The Christie Tracker Podcast: Gov’s budget has baggage

The governor delivered his sixth budget address this week. But this one was a little different. First, because it’s not just going to be analyzed by state legislators and New Jersey residents… but also by the national media, potential Republican donors, and political watchers from coast-to-coast. Governor Christie is for all intents and purposes running for higher office.

Second, the budget speech came a day after a judge ruled that the governor broke a law (that he signed) when he cut $1.57 billion dollars from this year’s pension payment. That means lawmakers have to find the money to pay into the pension system. And fast. FY 2015 ends June 30th.Next year’s budget? It’s tough to look forward to 2016 when you suddenly have to scramble to squeeze nearly $1.6 billion out of the current budget year.

The Christie Tracker Podcast has full analysis of the budget speech and the governor’s legal woes. Host David Furst is in the State House in Trenton this week, along with Matt Katz, who covers Governor Christie for WNYC and New Jersey Public Radio and Tom Moran, the editorial page editor for The Star-Ledger. We’re also joined by WNYC reporter, Jessica Gould, who covers politics and public finance.Also: Check out the WNYC Data News App: The Christie Tracker

________________________________________________

The Christie Tracker is a production of WNYC and featured on NewsWorks every Wednesday