Malloy whacks Christie over gun control, White House ambitions

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, leaves a bill signing ceremony at Weston High School, Monday, July 21, 2014.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, leaves a bill signing ceremony at Weston High School, Monday, July 21, 2014.

WESTON — Connecticut isn’t big enough for two governors.

Democratic Gov. Dannel. P. Malloy took a preemptive strike at New Jersey’s Chris Christie Monday, hours before his political nemesis is slated to visit the Constitution State to campaign for Malloy’s GOP rival Tom Foley in Greenwich.

Speaking to Hearst Connecticut Media after a bill signing ceremony at Weston High School, Malloy blasted Christie for his recent veto of a bill that would have reduced the cap on magazine capacity from 15 to 10 rounds of ammunition, bringing New Jersey’s law into line with Connecticut’s.

Parents of the Newtown school shooting victims lobbied on behalf of the legislation, but say they were snubbed by Christie when they tried to meet with him.

“For him not to have sat down with people who lost their children to talk about the importance of a piece of legislation that he was going to sign or veto, it’s so insulting,” Malloy said. “Then to call their potential input trivial, I suppose in some ways puts salt in the wounds of folks who’ve suffered mightily already. But it’s also in keeping with his governance attitude.”

Malloy’s denunciation of Christie, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, didn’t stop there.

“Here’s a guy who has suffered six downgrades,” Malloy said of New Jersey’s bond rating. “All three ratings agencies have downgraded their bonds this year again. This is a guy who has refused to properly fund the pensions, $2 billion in the last 30 days that he’s refused to fund. He’s driving his state into bankruptcy, in essence, over time. For him to be the poster child for Republican governors is a scary thought about the future of the country.”

Christie, who is flirting with a run for the White House in 2016, campaigned for Foley against Malloy in 2010 when the governor’s race was decided by fewer than 6,500 votes.

“If anyone examines this guy’s record, the only thing he’ll be run is out of town,” Malloy said of Christie’s presidential aspirations.

UPDATE: State Republican Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. expressed his disbelief when he read Malloy’s comments, calling them a cynical rant straight out of the talking points of the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic Governors Association.

“This is coming from a guy who leads a state where half of its residents want to vamoose out of here, and our economy is the lowest ranked in the nation,” Labriola said. “Dan Malloy lives in the biggest glass house in politics, and he shouldn’t be throwing stones at New Jersey.”

Neil Vigdor