GOP candidates in New Jersey praise Rendell

A strange thing is happening in New Jersey's Republican primary for governor: Candidates are portraying Pennsylvania as a bastion of fiscal restraint and, by extension, Democratic Gov. Rendell as a right-minded fiscal leader.

Both major Republican candidates, Christopher J. Christie and Steve Lonegan, note that even though Pennsylvania is bigger and more populous than New Jersey, it has a smaller budget.

But budget experts in both states say the two count and spend money so differently, it is almost impossible to compare them. New Jersey sends more money to local schools, municipalities and courts than does Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has local income taxes; New Jersey doesn't.

Still, the GOP candidates are singing the praises of the Keystone State and its top Democrat, who also is a former national Democratic Party chair.

In a stump speech, Lonegan said: "If you look across the river to Pennsylvania, a state with more land and more population, their [2009] budget is $28 billion - they've managed to keep spending under control." And, on Feb. 11, he began a radio ad by saying: "They've managed to keep spending under control."

Christie, in a recent interview, said: "Look at the Pennsylvania state budget. They have 45 percent more people, more than three times the land mass as New Jersey, and $6 billion less in spending. So how is it that I don't see anybody picketing Harrisburg and saying to Ed Rendell, 'You're not providing services'? He's the most popular governor in the region."

New Jersey and Pennsylvania do have different spending habits, which accounts for the difference in budgets.

Sharon Ward, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, said that when state and local budgets were added up, "Pennsylvania spends more than New Jersey."

In 2006, according to the latest available overall state and local spending figures compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, Pennsylvania spent $55.6 billion to New Jersey's $43.3 billion, she noted. New Jersey spends about $1,000 more per person than Pennsylvania does, but individuals in New Jersey devote a smaller percentage of their personal incomes to cover state and local governmental costs, according to the census figures.

Besides distributing more money to schools and local governments than Pennsylvania does, New Jersey covers the costs of the state court system. In Pennsylvania, counties pick up much of the tab.

"The two states are just structured differently. Pennsylvania raises money from local sources that New Jersey doesn't have," said Jon Shure of New Jersey Policy Perspective. "The state budget in Pennsylvania is not used to raise revenue and give it back to municipalities the way it is in New Jersey because New Jersey doesn't have local sales or local income taxes."

Lonegan said: "I haven't complimented Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has their problems, too." But he said Pennsylvania was a less expensive place to live than New Jersey because it had "a much better tax environment."

Christie's campaign said he had studied what other states had done, regardless of whether their governors were Republicans or Democrats. The campaign noted that property taxes in New Jersey were higher than those in neighboring states. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation said New Jersey homeowners paid the highest property taxes in the nation in 2007.

One thing the two states have in common now is that each is trying to stretch declining tax dollars in a recession.

In New Jersey, Gov. Corzine has trimmed the current $33 billion state budget by $800 million, with more to come; he plans to introduce next year's budget in March. Pennsylvania's new budget is only slightly bigger, at $29 billion, than last year's $28.3 billion spending plan.

While offering no broad-based tax boosts, Rendell has suggested an increase in tobacco taxes and would give counties the option of increasing their sales taxes.

Political scientist Brigid Harrison of Montclair State University said the GOP candidates' praise for Pennsylvania appealed to conservative Republicans, who believe in smaller government and are the most likely to vote in the June 2 primary. But, she said, it also has the advantage of warming up Democrats and independents in a general election by indirectly praising Rendell.

"Both candidates know they have to position themselves as being very conservative over the next three months. But given the demographics of the state, they will have to have some independent voters and even Democratic voters going for them," she said.