Gov. Chris Christie is fighting for his presidential political life right now because he's on the cusp of not making the cut in the next GOP debate so he made a move that has angered the N.J. Police Union.
A day after Gov. Chris Christie announced that he was setting aside Thursday to honor police officers, the head of the state's police union on Tuesday rejected the gesture and suggested that the Republican governor was trying to score political points in his run for the presidency.
"The reality is that our officers deserve respect and appreciation every day and not just when Chris Christie is polling within the margin of error and grasping at anything that might possibly give him a boost on our backs," Patrick Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, said.
During a hastily arranged visit to Camden on Monday to counter President Obama's trip to Newark to discuss reform of the criminal justice system, Christie declared that Thursday would be law enforcement appreciation day to showcase the city's efforts at stemming the wave of violent crimes and thank local police.
"This coming Thursday we'll stand shoulder to shoulder," he said. "We're going to keep supporting you in every way we can."
They feel Christie lied to them about their pensions and as we know, police unions are very vocal:
But in a statement issued Tuesday, Colligan said that "law enforcement officers throughout New Jersey have not felt appreciated by the governor since he took office as his policies have driven thousands of officers to retire, led to hundreds of officers being laid off and left thousands of officers in danger in understaffed and underfunded departments."
Colligan's statement also brought up a delicate issue with public employee unions: pensions.
"There are some very simple ways for Gov. Christie to truly show that appreciation," he said in the letter. "We would appreciate Gov. Christie holding to the sacred trust promise he made when he was a candidate for governor in 2009 and meeting his obligation to fully fund the pension system..."
