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• N.J. Gov.-elect Chris Christie ready to take charge

• Paul Mulshine: Springsteen should stay out of politics: A conversation with the real boss

• Full Star-Ledger coverage of the N.J. Governor-elect Chris Christie transition

Christie's 'to do' list looks familiar

Sunday, January 17, 2010

The Record

BY THE RECORD'S STAFF

Chris Christie becomes New Jersey's newest governor Tuesday, promising to lead the state forward with a firm hand. He'll immediately face many of the same problems that vexed his predecessors. Here is a rundown of some of the major issues Christie will confront and what he has said about them.

State finances

Christie is inheriting a state fiscal situation that will be challenging to manage on several fronts.

The state budget will have a structural deficit of at least $8 billion during Christie's first year in office thanks to revenue losses tied to the bad economy and spending decisions made by prior administrations. Christie's own budget team estimates the deficit could be closer to $10 billion. As governor, Christie will also have to come up with the steep spending cuts he called for on the campaign trail. That could force tough decisions on state aid such as school funding, and he'll also have to decide what to do with property tax rebates.

Christie also inherits a record $34 billion debt, an amount that equates to $3,600 for every man, woman and child living in New Jersey. He is promising to take a hard look at any new borrowing that was planned by the Corzine administration, which means school construction and transportation issues will face new scrutiny. The heavy debt burden also puts a stress on Christie's first budget because he cannot avoid paying that bill even though he didn't run it up.

The state pension system is also a major problem thanks to an unfunded liability of at least $30 billion. Christie has to find $2.5 billion to pay what actuaries say is needed for him to begin restoring the pension system.

Property taxes

The issue that many believe put Christie in office may also be his biggest challenge: property taxes. Average property tax bills have risen to a record $7,045. And the burden in North Jersey is $8,500 on average.

Municipal governments and school boards will face new pressure from Christie to reduce spending. He has pledged to enact hard spending caps that would not include the waivers towns and school boards were able to use under Corzine.

Christie is promising to aggressively audit school districts to find savings that could lower property taxes.

The governor-elect is also calling for different levels of government to seriously consider sharing redundant services as an opportunity for property tax relief.

Transportation

New Jersey is running out of funds for transportation projects, and Christie has vowed not to borrow money that would add to the state's $34 billion debt. But he may have few options available as he deals with a transportation infrastructure that's aging and deteriorating. Indeed, Christie already has reversed course, agreeing last month to support new transportation bonds that will add $3.2 billion in debt service through 2041.

* The Transportation Trust Fund, which supports large-scale projects, is expected to run out of money by mid-2011. Tolls and the state's 14.5-cents-per-gallon gas tax fund the trust, but Christie has vowed not to replenish it by raising either. Since he's also promised not to borrow additional money, he may find it hard to avoid raising the fourth-lowest gas tax in the nation as a way to ensure the long-term survival of bridge reconstruction and mass transit expansion. The fund also pays for nearly $70 million in routine maintenance every year.

* Christie supports the $8.7 billion mass transit tunnel that will link North Jersey with Manhattan. The tunnel will double rail capacity along the NJ Transit and Amtrak route. But Congress has not agreed to the state's continuing request for $3 billion in funding, and the government is wrestling with how to deal with its own budget woes. Congress is even considering raising the federal gas tax to pay for much-needed transportation projects. With the help of its congressional delegation, the state has acknowledged that it will need to be vigilant to secure the federal money that's needed to complete the project.

* Christie will make appointments to the Port Authority that could impact the management of Newark Liberty International Airport. The bi-state agency, which operates the airport, has been struggling to erase Newark's reputation as the most-delayed airfield in the nation. The authority has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration to ease air traffic congestion in the New York and New Jersey region.

Health care

While the budget crisis will force the new governor to look for ways to cut state spending, he may want to avoid drastic action with Medicaid and hospital charity-care. That's because any cuts he makes will be magnified: New Jersey's spending is matched by the federal government's. So trimming New Jersey's spending means losing federal dollars as well.

* Hospitals are hoping for more state reimbursement for care of the uninsured and additional money for the Hospital Stabilization Fund. But they'll be lucky if resources stay at current levels. That means more hospital failures may be on the horizon, especially those dependent on government revenues.

