White House, New Jersey residents slam Gov. Christie over his minimum wage dismissal

The White House joined New Jersey’s minimum-wage workers in expressing maximum outrage Wednesday over Gov. Chris Christie’s curt dismissal of their economic plight.

The folks who are really tired are the 28 million American workers who would benefit from a boost of the minimum wage to more than $10 an hour, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“These are in many cases individuals who are raising a family of four below the poverty line,” said Earnest. “And I would anticipate that would make you pretty tired.”

Michael Morris, a 35-year-old busboy at a Newark IHOP, joined in the litany of criticism against Christie, saying the governor “must have money coming out his ears — he doesn’t hear what’s going on. Let him come out here and see what it’s really like.”

Morris, the father of a 2-year-old son, said survival on his minimum-wage salary was a constant struggle.

“It’s hard,” he said. “It’s difficult. It’s hard to make ends meet. Maybe you have a few dollars left over at the end of the month, but that’s it.”

Christie — who has vetoed a tax on Garden State millionaires three times — said one day earlier that he was tired of hearing about the need for a bump in the minimum wage. The current hourly rate in Jersey is $8.25.

“He’s supposed to help everybody, not just the rich,” said Rodney Smith, 58, a worker on medical disability. “You really can’t survive on minimum wage. It’s really pretty much impossible.”

Smith recalled working long hours for short money.

“I worked 60 hours a week,” he said. “When I left it was dark outside, and when I came home it was dark outside.”

Christie, at a Tuesday speech in Washington, mocked the debate about giving a raise to Americans at the low end of the economic spectrum.

“I’m tired of hearing about the minimum wage. I really am,” said the likely GOP presidential contestant.

“I don’t think there’s a mother or a father sitting around the kitchen table tonight saying, ‘You know, honey, if our son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my God, all of our dreams would be realized.’ Is that what parents aspire to for our children?”

Newark Airport worker Daquan Allen, who makes $9.25 an hour, disagreed with the governor of a state where roughly a half-million residents earn less than the $10.10 minimum sought by the Obama administration.

“That’s all we talk about at home, the minimum wage,” said Allen, 23, who lives with his mom in Newark. “What he said sounds ignorant. If he’s tired of talking about it, he should step down.”

The governor actually vetoed a New Jersey hike in the minimum wage, only to watch his constituents vote in favor last November of a $1 boost from the previous rate of $7.25 an hour.

President Obama, backing up Earnest’s sentiments, said he “believes that raising the minimum wage would be good . . . for the broader economy in this country.

There was no immediate response from the governor to the backlash. Christie and his wife earned nearly $700,000 in 2013.

Christie’s “Bridgegate” adversary, New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski, condemned the governor’s comments as tone-deaf.

“The only people who merit his attention are those with large bank accounts who can write big checks,” the Democrat said.

“He is correct that no parent dreams of a minimum-wage job for their son or daughter because attempting to live on a minimum-wage job in America is a nightmare.”

Newark resident Lloyd Smith, 37, a former minimum-wage employee, said the governor was flat-out wrong in his comments.

“I don’t hate Christie, he does good things,” said Smith. “But sometimes he just brushes things off, like this. He says it’s not important — but it’s very important.”

Airport worker Shareeka Elliott, 27, said she earns $9 an hours, lives with her mom and is raising two daughters, ages 5 and 7.

She said the minimum wage remained a definite topic for discussion in her kitchen.

“When you wake up in the middle of the night worried about your light bill, it’s not a joke,” she said. “It’s very careless to make statements like that. It shows that they don’t care.”

With Dan Friedman