Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey signed a law that would allow for fast-tracking the privatization of many public water systems in New Jersey. The bill removed the public vote requirement to sell water systems throughout the state under “emergency conditions” that many of New Jersey’s public water systems already meet.
Here’s Lee Camp (a great friend of Blogging Blue) talking about New Jersey’s water and sewer privatization act on “Redacted Tonight.”
As the NJ.com report also noted, between the passage of the bill and Gov. Christie signing it into law, the Republican Governors Association (which Christie headed at the time) received a big contribution from a private water and sewer company.
A notable political contribution was made in between the vote’s passage and Christie’s signing of the measure. American Water of Voorhees, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and sewer company, contributed $50,000 to the Republican Governors Association in the final days of the New Jersey governor’s chairmanship of the organization.
Ok but the NJ state senate passed that bill by a vote of 21-16 with 15 of those yes 21 votes coming from Democrats. But this is all the doing of Chris Christie. Somehow.