Asbury Park Press issues mid-day editorial panning Corzine's budget address

The Asbury Park Press issued an mid-day editorial on their website panning Governor Corzine's State of the State speech.

January 13, 2009

EDITORIAL: State of state address substance-free

Anyone looking for a clear idea of what Gov. Jon S. Corzine's 2009 agenda will be from his State of the State address Tuesday had to come away sorely disappointed. The tough questions about how he would help the state navigate its troubled fiscal waters, including dealing with a projected $5 billion spending deficit in the coming fiscal year, were largely ignored.

Instead, the address was largely a stump speech, a 45-minute exposition on what he believed to be his accomplishments entering the final year of his four-year term and the early weeks of what he hopes to be a successful re-election come November.

Before the speech, Corzine said he wanted to convey a sense of optimism, a sense that better times were ahead. Trying to paint a rosy picture these days isn't easy. But Corzine gave it his best shot, suggesting that New Jersey was, in most ways, better off than the rest of the country.

That point is debatable. What is not is that state government is in a deep financial hole, taxpayers are being squeezed more tightly than ever and sacrifices at all levels of government are needed. Unfortunately, the word "sacrifice'' was never uttered by Corzine. Nor was there any mention of the need for government to tighten its belt -- themes he emphasized during each of his two previous State of the State addresses, when circumstances were far less dire.

At a moment when New Jersey residents were looking to hear something substantive about how he would rein in spending and to have their fears of even higher taxes allayed, Corzine offered nothing.

The closest Corzine came to generating anything newsworthy was his call for a one-year moratorium on the unpopular 2.5 percent tax on developers to help fund affordable housing and his announcement that he would be instructing the Local Finance Board to enforce the 4 percent tax levy cap. The news about the latter wasn't the poorly kept secret that it wasn't being enforced, but that last year 80 percent of the state's municipalities exceeded it -- 30 percent with increases of 10 percent or more. So much for Corzine's repeated boasts about "tight'' spending caps.

It's easy to understand why Corzine sidestepped the matter of what he intended to do to close the state budget gap. But it's inexcusable he failed to show the leadership required during times of crisis by imploring local and county government, school districts and other publicly funded entities to hold the line on spending, and to provide at least a broad outline of what he would be doing to make it easier for them to do so.