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Monday, February 8, 2010

Gov. Christie sets a new tone
Gov. Christie speaking at his first cabinet meeting on Thursday. In office two weeks, he has been open about cutting costs.

There has been a lot of talk lately about Gov. Christie’s tone. A Republican lawmaker hailed him for having “set the tone,” presumably the right one. But some of New Jersey’s local officials don’t seem to like his tone. The governor said one regional agency even sent lobbyists to urge him to tone it down.

Christie responded in less-than-dulcet tones: “There isn’t a lobbyist in this town who’s going to get me to tone down on this.”
 

With a series of rhetorical salvos and spending vetoes, the new governor has been making it clear that the state’s teeming towns, school districts, and authorities are being watched. In a state that can’t afford what it’s spending — and where nearly two-thirds of spending is local — that’s welcome.
 

Last week, Christie vetoed the budget of the Delaware River and Bay Authority, a bistate agency that runs the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. He also rejected the authority’s blanket authorization of a year’s worth of payments to vendors. Citing scant information on the payments and a total spending increase exceeding inflation, Christie said the state can’t tolerate “ever-expanding budgets.”
 

Also last week, Christie stopped a state Urban Enterprise Zone payment to a small North Jersey town, noting that $400,000 of it was being spent on only four employees. The week before, he overruled the state Schools Development Authority’s approval of $1.3 million for an expansion of Burlington City High School. Christie noted that the project was already $18 million over budget.
 

The governor also criticized Camden’s new mayor, Dana Redd, for more than doubling the maximum salary that she can pay aides to $150,000. He urged her to “think long and hard about the decisions she’s making.”
 

Granted, Christie may have steamrollered some important nuances. Delaware River and Bay Authority officials have said they had to increase their budget to keep up with pension and health-care liabilities. The school construction project may have hit legitimate snags. And Redd has said she plans to reduce total spending on Camden’s salaries.
 

If local officials have reasonable explanations, the governor should pay attention. But given New Jersey’s past and its present fiscal situation, his emphasis is correct.
 

For example, the Newark-based Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission — the agency that apparently lobbied Christie to lay off his criticisms — is a notorious patronage, um, cesspool. And the governor was right to note that its use of lobbyists is simply more evidence of waste.
 

“All of this money ... comes out of the people of New Jersey’s pockets,” Christie said. “It is ... not money that should be paying for political hacks at the PVSC to make salaries that are obscene.”
 

Christie does not paint with pastel tones. But, having been elected on a tide of frustration with the status quo, he’s certainly not tone-deaf.
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