Jobs Lost – New Jersey Falling Behind:

• 7th – New Jersey has the 7th highest unemployment rate in the country at 9.3 percent – the worst rate in the region (April 2, 2013)
• 15.5% – New Jersey residents who are underemployed (The Wall Street Journal, 7/30/2012)
• 47th – NJ’s economic growth ranking (The Times of Trenton 3/4/2013)
• 41st – New Jersey’s business climate ranking (CNBC, 7/10/2012)
• 35% –the amount of jobs NJ has restored since the recession (The Times of Trenton, 3/4/2013)
• 45,000 – Number of permanent jobs Christie cost New Jersey by killing the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel project (The Star-Ledger, 10/28/2010)
• 6,000 – Number of construction jobs New Jersey lost when Christie decided to end the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel project (The Star-Ledger, 10/28/2010)
• 7,000 – Jobs that could be lost if Christie succeeds in privatizing New Jersey’s state lottery (Asian American Retailers Association, 12/12)
• 174,100 – Net private sector jobs lost (NJ Spotlight, 7/23/2012)
• 10,000 – Teachers and school employees laid off in 2010 due to Christie’s budget cuts(Daily Journal, 12/29/2010)
• 16,600 or 2.8% – Public sector workers laid off (NJ Spotlight, 7/23/2012)

New Jersey Families Falling Behind:

• $7,885 – New Jersey’s average property tax bill, up from $6,244 in 2009 (The Record, 5/14/13)
• 18.7% – Increase in New Jersey homeowners’ net property tax burden since Chris Christie took office, due to elimination of property tax relief (The Record, 5/14/13)
• 4 – Number of times Christie vetoed women’s health funding
• 6 – Number of family planning health centers closed, so far, due to Christie cuts to women’s health and family planning
• 82% – Percentage of New Jersey towns that saw some increase in the average property tax bills in 2011 (The Star-Ledger, 1/8/2012)
• 138 – Hours a week a minimum wage worker in New Jersey would need to work to afford a two-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent (National Income Housing Coalition, 2012)
• 7.7% – New Jersey’s mortgage default rate, 4.5% higher than the national average (The Star-Ledger 12/4/2012)
• 8.4% – Mortgage loans in foreclosure, the 2nd highest percentage of mortgage loans in foreclosure in the nation; one out of every twelve mortgages in New Jersey is in the foreclosure stage (New Jersey Newsroom, 7/18/2012)
• 20.4% – Net property taxes higher since Christie took office (NJ Spotlight, 1/30/12)
• 82% – Percentage of New Jersey towns that saw some increase in the average property tax bills in 2011 (The Star-Ledger, 1/8/2012)
• 11% – Amount of income a New Jersey household spends on property taxes; the national average is just 3%
• 138 – Hours a week a minimum wage worker in New Jersey would need to work to afford a two-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent (National Income Housing Coalition, 2012)
• $200 – Lost, per family, in tax credits aimed at low-income workers during the past two tax years (NJ Spotlight, 8/8/2012)
• 83% – New Jersey’s graduation rate, down from 95% in 2010 (New Jersey Newsroom 11/29/2012)
• 24% – Percentage increase since 2000 in the number of New Jersey children living in poor neighborhoods (NJSpotlight.com, 3/8/2012)
• 7 – Percent that New Jersey’s homeless population rose between 2009 and 2011(NJSpotlight.com, 4/19/2012)
• 48 out of 50 – New Jersey’s rank when it comes to serving school breakfast to low-income children, many of whom come to school hungry and unable to concentrate on their school work (Advocates for Children of New Jersey, 1/31/2012)

Crumbling Infrastructure & Rising Costs:

• 651 – The number of New Jersey bridges found to be “structurally deficient” by the Federal Highway Administration, up from 620 in 2010, the year Governor Christie took office. (The Star-Ledger, 6/19/2013)
• $13 – Record high cash tolls on the George Washington Bridge, Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing (USA Today, 12/3/2012)
• 25% – Increase in fares for NJ Transit rail and commuter bus lines since Christie took office (Asbury Park Press, 4/14/10)
• 10% – Increase in fares for local bus and light rail fares since Christie took office (Asbury Park Press, 4/14/10)
• 36% –Percentage of NJ bridges are “structurally deficient” or “functionally obsolete”(NJTV, 3/29/2013)
• 66% –Percentage of NJ roads are in poor or mediocre condition, costing motorists $3.5B a year in extra repairs – $601 per motorist (NJTV, 3/29/2013)

