Senate President Steve Sweeney told The Star LedgerEditorial Board that he is groveling to get back into the good graces of the NJEA. He didn’t put it exactly that way, but that is the effect of his pronouncement that he will not allow two key components of Governor Christie’s educations reforms…merit pay and ending seniority protections from layoffs.
Governor Christie gave himself plenty of room to negotiate when he increased the budget surplus by $270 million while cutting transitional aid to the cities by $139 million. The Democrats want that money, and other monies that Christie cut back. If the cities don’t get the money they could face bankruptcy.
Christie shouldn’t give an dime back to the cities unless he gets everything he wants in education reform. If Sweeney and the Democrats don’t go along because they’re trying to get back into the good graces of the NJEA, let the voters decide.
Let’s have the coming election, in which the entire legislature is up for grabs, be a referendum on Christie’s agenda vs the NJEA agenda.
Governor Chris Christie dropped his bombshell budget on the Trenton Democrats last week and then took off on a two week vacation with his family, leaving a media vacuum for Senate President Steve Sweeney and the Democrats in the legislature to try to fill.
Sweeney got some national attention by calling Christie a “rotten prick” and a “bastard” who hurts people and now the Senate is scheduled to hold votes to over ride Christie’s budget next week. The Assembly is scheduling hearings on the impact of Christie’s cuts but hasn’t scheduled any override votes. It is all political theater. The budget that the Democrats submitted to Christie was political theater. They planned on giving Christie a budget he would cut so that they could spend the summer and fall using his cuts against the Republicans in the legislative election campaigns.
Christie is a “bastard” because he outwitted the Democrats, again. By trying to box Christie in, forcing him to make cuts to popular programs they could use against him in the coming election, the Democrats unwittingly gave Christie the leverage he needs to accelerate his reform agenda.
Christie cut $139 million of $149 million from the urban “transitional aid” program. New Jersey’s cities, Asbury Park, Camden, Trenton, Newark, et al, can not operate without that money. The cities can’t legally lay employees off fast enough due to civil service rules, which takes spending cuts off the table. Asbury Park would have to raise their property taxes by 101% to make up the the funds that Christie cut. That would be fun to watch, but I don’t think they could collect those taxes. If they did, they’d prove that the transitional aid wasn’t necessary.
While Christie was gutting the urban budgets and other programs dear to the Democrats, he also added $300 million to the surplus.
The Democrats will keep making noise that nobody hears until Christie gets back from vacation. Then they will start negotiating. But now Christie has the leverage because the Democrats gave it to him while thinking they had in a political poor position. Christie wants education reform, especially tenure reform. He wants the rest of his tool kit passed, especially civil service reform. He couldn’t get that from the legislature over the last year. Now he has what they need, what they must have.
The cities will get the transitional aid money. Christie will get his reforms passed before Labor Day.
Given the new legislative map, it is unlikely that the GOP will make significant gains in the legislature this coming election. However, it looks to me like Christie has positioned himself to extract reforms from the Democrats that are more landmark than the pension and benefit reforms recently passed. Christie and the GOP legislative team are positioned to enter September with major triumphs.
The bromance between Governor Chris Christie and Senate President Steve Sweeney appears to be on the rocks.
In recent weeks Christie has shifted his rhetoric from slamming the “do nothing” Democratic legislature to singing the praises of Sweeney for compromising with him over “landmark” pension and benefit reforms which Christie declared on national TV was a “model for America.”
The pension and benefit reforms were signed into law last Tuesday during a Christie-Sweeney love fest ceremony at the Wall Memorial in Trenton. That left only two days for the legislature and the Governor to settle on a State budget.
Rather than negotiate with Christie over elements of the budget he had proposed, the Democratic legislature passed their own budget that exceeded the amount of revenue that Christie had certified by $600 million and increased the “millionaires tax” by 20%.
Christie received the Democrats budget on Wednesday evening. His choices were to veteo it outright, conditionally veto it, either of which could have led to a government shut down, or to use his line item veto power to cut specific spending items that the legislature had passed.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, the Assembly Republican Budget Officer, said of the Democrats, “they played chicken with the wrong guy.”
Christie made $900 million in line item cuts that have the Democrats squealing like a Ned Beatty in Deliverance.
Sweeney reacted with a profanity laced interview with Tom Moran of The Star Ledger. Sweeney called Christie “a rotten prick” and said he wanted to “punch him in the head.” The Senate President likened the Governor to “Mr. Potter from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,” the mean old bastard who screws everybody.”
Former Senator Richard LaRossa and I will be talking about the budget and the political fallout of the budget this afternoon on our radio show, LaRossa and Gallagher: The Real Jersey Guys on WIFI 1460 AM on your radio dial and here on your computer or smart phone.
As of now we don’t have any guests scheduled for the program. We hope you will call in to the show, 609-447-0236, with your questions and comments about the budget, the Christie-Sweeney tiff or anything else New Jersey you want to talk about.
