"A New Boss Rocks New Jersey - IBD
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie waves a stack of budget reform legislative bills that he wants the democratically controlled legislature to...
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie waves a stack of budget reform legislative bills that he wants the democratically controlled legislature to... View Enlarged Image
Leadership: New Jersey's tough new Republican governor is setting a national example for how to restore fiscal sanity. If only he had some spare time, Washington could sure use Chris Christie.
'Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," as the Who song goes, sure doesn't apply to the principled, tough-as-nails Garden State chief executive who is fast becoming a national rock star on fiscal responsibility. Faced with revenue holes exceeding $400 million this year and $365 million next, Christie refuses to budge from his pledge not to raise taxes.
Unlike your average, big-spending Northeast politician, Christie actually had his eye on the long-term well-being of the state government when he took office in January. Staring a projected $2.2 billion deficit in the face, he made it clear New Jersey was in a full-blown emergency, and he used the fullness of his powers.
Springing into action as soon as he took office, Christie signed executive orders that "aggressively utilize every authority at my disposal to ensure the maintenance of a balanced state budget."
Executive Order No. 14 in particular will go down as a fiscal Emancipation Proclamation, freeing Jersey taxpayers from their special-interest slave masters — especially the entrenched government worker unions. "I reserve the right," Christie stated, to take additional emergency measures "to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of this state, and to ensure the continued provision of essential state services."
He froze state aid going to more than 500 school districts — and without bowing and scraping to the state lawmakers who think the money never runs out. Christie described them early this year as "those who continue to defend the old ways of selfishly protecting turf, who stay in the corner defending parochial interests."
Having insisted on a spending freeze upon taking office, the three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar shock the state just got isn't throwing his administration into the panic that might have been expected.
With the 2010 shortfall already covered, Christie now says of the $365 million fiscal 2011 number, "we're going to be able to solve that problem without any new taxes at all and without any real significant cuts." He told WCBS News on Wednesday, "I think we're going to be fine."
On top of that, "we're not raising taxes," he told the New York City TV station. "That's it. It's not happening."
The state's heavily Democratic legislature may well wage war against Christie this year, resisting enactment of a budget without tax increases next month. Christie wants still more cuts in New Jersey's bloated, politicized finances, and he wants a referendum on the ballot this November to cap the state's crippling property taxes. The legislature, on the other hand, wants to soak the rich with targeted tax hikes."
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