By Declan O’Scanlon
New Jersey – despite the delusional, fantastical claims of the Murphy administration, is tragically, and sadly avoidably, bankrupt on many levels. Unless we voters of New Jersey choose someone actually capable of leading our state as Governor, we risk crossing a point of budget and policy no return. This is deadly serious on so many fronts.
I’ve spent decades studying, debating and crafting New Jersey State budgets, and policies impacting those budgets. It’s not hyperbolic to say that the Murphy administration is leaving us on the brink of disaster on many levels.
Fiscally, we’re facing a $4 billion structural deficit that they not only have failed to adequately disclose to ratings agencies and the public…they’ve actively misrepresented our dire situation. The Murphy administration points to a supposed $6.5 billion surplus in this year’s budget, but, with $4 billion structural deficit ($1.7 billion in surplus spend down, looming $1.2 billion Stay NJ obligation, total spend down of $600 million in debt defeasance funds, $500 in additional one shot fund raids), all the $22 billion in federal covid money gone, our $ billions in debt defeasance funds totally expended…and the momentum of a huge, almost $60 billion state budget…the challenge before us is breathtaking. We are fiscally bankrupt.
We are also bankrupt from an energy perspective. We’ve already seen our electric rates spike at a much higher rate than the rest of the country. The disastrous Murphy administration policy combination of shuttering conventional power plants and complete reliance on unworkable offshore wind projects has put us on a path of years of generation deficits, and the skyrocketing energy costs that will come with them.
Our public health care system is in a death spiral. Because the issues facing the system were ignored and left to fester, the solutions will be both more harsh, and more expensive for our public workers and taxpayers.
The Murphy administration squandered precious time and tremendous opportunities to fix all of this. Had we enacted common sense, prospective, relatively painless pension and health benefit reforms 6 or 7 years ago the compounded savings would be in the $ billions in yearly savings today. We could have reformed our deeply flawed school funding formula making it both cheaper and fairer. We could have embraced a wise, workable, all-of-the-above energy strategy. We could have made changes to our health benefits system over time to avoid the sudden shock and expense of the system breaking down.
But the administration did none of this. They squandered the time and the breathing room the $22 billion in federal covid aid provided us. They totally ignored our calling out their disastrous policy failures and our detailed alternative plans. All this, while Congresswoman Sherrill said nothing. She consistently backed this administration and its actions, or lack thereof. That cowardly inaction is itself disqualifying for anyone aspiring to our State’s highest office. That her thin, naive campaign promises simply scratch at the surface, or are totally unworkable, only adds heft to her disqualification.
All of this should scare every taxpayer/voter in the State. If we don’t elect serious, responsible leadership right now we’ll end up with more squandered time and a hole even deeper than the one we’re in. Jack Ciattarelli is the only candidate with serious policy chops and a qualified team that has a shot at fixing this mess. A vote for Jack is a vote to save our beloved State. It’s time.
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Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) is a member of the New Jersey State Senate and former Assembly Republican Budget Officer hailing from Monmouth County, New Jersey.
