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STAR LEDGER - 'After victory, Christie asks for Dems' help' "A day after becoming the first Republican in a dozen years to capture the Statehouse, Gov.-elect Chris Christie yesterday went to the Democratic bastion of Newark and urged bipartisanship in the wake of a divisive campaign. "This administration is going to be about what works, and that's the signal I'm trying to send," said Christie..."
UPDATE: 'Christie emphasizes reform as he meets with Dems,talks school audits' GANNETT STATE BUREAU Gov.-elect Chris Christie, the newly minted Republican chief executive of normally solidly Democratic New Jersey, made a visit to a Newark charter school the first official stop in his transition to power...
'Christie sets sights on property taxes,The RECORD,STATE HOUSE BUREAU Chris Christie said he will lower New Jersey’s notoriously high property taxes... by following the deliberate approach voters approved — a mix of spending checks and more shared services.“I’ve told everybody right from the beginning that this is not a silver bullet issue...”
NY TIMES, November 5, 2009 'Christie Pledges Fight on Taxes and Business Rules' Governor-elect Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey, basking in praise from Republicans who hailed him as the party’s new star, said Wednesday that he would move quickly to suspend new regulations on business and find ways to lower crushing property taxes, the nation’s highest...[he]also said he would enforce a stricter cap on increases in spending at the local level — the primary driver of the rising property taxes that have set off anger among voters...
NY TIMES, November 5, 2009, Editorial
'The Off-Off-Year Elections'
Tuesday’s vote — particularly the election of Republican governors in New Jersey and Virginia — has produced heated predictions about the revived power of Republican social conservatism and the declining fortunes of Barack Obama and his 2008 coalition....
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After victory, Christie asks for Dems' help STAR LEDGER A day after becoming the first Republican in a dozen years to capture the Statehouse, Gov.-elect Chris Christie yesterday went to the Democratic bastion of Newark and urged bipartisanship in the wake of a divisive campaign. "This administration is going to be about what works, and that's the signal I'm trying to send," said Christie, who will inherit a Democratic Legislature when he is sworn in Jan. 19. "This stuff of Republicans and Democrats thinking we have to be mutually exclusive has just got to be over, because the problems here are too big." Christie also said residents should not expect a "silver bullet" to reduce New Jersey's highest-in-the nation property taxes. He said he would follow his campaign pledges to offer municipalities grants to encourage shared services and to impose a strict limit on towns' annual spending increases. Christie, criticized by his opponents when he refused to offer hard numbers, stuck to that yesterday. "I refused during the campaign to come up with some type of slick, packaged proposal," he said. "This is not a silver bullet issue." As national GOP leaders hyped victories in New Jersey and Virginia as a rebuke to President Obama and a boost for the minority party in Washington, Christie refused to draw conclusions beyond the borders of his own troubled state. At the same time, he called his four-point victory over Gov. Jon Corzine an endorsement of his smaller-government philosophy. "The points of view that I espoused in the campaign were not ambivalent," Christie said. "And the voters voted for it." RETURN TO NEWARK On a midday visit to the Robert Treat Academy -- a charter school and the crown jewel in the North Ward empire of Democratic power broker Steve Adubato Sr. -- Christie was instantly embraced by top Democrats, with Adubato, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo offering handshakes and backslaps. Christie, who spoke about Robert Treat's academic successes nearly every day of the campaign, talked baseball with students. "He came to the strongest bastion of Democratic power in the state," said Adubato, whose students greeted Christie with "Hip, hip, hooray!" chants, "That's a governor who's governor of everybody." Booker, who campaigned hard for Corzine and is considered a leading candidate for governor in 2013, brushed off questions about his ambitions and refused to dissect Corzine's defeat. "Politics is over," the mayor said. "I've got to find partners for progress." A Newark native who kicked off his campaign there, Christie made urban renewal and education reform key pieces of his platform. Though a huge turnout in GOP-heavy suburban counties put him over the top on Tuesday, Christie often stumped in cities, drawing scorn from Democrats who dominate urban