By Fred Barnes
Mending the broke state of New Jersey.
If the citizens of New Jersey like candor Chris Christie is the governor theyve been waiting for. Or I should say citizens of the failed state" of New Jersey as he tends to call it. Its a broken state" and a state thats broke." New Jersey was in a shambles" he says when he became governor in January.
Its a fiscal basket case" suffering from the madness" of tax increases and excessive government spending a wonderful state" thats been brought to the edge of bankruptcy" and faces the ruination" of its economy and the quality of life that we want all of our citizens to have." New Jersey has deceitful politics" and the defenders of the status quo .??.??. yell and scream" and demonize" those like Christie who seek change.
The states misery is quantifiable and Christie routinely quantifies it in his speeches. His budget address in March to a joint session of the state legislaturecontrolled by Democratsincluded this riff:
New Jersey residents are the most over-taxed in the country. We have one of the highest top marginal in-come tax rates the second highest sales tax rate the sixth highest corporate tax rate and the highest property taxes in the nation. Add it all up and the sad fact is that we are number one with more state and local taxes taken as a percentage of income than any other state in America. This is one distinction I am prepared to give up.
Theres more. We are first in the number of college students who once educated leave our state" Christie said. We are near the top in debt and number one in getting the least back from Washington for every dollar we pay in taxes."
And people at least the more affluent are fleeing. From 2004 to 2008 New Jersey experienced a net outflow of wealth of $70 billion" the governor said. If you tax them they will leave." Unemployment is the highest (9.8 percent) in the region having doubled since 2007. The state lost 121000 private sector jobs last year while local governments added 11300 new employees. There are two classes of citizens in New Jersey" Christie said those who enjoy rich public benefits and those who pay for them."
Governors arent ordinarily this downbeat about their own state even when pointing out the mistakes of their predecessors. I cant think of another example. Christie is notoriously
blunt. When reporters tried to question him during a Q&A session last week with businesswomen he brushed them off saying questions were limited to real people."
To a woman who asked if he has a strategic plan" for the state he simply said No."
Before running for governor Christie 47 was U.S. Attorney for New Jersey with a reputation for single-minded pursuit of corruption by public officials. Though he lacked prosecutorial or trial experience Christie had sought the job aggressively after raising money for George W. Bushs presidential campaign in 2000. Bush appointed him.
His records in seven years was impressive: 125 convictions or guilty pleas from public officials both Republicans and Democrats.
Christie has a powerful motive for not sugarcoating the states troubles. His program is radical at least for New Jersey. He wants to slash $10.7 billion from a 2011 budget projected at $38 billion reduce taxes cut regulations and privatize enterprises such as the state-owned TV network and parking garages. He refuses to consider raising a single tax rate.
This includes the millionaires tax." Perhaps only in New Jersey would such a tax apply to personal income starting at $400000. Passed in 2009 it raised the top rate from 8.9 percent to 10.75 percent before expiring at the end of the year. Democrats declined to renew it in a lame duck session of the legislature in December leaving the issue to Christie.
They wanted a twofer" Christie told me. They wanted the issue and the revenue" (estimated at $900 million in 2011). My response was youve got the issue. Now youre not getting the revenue."
Christie says more than half the 63000 taxpayers earning over $400000 are small business owners. This is not a tax on the rich. We cant grow jobs if we continue to raise taxes."
The tax issue has spilled into a feud between Christie and the state teachers union. The governor has asked teachers to forgo a pay raise for one year and begin paying 1.5 percent of their salary for their generous medical benefits. The union answered with TV ads urging Christie to approve the millionaires tax instead. All of this stuff is about the unions greed rather than putting the kids first" he said on Fox News.
The feud intensified last week when a union official posted a prayer for Christies death on the Facebook page of New Jersey Teachers United Against Governor Chris Christies Pay Freeze. Union president Barbara Keshishian apologized in person to Christie. But when he said the official should be fired She left my office in a huff" he says. The union by the way ran television ads last year opposing Christie in the governors race in which he defeated the incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine.
