijuana and Pig-Gestation Crates Came Up Again After He 
Laid Out Plans for the 2015 Budget.

FAIRFIELD, N.J. - The same few questions appear to be following Gov. 
Christie from town to town.

At the governor's 118th town hall meeting Wednesday, at Winston 
Churchill Elementary School in Fairfield, Essex County, those in 
attendance yet again confronted the governor about his stance on 
medical marijuana, as well as his decision to veto a bill that would 
have outlawed pig-gestation crates, a factory farming tool that the 
Humane Society describes as a "lifelong confinement in a space so 
small you can't even turn around."

The governor spent 20 minutes of the meeting discussing his goals for 
the state's fiscal 2015 budget. The governor argued that New Jersey 
spends far too much - 94 cents per every dollar of new spending - on 
pensions, health benefits, and debt services.

"How long do you all think we can keep this up?" he asked the crowd 
of about 500. "It is an unsustainable system."

Christie warned that eventually, taxes would rise or state services 
would be cut substantially if the Legislature did not renew a cap on 
raises that arbitrators could award to police and firefighters.

"I hear crickets from down the hall in the state Legislature," he 
said. "They don't want to deal with this problem."

Before opening the floor for questions, the governor included an 
addendum to his four townhall "ground rules": Any protesters sent 
from the Communication Workers of America, a union the governor says 
bused protesters to multiple town-hall meetings in March, would be 
quickly escorted away by police.

The first question of the evening touched on a topic that the 
governor discussed extensively at his April 3 town-hall event in 
Sayreville: medical marijuana.

Dale Lazarovitch, a mother of two children with Crohn's disease from 
Caldwell, told the governor she could not afford to put her children 
through the doctor and psychiatrist visits the state requires before 
a patient can receive medical marijuana. After mentioning that her 
family had considered moving to Colorado to obtain marijuana, she 
asked the governor to streamline New Jersey's process to make it cheaper.

Christie noted that in 2013, the state approved a measure to make 
edible forms of marijuana more easily accessible, but that he 
remained steadfast in his belief that recreational marijuana should 
not be legalized in New Jersey.

"People want to decriminalize it," Christie said. "We're not going to 
do that on my watch. I don't think it's right for our state. We see 
what's going on in Colorado and California. ... I'm not going to turn 
New Jersey into that."

After fielding a question about pig-gestation crates - another topic 
discussed in Sayreville - and the lack of federal relief for second 
homeowners affected by Hurricane Sandy, the lone jabs of the 
afternoon came from Ken Collins, a cake decorator and 
environmental-rights activist, who pressed the governor on the state 
Department of Environmental Protection's decision to cover and cap 
the gas-emitting Fenimore Landfill in Roxbury rather than removing it 
altogether.

"On behalf of the citizens of Roxbury, I'm here to ask you, 'What's 
being hidden in Fenimore Landfill?' " Collins asked.

After trading barbs - the governor said that removing the landfill 
would disturb the lives of Roxbury's residents - Christie shut the 
debate down in his customary fashion.

"Sir, you and I are not going to sit here and debate anymore," the 
governor said. "You asked a question, and I gave you my answer. If 
you don't like my answer, all I can do is give it to you."

Harvey Susswein, a 2012 candidate for mayor in Montclair, asked the 
day's lone question addressing the George Washington Bridge scandal: 
"Do you know who is paying the legal expenses for David Wildstein and 
Bridget Kelly?"

The two former Christie appointees are under investigation for their 
role in the September lane closures and resulting traffic jam.

"No," the governor replied. "I know the state's not."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom