Look Who Could Be Pushing NJ Toward Gov. Shutdown: Chris Christie

He became synonymous with last year's government shutdown because of his infamous photo on a closed state beach. Now ex-Gov. Chris Christie appears to be getting into the fray again as New Jersey finds itself in another standoff.

Gov. Phil Murphy seized on a report Tuesday that said Christie has been giving advice – and even bragged about it on Amtrak – to the current governor's Democratic adversary in the contentious budget talks that have stalled over school funding and taxes.

Murphy has vowed to veto a budget offered by Senate President Steve Sweeney – a fellow Democrat who often cut deals with Christie when he was governor – because, he said, it's full of "gimmicks" that doesn't include "sound and sustainable revenues," including tax hikes. If a budget isn't signed by midnight on July 1, the government will shut down.

"It's no surprise that Chris Christie supports (Sweeney's) budget and has his fingerprints all over it," Dan Bryan, Murphy's spokesman, said in a statement. "The Legislature's budget relies on the same failed, short-term strategies that got us into this mess in the first place, jeopardizing long-term investments in NJ Transit, public schools, and property tax relief."

The Murphy administration even distributed a copy of the story that reported the alleged "bromance" between Sweeney and Christie. The story appeared in the New Jersey Globe and was reported, ironically, by David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty for his involvement as the reported mastermind of the Bridgegate scandal.

The Globe report said Chris Christie was working the phone from an Amtrak Acela train to Washington this week and was "bashing Gov. Phil Murphy and saying that he’s helping Senate President Steve Sweeney with his messaging, according to a source who sat near the former governor and was able to hear his end of the conversation."

The report says Christie claims to be coordinating with Sweeney and said that he told the Senate president to call Murphy’s bluff on the veto, saying Democrats might have enough votes to override Murphy’s veto.

Efforts to obtain comment from Sweeney and Christie were not immediately successful.

During a Monday press conference, Murphy, a Democrat, vowed to veto the budget proposed by his own party, increasing the possibility of a government shutdown. Murphy strongly suggested that he won't approve any budget without approving his own priorities, including a so-called millionaire's tax and an increase in the sales tax.

"Should the Legislature send me this budget proposal, let me be perfectly clear: I will veto it," said Murphy. "When you build a financial house of cards year after year, and see it fall year after year, at some point you have to realize that the same old way of doing business in Trenton isn't working.

Murphy sad he's put forward a budget backed-up by "sound and sustainable revenues" from an increase in the income tax on residents with taxable incomes of over $1 million, closing corporate tax loopholes that benefit multi-state companies and restoring the state sales tax to 7 percent.

In an earlier statement, Sweeney and other lawmakers pledged to restore state support for an array of services and programs that address the needs of the "most vulnerable, aid those experiencing hardship and expand opportunity for the disadvantaged."

These Democratic priorities, lawmakers said, were funded in the current budget after a "determined fight" last year with Christie, a Republican. But they claim they were cut out of the spending plan submitted by Murphy. Sweeney also said the Democratic Legislature will insist on providing increased state aid to underfunded school districts.

Murphy and Sweeney have clashed on school funding, with both sides saying their plans could lead to higher property taxes for a number of school districts. Read more: 188 School Districts May Have To Raise Taxes To Stop NJ Shutdown

Gov. Christie photo