Many city councils, for example, vote on individual hiring decisions and perform other functions that are legislative in appearance but executive in substance.
With the passage of time, these usurped legislative trappings lent the appearance of legitimacy to their rule.
"This issue is probably the most powerful and pervasive issue across this state," the governor said at an appearance with legislative leaders on Tuesday.
Mr. Christie spent 191 days entirely outside New Jersey last year, and since 2016 began, he has held only two public events in the state: his annual State of the State address, and a joint appearance with legislative leaders to unveil an agreement on casino regulation.
As a practical matter, this has meant sometimes seeming cynical and hypocritical, or in the thrall of various industries -- by, for instance, delivering the appearance of legislative achievement while leaving core problems more or less intact.
No one concerned with ultimate constitutional fairness could possibly have made such a choice; no legislative majority interested in the appearance of justice could ever have approved it.
Representative Giovanni Capriglione, Republican of Southlake, in his first appearance before a legislative committee, got a full hazing as the author of an ethics bill that apparently sounds better to the people who don't have to comply than to the officeholders it would regulate.
Similar attempts in Britain led to a travel ban, and legislative blocks have prevented an appearance in Denmark.
He has also made a limited number of public appearances with Democratic legislative candidates.
In two appearances last week before legislative budget committees, Mr. Rousseau acknowledged that debt payments would mean sacrifices in other areas of the budget.
