Gov. Corzine addresses the State League of Municipalities.
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Corzine warns Christie on 'unenviable' budget choices
ATLANTIC CITY - Gov. Corzine's voice wavered as he choked out the words: "From the bottom of my heart, serving you as a U.S. senator and as governor have been the highest points of my life."
In his first speech since losing the Nov. 3 election, Corzine yesterday warned Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie that the fiscal discipline he imposed on state government was unfinished work, and that Christie had "an unenviable set of choices" ahead of him.
But Christie didn't hear the words. He had left the Sheraton Hotel ballroom where the New Jersey State League of Municipalities held its annual luncheon. A Christie staffer said the governor-elect had to rush back to Trenton for unspecified meetings.
Corzine said "bold and unpopular actions are the only way to deal" the state's looming budget deficit, high property taxes, and ballooning pension and health-care obligations to state workers.
He predicted that state revenue would not rise until about a year after the recession subsided. That would be the time to pay down state debt, he said.
New Jersey faces an estimated $8 billion deficit and has an electorate unwilling to pay more taxes.
Christie, like Corzine, noted difficult choices ahead. He ramped up his campaign theme of change, saying yesterday: "One way or another, change is coming. Change is coming."
New Jersey residents are too filled with fear about their economic futures for things to remain the same, he said.
"That fear is real, and we ignore that fear not only at our political peril. We ignore that fear at our moral failing," he said.
Change will come in the earliest months of his administration, which will begin Jan. 19, Christie said.
"There are hard decisions that are going to be made," he said. "I am going to use every tool at my disposal to force change."
But, as on the campaign trail, Christie offered few specifics of how he'd rein in state spending. He said he didn't want to make promises he couldn't keep and was beginning to get an insider's view of the state's troubles during his transition into office.
"If you came here today expecting me to announce some kind of miracle or great news, now is the time to hit the exits," Christie told the municipal and legislative delegates at the weeklong convention.
The Republican will arrive in a capital where Democrats control the Legislature. He has called for a bipartisan approach to governing and asked the many legislators at the conference to "come to the center of the room."
To those who wanted to stay in their corners, he said he'd come "drag you out."
Christie has reportedly been reaching out to Democratic leaders, hoping to strike up relationships.
"We are not sent here to beat each other. We are sent here to work with each other," he said yesterday. "We're not sent here to keep score for ourselves. We are sent here to score for the people of this state."
Former Gov. Jim Florio, who attended the conference, said Christie's best move would be to "spend a lot of time cultivating relationships with legislators."
Christie won the election by 100,000 votes despite being outspent by almost 3-1 by a wealthy Democratic governor in a state that hadn't picked a Republican for statewide office in a dozen years.
Contact staff writer Cynthia Burton at 856-779-3858 or cburton@phillynews.com.
