Thomas Molitor
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made some big promises to get elected last November – even bigger than his suit size (Christie is northbound of 300 pounds).
Christie campaigned on the promise that he would make the tough choices needed to address the $11 billion state deficit without raising taxes.
Christie is a Republican. But it doesn’t matter which party a candidate is running on this year. This fall, 37 governorships and 6,000 legislative seats are up for grabs, and voters are looking for candidates able to make the tough fiscal choices as has Christie in his first seven months in office.
In June, Christie signed into law New Jersey’s smallest budget in five years, staring down a Democratic legislature and every third-rail issue thrown his way. Christie has the blustery manner of a Shakespearean character. King Lear bellowing to the heavens above.
Take a look at this video from an irate teacher who first rails against his proposed cuts in education and the “paltry salaries of educators” and then answers Governor Christie’s strong rebuttal with “well, we teach because we love to.” To which Christie replies, “if you don’t like the money in teaching do something else.”
First, some background on Christie. Christie became the first Republican to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years.
Sound familiar?
Christie, an attorney, previously served as United States attorney for the District of New Jersey. He proceeded to earn praise for his history of convictions for public corruption. During his tenure, Christie’s office won convictions or guilty pleas from 130 public officials, both Republican and Democratic, on state, county and local levels without losing a single case.
An $11 billion deficit
Christie is a smaller government, lower taxes and less spending kind of guy. Christie inherited an $11 billion deficit for fiscal 2010/2011 and had five months to negotiate and sign off on a “balanced budget.” I put balanced budget in quotes because we all know a “balanced budget” contains a lot of wishful assumptions and conjured accountancy.
Christie took office as governor of New Jersey on Jan. 19, 2010. Three weeks later he signed Executive Order No. 14, which declared a “state of fiscal emergency exists in the State of New Jersey” – the equivalent of calling the state of New Jersey one big financial Katrina.
In a speech before a special joint session of the New Jersey Legislature on the same day, Christie addressed the budget deficit and revealed a list of fiscal solutions to close the gap. To him, nothing in the state was sacrosanct and immune from budgetary scrutiny.
Christie told New Jersey he is not out to get any particular group. He has a budget that is $11 billion in the hole and he thinks all state agencies should “feel the pain.” He reduced the previous fiscal year’s budget by spreading a 9 percent cut across the board in every state government agency. And he kept his campaign promise when he vetoed a Democratic tax increase proposal from the Legislature.
Predictably, he has taken heat from the media. Take a look at this video in which Christie replies to a reporter who questions Christie’s “confrontational style.” In short, Christie says, “I am whom I am. The voters elected me because of whom I am, and expect me to follow through on my campaign promise to ‘fix a New Jersey that’s broke.’”
Take education, for example. Education is a third-rail issue that every politician is careful not to step on and get electrocuted. Most politicians spout rhetoric rather than specifics on education. “Building a better future for our children,” kind of sloganeering.
Governor Christie’s cuts included withholding $475 million in state aid to more than 500 school districts, forcing them to spend their surpluses instead. State subsidies to higher education were also cut.
From the podium this summer, Christie likes to say he “closed the $11 billion deficit without raising taxes.”
But according to a non-partisan Office of Legislative Services’ audit, New Jersey faces a $10.5 billion budget deficit heading into next year – nearly the same size as the gap that opened up before this year’s spending plan passed. Which means next year’s budget challenges could be just as difficult as this year, when Christie slashed funding for schools, municipalities and property tax rebates.
Not done yet
Christie doesn’t call himself a miracle worker. After signing off on the 2010/11 budget, he said, “we fixed at least part of the awful mess the previous governor left us, but we’re not done yet.”
We all know state governments ought to save money during surpluses, during good times, and then they would have money in the bad times. In reality, asking governments to save money is like asking a St. Bernard to save sausages; it’s not going to happen. They don’t do that.
Christie continues to make the point that New Jersey “has a long way to go” before anything resembling financial stability happens.
But he’s standing tall and doing his best to deliver on his campaign promises of catching New Jersey from falling deeper into financial abyss. If New Mexico wants to avoid the same abyss, it needs to elect in November a governor who will stand just as tall.
So when Susana Martinez and Diane Denish spar in the upcoming debates, when they talk about reform, when they talk about new ideas that will solve the problems of New Mexico, when they talk about ways to close the budget deficit of the state, ask yourself which candidate has the guts, the intestinal fortitude, to put aside what she thinks is palatable politically and follow through and deliver on her campaign promises like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is trying his very best to do.
Molitor is an adjunct scholar at the Rio Grande Foundation and a regular columnist for this site. You can reach Molitor at tgmolitor@comcast.net.
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