Strangling New Jersey’s Taxpayers Day By Day

During state budget negotiations last June, Senator, John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), called for reducing New Jersey’s 154,000 workforce by 2,000 jobs to help close the budget gap. Governor Jon Corzine responded to Adler's proposal with, “It is curious that Mr. Adler decided to send this letter on the 98th day of budget negotiations, but we will throw it into the pile."

More than 300 days later, Corzine still hasn’t touched the pile of ideas to reduce state spending. New Jersey’s state budget has gone from $27.4 billion in 2006 to Corzine’s proposed $33.3 billion budget for 2008. That’s an 18 percent increase in state spending in just two years.

Earlier this year the governor said, “I didn’t run for public office to be a number cruncher, or to play scrooge”. Which is slightly different from the line he used when running for governor – “As a former businessman, Corzine has never seen a budget he couldn’t cut – and that experience will allow him to scrub the state budget, line-by-line.”

It’s been 809 days since we wrote:

Senator Corzine would have you believe his wealth puts him beyond the reach of special interest groups. But Jon Corzine can’t afford to alienate state workers if he hopes to become the next Governor of New Jersey. Corzine will buy the votes of government employees, not with his money, but with yours. A candidate in the pocket of teachers and other state workers can not bring real reform and fiscal sanity to Trenton.

We were right. State workers are now crowing about the best deal they’ve negotiated in 15 years and for good reason. No layoffs and Corzine has rewarded state employees with a new budget busting contract that tightens their stranglehold on New Jersey’s taxpayers.

So where’s New Jersey’s legislature on this? It’s been a mighty quite budget season since the Democrats announced their own vote buying scheme.