centers. Billboards of Corzine and Obama could be spotted above the Newark streets yesterday. Though the "political yield was negligible," Christie said, his presence "was trying to send the signal to people who live in the cities that I care about their problems, and whatever they think about Republicans before, they are dealing with a different kind of Republican now." MORE DETAILS TODAY Hours earlier, Christie emerged from his hotel suite in Parsippany to eat breakfast with his wife, four children, father, brother and sister, and then powwow with his advisers. He met with the leaders of his still-forming transition team, former Attorney General David Samson and Jeffrey Chiesa. His voice hoarse, Christie addressed several hundred students -- "there was no other place I wanted to be" -- before holding a news conference. He said he was exhausted and said he would reveal further details of his transition plans today. Christie became more animated when he reiterated campaign pledges such as issuing an executive order to halt new regulations and ordering an audit of school districts. He vowed to speak up about issues that arise during the lame-duck session of the Legislature later this month. But he struck a mostly conciliatory tone toward lawmakers and said he reached out to Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden). "I don't think the well is poisoned" after the bitter campaign, Democratic state chairman Joe Cryan said. "Sometime in January or before, it's a new page." NEW ROUTINES Christie also settled into the new routines of a governor's life, including state troopers who shadowed him at Robert Treat -- and delivered him there right on time. Corzine, meanwhile, remained behind closed doors as Democrats digested his defeat. His office released photographs of the stoic-looking governor on the phone with Christie, planning the transition. He also released an e-mail message to supporters: "Whatever our political differences, I believe that Chris Christie is going to work hard for the people of this state, and I wish the governor-elect success, patience, and good fortune as he leads our state forward," Corzine said. "Thank you for the privilege of serving as your Governor, it has been the high honor of my life." Staff writers Susan K. Livio and David Giambusso contributed to this report. ©2009 Star Ledger © 2009 NJ.com All Rights Reserved. |
November 4, 2009
UPDATE: Christie emphasizes reform as he meets with Dems, talks school audits
By MICHAEL SYMONS
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
Gov.-elect Chris Christie, the newly minted Republican chief executive of normally solidly Democratic New Jersey, made a visit to a Newark charter school the first official stop in his transition to power.
The raspy-voiced, sleep-deprived Christie said he chose to make his first gubernatorial stop at the Robert Treat Academy to draw attention to success at the school and emphasize his commitment to charters and city school reform.
"Other than tax and budget issues, the next most important issue to me is fixing our urban education system. I've said that over and over and over again in the campaign," Christie said.
New Jersey has had charter schools since 1996, which are alternative public schools that now enroll around 22,000 students in the state. But Christie, in his campaign, criticized Gov. Jon S. Corzine for not doing more to expand them. The governor-elect said charter schools often get better results for less money.
"This is a model that we should replicate all over the state of New Jersey, everywhere. And there is no reason that it cannot be replicated," Christie said. "That's been my frustration over time with the educational bureaucracy in the state. It is not as if we're walking around in a dark room and saying, 'I wish we could just find the light switch.' The light switch is on. It's here."
Christie singled out the New Jersey Education Association, which resists the expansion of charter schools, for criticism. He said the NJEA spent $3 million in its effort to re-elect Corzine, through ads he says lied about his positions.
"This is a fight we're all going to have to stand up together and do, Republicans and Democrats who believe in this issue. Because the forces that are arrayed against us on this are significant and powerful — although I think they just learned in this last election, not as powerful as they think," he said.
NJEA spokesman Steven Baker offered a restrained response.
"It will not make any difference in our advocacy of great public schools. . . . We're willing to work with anybody who is willing to be an advocate of public education and great public schools," Baker said.
"We certainly did endorse Gov. Corzine in this election. He was an excellent governor, and he was a public education advocate. We unabashedly supported Gov. Corzine," he said.
