Hurricane Sandy opportunist and all-around overgrown bully Governor Chris Christie has been sitting on a bill that would cut out citizens from the decision process concerning whether or not their drinking water is privatized. Wait no longer, New Jersey. Yesterday, the Garden State’s AWOL governor signed the ironically named “Water Infrastructure Protection Act”—the irony is that it protects water from the people who drink it but not from being obliterated by private interests and the one percent’s whims.
The Water Infrastructure Protection Act, which purportedly aims to address aging infrastructure , allows for fast-tracking of sales of municipal water systems to private entities.
Among the sponsors of the measure, which passed the state legislature in December, was Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), who stated Thursday: "We recognize that there are times when private entities might be most capable of operating, maintaining and upgrading drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems,” and keeps "the public’s ability to be part of the process."
So cut funding to infrastructure and then cry about how the infrastructure is “aging.” It would be a stroke of genius if this were a 1950s pulp comic about a bad guy with a long mustache that he curls with his fingers while tying a woman in distress to a train track. But this isn’t a stroke of genius—it’s morally corrupt. What’s even worse is that Christie has budgeted out the environmental protections needed if New Jersey hopes to be able to keep their waters safe. This is in 2013:
After the biggest environmental disaster in state history, the governor didn’t mention the environment in his budget address Tuesday and he proposes a budget that takes away funding for people impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The governor is putting $40 million toward Sandy recovery, but his cuts to programs that would benefit rebuilding efforts are six times that amount.
Chris Christie is a terrible person. He’s a corrupt politician whose interests are solely his own edification and his desires seem to revolve mostly around getting to hug wealthy NFL owners in their luxury box suites, and purchase gratuitous amounts of sweets and snacks. That’s what corruption looks like.
