BY DOMINICK MARINO

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has managed to generate quite a bit of national media attention by projecting an image of himself as an aggressive no-nonsense budget hawk. 

But the truth is a majority of New Jersey citizens are not buying his snake oil solutions to the state’s budget issues. They are getting sick and tired of his town hall traveling road show where he trashes public workers and shouts down anyone who dares to stand up to his bully tactics. 

A new poll suggests that the more New Jersey voters hear Christie and learn about his agenda, the more they dislike. Christie scored a 49 percent disapproval rate in a Monmouth University poll released May 18, 9 percentage points higher than when a similar poll was taken in February. 

It’s time for Chris Christie to put down the microphone and stop trying to blame hard-working public employees for New Jersey’s fiscal challenges. 

The citizens of New Jersey are looking for real leadership, not snake oil and scapegoats. 

In that same poll, 86 percent of respondents were familiar with Christie’s $29.4 billion budget for fiscal 2012. But only one in four said they were satisfied with his policy proposals. 

If Christie will not put the brakes on his seemingly endless sales pitch road show, perhaps he will consider changing the theme a little bit. Call it a listening tour. Put down the microphone, pull up a chair and start listening to the people of New Jersey. 

They may tell you this: 

First, public workers are not the enemy. They are your neighbors. They keep your streets clean. They educate your children. They keep your family safe. 

Second, fire fighters and paramedics have answered the call to serve their fellow citizens, to put their lives on the line to respond to any emergency. They deserve respect, not public scorn. 

Christie in his many Youtube-friendly appearances insists that the state of New Jersey is broke and that the police and fire fighter pension are bankrupt. That is false and he knows it. 

He wants to gut the police and fire fighter pension system … and then give tax breaks to corporations. The fire fighter and police officer pension system is not headed for bankruptcy, far from it. That’s because New Jersey first responders -- fire fighters and police officers -- have never missed making payments to the retirement system. 

It’s a shame the state can’t say the same. Politicians like Chris Christie have been playing shell games with pensions for over a decade. When times were flush lawmakers could not resist using state monies that should have been paid into the pensions for corporate tax breaks promised on the campaign trail. 

Now Governor Christie is targeting first-responder health coverage even though the state pays next to nothing towards these benefits. The cost is shared by the municipality and fire fighter or police officer. Through collective bargaining first responders are helping municipalities save towards the cost of health benefits. 

The people of New Jersey – from fire fighters to teachers and other public workers – have been struggling mightily in the past couple of years to serve the public while still providing for their families. And while Governor Christie has done his level best to tarnish the middle class, their hard work is starting to pay off. 

Rutgers University economists say New Jersey is turning a corner and is now on the road to economic recovery. What’s more, the fiscal picture appears to be looking up. Forecasters with the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services are reporting a revised tax-revenue surplus of about $914 million through June 2012. 

Despite Governor Christie’s unconstructive bull-horn antics, the sky is not falling in New Jersey. The state of New Jersey can afford to provide its public servants with the wages, retirement and health benefits that they have earned. 

It’s time for Governor Christie stop all the shouting. Instead of bad mouthing public servants he should link arms with them as they dig in and begin to push the economy forward. 

Dominick Marino is President of the Professional Fire Fighters Association of New Jersey.