Christie's foray into the North Ward of the state's largest city came with a political backdrop. The Robert Treat Academy's founder is Stephen Adubato Sr., a Democratic power broker in the city who during the assembly's introductions was hugging Christie around the shoulders and neck from the seat behind him.
The occasion also attracted visits from Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a potential Democratic candidate for governor in four years, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz.
Christie said the only message Democratic lawmakers should take from the visit to Adubato's school is that "this administration will be about what works" — even if an idea comes from a Democrat or independent, he said.
Booker, who called Christie a friend and said the two exchanged text messages throughout the campaign, though never about politics, said he looks forward to working with Christie to fight crime, create jobs and lower property taxes.
"You will not see from this Democrat, and I know I speak for the county executive, this absurdity about Barack Obama that (people) hope he fails. The reality is, me and everyone on my team is rooting, cheering and willing to work with our governor-elect to make sure that he is successful," Booker said. "I'm not interested in politics right now. I've had my fill."
Christie made just two announcements about his transition team. David Samson, who was attorney general under Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey, will chair the committee. Samson, 70, is an unaffiliated voter who lives in Caldwell.
Jeffrey Chiesa, 44, of Branchburg, a former executive assistant U.S. attorney and counsel when Christie headed that office, will be executive director of the transition committee, heading its day-to-day operations.
Christie reiterated that his first executive order upon taking office will freeze all proposed new agency rules and regulations for 90 days, while a "Red Tape Review Group' headed by Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Guadagno reviews the state's codes to identify mandates on businesses and municipalities that can be repealed.
He also said he will be asking the state comptroller to audit all school districts in the state, starting with the ones with the biggest budgets, to examine what he suspects is "significant spending" on middle management.
"You have to figure out ways to make some priority choices, either to have more of that money find its way into the classroom and/or some of that money to find its way back to the taxpayers," Christie said.
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Christie sets sights on property taxes Wednesday, November 4, 2009 BY JOHN REITMEYER The Record STATE HOUSE BUREAU Chris Christie said he will lower New Jersey’s notoriously high property taxes, not with a “silver bullet,” but by following the deliberate approach voters approved — a mix of spending checks and more shared services. “I’ve told everybody right from the beginning that this is not a silver bullet issue,” Christie said to reporters Wednesday following a public event in Newark, his first as governor-elect. “I refused during the campaign to come up with some type of slick, packaged proposal that people were going to say, ‘Oh, wow, that’s a miracle, there’s going to be no pain involved.’” Instead, Christie’s plan for reducing property taxes targets government spending in general. The hundreds of town councils and schools districts in New Jersey where most of the money generated by local property taxes is spent are going to be held more accountable, he said. The former U.S. attorney will enforce hard spending caps at the local level, while also freeing up municipalities from having to pay for expensive policies mandated by lawmakers in Trenton. He said he’s also going to create a new grant program to encourage shared services and, ultimately, move toward consolidation where it makes sense to do so. “These are going to be things that are going to lead to less spending in municipalities,” he said. The state will also perform audits on the costliest school districts to ensure the money is being spent efficiently, Christie said. “We have to figure out ways to make some priority judgments either to have more of that money find its way into the classroom and or some of that money to find its way back to the taxpayers,” he said. Christie, a Republican, beat Corzine by more than 100,000 votes on Tuesday in a contest many expected to be much closer. He acknowledged Wednesday that voters now expect changes when it comes to property taxes, but said it’s going to take time to fix a problem politicians in Trenton have been struggling with since the 1970s. “We didn’t get to this problem overnight,” he said. “I’ve said to people right all along, this is a tough problem that has to take long-term, systemic change.” But Christie said his realistic approach toward lowering property taxes will work. “There’s no magic here,” he said. “We’ve tried the magic wand theory, it