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Chris Wysocki
Caldwell, NJ
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Wednesday, 03 March 2010
Gov. Christie moves ahead to save NJ finances, Assembly Democrats dig in their heels
Governor Chris Christie gave a barnburner of a speech to about 200 mayors gathered at the annual meeting of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. His candid rhetoric pulled no punches. You need to read the whole thing, but here's a taste:
When I went into the treasurer's office in the first two weeks of my term, there was no happy meetings. They presented me with 378 possible freezes and lapses to be able to balance the budget. I accepted 375 of them.
There is a great deal of discussion about me doing that by executive action. Every day that went by was a day where money was going out the door. So something needed to be done.
People did not send me here to talk, the people sent me here to do. So we took the executive action we did to stop the bleeding.
As we move forward, and we evaluate what we need to do three weeks from now in our fiscal year 2011 budget address, you all need to understand the context from which we operate.
Our citizens are already the most overtaxed in America. US mayors hear it all the time. You know that the public appetite for ever increasing taxes has reached an end.
Strong words. Words which moved the State Senate to act last month on four badly needed pension reform bills, passing them with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Those bills now languish in the Assembly. Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Montclair) has slammed on the brakes. She now says that it is "unlikely" she will schedule a vote on those 4 bills prior to Gov. Christie's budget address on March 16th. In essense she is telling the governor not to count on the cost savings associated with pension reform for the next fiscal year.
Her public employee union overlords have spoken, and she is marching to their tune. Oliver euphemistically claims her inaction is necessary to "clean up any inconsistencies" in the reform legislation. Translation — find a way to protect the unions' sacred cows. The CWA, NJEA, SEIU, and the rest of the unions are unwilling to consider even one dime in concessions. They're actually pushing for increased spending. (One example is a bill moving forward in the Assembly which would grant additional special benefits to laid off police and firefighters.)
But Governor Christie isn't going to settle for business as usual. Not this time.
... the troops of the decades of overspending and overborrowing and overtaxing have gained on us. So the ruination of New Jersey's economy, and of the quality of life we want all our citizens to have, is certain if we do not take this course.
It's time for us to hold hands and jump off the cliff. It's time for us to do the difficult things that need to be done and to stop playing the petty politics of yesterday, of lying to the people telling them they do not have to pay for it because someone else will.
We are going to make the leap because that's what people elected me to do. We are going to make the leap because it is the responsible thing to do. We are going to make the leap and we are going to do it together because that is what leadership demands for us. That is what the responsibility of the offices we hold requires of us.
Wake up Ms. Oliver. The time for "studies" and "hearings" and other stalling tactics is over. The time to act is now. Now unleashed, the power of the people is greater than the influence of the public employee unions. And the people want reform. The people want government to slash spending. The people want the public sector gravy train to be derailed.
The unions couldn't protect Jon Corzine's job even though he bent over backwards
to appease them. If she fails to accede to the will of the people Shelia
Oliver will find that the unions can't protect her job either.
Posted at 17:30 by Chris Wysocki
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