The breadth of change proposed by Christiebold action now to reverse the direction we have taken for many years"has surprised many New Jerseyans. He was less candid during the campaign for a reason. Voters wanted back then what hes doing now" said Russ Schriefer Christies media consultant.
But he couldnt do it now if hed said it back then." Corzine would have killed him with attack ads.
The day of reckoning has arrived" Christie declared in his budget address. The attitude has always been the samecontinue to spend continue to borrow and drop the catastrophic sum of all these poor choices into the lap of the next guy. Well time has run out. The bill has come due."
He stressed his aversion to new taxes. I was not sent here to approve tax increases. I was sent here to veto them. .??.??. It is time for the tax madness to end." Raising taxes would be insane" he said. If you are unemployed and support tax increases be ready to stay unemployed. .??.??. We have the worst unemployment in the region and the highest taxes in America and thats no coincidence."
Christies most ambitious proposal is to cap state spending and local property tax increases at 2.5 percent a year. This would require a three-fifths vote of the legislature and approval by voters in a referendum this November. And he wants to curb sharply the power of public employee unions. We must have collective bargaining reform that respects these new caps." He accused the unions of excesses" in pay raises benefits and pensions.
Though his agenda is far-reaching Christie has the power to get much or all of it done. New Jersey has the strongest constitutional governorship in the country" he told me. He has three types of veto authority one allowing him to rewrite legislation. He appoints the attorney general controller every judge and county prosecutor and the members of 700 boards authorities and commissions. Its a pretty powerful job" Christie notes.
He is using all his prerogatives. Three weeks into office he declared a state of fiscal emergency" and froze $2.2 billion in 2010 spending by executive order. He spurned calls to relent on the millionaires tax." Theres no chance Ill sign this tax .??.??. no chance" he told the businesswomen last week.
His lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno has been assigned to examine every state regulation for possible elimination. Whatever she recommends I can do by executive action Ill do by executive action" Christie says.
He has a lot of leverage" over the 2011 budget. A balanced budget is mandatory and the legislature cannot exceed the revenue projection of the state treasurer and the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Servicesunless theres a tax increase which Christie would veto.
He also got Democratic leaders to back him on pension reform requiring state workers to contribute
1.5 percent of their income for retirement and health benefits. The Democratic state senate president Stephen Sweeney has begun sounding like Christie. The governor and I agree wholeheartedly we have too much government theres too many layers theres too much of it and we need to shrink it and we need to cut it."
But what Christie calls Trentons addiction to spending" remains strong. The legislature approved $800 million in new spending after the election and was still handing out money on the morning of Christies inauguration. The program of extraordinary and special" aid to municipalities had been suspended for lack of funds. But extra revenues suddenly appeared. Christie dispatched an official to halt the dispensing of funds moments after he was sworn in. It was too late. Seventy million dollars were already gone.
Now the governor wants the entire state to as he puts it jump off the cliff" with him. The watchwords of this 2011 budget are shared sacrifice and fairness" he says. Individuals contribute businesses sacrifice local governments tighten their belts and we end our addiction to spending. Everyone comes to the center of the roomwe jump off the cliff together to stave off certain fiscal death for the hope of salvation tomorrow."
With his zeal for smaller government Christie has prompted comparisons with Ronald Reagan. Tone-wise" Christie says he reflects Reaganism with a Jersey edge. Reagan had a better way of making it sunnier than I do. Our personalities are at core a little different." His first vote for president at age 18 in 1980 was for Reagan.
Christie believes he can accomplish his goals in one term. He wants to trim the tax rate on individual income to 6 percent and see the jobless level sink and compare well with neighboring states making New Jersey competitive. Everything else flows from that" he says. Its a great state to live in. Its just become unaffordable."
Theres a bigger goal too. We should be seen as the failed experiment for other states and the country" he says. Spend beyond your means and then kill your tax revenue base by raising taxes 115 times in eight years and then youre New Jersey" Christie said last week on MSNBC. With a brash recovery We can be an example for others."
That would be an extra added benefit" to success as governor of a state that failed then mended its ways and flourished.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.
