Recently we gave Chris Christie a rightfully hard time for diminishing his commitment to New Jersey’s Building Trades unions via funding flip-flops and such. But yesterday, Christie uttered words of encouragement to members and leaders of the Laborers’ International Union of America (LIUNA) at their 2012 Northeast Regional Conference:

Construction jobs in Atlantic City will increase as the economy improves and efforts to revitalize the resort move forward, Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday while speaking at the Laborer’s International Union of North America 2012 Eastern Region Conference.

Economic revitalization statewide that could lead to construction jobs, including infrastructure improvements, made up the crux of Christie’s 25-minute talk to Laborer members from Delaware, New Jersey and parts of New York.

Christie also dangled dangerous pension commentary before the union gathering:

“I want our pension system to be strong and safe,” Christie said. “That’s not an anti-union position. That’s a pro-responsibility position. … My emphasis is on doing the math.”

The promise of new construction is great, but remains just a promise until projects are green lit. The threat of an altered pension system, sadly, seems more probable. Christie is nothing if not ballsy.