The day is finally upon fellow New Jerseyans to elect a new governor to succeed Chris Christie and put an end to a truly interesting and bombastic era. And as a last hurrah before his term ends in January, the much-hated governor decided to end things in the most typical fashion he could pull off: getting into a spat with a voter outside the polls on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Christie chatted with reporters outside his local polling site and was chastised by an unidentified woman, who aired her grievances to him.
"You’re so frustrated and you know what the easiest thing in the world, the easiest thing in the world is to stand where you stand and stand on the sidelines and critique," Christie snapped at the woman, who wanted to know why a local township and borough hadn't been consolidated. "Go in and vote for whatever you want, I never said I was going to merge the two towns."
After voting, Christie got into a bit of an argument with a voter who questioned why he didn't merge His two towns pic.twitter.com/n3AQi3PfBk
— Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) November 7, 2017
The video was uploaded to Twitter by New York Times reporter, Nick Corasaniti.
The consolidation of New Jersey's 565 municipalities has been a contentious issue in the state for the last few years, but little progress has been made. In 2013, Christie strongly supported the merging of Mendham Borough and Mendham Township, where he resided.
A bill in March 2017 led by the state's Democratic Legislature sought to consolidate some of New Jersey's towns to "do away with duplication of services and employment – changes that could save money for taxpayers," The Asbury Park Press reported. Christie vetoed that bill.
Christie told the woman that she had the "easiest" job in the world by standing "on the sidelines."
"No I know, because that’s too hard. It’s easier to sit here," Christie said. "It’s easier to sit here and complain."
As the woman walked away, Christie said, "But you know what? That's the joy of public service. . . It's serving folks like you that is really such a unique joy. It really is. You're fabulous."
Polls opened on Tuesday morning, and New Jersey is one of only two states in 2017 with a gubernatorial election. Democratic candidate Phil Murphy is running up against Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.
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