Since Illinois lawmakers voted to pass an income tax increase to address the state's dire budget crisis, other states have been trying to get businesses and residents to leave the Land of Lincoln.
Republican governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels bragged about the new "edge" Indiana has on Illinois, and Tea Party-backed Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said that he would aggressively pursue Illinois employers.
Now, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has joined the chorus by launching an ad campaign encouraging businesses in Illinois to relocate to New Jersey. The Associated Press reports:
. . . ads will start appearing in newspapers and on radio stations in Illinois cities such as Chicago and Springfield.
Print and radio ads reiterate Christie's commitment not to raise taxes. The ads follow substantial tax increases recently enacted in Illinois -- and a promise from Christie earlier this month that he would reach out to Illinois businesses personally and invite them to move here.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Quinn blasted the ad campaign--and Christie himself.
"I don't know why anybody would listen to him," Quinn said. (Scroll down for video). "New Jersey's way of balancing the budget is not to pay their pension payment, not to deliver on property tax relief that was promised, to fire teachers, to take an infrastructure project -- building a tunnel that had already been started -- and end it and have to pay money back to the federal government. I don't need that kind of advice from that guy."
Quinn's press secretary Brie Callahan told the Philadelphia Inquirer that even with a 67 percent increase, the Illinois personal income tax rate is still below New Jersey's graduated "rates for taxable incomes above $40,000." Callahan also said the state's corporate tax rate is still below New Jersey's 9 percent rate.
Christie has become a hero among Republicans for his budget-slashing ideas, but, as the Capitol Fax blog points out, those ideas don't actually spell results:
There's been a huge amount of hype about Gov. Christie, but what has he really done? New Jersey's deficit for the current fiscal year was projected at $10.7 billion last spring. The state's deficit for next fiscal year is now projected at around $10.5 billion. At that rate, his budget will be balanced in about 53 years.
Though Quinn seemed unfazed by Christie's tax remarks, he has bigger things to worry about at the moment. On Tuesday, his office confirmed that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating statements made in 2010 about the state's chronically underfunded pension fund.
WATCH Quinn's response to Christie's ads here: