Chris Christie should inspire Jerry Brown

It looks like the new Governor of the generally Democratic state of New Jersey is doing a heck of a lot better than the sort of new Governor of what has become an always Democratic state of California, and even President Obama, and while Obama is now officially “hopeless,” perhaps Jerry Brown can learn at least a few things from New Jersey Governor Chris Cristie.

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While Obama and Jerry Brown are still slap-happy talking new taxes as a fix for our ailing economy, Christie has gone in the opposite (and correct) direction, by building up tax incentive programs aimed at keeping and growing new business in New Jersey.  That means broader employment opportunities, and more business profits in the tax base.  According to one report, through July, New Jersey companies had received $41.1 million in new tax breaks for keeping 6,000 jobs in the state.  That is a big bump against the national and California trends of simply losing more and more jobs each month.  In the same period a year ago, New Jersey had lost 1,400 jobs.  Christie has relentlessly focused on economic issues in the Garden State and has not been afraid to take on public employee unions in the drive to rein in and reform out-of-control public pension mandates.  So far, he has been winning the battle.

No wonder a Monmouth University/NJ last week determined Christie’s approval rating was a 50% with register votes, in comparison to Brown’s 48% in California and Obama’s eye-poppingly low 20% national approval rating, according to Rasmussen.

Christie has not been a “shoot-from-the-hip” critic of Obama, but his style is straightforward nonetheless.  He was not reluctant to call out the President for his failure to put a plan in writing during the national debt-reduction crisis earlier this month.  At the time, Christie said that when he proposed forcing some government workers in New Jersey to pay more for their own benefits, he put the plan in writing so the public could assess it and the debate could be transparent.  In contrast, Obama’s debt ideas were always “back room” chatter and were one of the biggest reasons the negotiations were drawn out to the last minute, helping to disrupt financial markets and causing a lot of grief to a lot of people whose stock based 401K plans sank as a result.  Obama did not want the public to really know what his plan was; Christie put it on paper.

Governor Christie’s policies deserve more than a passing glance from Jerry Brown in getting California back on track, where our companies are fleeing to states like Texas, and the state unemployment rate has reached 11.8%, well above the national average, and New Jersey’s 9.5% rate.  It might be an inspiration to some to know that Christie is achieving his results with a Democrat dominated state legislature and no statewide initiative law.

Governor Christie has made it very clear that he is not a GOP candidate for President in this election.  Nevertheless, this law-and-order former Federal prosecutor is making a national name for himself in building out an economic recovery in New Jersey based on tax relief and belt-tightening by government, something many of us think we could use right here in California.