If there is anything that Gov. Christie despises -- besides encountering a heckler as truculent as he is -- it’s the persistent enemy-of-the-poor narrative.
But you have to wonder just how much he wants to change this label, which is pretty much set in cement, or at least very firm gouda.
The people he serves were reminded of this Thursday, when the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition asked him to assist residents in need of food stamps, which won't happen unless the governor changes the implementation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
By now, he shouldn’t require a need assessment: The Food Research and Action Center says there are 347,208 food-insecure households in New Jersey – that means 897,000 residents get help, half of them children -- and the Department of Agriculture says that number rose 2.3 percent in the last year alone while there was a 2.4-percent decline nationally. That is not a trend to be proud of.
But Christie is indifferent to SNAP, which costs $278 million to fund in Jersey. The USDA is already threatening to pull $139 million from the program because our state chronically misses application deadlines, and it remains next to last in the U.S. in the time it takes to process requests.
Then there was his response to the Heat and Eat program, which was borne of desperation last February, after congressional Tea Partiers decided that food stamp fraud was rampant because some guy bought lobster. It was a monumental cause célèbre on Fox News, and Beltway justification to punish the overwhelming majority that can barely put dinner on the table.
So in a farm bill, Congress tied food hardship to heating oil: Unless you receive at least $20 in heating assistance, your monthly SNAP payment would be slashed by $90. Ten states got around this by increasing the heating allowance by using federal or state energy funds.
New Jersey declined. After it passed the Senate by a 36-1 vote, Christie vetoed a bill that would have kept Heat and Eat solvent – he said he lacked the proper documentation – so the state will lose $170 million in SNAP benefits next summer.
Which means roughly 160,000 households will face a big cut in July, and hundreds of thousands of kids will just have to get used to oatmeal for dinner.
SNAP is a lifeline for families, and as Adele LaTourette of the NJAHC said Thursday, "Emergency food providers are unable to keep up with demand, and that's just a fact."
Perhaps the governor is “tired of hearing about it,” but the fleece fits: He has never championed the poor in any way. He vetoed the minimum wage, he allowed the earned income tax credit to expire, he grabbed money for affordable housing to plug his budget – and, of course, he blamed it all on Democrats who won’t give him his tax cuts.
Food stamps are just a part of his grim legacy, and there is only one of four conclusions one can reach: Either he is heartless, politically motivated, inept, or distracted -- in that Race To The Top way he has.
None of those options are an adequate excuse. In fact, unless the goal is to rename this the anti-Garden State, they are all a source of shame.