New Jersey can't seem to keep out of the news lately. I guess its because we have a Governor that has his sights set on a national stage. Governor Christie is weeks away from announcing his proposal to overhaul our states pension and retiree health benefits plan. The rumor mill is swirling that it might be some type of "hybrid" model that would reduce the defined benefit payout, as well as something like a 401k plan. He keeps saying that the current system can't be sustained. The reason he believes this is because he allowed towns to skip their required pension matching payments, and he also failed to make the states full pension contribution. Although three years ago, Governor Christie himself passed a law requiring the pension payment, he decided to ignore it in order to use the money to balance the states budget. This is just another example of his ability to talk from both sides of his mouth. He touted this law when it was being proposed in order to (again) gain support of the police and fire unions. "Hey, look at me, I'm fixing your problem. I'm your friend". Once again he lied. He did not fix the problem. His own law that he pushed through was ignored. New Jersey has already eliminated the "COLA" (Cost of Living Increases); a savings of $74 billion over 30 years according to our Governor. He also touted another savings of $48 billion by requiring employees to pay more toward their pensions, reducing pensions for those taking early retirement, and raising the retirement age from 62 to 65. A total savings of $112 Billion! What's next? Reducing all officers pay to minimum wage? Eliminating health benefits entirely? Health benefits is one main reason many officers joined the ranks of police and fire, or became public school teachers.
Here is a little history lesson for the uninformed. As recently as the 1980's, police officer and firefighters were relatively paid poorly compared to the private industry. They were considered blue collar and non-professional. In order to induce people to join the ranks of police and fire with low pay, the carrot that was dangled in front of the was good benefits. Seemed like a fair trade off at the time. The "problem" is that over the years, contracts regularly gave pay increases of 3-5% per year, and sometimes more. Over time, those poor paying jobs became good paying jobs, and eventually they became very good paying jobs. The benefits were still good, so now you have officers making good money and getting good benefits. Along with the higher pay and benefits came the increased professionalism. Being a police officer changed from being a "job" to being a "career". With professionalism came better educated officers. No longer were high school diploma's the minimum requirement. College degrees became the norm; if not for hiring at least for promotions. College degrees included Masters degrees and even higher over time. It was not uncommon for a majority of officers on a department to hold college degree of one type or another. Criminal Justice majors became more common. Twenty-five years later, the person entering law enforcement in New Jersey was college educated who's goal it was to become a professional police officer. Good pay and good benefits brought good candidates, who became good police officers. Now, both the pay and benefits are good.
Unfortunately, the COST of these benefits have skyrocketed. The insurance companies have substantially increased the cost the governments pay in order to keep the benefits as required by contracts. Why is the government not targeting the insurance companies and asking why they have tripled the cost for the same benefits? Good question. I'd love to know that answer. I can surmise that one reason is that the insurance lobby is strong. Very strong. Much stronger than any police and fire or teachers union in New Jersey. They are national companies with deep pockets in Washington. Who is an easier target? The police, fire and teachers. Now Governor Christie has made us look like the bad guys. We are the reason for all this mess. "Look at those greedy public servants" he can say, and the public listens. Governor Christie isn't stupid. He's been voted into office twice and knows a thing or two about word play.
Word play. Governor Christie loves this. A perfect example was recently brought to light that makes this perfectly clear. A perfect example of the governors double speak is when he was pushing for a tax cut in 2012. The Governor said the state could afford the tax cut because of positive economic growth. Dr. David Rosen, the Chief Budget officer for the States office of legislative service disagreed. The Governor responded by lambasting Dr. Rosen and calling him "the Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers". The Governor said the numbers were good enough for a tax cut, and said "Why would anybody with a functioning brain believe this guy?" about Dr. Rosen, who by the way has a reputation for being right more than being wrong. Later, when questioned by our states terrible financial crisis, Christie blames Dr. Rosen, saying that he "just got it wrong".
Recap: Christie ignores his Chief Budget Officer in 2012, calling him "the Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers" and "why would anybody with a functioning brain believe this guy". When questioned by a reporter about our states terrible financial crisis, he blames this same person that he ignored two years earlier.
Another example of his word play and talking out of both sides of his mouth. While facing an unexpected $2.75 billion budget gap over the next 13 months, which Christie is trying to close by delaying payments to the state’s pension fund, many on his staff have received raises of 23%! Yes, you read that right, twenty-three percent (http://nj1015.com/some-christie-staff-members-get-large-pay-raises/).
According to NorthJersey.com, the raises come as Christie is withholding more than $2.4 billion in payments to the state pension fund because of revenue shortfalls. And Christie has delayed a property-tax relief program that averages about $500 for seniors and some families. And the raises to the governor’s staff appear to have happened around the same time Christie vetoed the minutes of the commission that oversees the Pinelands after its members voted to increase the budget for its staff by 5 percent. Christie castigated the commissioners and said the decision was a “conscious disregard of the fiscal realities".
I'm sorry, I think I went a bit off topic there, but every time I think about how the Governor screwed the people who protect and educate the public, while being a two-faced politician, I get angrier and angrier. Bottom line? As time goes by, the Governor is going to continue to lie and continue to blame the unions for problems created and perpetuated by our elected officials.
Comments? Thoughts? Ideas?
