Hours ahead of President Obama's arrival in Newark this afternoon, Gov. Chris Christie assailed his visit as an attempt to take credit for the governor's years-old criminal justice reforms
TRENTON -- Hours ahead of President Obama's arrival in Newark on Monday afternoon, Gov. Chris Christie assailed his visit as an attempt to take credit for his own years-old criminal justice reforms.
Just an hour before appearing on four different news morning news programs, Christie's presidential campaign released a series attacks via Instagram mocking the Democratic president as late to the party while touting New Jersey's drug and sentencing successes, some of which pre-dated his own governorship.
"Dear Mr. President," read one Instagram message, "We've been getting this done in New Jersey since 2010. Nice of you to show up."
Christie's Instagram account then detailed initiatives like mandatory statewide drug court, bail reform, and community policing in Camden.
Appearing on "Fox and Friends," Christie -- a Republican presidential candidate -- said that crime in New Jersey was down 20 percent since taking office, and prison population was down 10 percent.
RELATED: 5 things you need to know about Obama's trip to Newark
The governor then accused the president, a Democrat, of coming to New Jersey "to take credit for something he has nothing to do with."
However, much of New Jersey's drop in prison population is attributable to the implementation of drug courts that occurred long before Christie took office.
New Jersey has had drug courts since 1996, when Camden and Essex Superior Courts started using them. By 1999, additional drug courts were established in Mercer, Passaic and Union Counties, and since then, New Jersey has lead the nation in decreasing incarcerations: From 1999 to 2015, New Jersey's prison population dropped by 29 percent.
In July 2012, Christie expanded the state's existing voluntary drug courts to compel new drug offenders into mandatory drug treatment.
Last month, President Obama granted clemency to 6,000 nonviolent federal prisoners from overly-harsh sentences handed down for drug possession - the largest such release in U.S. history.
Christie, however, derided both the President's Newark visit and the executive clemency action as politically expedient grandstanding.
"He just wants to take credit for something that's actually working," said Christie.
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.