Governor Christie Sends Clear Message to Legislature’s Irresponsible Spending: New Jersey is Only Going to Spend the Money We Have
Trenton, NJ – For the second year in a row, Governor Chris Christie has enacted a constitutionally balanced budget that reduces spending, does not raise taxes and protects critical priorities like education and health care. The revised budget is grounded in reality and is the polar opposite of a reckless Democratic spending plan the Governor was forced to line-item veto by nearly $1 billion in order to meet the state’s constitutional obligation to deliver a balanced budget for the next fiscal year. At the same time, the budget builds on the hard-won progress made over the last year to right New Jersey’s fiscal course over the long term, and also protects key priorities and encourages job growth. The Governor maintained his commitment to education by increasing funding by $850 million over last year’s budget. In total, this means every dollar of cuts made last year has been restored and increased by an additional $30 million.
Additionally, the Governor took action rejecting job-killing tax increases and signed into law additional targeted tax cuts for small business and job creators.
“It is my solemn pact with the residents and taxpayers of New Jersey to never allow a return to the kind of reckless, autopilot spending that devastated our state’s economic health in years past and which was embodied in the budget I repaired, a relic of days when there was no concern for the state’s fiscal reality,” Governor Chris Christie said. “Let me be clear – New Jersey is only going to spend the money we have. We are not going to revert back to business as usual and undo all the progress that has been made to improve New Jersey’s long-term fiscal health. The actions I have taken today reinforce a commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars, safeguarding critical priorities like education, and rejecting tax increases that impede economic expansion and job creation.
“This budget is not only constitutionally balanced, but represents my commitment to education. This year’s budget managed to increase funding by $850 million and does so in a fiscally prudent budget. New Jersey continues to spend more money per pupil than any other state and now is the time to complement the dollars spent with real education reform. Now is the time to turn our focus and energy to tackling the next big thing for our state – education reform,” concluded Governor Christie.
The Governor’s remedies, a combination of the line-item veto on the appropriations bill and the absolute veto, ensure the state will go into the next fiscal year with a constitutionally balanced budget, puts New Jersey on stronger fiscal footing and funds key commitments:
· Governor Christie’s adjusted budget spends $29.7 billion, $900 million less than the Democratic budget and maintains a healthy and necessary surplus;
· Increases state aid to school districts by $850 million over last year. This commitment to education includes the Governor’s initial $250 million increase for all school districts, meeting the Supreme Court’s mandate by providing an additional $450 million to the Abbott districts, and an additional $150 million for non-Abbott districts;
· Doubles the Homestead Benefit to provide property tax relief for New Jersey families;
· Increases and secures funding for New Jersey hospitals by $20 million;
· Provides full funding for healthcare to low-income earners and the uninsured through Federally Qualified Health Centers;
· Provides $180 million in targeted tax cuts and incentives to grow the economy and create jobs;
· Fulfills New Jersey’s commitment to make the state’s pension fund payment;
· Doesn’t raise taxes on individuals and job creators at a time when New Jerseyans are already subject to one of the highest state income tax rates in the nation and New York is reducing its tax burden; and
· Preserves critical spending for senior and disabled prescription aid.
In addition to returning a responsible and balanced budget to the Legislature, Governor Christie took other action today to stop job-killing tax increases and create a competitive climate for economic growth. Governor Christie vetoed Assembly Bill 4202, a Democratic proposal that would raise taxes on individuals and businesses at a time when New Jerseyans are already subject to one of the highest state income tax rates in the nation. The proposed income tax hike would directly hurt small business and exacerbate the volatility of New Jersey’s revenue base, considering that 71 percent of the taxpayers who pay the top tax rate under this legislation report income from business activity, and nearly 42 percent of the revenue subject to this tax increase represents business income.
The Governor signed into law today two additional pro-growth tax cuts that were part of his budget proposal that will eliminate the cap on the corporation business tax research credit and decrease the minimum corporation business tax on S-corps by 25 percent. Previously, on April 28, Governor Christie signed two tax cuts that he had initially proposed, the single-sales tax factor and net-loss carry forward. In addition, as initially proposed by Governor Christie, the Transition Energy Facility Assessment will phase out over the next three years, reducing energy costs for New Jersey families and businesses. In total, these pro-growth measures provide $180 million in targeted tax relief for New Jersey businesses and entrepreneurs.
The Governor also vetoed Assembly bill A-4204 in a fiscally responsible move that allows the State to continue to provide the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) at a level that the State’s taxpayers can sustain. While a difficult decision, providing the State EITC at 25 percent of the federal EITC is not affordable and not sustainable, which is why the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law last year legislation to make the State EITC equal to 20 percent of the federal EITC. He also absolutely vetoed the Democrat’s supplemental spending bill, A-4203, which was unconstitutional because it provided educational spending outside of the budget appropriations act.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are both being hailed in the media for the “landmark” legislation they were able to get passed by their respective legislatures last week. Christie got his pension and benefits compromise passed and Cuomo led New York into becoming the sixth state in the nation to give homosexuals the right to marry.
In what could be considered a level of dissatisfaction with the current field of 2012 presidential candidates, including President Obama, there is now a media buzz about both Christie and Cuomo competing for their respective party nominations for President in 2016.
