Only Nixon ...

Christie Whitman was a great one for worthwhile initiatives which, having received a day’s headlines, never saw the light again. She held a news conference on tax limitation measures, calling together the various legislative sponsors of same (crediting myself retrospectively with some degree of foresight, I didn’t think she was serious and, hence, didn’t attend). A $25 million initiative to encourage municipalities to merge went precisely nowhere.

Kean – father, not son – Florio, DiFrancesco, and McGreevey wanted for any vision whatsoever.
And Corzine’s campaign offered little hope for anything better. Cover the uninsured, increase the magnificently foolish property tax rebates, etc. Typical electoral blather.

‘Course, for each of them, it worked – electorally, anyway – lending much credence to the new motto of the PoliticsNJ website. For each of these men and woman, power itself mattered more than what they did with it afterward.

Comes now Hizonor, with Executive Order Nine, creating the Governor’s Commission on Governmental Efficiency and Reform. The Commission’s stated goal:

"... evaluate the budget, structure and organization of government in New Jersey, including State agencies, instrumentalities and independent authorities, local and county government and school districts, and advise the Governor on governmental restructuring, effectiveness, best practices, efficiencies, cost-saving measures, and how best to achieve economies of scale in the delivery of services and programs, at the lowest possible cost, consistent with mission and quality."

With such a modest agenda, how can this Commission possibly fail?

Consider the number of studies by commissions on governmental efficiency, property tax reform, restructuring, etc. – to the reports of which noone paid, or pays, the slightest attention – and wonder, why is Corzine even bothering? No Governor has ever been willing to assume the political risk associated with doing the things which need to be done to bring about governmental efficiencies. Politicians of all stripes recoil at the loss of employment opportunities which governmental restructuring would produce. The unions oppose any effort to rein in costs, if their members would potentially receive fewer benefits (and, in any just system, they would). Liberals object that cutting off subsidies would hurt urban areas (they’re right; financially, anyway, in the sense of no longer being able to live off of someone else’s paycheck). Conservatives rightly fear any report into which the NJEA has the slightest input.

But, being gullible, let’s assume, for the moment, that Corzine, although a stark, raving liberal all these years, actually believes in governmental reform, and wants a commission to offer REAL thoughts on reform, not just the politically correct pabulum of previous commissions. What might such a commission recommend?

First, for government to be efficient, it must be responsible. That means that the folks who spend the money must answer to the people who pay the bills. It simply will not do to create a system in which some governmental officials get to spend money on their own constituencies that they did not need to raise in taxes. Or, put another way, the voters who benefit from spending must be the same ones who pay the bills, such as there is NEVER an incentive to stick another community with the costs of one’s own benefits.

In practice, this requires drawing governmental lines, assigning responsibility to each, and then absolutely proscribing "pork" – that is, cross subsidies. The state is absolutely prohibited from underwriting costs in localities. NO municipal aid, no $$$ for municipal buildings or community centers. Municipalities do what they do, the state does what it does, and the two do not mix.

So, to use an obvious example, take schools. First, eliminate elected Boards of Education. Instead, the Governing Body of each municipality appoints a superintendent, who appoints principals, who hires teaches. NO ONE gets tenure. No one gets a pension (everyone gets a 401(k) option). No one receives health benefits (the costs of providing same would be calculated, everyone’s salary increased accordingly, and the benefits abolished, the employees left free to secure such plan as they see fit to purchase) And the Governing Body answers to the people for its tax and spend decisions.

And further consider: what possible excuse exists for Morristown to exist, separate and distinct from Morris Township and Morris Plains? Or why two Hanovers, two Boontons, two Chesters, two Mendhams, two Rockaways? And Victory Gardens? Please.

39 municipalities in Morris County? Try 10-15 (which is still probably too high). Indeed, consider abolishing counties outright; if there were but 10 municipalities in Morris County, what purpose would a county government serve? Create an incentive for municipalities to merge, going straight to the people, over the heads of recalitrent local officials. If the bribe is big enough, the people will respond, and the savings, in the future, should be large.

Give each of the new municipalities the REAL ability to chart their own futures, such as either abolishing the state income tax and permitting a local option. Or, if the state is concerned respecting the necessity for a more equitable distribution of school funds than would otherwise occur by municipality, accord each child an equal voucher, redeemable for an education (or refunded to parents for home schooled kids).

The reason government is so expensive now is that (a) there’s too much of it; (b) powerful special interests have an incentive to get it to vote them money at others’ expense. If we reduce the size and scope of government, make it directly answerable to the people it governs, many of the problems would – if not disappear – at least become manageable. People would stop writing to their state officials about property taxes, because the problem would rest with the Mayor. Pension and health benefits would cease to be an issue, since neither would be provided by the state (or localities), but would be bought by the employees themselves. Pork would be prohibited.

Now, any plan offered by such a commission which is not politically dead on arrival simply isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. If it doesn’t offend the NJEA, CWA, School Board Association, League of Municipalities, County Officials, etc., it’s obviously way too tepid.

Is Corzine serious? Perhaps. Conservatives, they say, are liberals mugged by reality. The only way to stop the inexorable growth of government spending is to ensure that the people doing the spending are the same folks paying the bills. Any incentive to vote oneself, one’s friends, or one’s constituency money must be wrung out of the system.

A Governor with vision could make this happen, provided (a) that he accepted the likelihood of being a one term governor, more unpopular even that McGreevey or Bush and (b) that he single mindedly pursues an aggressive agenda, likely against the folks in his own Party who (rightly) fear for their political lives. It means ruling by blue pencil, playing political hardball, keeping the Legislature in session, cutting unusual political deals.

All of which tends to militate against the thought that the Guv is really serious.

But, only Nixon could go to China....