Christie's State of the State Address

MY9TV.COM - Governor Christie delivered his State of the State address. First, he paid tribute to Congressman Alex Decroce who died a week ago. Then, he got down to business. Christine Persichette reports from Trenton.

"Today I am proud to report that the New Jersey Comeback has begun."

In his state of the state address, Governor Chris Christie takes credit for that comeback, touting his accomplishments in office including pension reform and a balanced budget. Then, he listed his priorities for this year including proposing a 10% reduction in income tax rates across the board.

"Understand what this means every New Jerseyian will get a cut in taxes," said Christie.

While half of the room gave him a standing ovation, Democrats clearly don't support this proposal.

"This is another windfall for multimillionaires at extense of schools where the money comes from," said Senator Steve Sweeney.

The governor spoke of schools, pushing his education reforms, including higher pay for teachers of difficult subjects and changing the tenure system.

"We cannot ask parents to accept failure in teachers when their children lives hang in balance," said Christie

Cassandra Dock of Newark who asked for his help regarding violence on city streets at a town hall meeting. Christie wants to reform the bail system where repeat violent offenders would be kept in jail until their trial.

"That's something we talked about with governor. I'm glad he's moving forward on that," said Cassandra.