In the second part of a two-part interview, former Gov. Jim Florio tells NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that the Jersey Shore is too important to New Jersey, economically and emotionally, for the state not to rebuild. But in the face of fiscal challenges and frequently destructive weather patterns, he says rebuilding efforts must take into account the new reality.
“They’re doing maps now about what floods and what doesn’t flood and in the last couple of years, it’s changed dramatically,” said Florio. “It would be folly to build exactly as it was before knowing full well that flooding is occurring to a much greater degree.”
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Putting aside philosophical differences, Florio praised Gov. Christie’s leadership skills in helping New Jerseyans get through the trauma of Hurricane Sandy, citing the governor’s directness and forcefulness as strengths during a time of crisis.
“I may not agree with every place that he wants to lead us to but the fact of the matter is I think he’s the right person for the right time,” he said.
Despite Christie’s popularity among voters, Florio isn’t willing to concede next’s year’s governor’s race as over.
“I suspect Gov. Christie assumes that it’s going to be a race, he doesn’t think it’s going to be a done deal.,” he said. “We have a number of people that are thinking about running that are good candidates and I just think that we should not assume that the election is over already, there’s a lot of time between now and next November.”
Last week, Newark Mayor Cory Booker made national headlines when he announced that he would not seek the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Christie. Sen. Barbara Buono (D-18), thus far, is the only declared Democratic candidate. In an interview he gave to Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron for On the Record, Booker threw out Senate President Steve Sweeney’s name as a possible strong candidate.
Florio agreed with the mayor about Sweeney, who happens to be a personal friend, as a dynamic, charismatic candidate, adding that “any of the things the governor gets credit for were really initiatives Sen. Sweeney started a while back. So he’d be very formidable.”
No matter who is in office, that person will be tasked with getting the state out of its current financial hole. The state’s obligation to the public pension system is a looming issue that will be hard to ignore, according to Florio.
“I just saw a report that came out that said one of the laws that were part of the pension reform package requires New Jersey to full fund its pension system in the next five years — that entails finding an extra $5 billion. I don’t know where you’re going to start on that.”
During his term in office, Florio raised taxes to help fund the system. It’s an act many say cost him politically. In his 1994 reelection bid, he lost to Christine Todd Whitman. The state’s public pension system got progressively weakened during successive administrations. And the bill is fast coming due, says Florio.
“Gov. Christie didn’t make these problems. I mean we had something like 18 years of fiscal mismanagement. He’s stuck with dealing with it and he’ll be judged by whether he’s dealing with it appropriately or not.”
Florio says the state’s failure to meet its pension obligation has become so acute that the federal government may have to intervene.
“Everyone’s having the same problems,” he said, “all the governors will have to go to Washington and say ‘Washington you’re going to have to … take care of our problems’ and that means that Washington’s gonna have to go find the money and that may be a broad-based tax system at the federal level.”
Negotiations to ward off the “fiscal cliff” have stalled in Washington last week. As the Jan. 1 deadline nears, Florio is not optimistic that a deal will get done by then, and there will be consequences from not acting, he says.
“If we don’t deal with this something, happens and it becomes self executed. All the taxes go up and that becomes intolerable.”
Related: Gov. Jim Florio Recalls His Own Fight for Assault Weapons Ban