The governor is pitching his debt and toll plan to the wrong people, as Alfred Doblin points out in this on the mark column.
Unless the governor can change the structure of the protests, he will lose the debate — even if he is better prepared and offers what may be the best financial rescue for New Jersey. The public doesn’t want tolls raised and does not distrust government to make substantial cuts.
Remarkably, Republicans are making this their issue. As if state Republicans played no part in under-funding state liabilities or ignoring the looming fiscal crisis.
The public has every right to doubt that the governor can cut spending significantly. But it is foolish to believe that opponents of the governor’s plan will cut spending either. Cutting taxes is painful. Cutting services is more painful. Cutting contractually agreed upon benefits from state workers is more than painful, it is litigious and costly. There is no easy or inexpensive way out.
Corzine would have been smarter to unveil his plan in stages. He spent a year crafting his plan. During that year, he could have cut $2 billion from the state budget, demanded that the Legislature authorize no new spending without a guaranteed recurring revenue source and insisted that the public vote on whether the state takes on unsecured debt.
There wouldn’t be pig balloons flying around Trenton in February if Corzine floated those balloons last spring. New Jerseyans believe the state is drowning in debt. But they also believe the state is weighed down by wasteful spending.
If the governor wants to get rid of the flying pigs, he has to first cut the pork to the bone.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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Hank Kalet 