Rick Perry

June 10, 2009 - 2:06pm

Menendez and Pascrell paint Christie red

By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, Rick Perry... Chris Christie?

That’s the association that U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Hoboken) and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) tried to make today on a conference call with the press, during which they panned Christie, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, for saying he would not accept some money from the federal stimulus package during the primary campaign.

“It is beyond my comprehension that Chris Christie… has aligned himself with these folks,” said Menendez.

Now that the primary is over, Democrats are jumping on the conservative principles Christie espoused while fighting Republican rival Steve Lonegan in the primary. Today, the focus was on comments he made during media appearances in March.

Governors Palin, Jindal, Sanford and Perry – leading lights of the conservative movement -- have all famously attempted to reject some of the stimulus funds that were offered to their states.

On WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer" show, he said he would “be reluctant to accept” portions of stimulus funds that had “strings attached from Washington, DC.” In later appearances and campaign events, according to a Democratic State Committee press release sent out after the call, he said that he would reject portions of the money and that the conservative governors' positions "make sense."

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