A second fledgling Democratic candidate for governor wants Gov. Chris Christie to resign.
A day after Christie lobbed softball questions at billionaire real estate tycoon Donald Trump at a Trump campaign event in North Carolina, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop began circulating an online petition demanding Christie’s resignation.
“Gov. Chris Christie must step down, he has made his priorities clear that time with Donald Trump on the campaign trail is more important than the people of New Jersey,” Fulop said. “Stand with me, by signing our petition to ask Gov. Christie to resign.“
Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy was the first as-yet undeclared candidate in the 2017 gubernatorial race to begin circulating his own petition urging Christie to step down if he continues to campaign out of state with Trump.
Yesterday’s campaign appearance with Trump stirred considerable backlash against Christie, who missed the funeral of a fallen state trooper to appear with the Republican presidential front-runner.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was the fact that he left again, yesterday, to be with Donald Trump instead of at a funeral, which speaks volumes about his priorities and the fact that New Jersey is clearly no longer a priority to him,” Fulop said. “It is disrespectful to all New Jerseyans. We have lots of challenges in this state and we need a Governor who demonstrates that he cares about our needs.”
The governor’s office promptly hit back with an emailed response.
“This is pretty hypocritical coming from a guy who has done nothing but angle for a run for governor since the day he was elected mayor,” said Deputy Press Secretary Joelle Farrell in a statement.
