The blame game over the budget numbers

by: Jason Springer

Sun Jan 24, 2010 at 05:35:09 PM EST

Right now, Governor Christie and former Governor Corzine's administrations are arguing over the finances and just how bad things are. Here is a recent exchange over the budget:

Just 48 hours into his new role, Gov. Chris Christie said New Jersey faces a $1.3 billion shortfall in the current budget and blamed former Gov. Jon Corzine for setting him up to fail by hiding the depth of the problems.
"He was trying to make it as hard as he possibly could," Christie said. "Avoidance of the facts and avoidance of the truth was a staple of the Corzine administration."
Corzine and his advisers accused Christie of pulling numbers out of thin air and insisted they left the incoming governor with a $496 million surplus.
"Gov. Christie's remarks demonstrate a poor temperament, and a casual relationship with the facts," said Corzine spokesman Josh Zeitz. "Being governor entitles you to do a lot of things, but fabricating budget numbers from whole cloth isn't one of them."

Wait, Christie has been railing about how bad the state is and now that he gets there he is saying Cozrine is setting him up to fail? If Corzine had set him up with the state in a good position, he'd probably still be the Governor himself. Star Ledger Cartoonist Drew Sheneman likens it to a fight in the sandbox in his latest cartoon:

Sheneman says he can't wait for the hair pulling. The question at this point isn't whether things are bad, it's how bad things are. The Assembly budget committee will hold a hearing on the budget tomorrow, so we may learn more.

Jason Springer :: The blame game over the budget numbers

Tags: budget deficit, budget, Jon Corzine, Chris Christie, (All Tags)

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The blame game over the budget numbers | 4 comments

This is silly... (4.00 / 1)

their numbers differ by 1.5 BILLION dollars. Someone is right and someone is wrong. Why is this hard to discern?

(and I don't know whose numbers are correct)

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Sun Jan 24, 2010 at 23:50:14 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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I don't know (0.00 / 0)

The Treasury put out a press release on January 15 that said December revenue was in line with projections, so I was pretty surprised.

One problem is that we don't have the report Christie is citing: from Christie, it sounds like the budget is short $1 billion over the next six months, but Corzine's people seem to suggest that Christie is using some new forecast or (more likely it seems to me) counting the entire fiscal year. 4% or so short is not that surprising (especially given unemployment) but it's serious.

Similarly, Corzine said he made cuts to the budget partway through (12/22/09), but Christie seems to say the cuts don't really exist, and were actually a spending increase.

Christie might have a fair point I think because I just read the Corzine press release and some of the "cuts" involve some changes to school aid that would require legislation that wasn't passed as I understand it (see links below.) So it doesn't seem like Corzine can fully take credit for such a cut, though if my explanation is correct, it also isn't fair for Christie to call it "undisclosed."

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/

http://www.nj.com/news/index.s...

In other words, I suspect that part of this discrepency is describing the same thing in different words, and part is using a pessimistic forecast.

Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

by: Hopeful @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 00:15:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Budget (0.00 / 0)

We didn't fire Corzine because he was handling NJ's economy well. Accounting gimmicks can be used to hide a deficit, Hoboken knows this all too well. With a projected 8 Billion dollar deficit already in next year's budget I can believe 1+ Billion for the last 6 months of this years.

by: HobokenSchmo @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 01:44:29 AM UTC

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Ah Ha! (0.00 / 0)

Apparently, both their numbers are wrong.

Testimony today pegs the deficit at 2 BILLION.

Please don't let the door hit you on the ass former Gov. Corzine.

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 20:45:15 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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