* During his campaign, Christie pledged support for the reopening of Pascack Valley Hospital, saying residents "deserve and need" a hospital in Westwood. At the moment, the future of the hospital rests with the courts. The state health commissioner ruled that the hospital license at the site expired Dec. 28. Hackensack University Medical Center must mount a successful legal challenge to the commissioner's decision before its application to reopen the hospital can be considered.

* Christie's need to focus immediately on the budget crisis will allow time for the details of federal health-care reform to emerge. He probably won't have time to modify the state health-insurance market so out-of-state insurers can compete, as he proposed during his campaign. But the federal reform package could supersede whatever he had in mind.

Economic development

Christie has placed top priority on reversing New Jersey's reputation as a difficult and expensive place to do business, and he hopes to create jobs and improve the state economy with a variety of reforms.

That's sparked excitement in the business community, which is weary after years of pro-labor Democrats in the governor's office and convinced that New Jersey lost ground in the competition with other states for jobs. But Christie's pledges will be hard to fulfill given the state's entrenched interests and lack of cash for tax cuts and development incentives.

* Taxes: During the election, Christie promised to cut the state's corporate business tax and other business taxes, but any cut would further reduce the state's already weak revenue stream.

* Economic team: Christie appointed Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Guadagno his top economic development officer and has said he will improve state economic development programs by putting them under a public-private partnership. Guadagno has little business experience, however, and Christie has yet to detail how the partnership would work.

* Red tape: Christie has pledged to reduce the bureaucracy that business leaders say stifles entrepreneurial efforts and deters companies from expanding in, or moving into, the state. He heartened the business community by announcing a 90-day moratorium on new regulations, during which a review panel will study permanent reforms.

Environment

How Christie will tackle the mountain of environmental problems affecting New Jersey is all but unknown since he offered scant details during his campaign and rarely had to deal with the issues as U.S. attorney or Morris County freeholder. On one hand, he has called the Department of Environmental Protection a hindrance to business growth, but he also made several green promises to one of the state's most influential environmental groups to get its endorsement. Among his plans and issues he will likely deal with:

* Christie has said he would offer generous tax credits to attract renewable energy manufacturers to the state through a new office called "Renew NJ."

* He wants to install solar panels on every landfill that can hold them — a plan the state is already attempting in the Meadowlands.

* Christie said in August that the DEP would be the first place he would trim the state payroll, saying the agency often harms the economy with permit delays and fines.

* The way 20,000 contaminated sites are cleaned up will change dramatically during Christie's first term, with the DEP slowly implementing a program in which private contractors rather than the government will oversee remediation.

* He promised the New Jersey Environmental Federation that he would strengthen protection of sensitive waterways, oppose a Linden coal plant, require state contractors to retrofit their diesel engines and find funding for the state's open-space program. The advocacy group endorsed Christie.

Ethics

Christie is taking on New Jersey government's pension hogs and double dippers. The onetime prosecutor in August introduced a 10-point plan to strengthen the state's ethics rules — a major step, he said, to rid New Jersey of the "serious financial and emotional burden inflicted by corruption."

Here are the highlights:

* Auditor: He would do away with the appointed auditor and allow New Jerseyans to elect one. Until then, he would name a special prosecutor to audit government programs and name a "taxpayer advocate" to examine all purchasing orders.

* Pay-to-play: He wants to limit the amounts that labor unions can contribute to political campaigns.

* Disclosure: He will advocate for more detailed financial-disclosure information from lawmakers. Also, Christie wants lawmakers to recuse themselves from voting on issues from which they could benefit financially.

* Dual offices: He says he would rework a state law that grandfathered dual-office holders, and disallow lawmakers from serving in other political offices at the same time.

* Boards and commissions: He would remove about 300 political appointees from the pension system and would dismiss appointees who have conflicts of interest.

-- Staff Writers John Reitmeyer, Tom Davis, Lindy Washburn, Hugh R. Morley, Scott Fallon and Elise Young contributed to this article.

Christie to N.J.: Get ready for the pain

Sunday, January 17, 2010
Last updated: Sunday January 17, 2010, 9:33 AM

BY JOHN REITMEYER AND CHARLES STILE

State House Bureau

STATE HOUSE BUREAU

Governor-elect Christopher J. Christie believes the public is hungering for clear and decisive leadership — even if it hurts.

