TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie really didn't want one of his vetoes to be overridden.
Just minutes before Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans were about to band together and decisively vote to overturn his repeated vetoes of enabling legislation (S969) to preserve open space, farmland and historical sites, the governor swooped in with a face-saving deal.
If Democrats would agree to fund the state's "Blue Acres" program, which purchases flood-prone properties, Christie would agree to stop using the tens of millions of corporate tax dollars voters had approved for open space preservation to help pay for general expenses, like state worker salaries.
The deal was struck shortly before 6:30 pm on Monday, hours after Christie extended an olive branch to Democrats, with promises to immediately begin funding open space preservation projects, ending years of logjam.
It then passed the state Senate 35-0, with no abstentions.
"Let's put it this way: The governor avoided an override by agreeing to this bill," said Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen).
Christie has never been overridden by the Legislature in more than 50 prior attempts.
In 2014, 65 percent of New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment that would dedicate 4 percent of the state's corporate taxes toward open space preservation, and expanding that figure to 6 percent after 2019.
Although more than $100 million was raised to preserve land in the nation's most densely populated state to date, not a penny has been spent on preservation of green space, farmland or historical sites requested by voters.
When he struck down the enabling legislation in May, Christie cited the fact that "the bill inexplicably contributes nothing to the Blue Acres program," as the main reason for his conditional veto.
However, some $130 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds are currently available to fund Blue Acres land purchases, which can be carried out when the state believes an area has become so flood prone as to be uninhabitable in the event of hurricanes or Nor'easters.
By Monday evening, a bill (S456) sponsored by Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Somerset) and Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) that was virtually identical to the enabling legislation Christie had vetoed had been introduced. The new bill would change the time frame for funding open space from 2016 through 2019 to 2017 through 2020.
Christie's repurposing of open space funds to pay for Department of Environmental Protection salaries had already been declared unconstitutional by the Office of Legislative Services. But by Democrats agreeing to include "Blue Acres" in the open space legislation, Christie would begin funding of open projects and cease to use the funds as his general fund piggy bank.
"Even though we have the votes, if we override him, he could just wait us out for the next 18 months and not fund any open space [initiatives]" explained one Democratic senator, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations that were still unfolding late Monday afternoon.
The deal was praised by environmentalists.
"Instead of overriding the governor's conditional veto they're coming up with a new bill that is an improvement," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
In order to pass the Senate, a minimum of three Republican senators would need to break ranks if all Senate Democrats voted for it. Three Republicans senators and two Republicans in the Assembly were expected to vote for the override.
Experts say Christie had little choice but to make a deal.
"It is no surprise that the governor is facing a rebellion on this issue from his Republican colleagues," said Krista Jenkins, director of the FDU PublicMind poll.
"With an approval rating in the 20s and his sights set on a place beyond New Jersey, Republicans have much to lose and more to gain by thinking of their own political futures."
Christie is under consideration to be GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's running mate, or at the least, for a cabinet post if Trump prevails.
With the compromise, he avoids a potentially damaging public display of frailty.
"Part of the governor's legacy has been tremendous party unity when it came to beating back veto override attempts by the Democratic majorities in the Legislature," said Ben Dworkin, director of The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.