5 INTERESTING ASPECTS OF GOV. CHRISTIE’S STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
JANUARY 13, 2015 1 COMMENT
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
“Between 2004 and 2008 the departure of wealth, investment, and income was staggering — some $70 billion left the state,” Christie explained, quite accurately. “We have begun a new direction and we need to go further, not reverse course.”
https://savejersey.com/2015/01/christies-state-of-the-state-address/
The only “news” in today’s well-delivered but substantively modest State of the State address involved an expansion of drug addiction treatment services (a pet issue for the Governor) and this:
And then he said it again, infused with a little characteristic humor, when the Democrats sat on their hands:
So there’s that.
And the Governor certainly said plenty about the future, including a very articulate demand for “the legislature today to open your eyes and ears to the lessons of Mercedes and to act now to lower taxes and prevent another such departure,” something I was hoping he’d discuss in the proper context. And he did. New Jersey’s affordability crisis should always should be priority #1.
He also pledged to veto any income tax increase:
A few other items of interest?
(1) Christie isn’t resigning for the primary… but maybe the general?
As one of our readers pointed out via social media, Chris Christie added the significant modifier “I will be here in one year…” to his prepared remarks, beginning “So that when we stand here in one year…”
So he may be running for president, Save Jerseyans, but he’s likely not resigning for the primary portion at least.
(2) Several favorite (and important) Christie topics got no attention.
He’s put a lot of work into some of these items, Save Jerseyans, but if you take a hard look at his remarks, you will notice some glaring omissions:
No mention of Atlantic City
No mention of the Transportation Trust Fund (or a gas tax – distinguishable from the income tax!)
No mention of Hurricane Sandy (one reference to the Shore, in passing, generally)
He only mentioned property taxes 5 times, and each reference referred back to the 2.0 cap and its success
His most-discussed topic? $54.8 million for mandatory drug treatment. My response: why not a pilot statewide voucher program? Trapped kids > drug addicts. And I’m sorry, but I still throw up a little bit in my mouth every single time I see Jim McGreevey. Always will.
https://savejersey.com/2015/01/christies-state-of-the-state-address/
The mouth of NJ is trying to play to a national audience while his state keeps getting worse, one lousy governor.
Can you provide examples of what he should do that would make him less lousy? Make sure that your examples are within the realms of reality and not some magical war-chest of money that doesn’t exist.
Maybe the Governor can take a few classes from the Georgia Governor on how to create a plan with incentives, discounts, etc. and maybe keep other businesses from leaving for Dixie….
Now that the Cowboys are out of the playoffs maybe Chris can spend a little more time on issues affecting us here in the Garden State.
#4 Best suggestion made yet — thanks.
Yes, but it’s exactly those incentives that get all the lefties here in NJ all riled up. You see, they don’t see the long-term benefits of such incentives. They want it now and they want what doesn’t exist.
What is wrong with XXX? He repost #3 and then he answers his own repost. Weird.
he could do like corzine and give raises of 13% to state workers , and or like mac creepy and have sex at turn pike rest stops , he could forse the state to abide by the Abbott rulings and tax payers could be on the hook for massive school taxes with little results , he could cost the tax payers the most per mile to fix the roads and get the lest done with the most money ,he could steal , i mean borrow from state pensions so you can pay 10 times as much back in 20 years , you live in New Jersey try to keep up …. there are perhaps 10,000 examples over the since that idiot florio btw before Christie you had ZERO private employment growth in NJ since before Mac creepy …
totally agree about whitman , the problem being that the state is already a lost cause , unless there was a major restructuring , and I mean major restructuring its Detroit here we come , Christie at best could only slow down the inevitable just a bit and once he is gone the state will implode
Yes James there many to blame beside unions and the above mention
Let’s review some of the spending during her tenure. Whitman reduced payments to the state’s pension funds to balance a 30-percent income tax cut enacted after she became governor in 1994. Three years later, Whitman had the state borrow $2.75 billion to deposit in the pension funds to address that liability. The stock market at that time was doing well and the infusion helped create a surplus in the accounts — for a while. Then the stock market took a downtown.
But the pension issue wasn’t the only significant debt during Whitman’s tenure. She also approved an $8.6 billion school construction bill that was largely funded during the Jim McGreevey administration. Taken together, that’s more than $11 billion in debt.
Sorry maccreepy as well as corzine stole ..a borrowed from the pension lets not tell stories
Yes James I agree but don’t give him a free pass. It has been called “the ugliest damn building in New Jersey and maybe America,” has bedeviled three governors and has burned through two developers. Despite $1.9 billion spent, it is still an unfinished pile of concrete, steel and garish pastel panels.
Related
Now, Gov. Chris Christie and the developers of the Mall of America have struck a deal to pour in $1 billion more in hopes of reviving the oft-ridiculed Xanadu Meadowlands complex, according to people involved in the talks.
And lets not for get the Giant Stadium and we are still paying for the old one that was torn down. So even though I voted for him he did do his share of spending
And xanadu,giant stadium and met life stadium were build but who? Again christie got stuck with a mess ,no free pass but facts are facts
I believe that CC has been a big (no pun) disappointment. It’s been more about his own priorities than that of the state’s. Hugging Obama, cutting a deal with Booker by calling for the special election and his ‘performance’ as keynote at the GOP convention. Bad for the state, bad for the GOP and good for CC.
Yes James our governor got stuck Xanadu but as the old saying goes you have to know when to hold them know when to fold them. He should have fold and stop throwing good money after bad.
yes but the reality is what to do with this white elephant , the sports authority board should have been jailed over it
Walk away or wait till things get better I guess.
Now we know the union fantasy world line: “There is nothing in the Governor’s speech or in the anticipated Pension Commission report that surprises us. We must remember that we are little more than pawns in the Governor’s mission to become a candidate for national office. He is not interested in the facts.” Then there ius the rteality here https://watchdog.org/192832/christie-nj-pension-crisis/ Apparently the unions think this money will grow on trees, but obviously nothing surprises them, so maybe it does ?