New Jersey is “careening towards bankruptcy,” Republican gubernatorial nominee Christopher J. Christie said last night, adding that he would change the state’s course with lower business and income taxes and by eliminating “suffocating” regulations on companies. Speaking at Rider University, Christie blamed Democratic Gov. Corzine for not keeping the state’s tax rates competitive with Pennsylvania and New York state to stem the loss of businesses and residents. He said yesterday’s preliminary August unemployment rate of 9.7 percent was a sign of how New Jersey had changed from “economic engine of the region to . . . economic basket case.”
The July rate was 9.3 percent, according to the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Citing low graduation rates in urban schools and the drain of college students from New Jersey, Christie said the state had become “a second-tier economic and educational state.”
Christie said the unemployment rate, combined with the state’s projected deficit of $8 billion, should make it clear to voters in the Nov. 3 election that “we can only go down this path so long.”
He pledged to review business regulations, tossing out those that hamstring economic growth, and to decrease government spending and taxes to attract more jobs.
Christie told the group of about 200 that “we know in New Jersey we face enormous challenges. I stand here before you acknowledging those challenges, not just understanding but believing in my heart that one person surrounded by good, bright, talented, well-meaning people can truly change the course of history. The reason I believe that is because it is the only thing that ever has.”
Ben Dworkin, a Rider political scientist and organizer of last night’s event, said Christie was making the election a referendum on the incumbent. He said Christie was appealing to voters’ gut instincts, asking them to think about whether they were better off now than when Corzine was elected four years ago.
He said Corzine also understood the election was a referendum on his tenure, but wanted to shift the focus to make the race a competition over specific plans for the future and to reflect in detail about what he has done.
Christie was the second of the three major gubernatorial candidates to speak at the “Governing New Jersey” series sponsored by the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider. Independent Chris Daggett spoke earlier this week and Corzine is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday.