Polistina Fights Runaway Spending, Corzine Has a Runaway Imagination

Reproduced below is the first part of a Feb 10 article in Newsday.

As the state Assembly Thursday blitzed through dozens of bills, Assemblyman Vincent J. Polistina refused to sit still.

Over and over again, the freshman Republican from Atlantic County, participating in his first voting session, stood to question how much each initiative would cost the state, even on the most innocuous sounding bills, such as giving certificates to New Jerseyans who served in the military during the Cold War.

It's not that Polistina opposed honoring veterans. He said he favored doing that.

But the bill, Polistina said, would cost the state an estimated $350,000 while it faces a $2.5 billion budget deficit and the threat of massive budget cuts and significant highway toll increases.

"This bill will cost money," Polistina said. "I do not believe this is the right time to be introducing anything that could cost upwards of $350,000."

Thank you, Assemblyman Polistina. As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, I'd much prefer that New Jersey honor me by letting me keep more of my money.

Does the rest of the Assembly agree?

Of course not. The next line in the article is, "The bills were approved anyway."

And I can't read an article without hearing Governor Corzine patronizing us. The article tells us, for example, that "he's indicated property tax rebates could get slashed, state workers could get laid off, state mental hospitals could be closed and state police services slashed."

Got that? People will lose their paychecks and their rebates, thereby causing them to lose their homes. They'll go crazy! Which normally means they'd go to mental hospitals, but those will be closed down, and the disgruntled ex-policemen who once might have protected us will instead help them ransack our houses.

Clearly, balancing a budget and sticking to it is the proximate cause of anarchy.

(Note: he apparently didn't say a single word about the vets not getting their certificates. Damn his unpatriotic soul!)

"We will have to do those things that leave us with spending no higher than it is this year," Corzine said.

Yes. That's called "living within your means".

"And while we hear much complaint about the pain that is associated with this particular overall plan, I think the focus will very quickly shift from toll hikes in 2022 to budget cuts in 2009."

Funny, some of us have been focused on budget cuts all along. And I don't think that "spending no higher than it is this year" equates to "budget cuts in 2009."

Even if it did, we should do it. Maybe people will complain about how little money comes to them from the state government (i.e., you and me). For example, the article says that "Senate President Richard J. Codey has questioned the spending freeze, saying it could, for instance, lead to higher tuition at state colleges and universities." But that should be offset by the people who will cheer about how little money is taken away from them. Many of those people also need to send their kids to college, right?

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