New Jersey's Broken System (2014)
The more things change, the more they stay the same. A glancing look at New Jersey's budget woes, and Governor Chris Christie's solution to the problem, remind me that after all these years, the same rhetoric is used with the same, tired excuses. Yes, there is a very serious budget problem, and yes, health and pension benefits for state employees have a lot to do with it. But the real work is in crafting a long-term solution, and this involves not just the governor, but the two legislative bodies, the Senate and Assembly, that have been controlled by the Democrats for more than three decades. To blame the current Republican governor is to ignore the realities of the past, as well as to exonerate the elected officials in the New Jersey Legislature of their responsibilities to the citizens of New Jersey.
When former Governor Christine Todd Whitman took pension money to balance the budget in 1995, there was an understandable outcry, but since her tenure, there have been a series of Democratic governors and legislators who did virtually nothing to ensure that the pension system remained healthy. Even then, there were warnings; former New Jersey Treasurer Richard C. Leone said at the time, "There is no question that this is creating future debt."
Fast forward to 2011, and Governor Christie, along with a very compliant Democratic State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, negotiates legislation that claims true reform, but in actuality it isn't. Christie knew that the revenue estimates were too high, thereby rendering his budget projections useless.
The cynic in me says Christie knew that he would not be making the pension payment all along. After all, this is a person who has said things on the record, and has then gone back on his word. He also knew he could depend on the negative public sentiment regarding public workers in general, and unions in particular, a new reality that is not abating anytime soon. Christie banked on the idea that he could balance his budget by simply not making the pension payment.
But none of this really matters, because this is an issue of values. The Governor can claim that there are no other solutions to balancing the budget save for not making the pension payments, and asking public employees to contribute more to their benefits; the Democrats can claim that increasing the gas tax, giving corporate tax breaks and increasing taxes on the wealthiest residents are very viable solutions to the problem.
Both political parties will take jabs at one another, but no one will do the hard work--vote on legislation that restores sanity to the budget process, and to the health benefits and pension systems.
What must happen is voters--both state employees and New Jersey citizens--must insist that their elected representatives pass legislation that does two things: make it impossible for governors to take pension fund money and move it onto the state budget, and require that full pension payments be made yearly.
Christie, like any good Republican, believes in corporate tax breaks as a means to grow jobs, and not raising the gas tax or imposing a millionaires' tax for fear of driving away businesses. Proposing these solutions is absurd because they run counter to his political and economic philosophies.
But if the Legislature does its job, then they need not visit this issue with acute regularity every spring. They must take on the responsibility of reforming the whole system, because there will be an end game, and New Jersey taxpayers will feel it. But by then, it will be too late to do anything about it.
It's all a matter of values, and those in power--both Democrats and Republicans--get to exercise their values. Democrats had numerous opportunities to fix the system when there was a Democrat in the Governor's office, and they chose not to. Now that there's a Republican, and for at least three more years, their work is far more complicated. Hopefully they will find the political will to do what is right.
When former Governor Christine Todd Whitman took pension money to balance the budget in 1995, there was an understandable outcry, but since her tenure, there have been a series of Democratic governors and legislators who did virtually nothing to ensure that the pension system remained healthy. Even then, there were warnings; former New Jersey Treasurer Richard C. Leone said at the time, "There is no question that this is creating future debt."
Fast forward to 2011, and Governor Christie, along with a very compliant Democratic State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, negotiates legislation that claims true reform, but in actuality it isn't. Christie knew that the revenue estimates were too high, thereby rendering his budget projections useless.
The cynic in me says Christie knew that he would not be making the pension payment all along. After all, this is a person who has said things on the record, and has then gone back on his word. He also knew he could depend on the negative public sentiment regarding public workers in general, and unions in particular, a new reality that is not abating anytime soon. Christie banked on the idea that he could balance his budget by simply not making the pension payment.
But none of this really matters, because this is an issue of values. The Governor can claim that there are no other solutions to balancing the budget save for not making the pension payments, and asking public employees to contribute more to their benefits; the Democrats can claim that increasing the gas tax, giving corporate tax breaks and increasing taxes on the wealthiest residents are very viable solutions to the problem.
Both political parties will take jabs at one another, but no one will do the hard work--vote on legislation that restores sanity to the budget process, and to the health benefits and pension systems.
What must happen is voters--both state employees and New Jersey citizens--must insist that their elected representatives pass legislation that does two things: make it impossible for governors to take pension fund money and move it onto the state budget, and require that full pension payments be made yearly.
Christie, like any good Republican, believes in corporate tax breaks as a means to grow jobs, and not raising the gas tax or imposing a millionaires' tax for fear of driving away businesses. Proposing these solutions is absurd because they run counter to his political and economic philosophies.
But if the Legislature does its job, then they need not visit this issue with acute regularity every spring. They must take on the responsibility of reforming the whole system, because there will be an end game, and New Jersey taxpayers will feel it. But by then, it will be too late to do anything about it.
It's all a matter of values, and those in power--both Democrats and Republicans--get to exercise their values. Democrats had numerous opportunities to fix the system when there was a Democrat in the Governor's office, and they chose not to. Now that there's a Republican, and for at least three more years, their work is far more complicated. Hopefully they will find the political will to do what is right.
posted by olgapolites at 11:49 AM
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