New Jersey Democrats Triumph Over Taxpayers

The consensus in the media is that Jon Corzine won. That of course is predicated on your definition of ”winning”. If winning means raising taxes, then yes, Corzine won. If increasing state spending, consequences be damned, Corzine bests ‘em all. If the goal was to ensure a multi-billion dollar budget gap next year, Corzine is the victor. If putting thousands of private citizens out of work is part of the game, then Corzine is the champ. If telling people the sales tax was necessary to close a budget gap and then later conceding that at least one-half of the proceeds could be used for other purposes, then the B.S. crown goes to Corzine.

Likely, the headlines tomorrow will read that Governor Corzine triumphed in his intramural battle with Speaker Roberts. He got the sales tax hike he wanted. He made no significant cuts in the bloated state budget (not that the Democratic "opposition" wanted any).

Generally, in such battles, the combatant willing to inflict the most pain on innocent bystanders prevails, and Corzine proved much more ruthless. He threw tens of thousands of workers out into the street, including private sector folks who can’t treat the last few days as a taxpayer funded vacation. And he didn’t have to; what court would second guess him? Who would bring the suit?

If exposing Corzine as a big government spending, tax hiking, ruthless S.O.B, was the goal, then Joe Roberts won. But the real battle was between New Jersey Democats and the state’s taxpayers. Let there be no doubt - Democrats are the undisputed winners, they have totally cleaned our clock.

P.S. Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - By JOHN P. McALPIN and MITCHEL MADDUX: TRENTON BUREAU:

“In a shrewd parliamentary move, Roberts also took the unusual step of drafting a bill to raise the sales tax and introduced it in such a way that he can engineer a direct Assembly vote on it, bypassing any committee hearing. The bill would tie any tax hike to politically popular property tax rebates.”

Amid all the budget deal hoopla, don't forget New Jersey state government is still not open for business, it's been shut down for six days and still counting: