Malloy to Christie: ‘It’s not about who has the bigger belt’

Christie

Malloy

The ongoing TV feud between Gov. Dannel Malloy and his New Jersey counterpart Chris Christie took yet another entertaining turn Friday, when Malloy took an apparent swipe at Christie’s weight.

Malloy appeared on the show Friday at 9:30 to talk about the state’s budget deal, which passed the state legislature at 2:30 a.m. and gave Malloy the authority to unilaterally make additional spending cuts.

After the show’s producers played a clip of Christie ripping Malloy on Monday and saying the unions took it to him by rejecting a $1.6 billion concessions package, Malloy went back on the offensive.

“People say things that sometimes don’t make any sense,” Malloy said. “This is a debate that’s more important than who has the bigger belt. It’s about policy.”

The line was a not-so-subtle jab at Christie’s weight, which became an issue in Christie’s 2009 run run against incumbent Democratic governor Jon Corzine, who ran a TV spot suggesting that Christie was “throwing his weight around” to get out of traffic tickets.

The spot featured unflattering images of Christie and was ripped by Christie, who told a New York radio host the secret was out that he was a little over-weight.

Malloy’s comment drew instant laughter from the Morning Joe co-hosts, with host Joe Scarborough proclaiming “oh, it’s on” and co-host Mika Brzezinski laughing and saying “it’s just silly.”

Malloy went on to defend his handling of the budget crisis, laying blame on what he called an “arcane” process that led to four of the state’s 15 public employee unions rejecting a proposed deal between the Malloy administration and SEBAC leaders.

“I actually reached an agreement with labor leaders, and that agreement was actually passed by 57 percent of the members of the unions that were represented in that coalition, but because of some arcane rules that the unions themselves set up, 57 percent  doesn’t win an election, and quite frankly, that can’t be tolerated.”

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Ben Doody