Veteran state Senator Ronald L. Rice (D-28) said Governor Phil Murphy needs to schedule town halls to sell his budget to the people of New Jersey.

“UI’ll go with him and stand by his side, and get beat up with him, if need be,” said Rice.

“But he needs to do it,” the senator from Newark added. “He needs to do it, the same way Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) is selling his budget, and the way Governor Chris Christie sold his, and got beat up doing it.”

Rice said he agreed with most of what he heard this afternoon.

“The millionaire’s tax?” he said of the crux of Murphy’s proposal. “I can support it.

“I’ve said before we should do that,” he added. “The millionaires I’ve talked to, I talk to a few, they said they’re concerned every time we tax people because we don’t spend the money the way we say we’re going to spend it. That’s fraud.”

The governor needs to make his case for why what he proposes won’t become fraud.

“I cant support anything [millionaire’s tax] tied to marijuana legalization,” Rice added. “Depending on the budget message, I’ll go out there with him, but he needs to hold town halls on his budget every week now.”