Governor Christie Gets Set For The New Year [POLL]

With only a few days left in 2011, Governor Christie is gearing up for the New Year – and promising to move ahead on a number of fronts, including education reform and enacting several measures that will make it easier for local officials to hold the line on property taxes. He says “we need to encourage towns to share services more, and there’s impediments to that like civil service, which prevents towns from being able to share services in the way that they want -the Senate President and I are working right now on a new law that will help to lift some of those restrictions on civil service, that will allow towns who want to share services to be able to share services.”

The Governor is quick to point out a lot of progress has already been made – with Jersey’s new 2 percent property tax cap, an arbitration award cap and pension and benefit reform.

“Because of the things that we’ve done” he says, “New Jersey is now recognized as a national leader in these things- something that we weren’t recognized in before…in the 10 years before I became Governor, property taxes rose 70 percent – that’s not happening now, and it’s going to continue to not happen as long as I’m here, as long as we work together.”

Christie adds “as a leader, your job is to try to find the boulevard between getting everything you want and compromising your principals – now I’m not going to compromise my principals – I didn’t get elected to compromise my principals and I won’t do that- but I also recognize that in a time of divided government – when you all have chosen as New Jerseyans – to have a republican Governor and a democratic Legislature- that I’m also not going to get everything I want…you’ve got to find that boulevard, to move your car onto it and to get progress for the state – and that’s my job to figure out how to do – but you know what? Sometimes that boulevard is really narrow.”