New Jersey Taxpayers Reject Stem Cell Debt Question

New Jersey taxpayers showed some fiscal sense for a change as they rejected the $450 million stem cell debt financing package question. Gov. Corzine (D) spent $150,000 of his own money on lobbyists pushing for this new state spending that would have been supported by a bond act. That bond act would have increased the state's debt load even higher, and taxpayers may have finally have had enough of the tax and spend ways.

Corzine and other supporters of the stem cell bond act say that they'll try again to raise the money at future elections, claiming that they didn't do enough to get the bond act approved by voters. They also think that if they sell their debt financing plans better, voters will bite:

In rejecting a plan to borrow $450 million to fund stem cell research, voters gave Democrats a harsh review of their fiscal stewardship of the state. The vote also signals "asset monetization" - Gov. Jon Corzine's plan to sell or lease state roads to finance other spending - may be in serious trouble even before he unveils the details to the public.

"Jon Corzine campaigned for three things this year," New Jersey Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson said, referring to two defeated candidates for state Senate and the stem cell question. "All three lost. Monetization should be a dead on arrival."

Corzine spokeswoman Lilo Stainton had a more positive take on the results.

"Walk first, then run," she said. "That seems to be the theme of this election. The public understands the state has serious financial problems that must be dealt with first."

Others are pointing to the religious and theological quandries as being the key factor in the stem cell question not getting approved. I think that's off the mark. Catholic groups had been opposed to the research and were unsuccessful in trying to get the question tossed off the ballot, but I think most folks realize that stem cell research is an ongoing concern around the country and world, and that the state simply cannot afford it.

New Jersey doesn't just have serious financial problems. It has crushing problems that are both structural and political in nature. The state simply spends more than it can ever hope to take in via taxes, so it resorted to fiscal gimmicks and one-shots in the past. Selling or monetizing assets is another possible avenue that Corzine is looking at with respect to the Turnpike and Parkway, which does nothing to address the structural deficits - programs that simply cost too much, demand too much of taxpayers, and the state loses ongoing revenues for years and decades in the hopes of getting money in the short term.

The Abbott wealth redistribution system is one part of the mess. Abbott was a series of court cases that determined that the state had a problem with spending on education, so it ordered the state to take more money from wealthy school districts to plow into those districts that weren't spending enough.

More than a decade later, the results should be obvious. Spending has little to do with achievement and all that has been accomplished is taking money and redistributing it - with everyone losing in the process. Students are no better educated now than before the Abbott cases, and property taxes are through the roof to pay for it. Income taxes and sales taxes are now going to property tax relief, and other key areas of the state are overlooked or underfunded, including infrastructure. Trenton is playing a shell game with tax relief - instead of actually reducing taxes and the tax burden, they increase taxes in one area to offset increases in other areas.

To that end, the question to dedicate even more of the sales tax to property tax relief was defeated.

And where there is sufficient money, corruption and graft makes sure that the money doesn't go as far as expected. That's what happened with the school construction funds and many localities have suffered as a result.

The stem cell proposal is another symptom of the out of control state spending - hoping that taxpayers pick up the tab for pet projects, no matter how worthwhile, when key parts of the state's infrastructure are falling apart.

In that respect, voters did approve a $200 million open spaces question. Money from that program will go to preserving open space, and aiding localities along flood prone rivers and streams. However, Bergen County voters rejected a similar open space question that would have raised property taxes by two cents per $100.

Voters also approved a measure that would eliminate archaic language in the state constitution. Idiots and insane people can now vote in the elections. Trenton is already well stocked - this just evens things out.