NJ lawmakers pushing Christie to resign as he runs for White House

New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Sen. Ray Lesniak are working on legislation that would require Chris Christie — and any future New Jersey governor of the Garden State — to resign in order to run for president.

Christie is spending too much time out of state, said Weinberg, D-Bergen.

“Taking a trip every so often or going on a overseas trade mission, I’ve never criticized him for any of that,” she said. “But when you are going to be gone, which is necessary when you run for president to be traveling all over the country, I think you should resign.”

Christie’s travels elsewhere mean he’s not available for face-to-face negotiations with New Jersey lawmakers to solve the state’s problems, Weinberg said.

“We’ve got a lot of time ahead of us with this governor traveling around the country and trying to govern New Jersey via cellphone,” she said. “It doesn’t work. It won’t work.”

Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick characterized the bill as a partisan attack against Christie.

“We should be proud that people want to run for president, we should respect people who do it,” said Bramnick, R-Union. “And the fact of the matter is, if the Democratic legislature would cooperate with our governor, he could run the state from the moon.”

Weinberg knows full well that Christie is not likely to sign the bill.

“But maybe we can appeal to whatever conscience he might have, and maybe the discussion will help him refocus on the problems that we’re having here in New Jersey,” she said. “And maybe he will decide to at least come back to New Jersey a day or two a week.”