"I think people are ready for the pain," Christie said during an interview with The Record on Friday. "It doesn't mean they are going to like it, but I think they're ready for it."

Christie, the 46-year-old Newark native set to become New Jersey's 55th governor Tuesday, said he will use the Newark-focused inauguration ceremonies as a statement of the Catholic-rooted principles and values that shape his blunt Jersey-guy style of leadership.

"We are an argumentative type of people, I think," Christie said at the West Orange offices of David Samson, the Republican lawyer heading up his transition. "What they want you to do is take a stand, they want you to fight for what you believe in. That's what they're going to get out of me."

Already Christie has showcased his combative style during the 2 1/2-month transition period. He tangled with outgoing Governor Corzine in a public spat over appointments, vowed to break the political grip of the New Jersey Education Association, the powerful state teachers union, and has warned lawmakers that deep cuts in services and aid will be needed to close a potential $10 billion budget deficit.

"I think they know we can't continue this way any longer," he said.

Changing Trenton in a way that solves the state's massive fiscal challenges and fixing the other major problems, including high property taxes, is no easy task and Christie concedes he may not be able to change everyone in government.

"My fear is that if people are unwilling to listen because they're so in cement on the traditional positions and the partisan divide, and all the rest of that, that we won't be as successful as we should be," he said.

And he understands the dismissive cynicism of the people who come up to him on the street saying, "Do what you said you were going to do."

"The only way to defeat that kind of cynicism is to confound their expectations," he said. "Their expectations are that you are going to be just like the rest of them and if you confound them, even in a small way in the beginning, I think you get a disproportionate amount of credit from [everyday] folks."

Inaugural ceremonies will begin with an 8 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, presided over by Newark Archbishop John J. Meyers. Christie will go to Trenton for an 11:30 a.m. swearing-in ceremony at the War Memorial, where state Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, a former colleague of Christie's at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark, will deliver the oath of office.

Christie will take the oath using a Bible his late maternal grandmother brought home from the Vatican as a gift for his ninth birthday.

"I can tell you, at the time, I wasn't thrilled," he said.

A buffet-style inaugural ball at the Prudential Center in Newark will kick off at 7 p.m. Bruce Springsteen turned down Christie's request to perform, so planners settled for the "B-Street" band, a Springsteen cover band.

Ridgewood's Laurie Gayle Caliguire, a former Broadway actress and wife of former Bergen County Freeholder Todd Caliguire will perform the national anthem.

Christie doesn't believe his victory last Nov. 3 was a referendum on Barack Obama and the Democratic Party's national leadership. Instead, it was determined by "Jersey-centric" issues, Christie said. And that, he explained, is why no national GOP luminaries are scheduled to attend Tuesday's ceremonies with the exception of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who stumped for Christie and, ironically, proclaimed that Christie's victory marked growing discontent with Obama's leadership.

Christie will not make a dramatic policy announcement during Tuesday's speech as past governors have done. Instead, he plans to stress how he will lead the state forward with a firm hand, something he thinks New Jersey is looking for after four years of Corzine, who was perceived as timid and compromising.

And he will bring an attitude that he said served him well as prosecutor, where the office motto was: "Tear off the rearview mirror. We're going forward."

Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sun, Jan. 17, 2010

N.J. shift precedes Christie

Economic and other forces have already changed the landscape.

By Jonathan Tamari, Inquirer Trenton Bureau

Christopher J. Christie will officially replace Jon Corzine as governor Tuesday.

But even before the Republican, who campaigned as a fiscal conservative, replaces a Democrat who favored progressive social programs, it has become clear the state's political winds have shifted.

In traditionally liberal New Jersey, where lawmakers in recent years have barred the death penalty, taken steps toward universal health coverage, and approved a paid family-leave program, the recent failure of bills that would have allowed same-sex marriage and provided in-state tuition for illegal immigrants marked a sharp change.

Members of both parties attributed the results to the November election, which sent a resounding message of rising anxiety over New Jersey's economy and taxes. The election gave Republicans a statewide winner, and singular party voice, for the first time in a decade.

Democrats, Christie said in an interview Friday, expected to win. When they lost, "I think that makes everyone sit up and take notice."

