Re-elect Chris Christie for Governor of New Jersey
By: Ryan Schwertfeger
New Jersey is quite a great state, even though just about anyone passing through on the Turnpike will not have the same reaction as most of us do, since we have seen the real New Jersey. However, while we have beautiful mountains, family friendly beach towns, and historical treasures, the residents of New Jersey also know that when it comes to New Jersey’s government, things are hardly sunshine and lollypops.
Over the last decade or so, both Democratic and Republican governors of the state have avoided the big issues continuing to lead New Jersey down a dark alley way to doom and gloom. These large issues were always existent but were never really focused upon until 2008 and 2009 when the economy suffered the worst recession in history and New Jersey’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to 9.7%. In addition, New Jersey has almost always had the distinction of being the state with some of the highest taxes, being number one in amount paid in property taxes, sixth highest in corporate taxes, and fifth highest in personal income taxes, according to the Tax Foundation. PolitiFact also confirmed that in the eight years before Christie took office, taxes and fees were raised 115 times.
No wonder why that in 2009, the citizens of New Jersey proclaimed that they did not wanted to be taxed anymore and that the government down in Trenton was too corrupt, spent too much, and did not focus on many of New Jersey’s problems, such as an underfunded pension fund and reforms to the education system. So what did they do? They elected Chris Christie.
Early on, it was evident that Christie was not your typical politician. He was loud, bold, to the point, and stood firmly on his principals. He worked with Democrats to successfully enact reforms because he knew the citizens of New Jersey wanted to see results and solutions to the big issues. Christie reformed the pension system to put it on solid footing and will save New Jersey taxpayers $120 billion over the next 30 years. He put a 2% cap on property taxes, which has led to the slowest growth in property tax increases for more than 20 years. Governor Christie also lowered corporate taxes and since being elected, the state has added more than 120,000 private sector jobs. And as for the unemployment rate? As of April 2013, the unemployment rate stands at 8.7% and has been dropping for the past several months in a row.
Christie promised to turn Trenton upside down and without a doubt, Christie did just that. Now, Christie wants to turn Trenton, and the entire state of New Jersey right side up. By re-electing Governor Christie and electing Republicans to the State Assembly and Senate, Christie is promising that he will then be able to continue through with his reform agenda in addition to his desire to lower taxes for everyone, something which the current Assembly and Senate Democrats have not let him to do. While you may not like his style or every policy he proposes, it is perfectly clear that the reason Chris Christie is pushing his reforms and is continuously loud and blunt is because he loves this state and he wants current, up and coming, and future generations to enjoy it too.