It began with a "walk to Washington" - actually a chartered Amtrak train that got its nickname from the walking that businesspeople, lobbyists, and state legislators traditionally do while riding the train. Often, the walking leads to the bar car.
Christie did not ride the train, but he arrived in time to deliver the keynote speech, which briefly recapped his first year in office, saying the state had begun to build "momentum" toward economic recovery. Then he delved into what has become the theme of his second year in office: dramatically changing the pension system, expanding charter schools, offering school choice to poor children, giving merit pay to good teachers, and forcing all unionized public workers, including police officers and firefighters, to contribute more to their benefits.
"These programs must be reformed because they're bankrupting us," Christie said. With a state pension system underfunded by $54 billion, "there's no other way to fix it other than to reduce benefits."
"This is not soaring rhetoric," he added, using a phrase often attributed to President Obama, "but it's the truth."
"Soaring rhetoric feels good for a little while, but if there's no follow-through with the soaring rhetoric, all there is are the same problems, but bigger," he said.
Christie acknowledged that there would be "anger and resentment," but "if you want to be honest with a police officer and firefighter, if you want to be genuine with a teacher or a county worker, you need to look them in the eye and tell them that truth, and then work to fix it so when they do retire they can have something for their family, not nothing."
Christie, on his second trip to Washington in as many weeks, is building a national reputation for his tough antiunion talk.
