The right thing to do is often the hard thing to do, and results are often down the road, leading those without strength or courage to take the easiest shortcut possible, no matter where it may lead in the end.
Chris Christie did the hard thing; he froze New Jersey's budget the minute he was sworn into office, despite the hue and cry raised by the unions and their Democratic lackeys in Trenton. So here we are, a mere five months down the road, and we begin to see the payoff already:
On the surface the news looked pretty grim for Garden State residents on Tuesday – thanks to an unanticipated drop in tax revenues of $402 million this year and $365 million next year. But a new budget hole of nearly $800 million is not going to give Gov. Christie a single new white hair. At least this time, the governor's message is "gotcha covered."
"We're very confident we've been able to close the additional budget gap in (fiscal year) 2010 and in (fiscal year) 2011 we're going to be able to solve that problem without any new taxes at all and without any real significant cuts," Christie said. Skipping the "fiscalese," what happened was the budget freeze imposed by Gov. Christie when he took office generated more savings than expected, enough to cover much of the lost tax money. "I think we're going to be fine," Christie said.
You know, when Christie says it, I actually believe it. Not like that other guy, who's always pleading "trust me", with a barely-disguised con man's smirk...
And speaking of cons, it looks like the union's stranglehold on New Jersey may be coming to an end, as 35,000 of them were shocked outside of Trenton last week to receive - instead of deference and fear - the Christie sneer, and even the back of the hand from the Democrats:
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie today shrugged off Saturday's record-breaking Statehouse protest, saying it had "absolutely no effect on me."The Republican governor said he hoped the 30,000 to 35,000 protesters "had a good time, and I hope that it helped to spur Trenton's economy."
The crowd, mostly from public worker unions and other progressive groups, flooded the capital on Saturday to rally against Christie's proposed budget cuts and property tax proposals. Speakers, including New Jersey Education Association president Barbara Keshishian, said the protest was also a warning to Democrats -- who have traditionally received backing from organized labor -- not to serve as Christie's "accomplices."
How well was that warning received by the Democrats?
Few Democrats -- who control both houses of the Legislature -- were in attendance on Saturday. ....Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), an ironworkers union official, said union leaders are doing their members a disservice through boisterous protests."Instead of showing the public that we're in it together, they're showing them that they still don't get it," Sweeney said Saturday. "
"We're not accomplices. If anything, we're trying to fix the state with him."Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) said ...Oliver, like Sweeney, did not attend the rally....
Chris Christie: Union-buster, tax-cutter, budget-balancer, and a man of such strength, courage and will that even top New Jersey Democrats are reluctantly taking up his banner and falling in line.
A image, we think, that will be repeated in 2010, and 2012....
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