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Trenton, N.J. • New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie could cash in on a book deal before he leaves office under legislation set for a vote.
The Democrat-led Assembly and Senate are scheduled to vote Monday on the bill, which also would give a salary boost to legislative staff, judges and other officials, before it heads to Christie for consideration.
Legislative budget forecasters say the bill carries a more than $10 million annual price tag for 2018 and beyond. It got on a fast track a week ago.
The bill's opponents deride it as the worst of New Jersey politics: a tit-for-tat in which the governor gets to profit from the proceeds of a book in his final year in office while lawmakers boost their staffers' pay. Judges and prosecutors — whom Christie appoints — will also get a pay increase, as will a number of county officials whose salaries are tied to judges'.
The bill comes in the final voting session of the year before lawmakers return in 2017 for the session's second half and as voters prepare to elect Christie's successor.
Candidates for governor have criticized the deal. Phil Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said Christie is seeking to "profit off his service."
The legislation changes an ethics law barring the governor from drawing income beyond his $175,000 per year salary and permits him to profit from book sales. There are no apparent additional costs to taxpayers for allowing a sitting governor to profit from a book deal, but some lawmakers have argued it's wrong to let the governor profit while on the taxpayers' time.
Christie, who is term-limited, hasn't announced any details about a possible book. His term ends in January 2018.
The legislation also would increase by $30,000 to $140,000 appropriations for each of the state's 120 lawmakers to spend on staff. It also would allow the governor to pay Cabinet officials a maximum of $175,000, up from $141,000.
Judges would get 3 percent raises in 2017 and 2018. Their salaries would be tied to the Consumer Price Index in 2019 and beyond, meaning future raises would be automatic. The legislation carries a cost for county taxpayers because the salaries of county officials like clerks, surrogates and sheriffs, are tied to judges' salaries.
The state's county prosecutors, whom Christie appoints, also would get pay increases, from $165,000, to as much as $175,000 by 2018.
The costs are a fraction of the state's nearly $35 billion budget, but come after Christie and lawmakers enacted an unpopular gas tax increase. That bill also included tax cuts and a $2 billion infrastructure program.
Supporters say staff, judges and other officials haven't had raises in years, in some cases since 2002. They also say these issues have been discussed for years, and so it's not a surprise the legislation is moving quickly.