Added Republican state chairman Jay Webber, an assemblyman from Morris County, "People realize that we had gone way too far to the left on many of our fiscal and social policies, and the election in November was in part a recognition that we need to correct that and give Republicans an opportunity to lead for a while."

Democrats dispute the idea that voters want GOP leadership, noting that every Democrat in the Assembly won reelection, but they don't argue with the notion that the economy and taxes trump all other issues as Christie enters office.

"The message for us is: If we aren't talking about the economy, we aren't talking about the right thing," said Democratic state chairman Joseph Cryan, who became Assembly majority leader, the No. 2 spot in that chamber. Added Cryan, of Union County, "When you're worried about keeping your job, or getting one, nothing else matters."

Rutgers University political science professor Ingrid Reed said the changing attitudes in New Jersey reflected a national trend.

Early in 2009, she said, independent voters identified far more strongly with Democrats than with Republicans. But as the economic recovery moved slowly and partisan bickering in Washington continued, the gap nearly evened. Reed said that shift could be seen even in a traditionally blue state like New Jersey.

"The world really had changed by the time we got to having an election in New Jersey in terms of the way people are leaning," said Reed, director of the New Jersey Project at Rutgers' Eagleton Institute of Politics.

Lawmakers saw that almost immediately after the votes were tallied. Shortly after the election, Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D., Gloucester), then the majority leader, said it wasn't the right time to consider same-sex marriage because there was so much worry about jobs.

Though the vote proceeded, support from both parties faded. The in-state tuition bill was rejected out of political fear that it could be seen as aiding illegal immigrants while New Jerseyans worried about their own future.

Webber said Republicans were galvanized in their opposition by Christie, who spoke out against each bill.

"There's no question that Chris Christie's leadership helped defeat both of those measures," Webber said. "Chris' leadership is respected, it's crystal clear, and people respond to it."

Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union) also attributed the votes to Christie's influence, but he chastised state Republicans.

"They're repeating what the Republicans are doing in Washington, which is just opposing everything, which may be good politics but isn't good for the state," Lesniak said.

Democrats have jumped on the fiscal message, stressing it as their top priority when their new legislative leaders took office last week.

In that broad sense, they are in line with Christie, who will focus on economic concerns in his first days as governor.

"My focus in the beginning is going to be about . . . bringing irresponsible budgets back into responsible balance," he said.

One of his first acts, he said, will be to sign an executive order freezing pending regulations that may hamper business or add costs to local governments and contribute to property-tax hikes.

He plans soon to take an ax to the state's affordable-housing regulations, which Democrats have championed and tried to strengthen in recent years. And he said he hoped to return to the 2006 proposals to reduce property taxes, many of which were watered down or left on the shelf.

Democrats, too, said they hoped to revisit those ideas, and so far both sides are stressing cooperation.

But there is likely to be a clear difference on social issues. Christie campaigned on the economy, but did not hide his conservative views on subjects such as abortion. Asked about the issue Friday, he emphasized that the economy would be his primary focus, especially at the outset, but he reiterated his support for parental-notification laws.

A

sked whether it was an issue he might press in his first term, Christie said, "Well, sure."

"I don't think that my 14-year-old daughter, who I have to sign a permission slip for to be able to take Claritin . . . on the same day should be able to walk eight or nine blocks from her school to the Planned Parenthood clinic to get an abortion without me knowing about it."

An attempt to change abortion laws would surely draw objections from Democrats, who, while pledging to work to create jobs, have said they would not sacrifice "core values."

"Social issues, there's going to be a big divide, we know that," Sweeney said. "Do we advance social issues even though we know he's not going to support them? Yeah, because we have a responsibility as a Democrat Party to be true to our core beliefs, which, as I said, is looking out for the most vulnerable, looking out for working men and women."

Democrats continued to advance some of those ideas even while same-sex marriage and the in-state tuition bills failed.

A package to reduce prison recidivism by providing more programs to inmates was approved over Christie's public objections, and both houses passed a bill to allow medical marijuana. Christie had provided qualified support for that measure.

Sweeney rejected the idea that Democrats would be on the defensive when Christie takes office.

"He gets all the attention, as he should. He's the governor, but we don't feel we're at a disadvantage at all," Sweeney said.

Contact staff writer Jonathan Tamari at 609-989-9016 or jtamari@phillynews.com.