GOP Leaders Playing Politics With Peoples’ Lives, Risking Layoffs of First Responders, Public Health Workers During COVID-19

TRENTON, NJ — Republican legislative leaders Senator Tom Kean, Jr. and Assemblyman Jon Bramnick want people to think that they are crusading against a potential property tax increase by opposing Governor Phil Murphy’s COVID-19 Emergency Borrowing Plan. The problem? Both Kean and Bramnick, longtime Trenton insiders, sponsored previous bonding authorization bills with the exact same language they now oppose, exposing them as the ultimate Trenton hypocrites as they risk the jobs of police officers, firefighters, teachers and public health workers in the name of their usual partisan attacks.

Both Kean and Bramnick were primary sponsors of the “Building Our Future Bond Act” of 2012, which authorized $750 million in general obligation bonds to finance higher education capital projects. The bill included precisely the same language that Governor Murphy’s plan includes now, which deals with the state being unable to meet its bond obligations, an extraordinarily remote possibility.

“Throughout this crisis too many Trenton politicians have put politics ahead of peoples’ lives and livelihoods, but this might be the most egregious example of it yet,” said Saily Avelenda, NJDSC Executive Director. “It’s astounding to see Kean and Bramnick conveniently forget their own support for bonding when it’s essential public workers we are now trying to protect.”

With the Assembly poised to vote on the Governor’s plan today, NJDSC has launched a petition where residents can voice their support for the bill. The party will continue to advocate for the passage of the bill to prevent layoffs of first responders, teachers, public health workers and more.

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