Corzine's (and the Democrat's) Budget Problem

Jon Corzine just submitted his version of a budget this week with apparent lukewarm support only from his Democrat cronies in the legislature. This budget is likely to dramatically decrease Corzine's approval in the state due to the dire situation of the state's finances. Corzine in his budget address on March 10 claimed that he is a champion of cutting the budget:

To that purpose, the budget I am proposing for FY 2010 totals $29.8 billion - that's $1 billion less than the first budget I presented in 2006. Stop and think about it, since 1947, every governor before me has grown spending over their four years.

With this proposal, we will have reduced spending two years in a row and will literally spend less than in the first budget I presented in 2006. This isn't a matter of debate or nuance. It's a fact.

Let's examine this statement. He compared his drop in spending to the budget he submitted in 2006. For those of you who believe that facts should trump malarkey (I used that word in preparation for St Patrick's Day), here is the budget statement for the budget he submitted in 2006:

Governor Jon S. Corzine’s proposed Fiscal 2007
Budget seeks to restore fiscal integrity to the State
of New Jersey. This $30.9 billion Budget is an
important first step in a multi-year process to
reestablish prudent fiscal management. A
fundamental principle reflected throughout this
Budget is that we, as a State, must pay the bills for
the current operations of State government. We
cannot continue to defer the costs of our decisions
to future generations, or even until next year. This
simple practice of matching current expenditures
with current revenues has been missing from State
budgets for too long.

So, truth check one is on track. But what about the budget that acting Governor Codey submitted in 2006? Shouldn't that have some relevance on "Governor Spending Cut"? This is from the Budget brief for 2006:

Acting Governor Codey’s $27.4 billion proposed Fiscal
2006 Budget is an honest and responsible budget that
has State government living within its means and meets
the challenge of reining in government spending while
at the same time not recommending any increase in the
sales tax or income tax rates. Despite nearly a billion
dollars in increases for mandatory entitlements, the
proposed budget is $614 million, or 2.2%, below the
$28 billion budget enacted in fiscal 2005. In contrast,
the Fiscal 2005 Budget actually increased spending by
17% from the year before. In fact, the reduction
proposed for fiscal 2006 is the largest spending cut in
State history, both on a percentage basis and in its
amount.

So the real facts are that Governor Corzine is proposing spending 2.4 Billion dollars more than the budget that Codey submitted before he became Governor. And those were much better times than today. So Corzine while claiming the mantle of a spendthrift, is lying through his teeth. He raised spending 3 billion dollars his first year in office and now pats himself on the back for not getting anywhere near what Codey did as temporary Governor the year before he took office. I cannot consider this rhetoric or nuance, Mr Governor. You are dishonest.

Another dishonest portrayal is the claims about how the prior Republican Governor ran the state into the ground. Here is Christie Todd Whitman's final budget brief:

The total budget recommended by the Governor for
fiscal 2001 is $21.253 billion, an increase of $1.278
billion, or 6.4%, over the current year. Over the
seven budgets of the Whitman Administration, the
annual growth in appropriations has averaged 4.5%.
This compares to 6.3% in the prior administration.

Let's summarize what we have gotten from Corzine and McGreevey and their Democratic counterparts. Budgets that have grown from 21.2 billion dollars to 30 billion dollars. That represents growing the budget of this state 150% in the 8 years they have been in office. Our taxes are out of control and the only thing that has grown in the state are corruption arrests for New Jersey politicians (mostly Democrats) and the state workforce.

This Governor and legislature could have made an effort to get spending under control. They could have created a rainy day fund in good times to protect the state from economic downturn. They could have exhibited at least a semblance of fiscal self control. But they haven't. And we continue to pay for it.

And now, as the Governor tries to claim that flat lining spending increases will balance a budget devastated by the personal misfortune of many Wall Street "Rich People" that Corzine likes to point to when he is ginning up his class warfare act, he is being dishonest once again. And guess who is going to pay the price?

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