Corzine Waits For NJ Bailout
The Governor just announced today that he is planning to cut $2.1 billion from the state’s budget. The budget gap appears to be growing by the second as what was thought to be a $1.2 billion shortfall is now $900 million larger. Next year’s budget gap is anticipated to be a mind-boggling $5 billion and one now has to wonder if that, too, will only be worse.
The Governor is promising details this afternoon – perhaps a direct reaction to being sued by GOP lawmakers – but we are dubious. After all, the Governor keeps pushing for $1 trillion ’stimulus’ to help bail him and other Governors out of their budget messes and wants to put off his budget speech until mid-March. (Note: Notice how all these Governors with their hands out to Obama are Democrats in blue states: Wisconsin, Ohio and Massachusetts being the others.)
As pointed out at In The Lobby:
So now the governor says he wants to delay the budget speech until March 10, so he can take advantage of whatever belated Christmas gifts Barack Obama plans to give him.
But here’s what’s more interesting: State Treasurer David Rousseau told the Star-Ledger in the same article that “the move is also needed because treasury officials are running four to six weeks behind schedule trying to plug a $1.2 billion hole in the current budget.”
Here’s our question: Hasn’t Gov. Corzine been assuring us all along that he has this under control? That his Cabinet identified $400 million in savings in the fall, and another $400 million since? And wasn’t there some $600 million surplus as well?
But if the governor hasn’t figured out how to plug the $1.2 billion deficit that he already has, then what business does he have spending more money from the state budget, even if it’s for a stimulus package?
How can we spend money we don’t have? Aren’t we already in the red?
Isn’t this what got us in trouble in the first place?
And if the administration is having this much trouble with $1.2 billion, how in the world will they handle the $5 billion deficit that’s expected in next year’s budget?
