NJ AFL-CIO Prez Charles Wowkanech had this to say to Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli in the aftermath of Governor Phil Murphy’s (revised!) budget address:

“Governor Murphy understands that in order to get out of our pension hole, you need to stop digging,” said New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech.  “Governor Murphy is the first governor since Jim Florio to pay what is owed to the pension system each and every year according to the law.  He is doing the hard work that other governors avoided by kicking the can down the road, which created the pension mess Murphy is now working so diligently to clean up.”

“Leave it to Jack Ciattarelli to kick the can down the road by urging New Jersey to return to the failed budgetary maneuvers of the past. That not leadership, it’s the easy way out typical of irresponsible political candidates saying anything to get elected,” concluded Wowkanech.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO applauds Gov. Phil Murphy on his fiscal discipline in funding the public employee pension system.  Jack Ciattarelli, the failed 2017 candidate for the Republican primary for governor and current 2021 gubernatorial candidate, stated today on NJ-101.5 Radio in response to Murphy’s budget speech that New Jersey should simply skip this year’s pension payment due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.