The storyline has been the same since the 2012 budget was first released in mid February. Governor Christie and his fiscal team changed the paradigm for state budgeting this year by moving to a (sort of) zero based structure, building the plan from the ground up and funding priorities based on what was needed, and not what was previously spent. The Governor, to the chagrin of many Democrats and Republicans alike, also worked a number of assumptions into the numbers to arrive at the eventual balanced $29.5 billion budget. The administration was of course seeking a medicaid waiver from the federal government, made a doubling of the Homestead Property Tax Rebate program contingent on employee health benefit reform, and finally, an early deposit of the mandated state contribution to the New Jersey Pension system (a payment that has been previously delayed by Democrats for years) contingent on the passage of pension reform.
The deadlines have continuously been pushed back. Previously, Christie called on Senate President Sweeney to meet his own deadline of mid March for these reforms. Now we are pushing it back again, but with an added bonus. The Governor will now increase his pension contribution from roughly $500 million to $760 million if the Democrats in the legislature pass pension reform by June 30 of this year. Unfortunately for the beneficiaries of the pension system, that is not going to happen.
The Democrats have their backs against the wall this year, but its not as bad for themas I had expected it to be, and that is likely for a lot of circumstantial reasons. The Osama bump Obama is enjoying in New Jersey seems to be a bit higher than the national average, trickling down to Democrats at all levels of government (temporarily of course, they shouldn’t get too comfortable). The constant onslaught of the NJEA’s multi-million dollar ad campaign against the Governor, in a year when he does not stand for re-election and November is still months away, seems to be getting into voters heads a bit. Couple that with a few scathing court decisions (both handed down and coming soon) on education reform and spending and we have a bit of a storm brewing on an issue where special interest dollars go solely to liberals in the legislature. And then finally, there is the new map, which by all accounts will help the Democrats retain control of both houses in Trenton. However, these slight advantages are not enough for Sweeney and Oliver.
The Democrats are willing to throw their own constituency, big labor, under the bus in order to make a political statement against the Governor. The state pension fund is in a sad, sad state. Under funded and mismanaged for years, the Governor is finally trying to help move things along in a sustainable direction. He is pledging to make the payments, in a greater amount than requires and earlier than mandated by law, but is understandably only able to do so if certain conditions apply. The people understand this, blue collar New Jerseyans who benefit from this system (or at least will in the future) understand the importance of a sustainable system, but the Democrats want to play politics.
By not passing the necessary reforms and forcing the Governor to withhold his contribution through the elections this year, the Democrats seeks to dictate the narrative that Governor Christie is a strident enemy of New Jersey workers, denying them a payment that they are legally entitled to in order to fund his own priorities in a budget that must be balanced. Considering unionized workers, especially those on the state payroll, already have a bleak image of the Governor in their minds, this narrative will not be hard to push, but why push it so hard to the point of actually harming the bank accounts of the Democrats key constituency? Now that the map has all but ensured a continued Democrat control of the Senate, they can now focus entire policy decisions on maintaining single seats. This one goes out to LD14.
The 14th District has been traditionally Republican, and was easily won by Senator Baroni in recent years before he moved on to the Port Authority. After that move the seat was handed off to Tom Goodwin, and in a year when Republicans across the country were literally cleaning the Democrats out of state legislatures, the NJGOP managed to lose that seat to Linda Greenstein, a Senator whose current claim to fame is forcing your tax dollars to pay for 8-hour charging stations at rest stops (where everyone, aside from Jim McGreevy, only spends a few minutes) for cars that no one drives. This year the Republicans have put Richard Kanka, a well known blue collar candidate, who could, even without the support of his own union, swing that seat back into the red column and bring the GOP back to a slightly more respectable 3 seat deficit in the Senate.
Losing this seat so quickly would be a major disappointment for the Democrats, and Steve Sweeney in particular. After the map came down this year, Sweeney cheered the fact that his majority would remain 24-16 in his house, and looking at the seating chart, he knows that other than LD2, the 14th District is the most likely place where his party will need to retreat. The practical result of this political reality? That Senate Democrats will refuse to pass pension reform on the Governor’s laid out timeline and will delay the pension payment being made into the state fund until next year. They will push a narrative that demonizes the Governor in the eyes of New Jersey’s blue collar work force, while stonewalling a Christie policy that seeks to do nothing but benefit that constituency to the tune of $760 million dollars this year, and with continued, sustainable payments in the future. All to keep one Senator in a district that she does not even adequately represent. So, voters of LD14, remember when you see the ads this year that the Governor withheld your pension payment for politics, do not blame him. Blame Sweeney and Greenstein for betting your retirement on a single seat.
This is a joke, right? This Governor doesn't need any help from anyone to demonize him as against the workers of NJ….he's doing that all by himself.
Great I'm good for another year.