Politics carefully taking over N.J. budget drama

BY CARL GOLDEN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

For all those who anticipated high drama and hand-to-hand political combat over the state budget, recent events must have been rather disappointing.

First, the Democratic leadership of the Legislature assured everyone agreement would be reached with the Christie Administration ahead of the July 1 deadline for the budget to be in place, averting a government shutdown.

Second, the leadership abandoned its plan to include in the budget higher tax rates for households with incomes in excess of $1 million, choosing instead to attempt to override the Governor's veto of the tax, an effort certain to fail.

Third, they pledged the minimum number of votes to approve the budget provided it was sponsored and unanimously supported by Republicans.

Before anyone buys into the idea that bipartisanship has stirred to life in the Legislature, however, realpolitik still rules and the Democrats' decision to forego a bitter brawl with the Governor reflects that.

The Democrats understand they would be held largely responsible for a government shutdown. Even though legislative elections are more than a year off, a shutdown would be a potentially lethal campaign issue against them.

Their position is, moreover, a tacit admission that the Governor's repeated warnings that the state can no longer afford to continue to spend money it does not have is not only correct but has come to be shared by taxpayers as well.

Even the budget committee's public hearings — normally an outlet for sharp criticism — had an air of weary resignation about them.

Witness after witness pleaded for a restoration of funds the Governor had cut from the budget, while recognizing their entreaties would have little impact. It wasn't as if their cries fell on deaf ears, but on an empty purse.

There's been some mild partisan jockeying going on as each side seeks an advantage.

Democrats, for instance, claimed victory when the Governor reversed himself and restored funding for senior citizen prescription drug programs and backed off from implementing changes in the retirement system which could have led to thousands of experienced teachers suddenly leaving the profession.

As a reminder that Democrats hold the key to a government shutdown, Christie distributed a memorandum to his cabinet, telling them to brace for closing in the event a budget accord failed.

Democrats made it clear that providing the minimum number of votes to approve the budget should not be construed as agreeing with it. Their support is contingent upon Republican unanimity and is designed to avoid blame for shuttering government offices, tossing employees out of work, and denying the everyday routine services to which taxpayers have become accustomed and rely upon.

If anyone was unable to discern the party strategy involved, several Democrats issued repeated reminders that the Governor and Republicans now "owned" the budget and everything in it — or, more to the point, not in it.

The Governor's theme of "shared sacrifice" is a cruel hoax when viewed in the context of the budget, the Democrats will argue. They will target his refusal to ask less the one percent of the taxpayers — the millionaires and above — to contribute more in taxes to preserve programs to help low and moderate income New Jerseyans cope with exceptionally difficult economic circumstances. Protecting the wealthiest among us will, they'll contend, make a mockery of the obligation and duty of government to provide a safety net for those in need.

Democrats will continue to remind taxpayers that the budget now "owned" by Republicans forced layoffs and service cutbacks by municipalities and school districts, inflicting long term damage on both, and is to blame for property tax increases as well.

The flaw in the Democrats' argument, though, is the hard, cold fact that the state does not have the money to continue to fund what it has in prior years. Each time the chief fiscal officer for the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services appeared before the budget committee, the state's fiscal condition grew increasingly bleak as he informed the members that revenue from the major taxes had fallen short of initial projections yet again.

The Governor has made it clear and in increasingly blunt terms that the path to economic growth, job creation and fiscal health demands spending reductions rather than revenue generators.

"We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem" will be a refrain repeated endlessly between the enactment of the budget and the 2011 legislative elections.

While the drama some were anticipating and others were hoping for may be absent in the next few weeks, the curtain will go up on the larger play as 2011 comes closer and the theater-goers (taxpayers and voters) will settle in their seats to give a thumbs up or down to what they witness.

And, like traditional theater critics, the media will deliver its review. The Governor and both parties will await the verdict as anxiously as the producers and backers of a Broadway show on opening night.

Carl Golden is a senior contributing analyst with the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton College.