Abusing Taxpayer Money:

• $23.8 million – The total cost for primary and special elections to fill the seat of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg in October of 2013, rather than waiting until the November general election one month later. (Bloomberg, 6/6/13)
• $150 Million – The amount AshBritt secured in no-bid contracts from 53 municipalities throughout New Jersey after Christie Administration secured their contract (Star Ledger, 3/29/2013)
• Over 100 – Chris Christie uses taxpayer money to fund GOP rallies under the guise of town hall meetings
• 164 – Christie and Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno have flown 164 times on state police helicopters…and counting (Bloomberg, 4/1/2013)
• $390,200 – Amount Christie and Guadagno have cost taxpayers using state police helicopters (Bloomberg, 4/1/2013)
• $1.2 Million – Paid to politically-connected lobbying law-firm Patton Boggs for fighting demands from federal government to return $271,000,000 spent on Access to the Region’s Core project (NorthJersey.com, 7/5/11)
• $279 Million – Loss to NJ taxpayers as a result of Governor Christie canceling the ARC Tunnel project for his own political gains (NorthJersey.com, 1/8/2012)
• $300,000 – Taxpayer dollars wasted in January 2010 to lure businesses from Illinois to New Jersey; to-date, not a single business has relocated

Taxpayer-Funded Corporate Bailouts… And No Job Gains:

• 54% Fewer – Decrease in enforcement actions against industrial polluters, from 29,579 in 2008 to 13,555 in 2012 (The Star-Ledger, 7/12/13)
• $2.1 Billion – In his first 3 years, Christie has doled out $2.1 billion in tax credits and subsidies to 171 various projects (NJPP, April 2013)
• $2.3 Billion – Tax breaks for corporations in Governor Christie’s fourth and final budget alone (The Times of Trenton, 3/4/2013)
• $261 Million – State tax credits was doled out to Revel casino which filed for bankruptcy just 10 months after opening (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/21/2013)
• $200 Million – Cost of tax breaks Christie promised to the foreign company that took over development of Meadowlands Xanadu project (NorthJersey.com, 5/3/2011)

Budget Mismanagement – Costing NJ Taxpayers:

• Over $800 million – Money paid skimmed from the state’s Clean Energy Program – paid by New Jersey residents – to make up for lost revenue under Governor Christie’s administration (New Jersey Spotlight, 4/24/13)
• 46th out of 50 – New Jersey’s ranking as one of the worst run states in America (Yahoo Finance 11/27/2012)
• 41st – New Jersey’s business climate ranking (CNBC, 7/10/2012)
• $282 Billion – New Jersey’s debt, the fourth-highest debt in the nation (NJBIZ, 8/29/2012)
• $400 Million – Race to the Top federal education funding lost because Christie refused to compromise and work with teachers’ union on application for funding (The Star-Ledger, 10/10/10)
• $3 Billion – The largest Federal Transit Administration grant in American history, lost when Christie killed the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel project (Asbury Park Press, 12/27/10)
• $145 Million – Amount owed to the federal government for Medicaid mismanagement(The Star-Ledger, 1/12/2012)
• $171 Million – Minimum expected losses from 2012-2018 as a consequence of Christie pulling New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (Environment New Jersey, 2/15/2102)
• $2 Billion – Amount Christie cut education by – a sum so drastic the state supreme court ruled it unconstitutional
• 3 – New Jersey has dropped to number three nationally in terms of solar capacity and installations (NJ Spotlight, 3/15/2013)
• 4 out of 10 – New Jersey’s emergency preparedness score. 43 states received a higher score than the Garden State (The Asbury Park Press, 12/19/2012)
• 2,832,000 – Shortfall in Christie’s payment to New Jersey’s pension fund for 2012 (The Star-Ledger, 1/25/12)
• $2,100,000 – Shortfall in Christie’s payment to New Jersey’s pension fund for 2013 (The Star-Ledger, 1/25/12)