Politics

NJ Senate president not sorry for saying he’d like to punch Christie in face

Steven Nelson Associate Editor
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New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney isn’t sorry for saying that he would like to punch New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the face.

“While the Senate President believes his words may have been too much, he does not apologize for them,” Sweeney spokesman Chris Donnelly told The Daily Caller.

Sweeney called Christie a “bully and a punk” and a “rotten bastard” Friday after he used a line-item veto to slash various government programs from the state’s budget.

The senate leader felt betrayed and enraged by Christie’s actions, which were made after Sweeney made a politically hazardous deal with the governor to include pension and health care reforms in the budget. “I wanted to punch him in his head,” Sweeney told The Star-Ledger.

The decision to sharply reduce certain programs’ funding was made without so much as a phone call, according to Sweeney. (Chris Christie’s love-hate relationship with NJ Senate president)

Donnelly told TheDC Thursday that the senate leader’s colorful statements were made out of “outrage over Governor Christie cutting funding for the blind, people with AIDS, those with disabilities, and the working poor while refusing to spread any sort of pain on to his millionaire buddies.”

According to Donnelly, Sweeney “cannot fathom how someone could do such a thing.” He added, “we are currently reviewing all options available to us on the issue.”

Christie’s office condemned Sweeney’s comments in a press release earlier this week, but said that the governor remained open to working with him on future compromises.

“The Governor believes the language used was inappropriate and disrespectful to the office, but he continues to stand ready to work with Senator Sweeney and the Legislature in a bipartisan manner to get things done for the people of New Jersey,” the statement said.