Christie on track to break his own veto record

TRENTON, N.J., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The vetoes of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may make the state's legislative session the least productive in 25 years, the (Newark) Star-Ledger said Sunday.

The Democrat-controlled legislature's current two-year session, which began in January 2012 and ends in two weeks, sent 270 bills to Christie, a Republican, thus far and has seen 92 vetoed, the newspaper said, noting that in the previous legislative session, Christie signed 371 bills, the fewest of any New Jersey governor since 1988.

He is on track to break his own record for vetoing bills, the newspaper noted.

"This governor has more power than any other governor in the nation, and he uses every inch of it," said Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat.

Christie's vetoes suggest he has an eye on the national political stage, the newspaper said. He vetoed attempts to set up an Affordable Care Act health exchange in the state, and a ban on .50 caliber rifles he previously championed but rejected after a gun rights organization in New Hampshire, the state with the nation's first presidential primary, warned him not to support.

"Is there anyone who really doubts the governor is running for president at this point?" asked Ben Dworkin, political science professor at New Jersey's Rider College.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said, "Gov. Christie does not rubber-stamp bills for the sake of appeasing the majority in the Legislature. What he does do is work with those Democrats and Republicans to cull the bills down to those that make sense."