Gov. Chris Christie?s efforts to clean up New Jersey?s fiscal mess attracts attention this week from Bloomberg Business Week:
When he moved into the New Jersey governor’s office on Jan. 19, Christie faced a budget crisis of almost Greek proportions: Projected revenues for the coming fiscal year were nearly $11 billion short of what it would cost to fully fund every authorized program. Since then he has impounded more than $2 billion in unspent funds, fought off legislators’ attempts to raise taxes, pushed through a budget that slashes spending, pressured schoolteachers to pay for their health-care benefits, and taken a first crack at fixing one of the nation’s most underfunded pension systems. Christie says he’s been contacted for advice by GOP gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman of California, Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, Bill Brady of Illinois, Chris Dudley of Oregon, Robert Ehrlich of Maryland, and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts. “People say to me, ‘Can you really get it done in Massachusetts given that the overwhelming majority of the legislature is Democratic?’ ” says Baker. “I say, ‘Drive down the Turnpike. Eventually you’ll get there. That’s exactly what’s happening in New Jersey.’ ”
Perhaps some of Christie?s ideas would make sense for the state with the worst budget hole in the Southeast and the fifth-largest budget gap by percentage in the nation.
