By David Cruz
Correspondent
“I’m not coming here tonight to give you a new speech on a different theme,” said Gov. Chris Christie.
As New Jersey’s contribution to the national Republican presidential sweepstakes, Christie’s speech at the 78th Walk to Washington was much anticipated, but as speeches go, according to many here in D.C., it didn’t amount to much. He didn’t give a new speech at all. In fact, the governor’s speech was heavy on familiar material.
“Every new dollar of revenue, 94 cents of it goes to pensions, health benefits and debt service,” he said. “We have a millionaire’s tax that starts at $400,000. … I’ve often teased that my mother used to say to me, when I would ask to buy something as a kid, she’d say, ‘Sure Chris. You can have that. Go home. Go in the backyard. Pick the money off of the money tree.'”
The theme was the economy, stupid, as it’s been for several years now, and mainly denigrating Democrats for their tax policies, which are driving business away and at the root of the state’s sluggish recovery.
“I will tell you to be ready for the fact that there will be those who will suggest that the way to deal with the fact that a major business has left this state because they don’t believe that we’re nearly as affordable as Georgia will be to raise taxes and they will argue, somehow, that increasing taxes will make us more attractive,” Christie said.
At a panel discussion hosted this morning by NJTV’s Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron, Christie watchers like reporter Matt Katz and columnist Herb Jackson attempted to read between the lines of a speech that was devoid of any new one-liners.
“You know I tought the most interesting thing he said was that he couldn’t think of a better job than being governor of New Jersey. I wonder if he was telegraphing something to us. But I think like a lot of people we expected by today we’d have heard something about transportation and this was going to be his sales pitch for it, and then that didn’t happen,” Jackson said.
“I thought he was potentially signaling that there’s no way he was going to allow a gas increase in the state. I couldn’t see how he could make a speech that was almost entirely about not raising taxes and then go ahead in the coming months and then decide to raise the gas tax to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund,” said Katz.
“In not acknowledging the transportation issue looming in front of us and not acknowledging what he’s been doing for the past two or there months out of state, it somehow seemed inauthentic to me and he’s supposedly the authentic governor,” Aron said.
The governor is scheduled to deliver his budget address on Tuesday. It’s another highly-anticipated speech, but one that’s going to require a little more detail than this one. Whatever he decides to announce, he’ll be out promoting it on Wednesday in his first town hall since August.