doesn’t work.” “So we’re going to do it the right way,” he said. Most polls leading up to Election Day identified property taxes as the top concern among likely voters and exit polls conducted on Tuesday indicated Christie had the edge on the property tax issue. Yet Corzine, a Democrat, and others had criticized the plan Christie put forward during the campaign to address property taxes, saying it wasn’t detailed enough and wouldn’t work. Corzine, as a candidate in 2005, pledged to increase property tax rebates by 40 percent, but was unable to do so. But Corzine this time around didn’t offer much that was different from Christie’s proposals. Corzine promised to keep working a plan that featured shared services — something Trenton has been pushing with little success for years — and pressing local spending caps already enacted. And while the governor’s approach had slowed the growth of the statewide property tax burden since 2005, his spending caps included many exceptions. In all, the average New Jersey property tax bill in 2008 rose to $7,045, a record high. Independent Chris Daggett, meanwhile, put forward a proposal that would have cut property taxes by 25 percent across the board by shifting more of the burden to the state sales tax. Voters, according to exit polls, said they cared more about bringing change to the State House over any other quality, including experience or shared values. And in a contest that was perceived nationally as a referendum on President Obama, most voters said he wasn’t a factor. Property taxes and the economy were instead the biggest issues. E-mail: reitmeyer@northjersey.com |
NY TIMES
November 5, 2009
Christie Pledges Fight on Taxes and Business Rules
Mr. Christie also said he would enforce a stricter cap on increases in spending at the local level — the primary driver of the rising property taxes that have set off anger among voters.
In Newark, the governor-elect sought to show that he would make urban education a priority, traveling to a charter school and pressing his argument that children in the poorest cities were being held back by teachers’ unions blocking school vouchers and merit pay. Democrats have accused Republicans of ignoring the state’s ailing cities.
“Other than taxes and funding issues, the most important issue to me is fixing our urban education problem,” he said. “I am not going to allow public school children to be cheated by public schools.”
Mr. Christie, 47, the former United States attorney for New Jersey, became the first governor in New Jersey to oppose abortion since the Roe v. Wade decision. But as he did during the campaign, he signaled on Wednesday that his focus would be on bread-and-butter fiscal issues.
His election gave hope to the state’s Republicans, whose party was nearly written off a year ago, that they can still win the support of so-called Reagan Democrats and independent voters.
Mr. Christie was praised by Republican leaders, including Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and the national party chairman, Michael Steele, for his decisive defeat of Gov. Jon S. Corzine despite being outspent two to one.
He faces some of the most daunting challenges in decades: high unemployment, a projected $8 billion deficit, a suffocating tax burden, crumbling roadways, an impatient electorate and a Democratic Legislature that could be as loath to help him succeed as Republicans in Congress have been to aid President Obama.
He acknowledged the dimensions of the state’s economic crisis. “We’ve got a lot to do and we know it,” he said. “The reality of last night sinks in slowly.”
Still, Mr. Christie, who warmed New Jerseyans with his love of diners and Bruce Springsteen songs, brings distinct advantages to the job. He is not beholden to public unions and he kept his campaign promises vague, and his forceful persona and prosecutorial style offer a sharp contrast to the weak public perception of his predecessor.
“His first task will have to be to make New Jersey’s governor the most powerful governor’s office in the country again,” said Pete McDonough, a top adviser to former Gov. Christie Whitman, the last Republican to win the job. “Corzine ceded the agenda to the Legislature very early. Christie’s got to be the new sheriff in town. If you’re really in charge, you can instill a sense of reality in Trenton: ‘I’m going to change it, and you’re not going to stop me.’”
Mr. Christie, however, strove to sound conciliatory on Wednesday. “Am I willing to fight? Of course I am,” he said. “I’m not a wallflower. But I don’t go in with that attitude.”
But having vanquished Mr. Corzine in Democratic areas like Gloucester County, the home of the incoming State Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney, Mr. Christie has a strong hand to play, Mr. McDonough said. “He can turn to the Democrats in the Legislature and say, ‘Guys, your people supported me,’ ” he said.
The new governor’s biggest obstacle will be an economy in which jobs keep disappearing and foreclosures keep rising.
