“Decrying what he called ‘partisan politicians’ seeking ‘a political cudgel’ with which to beat him, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation banning the use of pig gestation crates in New Jersey,” the Newark Star Ledger reports.
“The bill, which Christie called ‘a solution in search of a problem,’ gained national notoriety not so much for the effect it would have on New Jersey’s actual swine – there are only 9,000 in the state, according to USDA statistics – but on Christie’s political fortunes: Iowa is not only home to the first-in-the-nation political caucuses for the 2016 presidential election, but to 20 million pigs. Nearly one-third of the nation’s hogs are raised in Iowa, where hog farming alone represents $7.5 billion in total economic activity for the state, according to the Iowa Pork Producers Association.”
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