Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

Was Christie's pig crate bill veto the first step to presidential run?

Despite an overwhelming vote of the General Assembly and the wide support of voters New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday vetoed a bill banning crates that severely limit the movement of pregnant pigs.

Despite an overwhelming vote of the General Assembly and the wide support of voters New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday vetoed a bill banning crates that severely limit the movement of pregnant pigs.

To animal welfare advocates it was a backward step that flies in the face of the moveby many of the nation's largest pork buyers toward demanding more humane treatment of commercial farm animals.

To politicos the veto was a message to Big Agriculture interests in the midwest from an aspiring presidential candidate.

New Jersey is home to just 9,000 pigs; Iowa - the largest pork-producing state - houses 20 million.

"Gov. Christie has proved himself an outlier on the issue of extreme confinement of farm animals, said Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection with The Humane Society of the United States. "The nation's largest pork buyers-including McDonald's, Safeway, Costco, and others-have decided to cleanse their supply chains of pork from operations that don't let the animals move.

Major producers like Smithfield Foods and Hatfield outside of Philade;phia are making the switch.

Shapiro added, "This veto shows cynical political calculation from the governor and an obvious capitulation to special interests, rather than leadership or humanity."

Christie, who vetoed a similar bill last year, faced pressure from celebrities including Bill Maher, Danny Devito, Martha Stewart, Edie Falco and Bob Barker who supported the bill.

Comedian Jon Stewart devoted a segment to Christie's "pig problem" in Garden Crate on The Daily Show. with clips showing Christie pledging to put the voters of New Jersey above partisan politics.

But Christie apparently took counsel from Iowa Gov. Terry Brandstad who urged Christie to veto the bill, according to the Associated Press.

After doing so, Christie called the bill "a solution in search of a problem."

While it is unclear if any of the small pork producers use the crates, supporters said they hoped to preempt any future introduction of the crates.

In a statement, Christie said the bill is a "solution in search of a problem" and a "political movement masquerading as substantive policy." Arguing that it's not a practice in New Jersey, Christie said it should be left to the state's Board of Agriculture,

The bill's author, New Jersey state Sen. Ray Lesniak, said Christie is "putting his personal political ambitions ahead of the humane treatment of animals."

"It has the support of the people of New Jersey as well as Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the Legislature, but the governor chose to follow the dictates of special interests in Iowa," said Lesniak in a statement.

Lesniak said he would fight for a veto override in the General Assembly.

(Photo/HSUS)