response to further questions about the earlier reports which quoted him as describing Christie as a "rotten bastard", a "punk", and "Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life." Christie had cut funding for tax credits and health care for the working poor, women's health funding, AIDS medication funding, and mental health services. In January 2013, two months after Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey, Sweeney suggested that Governor Christie "got lucky" because the hurricane had distracted voters from New Jersey's slow economic recovery, an issue that many political observers believed was a potential point of weakness for Christie. He was heavily criticized for his remark, and a spokesman for Christie called it "politics at its worst". During Christie's tenure as Governor, Sweeney was the lead advocate of legislation to raise taxes on millionaires. Christie vetoed such legislation on five occasions. After Democrat Phil Murphy became Governor, Democrats backed off the legislation, with Sweeney saying, "This state is taxed out. If you know anything about New Jersey, they're just weary of the taxes." In December 2018, Sweeney led efforts to change the New Jersey constitution so that it entrenched the gerrymandering of New Jersey districts. The efforts were condemned by national Democrats such as former Attorney General Eric Holder, as well as by New Jersey governor Phil Murphy. Before New Jersey's 2010 creation of the Lieutenant Governor position, Sweeney often served as New Jersey's Acting Governor by virtue of his position as Senate President. As a presiding officer, Sweeney has received protection from the New Jersey State Police's Executive Protection Unit. 2015 recall effort by pro-gun activists In March 2015, a group of pro-gun activists began pushing for a recall of Sweeney. The organization, known as 'Recall Steve Sweeney', was led by the New Jersey Second Amendment Society which expressed displeasure with Sweeney's record on gun control legislation. The group's first attempt at filing petitions in March was denied by the state for lacking additional certifications; a second attempt began shortly thereafter. For a recall election to occur, the group had to collect valid signatures from 25% of the 3rd district's registered voters, or 34,808 signatures, in 160 days. The threshold was not met by the deadline, thus ending the recall effort for a second time. Awards and recognition Sweeney is frequently cited as the most powerful elected Democrat in New Jersey. Sweeney was ranked #4 by NJBIZ in their 2015 "Power