Part of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's appeal to Republican presidential primary voters was supposed to be that he was the guy who inflicted pain on workers to bring his state's budget under control. Now, he's the guy who inflicted pain on workers,
broke his own promises, and broke the record for
the most credit rating downgrades under a single New Jersey governor:
The reduction to A, the sixth-highest level, with a stable outlook follows a Sept. 5 downgrade by Fitch Ratings. It gives New Jersey the same general-obligation grade as California, which is on track for an upgrade as revenue exceeds Democratic Governor Jerry Brown’s estimates. Only Illinois has lower ratings than New Jersey among U.S. states.
“New Jersey continues to struggle with structural imbalance,” S&P analyst John Sugden in New York said in a statement today. “The governor’s decision to delay pension funding, while providing the necessary tools for cash management and budget control, has significant negative implications for the state’s liability profile.”
And it's not even a year into his second term!
Christie says—and has gotten a judge to agree—that because there's a fiscal emergency, it's okay for him to cut the amount of money the state contributes to its pension fund. Never mind that the fiscal emergency didn't stop him from vetoing a Democratic effort to raise taxes on millionaires. Meanwhile, Christie has made sure the state forked over plenty of Wall Street fees. It's all pretty much the Republican economic agenda, but Republicans who want to become president usually hide its effects a little better.
You get elected as a Republican by pretending that you made low taxes on the rich and cuts for everyone else work, not by having your credit rating downgraded eight times.