The budget included a carefully crafted plan requiring school districts to spend their surpluses in order to allow the state to withhold US$400 million in aid funding while retaining federal stimulus eligibility and avoiding the need for the legislature to pass a bill.

[15] In a speech before a special joint session of the New Jersey Legislature on the same day, Christie addressed the budget deficit and revealed a list of fiscal solutions to close the gap.

[18] In late June 2011, Christie utilized New Jersey's line item veto to eliminate nearly US$1 billion from the proposed budget, signing it into law just hours prior to the July 1, 2011, beginning of the state's fiscal year.

News analysis of the events predicted that this would be the beginning of a partisan political battle between the Governor's office and the Democrat led State Assembly, which was born out prior to the address by Senate President Stephen Sweeney who was quoted as saying "We've heard nothing from the administration.

[28] The credit rating agencies performed the downgrades based on the overestimation of revenue collection by the Christie administration, and on relying on short-term measures rather than implementing taxation or spending changes that would have an impact in limiting budgets.

A report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy (studying Medicaid, private direct, and exchange enrollments, as part of the Urban Institute's national monitoring project) estimated that 430,000 people in New Jersey gained coverage from October 2013 through early March 2014 (before the last-minute sign-ups).

[53] In what The New York Times called "a case of political overreach,"[55] Christie broke with this tradition in May 2010 when he chose not to renominate Justice John E. Wallace, Jr. and instead nominated attorney Anne M.

[84] When asked the agency refused to provide the contract for the Rutgers University professor who prepared the plan and claimed that the documents used to calculate the new guidelines had been lost,[85] leading an affordable housing group to offer a $1,000 reward.

[89][90][91] In his second term, Christie spent all or part of 520 days out of the state, much of it related to his chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association and his failed bid to become the GOP nominee in the 2016 presidential election.

[103] In March 2014, Christie called for the dismantling of the Port Authority which would give his administration direct access to New Jersey's share of the tolls which the agency now collects and are dedicated to regional transit projects and require approval of both states.

[110] State Senator Ray Lesniak reportedly had sent a letter to the SEC and the Internal Revenue Service calling for an investigation into whether the diversion of money to New Jersey roads may have violated securities or tax laws.

[115] On September 9, 2013, two of three dedicated toll lanes of the Fort Lee entrance to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge (GWB), operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were closed without notification of municipal government and police officials.

The lane closings caused traffic jams leading to major delays for school transportation and police and emergency response within Fort Lee, both during and after the peak hours of travel.

Following these revelations, on January 9, 2014, Christie gave a nearly two-hour press conference denying any knowledge of any of his appointees' actions and announcing he fired Ms. Kelly, calling her stupid and a liar.

Subpoenaed documents from the Port Authority suggested that Christie administration officials not only conspired to create traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge but undertook elaborate efforts to hide apparently political motives.

[126][127] Investigators are also examining other possible motives, such as whether the closures were intended to affect a major real estate development project, which was a top priority for Sokolich, that was underway at the Fort Lee bridge access point.

[139] On December 5, 2014, WNBC reported that sources close to the federal investigation said that indictments of up to six people could be expected in January 2015 for an "apparent conspiracy to cover up what they refer to as a politically motivated plot".

[140][141] Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012, caused a 13-foot tidal surge that inundated many coastal areas including the Jersey Shore, the Hudson Waterfront, and the Meadowlands.

The executive director of NJT, James Weinstein, defended the decision to leave trains in rail yards that ended up under water saying those locations had no history of flooding, and that no one could have predicted the extent of the storm surges.

"[153] On August 8, 2013, Frank Pallone the Democratic U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 6th congressional district and a vocal Christie critic[154] wrote a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requesting an inquiry into the potential misuse of disaster aid for political gain with regard to the Stronger than the Storm media campaign.

[159] The Asbury Park Press reported that a MWW executive had earlier said the Christie's appearance was part of the initial pitch and that information received from an open records law request was greatly redacted.

[186][191] Two contractors hired for New Jersey Department of Community Affairs's Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) program were prematurely terminated, amid criticism and unclear circumstances.

[192] On August 25, 2010, it was announced that New Jersey had lost out on $400 million in federal Race to the Top education grants due to a clerical error in the application by an unidentified mid-level state official.

He conveyed this concern in an August 18 e-mail to Bill Baroni, writing: "I am not sure if it is a coincidence that your office cancelled a meeting several weeks back that seemed to be simultaneous to other political conversations elsewhere that were happening.

[224] The New Jersey AFL–CIO filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission, claiming that Grady "has violated the Division's own rules barring politics in the selection and retention of such funds and investments, and has further created an appearance of impropriety.

"[225] After volunteering for nearly five years, during which the pension fund posted over $35 billion in investment gains and income, Grady stepped down from the position on November 19, 2014, citing a desire to spend more time with his family and care for his young son who reportedly had a serious health issue.

[238] In order to prove that he had presented a solid case, Barlyn asked for access to the grand jury records, detective's notes, the memo with the state's reasons for dismissal, and internal emails about reporters' inquiries.

The issue came to light after requests for communications with the company formerly managed by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the president, which benefited from $33M in tax breaks from the Christie-appointed New Jersey Economic Development Authority, were blocked by Christie's lawyer.

In May 2010, after months of acrimonious debate over the budget, FDU's PublicMind released another study which showed that New Jersey voters split their opinions: 44% approving of Christie, 42% disapproving.

[300] On April 1, 2014, after a Christie-ordered report exonerated him of any wrongdoing in the scandal, a Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press polling survey put his approval rating at 51%, virtually unchanged since February.