GREAT ARTICLE IN THE BALTIMORE SUN!
I do not usually quote the Baltimore Sun nor am I especially interested in New Jersey politics but I could not resist it when the Sun’s Ron Smith starts out his op-ed like this:
In these times of economic distress, massive job losse s, shrunken businesses, bloated governments and runaway public spending, we’ve been waiting for some politician (other than Ron Paul) to stand and tell the truth.
Smith is of course right about Ron Paul (who won his GOP primary with 80% of the vote on Tuesday). But Smith was not talking about the Texas Congressman, he was talking about the bold step that Governor Chris Christie took in deciding to balance the state’s budget without raising taxes. Christie was clear:
But behold! The newly elected governor of New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie, stood in front of 200 of his state’s mayors last week and told them basically that there is no more road down which to kick that proverbial can. In his speech at the New Jersey League of Municipalities, Mr. Christie began by calling the legislature’s $29 billion budget something out of “Alice in Wonderland.” He told the collected hizzoners that the old game of tax and spend was over. He described unhappy meetings in his treasurer’s office, where he was presented with 378 possible freezes and lapses to be used to balance the budget. He accepted 375 of them.
Like Bob McDonnell here in Virginia, Christie’s tough cuts and talk will not make friends with some groups:
No doubt there will be a political firestorm in New Jersey as the pinch is felt by politically powerful entities such as the teachers, police and firefighters unions. Whether he can survive tackling the growing fiscal crisis with actual solutions is the question.
This is virtually the same fight that will happen in Virginia. I heard on the radio the question about how the high school football coaches will work for free as Gov. McDonnell has proposed and I have heard that people are complaining that McDonnell will keep rest areas open but cut education. Conservatives and Republicans must stand behind Governor McDonnell even if we are niot sure we fully agree. It is tough times. He’s got to make the decision. Let’s give him a chance.
And Smith warns us the consequences:
Chris Christie will need a lot of public support in his efforts to put the Garden State’s house in order; with the public in New Jersey and all across the land depending on government largesse more than ever before, can that actually be expected to happen? A lot rides on the answer to that question. If he can’t succeed in this vitally needed reordering of government taxing and spending habits, who elsewhere will be able to, and what instead will happen?
Let’s support Bob McDonnell.
