Christie to take a giant step

TRENTON - Three months into his term, Gov. Christie is ready to jump off the cliff.

For weeks he has referred to the scene in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in which the bank-robber heroes, running for their lives, leap off a cliff to escape certain death.

Christie, who will introduce his first budget Tuesday, says it is time for New Jersey's government officials to take risky but necessary action, too, on finances and taxes.

"We need to jump off the cliff together," he told local leaders at a gathering in Haddon Heights last week. "Now, I'll jump first. I'll put my hands behind me, and I'll hope to feel some hands grabbing on as I go. But that's what you elected me to do. You elected me to do this."

Christie, voted into office on a promise to rein in spending and taxes, has promised a radical approach to repair a state budget that has been out of balance for years. His plan is expected to call for deep cuts potentially affecting municipal services, schools, hospitals, health care for the needy, aid for the disabled, and property-tax rebates, to name just a few areas.

Outcry from the public and interest groups and a drop in the polls are almost inevitable, Christie has acknowledged, and fellow Republicans have warned that everyone will feel the impact of closing a projected $11 billion budget gap. For months Christie and his advisers have referred to the shortfall as a challenge but also an opportunity to reshape state government.

The budget will show their blueprint. It will also be a clear delineation of Christie's priorities as he decides where to distribute limited funding. In Haddon Heights, he said his plan would be unlike any seen in 20 years.

Broad outlines are already known. Christie has warned schools to expect aid cuts of up to 15 percent. Support for municipalities would be trimmed. He is examining privatizing some state functions, possibly as a precursor to layoffs that might save money in the fiscal year's second half. And after pledging to restore property-tax rebates, he has considered reducing homeowners' checks.

So far, Christie has taken a bold go-it-alone approach to governing, issuing 17 executive orders in his first 59 days. Once he proposes the cost-cutting plan, however, the debate heads to a Legislature controlled by Democrats and filled with Republicans who in recent years criticized Gov. Jon S. Corzine for making some of the cuts Christie may choose, such as in municipal aid and rebates.

Assemblyman Jon M. Bramnick (R., Union) has worked only with Democratic governors and, like most Republicans, has regularly voted against Democratic budgets.

Now he and other Republicans will be called on to support a GOP governor insisting on politically risky reductions. Bramnick said they were ready to face the "reality" of the state's weak finances.

"This Republican caucus is very much committed to this governor and facing reality," he said. "Unfortunately, we understand that it's going to be painful."

Republicans, politically empowered for the first time in eight years, seem likely to back their governor.

Democrats face a trickier calculation. Some will see a wrecking ball hit programs they worked to build up when their party controlled Trenton. FamilyCare, a health-care program for the needy, will likely be affected. So will programs for the disabled.

But the party is still wounded from losing its first statewide race in 12 years. Fighting all the cuts would mean missing the message of the last election, Bramnick said.

The public "would not have voted for Chris Christie if they had thought the system was working," he said. "It's a Democratic state. . . . If it wasn't completely broken, they would have voted the same way they had for many years."

Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said Democrats would be open-minded about Christie's budget.

"There's a whole lot of things that we're not going to like but that we're going to have to acknowledge have to be done," Sweeney said.

He does expect some disagreements, he said, particularly on Christie's refusal to renew an income-tax increase on filers earning $400,000 or more. Christie has argued that the levy hits some small businesses, and that the state already is overtaxed.

But Sweeney and other Democrats have linked the break for the well-off to cuts that could affect the needy. The tax increase could bring in around $1 billion.

"You could take that and ease the burden in a lot of areas," Sweeney said. "Wealthy people got a tax deduction, and pretty much the middle class is going to experience a tax increase."

Democrats have argued that cuts in school and municipal aid would lead to local tax hikes. They already have labeled a NJ Transit fare increase a de facto tax increase.

Christie and fellow Republicans argue that aid cuts need not equal tax increases. They have pressed local leaders to tighten their budgets and pledged to provide "tools" - changes to reduce the cost of public-employee benefits and new negotiating rules to give mayors and school boards a better hand when dealing with unions.

Christie told reporters Thursday that it was imperative to get local costs under control and cited a report showing that many wealthy residents had left New Jersey in recent years.

Again, he talked about life and death.

"They left because they could no longer afford to live here or die here. Now that's not the kind of state you want to be, because there are only two options in this world - alive or dead," Christie said. "If neither one of them is affordable in New Jersey, that's a bad piece of information."