"You Shall Not Pass"

Picture Gandalf stolid, solid and sturdy blocking the bridge.  The Balrog keeps edging forward, but Galdalf refuses to budge.  Now you know how things are going in the State Government of New Jersey.  Despite the obvious similarities between Governor Chris Christie and the Balrog, I assure you he is the ever stalwart Gandalf in this scenario.

With the state's current 9.8 percent unemployment rate the fourth-worst in the country, the Democrats who control the Legislature now are reintroducing half of these economic-stimulus bills.

And they still have little chance of becoming law.

Christie says a bill that offers a tax credit, as most of these do, must come with spending reductions. He would rather help the economy with income tax credits, paid through a projected budget surplus. Democrats say the state can't afford that.

Where does that leave New Jersey? In a stalemate over how to get people working.

Democrats say Christie has rejected job-creation bills, some based on GOP-backed programs in other states and endorsed by business, just because they didn't come from him. Two bills on taxation were vetoed by Christie only to be incorporated into his budget, they note.
 

Simply put, Governor Christie requires (REQUIRES) spending reductions to accompany tax credits.  In other words, he requires the State Legislature to reel itself in to lower the amount of money spent by the State of New Jersey.  This is competent, solid and pragmatic application of basic economics that should not only be applied to New Jersey, but to the United States as a whole.  The Democrat led Legislature refuses to do it.  The centrist Republicans in the NJ Legislature refuse to do it.  So, Governor Christie has vetoed over a dozen Bills.

Christie has long said he would not approve measures that cost money if they were proposed outside of the budget negotiations. Republicans say Democrats send him bills they know he'll reject to try to show him up by attempting a veto override.

 

This is pure leadership.  The unruly children of the State Legislature just can't believe that they are not going to get their way.  The unruly children of the press write hit pieces (such as this one) to try and show Chris Christie to be the problem.  What they fail to see is that the citizens of New Jersey recognize a Governor trying to set the mess that is the New Jersey budget straight and procure stability in the long run.  I've never be a huge Chris Christie fan overall.  But, on a straight economic basis, he is the type leader that should be in charge of the treasury.