While Christie and Cuomo have put together similar records of bringing fiscal discipline to their state’s budgets and pension systems, the two governors part ways over gay marriage. Christie says he believes that marriage should remain between one man and one woman and points to the Democrats inability to pass a marriage equality law during the lame duck session in 2009-2010 when they controlled both the legislature and Governor’s office.
Besides gay marriage, the other big difference between Christie and Cuomo is how use the media.
Christie is all over the national media…Piers Morgan on CNN two weeks ago, the Today Show last week, Meet The Press yesterday, MSNBC, Fox and Friends and Imus today, followed by Steve Malzberg on 710 AM radio and his monthly NJ 101.5 Ask The Governor gig tomorrow.
Cuomo has taken the exact opposite approach. He told his staff not to discuss or speculate about his presidential ambitions and has turned down most requests for interviews from both the national and New York media during his first six months in office, according to Fredric U. Dicker writing in the New York Post:
Cuomo ordered his staff not to discuss or even speculate on the possibility that he harbors presidential ambitions.
He also directed his aides to turn down invitations to appear on several high-profile national news shows to discuss gay marriage, believing the media would turn them into discussions of a possible presidential campaign, administration insiders said.
“He’s seen this dance before, with his father,” said a source close to Cuomo, referring to former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s flirtation with a presidential run in 1992.
“It’s distracting and possibly destructive to a governor, and you have to shut it down immediately, immediately, because it will begin to fuel itself if you don’t.”
Cuomo has repeatedly turned down most requests for interviews by national and New York news outlets during his first six months in office, but interest exploded following Friday night’s gay-marriage vote.
“The governor also views the speculation as disrespectful to the position of governor, and it would make the governor look like just another politician looking to take the next step on the ladder, which is not the case,” the source said.
We’ve seen the Christie for President in 2012 or 2016 buzz fuel itself and be encouraged by the Governor.
When was the last time you saw a national TV interview with Mitch Daniels? Daniels withdrew from consideration for the GOP 2012 nomination and hasn’t been heard from on a national level since. Christie has repeatedly denied any interest in the 2012 race, saying he’s not ready. Yet Christie and the national media can’t get enough of each other.
Christie doesn’t see the national attention as being a distraction from his job. He’s made it part of his job. Christie’s probably the most televised governor in New Jersey history. And he hasn’t done a “Perfect Together” tourism commercial.
One thing I’ve come to believe about Christie since I started observing him in early 2009 is that he always has a purpose and a plan. Even when he speaks off the cuff, he’s on purpose and forwarding his plan.
Christie and his team are too smart to believe that all the attention he is getting now will have an impact in 2016. If he’s not running for President now, as he insists, what could his purpose be in fueling all the national media attention?
Yesterday afternoon on the LaRossa and Gallagher radio show I asked Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon how the $790 million dollar hole in Governor Christie’s proposed budget would be filled. Christie’s budget assumed $300 million in savings during the coming fiscal year from healtcare reform. The legislation likely to be passed in the Assembly only yields a savings of $10 million this year. Last month the State Supreme Court ruled that the state must spend $500 million more than Christie budgeted on Abbott district school spending.
O’Scanlon pointed to increased revenue projections and to yet to be determined savings from the new healthcare deal, but acknowledged that he and the other legislators crafting the budget have tough choices to make between now and June 30 when the budget must be passed.
June 30 is the deadline for the state budget to be enacted. June 30th is also the expiration date of the current union contracts for 48,000 state workers. Once the pension and benefits reforms are passed by the Assembly tomorrow, there will be an intense sprint to meet those deadlines in one week.
Mark Magyar, a former deputy policy chief in the Whitman administration and the policy director for the 2009 Daggett for Governor campaign,writing at NJ Spotlight, raises the possibility that Governor Christie could impose a new contract on the state workers.
The 1968 public employee collective bargaining law gives the governor and mayors the power to impose contracts on non-uniformed employees. Christie would be the first governor to use that power.
Magyar says that negotiations with the unions started late and have been on hold while Christie and the legislature worked on the pension and health carereforms. Christie has proposed a 3.5% pay cut.
I’ve been scratching by head trying to figure out why Christie and the Republicans in the legislature have been celebrating the health care reforms that only yield $10 million, rather than $300 million, in savings while the Democrats are waging a civil war over the deal.
O’Scanlon says the health care deal agreed to is not Reform In Name Only, that they will produce real savings over time. That might be true. But it seems like another kick the can down the road.
If Christie exercises his executive power to reduce the cost of government now by imposing union contracts that recover the savings given up the the health care deal we would know that we got real reform. Not delayed reform. That would be turning Trenton upside down.
Trenton, NJ – This evening, Governor Chris Christie, Senate President Stephen Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce released the following joint statement:
“After months of serious discussions, we are pleased to announce that we have reached agreement on legislation to reform our public pension and health benefits systems in New Jersey.
“The legislation to be considered tomorrow by the Senate Budget Committee and Monday by the Assembly Budget Committee protects taxpayers, saves the public pension system for current and future retirees, and enhances fairness and choice in our health benefits system.
“We all fully support this legislation and will work together to assure its passage by both houses of the Legislature and enactment into law no later than June 30, 2011.”
