Christie: ‘Time for a change’

Christie, it turns out, isn’t at all quiet and appears to mean exactly what he
says. Check him out yesterday,
answering to a journalist about his “confrontational tone” and
how he is always going to tell his constituents exactly what he thinks,
no matter how confrontational it sounds. Most striking is what he
said at the end of his speech, and it was a speech. After explaining that
politicians so often refuse to take a stand because they need political
escape hatches, he said, “I came here to govern, not to escape. I came
here to govern, not to worry about reelection. I came here to do what the
people sent me here to do.”
 
Christie is upending the political establishment not only in New Jersey
but potentially across the nation itself, by slashing spending in the
state in order to resolve the worst state deficit in the nation. To resolve a
$10.7 billion deficit of a $29.3 billion budget, Christie has laid
out specific cuts and is poised to take the political price those cuts
will inevitably bring. He is an exception to the rule today in politics today —
someone who is governing, literally, like there is no political tomorrow.
 
In taking on the teachers unions, civil service reforms, privatization and
a 9 percent cut in state spending, Christie is now a man wearing a bull’s-eye.
He acknowledged this in his budget address to the State Legislature (which
you should read or watch here)
when he said, “The defenders of the status quo have already begun to
yell and scream. They will try to demonize me. They will seek to divide us
rather than unite us. But even they know in their hearts, if not in their minds
— it is time for a change. Never forget, some of those shouting the loudest are
the architects of the disaster we are now suffering. Do we really want another
decade of economic failure? No, this spring it is time to clear away the
underbrush to make room for growth.”
 
New Jersey, which saw state spending rise 59 percent from 2001-08, has
the highest unemployment in the region and the highest taxes in the country.
Christie has vowed to lower taxes, having watched the state’s top earners
flee over the tax burden. Christie is keeping funding for food banks,
expanding eligibility for food stamps to 185 percent of the poverty level;
preserving access and eligibility for seniors who take prescription drugs; funding
Medicaid enrollment for all eligible children; and increasing funding for
hospitals. But he is cutting more than $800 million from education funding,
proposing that teachers take a one-year wage freeze and contribute 1.5 percent to
their extremely generous healthcare plans in order for cuts not to reach the
classrooms.
 
Christie makes his case in detail. In his address he explained that
one 49-year-old state retiree paid, during his career, $124,000 toward his
pension and health benefits. “What will we pay him? $3.3 million in
pension payments over his life, and nearly $500,000 for health benefits — a
total of $3.8 million on a $120,000 investment. Is that fair?” He said
some state employees would be given an 11 percent salary increase this year, at
a cost of $300 million to the taxpayers, while nearly 10 percent of the state
is unemployed.
 
Cities and towns that spend irresponsibly, Christie said, will see an end to
aid unless they can show they are cutting their budgets as the state is.
Christie is also targeting authorities, commissions and boards he said are
swelling the government rolls, calling out the Passaic Valley Sewerage
Commission to say it must “learn that their days of padding their own
pockets at the expense of taxpayers are over.”
 
Christie hasn’t stopped with New Jersey, and is calling out the state of
Maryland for borrowing to cover its current obligations, and Illinois for
raising income taxes and borrowing as well. Christie pointed out in his address
that in 37 of 49 other states gubernatorial elections will be held this year.
“You know nothing tough is going to happen this year in those
states.”
 
The Christie story, which I wrote about in my column this
week, is stunning. And the response to it has been incredible. As of
midday Friday, more than 1,100 people had written in to comment — with
an overwhelming majority of the posts praising Christie.
 
Christie hopes not only to quell New Jersey’s fiscal crisis but to transform
the state into a competitive, business-friendly economic and employment
leader. A budget must be passed by June 30. Then several more
budgets before his four-year term is through. The nation will be
watching Gov. Christie closely, and if he succeeds, we can hope
others will follow his example.