“Things are not as bad here as in Florida or California, the housing bust states, or the legacy automotive states,” said James W. Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers. “But people are going to want jobs, and a lot of focus is going to be on how effective he can be in getting job growth to resume.”
Dan Clifton, a veteran Republican budget analyst, said there were few options for major spending cuts by the state, short of privatizing the prisons or selling off assets like the toll roads, which Mr. Corzine attempted in a disastrous political failure.
“How does he not cut tax rebates?” Mr. Clifton said, referring to Mr. Christie’s campaign promise to restore the yearly checks to many homeowners that went by the wayside in this year’s budget. “The campaign is over. It’s time to think about governing.”
Ed Rollins, the Republican strategist who worked for Mrs. Whitman in 1993, said Mr. Christie would have a short honeymoon. “But if he can clean up New Jersey, which has been known for being corrupt and inefficient, at the end of the day he’s a national player,” he said.
Still, Mr. Christie’s communication skills and Jersey-guy affability could help him make his case to the public. After aristocrats like Thomas H. Kean and Mrs. Whitman, technocrats like Jim Florio and James E. McGreevey, and the Manhattan-centric Mr. Corzine, the state is getting a governor many New Jersey residents can identify with.
“If you think of how we view ourselves, that’s Chris Christie,” said Bill Baroni, a Republican state senator and close ally. “This is a guy who drives the turnpike, who knows every word to every song ever written by Springsteen, who loves his wife, who he met in college, and who moved back from college to his home state. He just loves New Jersey, and that came across.”
Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
NY TIMES, November 5, 2009, Editorial
The Off-Off-Year Elections
If there were broad messages in the grab bag of contests, they were for both parties: Voters remain fearful about the economy. Independent voters are a force to be reckoned with. And everyone wants results.
In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg narrowly won a third term. It is impossible to link that to President Obama — who nominally endorsed the Democrat, William Thompson Jr., but left little doubt that his affection lay with the mayor. Mr. Bloomberg won on competence. Voters who said they cared most about experience and knowledge of the city’s problems voted heavily for him.
The closeness of the race contained another message for Mr. Bloomberg: Tone down the arrogance. Voters who said they most valued a leader who understood them went overwhelmingly for Mr. Thompson. If the mayor wants to create a legacy of leadership to match his legacy of competence, he needs to be less imperious and listen more closely to his constituents.
Competence was also the issue in New Jersey. Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, failed to deliver on the promise of his financial expertise and could not get even party loyalists to vote for him in sufficient numbers. Independents who were still more fed up with Mr. Corzine voted for the Republican, Christopher Christie, who won with just under 49 percent of the vote.
That election was not about Mr. Obama, although he is probably regretting the three visits he made there. It certainly was not a referendum on Republican orthodoxy, since Mr. Christie did not run as a social conservative. And while Mr. Christie did run a traditional anti-tax campaign, most voters polled on the eve of the election said they did not know much about his views.
In Virginia, Republican Robert McDonnell also avoided trademark social conservative issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. His two main pledges were to create jobs and fix the public transportation system. He handily beat R. Creigh Deeds, even in the state’s more Democratic and liberal precincts.
One race, a special election for the House of Representatives in upstate New York, did turn on an ideological divide — but it was within the Republican Party. The party’s leadership drove its candidate, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, out of the race because she crossed the line on issues like abortion. The anointed conservative, Douglas Hoffman, then lost to the Democrat, Bill Owens.
So what does this all mean for next year’s election? Above all, it means that voters want their leaders to focus on sound policy making, not party orthodoxy. And the No. 1 issue in every poll is the economy.
That means that Mr. Obama and Democrats in Congress should not draw the wrong conclusion and get timid about vital tasks like health care reform or more stimulus spending to ensure that any recovery also creates more jobs. At some point, they are going to have to bite the bullet and raise taxes to pay for all of this.
Mr. Christie and Mr. McDonnell, who promised to do more for their citizens, will also have to deliver. And we suspect that they are going to find it very hard do that and cut taxes. The voters are not in a forgiving mood.
