Senator Steven Oroho, a Republican member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement about a Bloomberg News report that says the leader of New Jersey’s second-largest public employee union is telling her members not to vote to accept the governor’s furlough and wage freeze for 2010. If state workers reject the measures and the costly concessions the governor made to win their support, it could leave a more than $300 million hole in the budget, Oroho pointed out.
“The question is the governor will act on his tough talk and really impose 7,000 layoffs on state workers during an election year, or will he cave in again and come back with an even more generous counteroffer as the budget deadline of June 30 looms,” Oroho said. “The Legislature is running out of time, and the Constitution won’t let us approve a budget that is $300 million out of balance.”
Oroho noted that the budget document has yet to be made public, and that some Democrats continue to say they won’t vote for it without changes. A no-vote by the state’s powerful public employee unions would further erode support for a budget that is already hard to tolerate because of its reliance on billions of dollars of one-shots and gimmicks that could create the biggest deficit in state history in 2011, Oroho said.
“The governor needs to state with conviction that he will not back down from his threat of layoffs, or he needs to state publically that he will impose furloughs and wage freezes whether the unions agree or not,” Oroho said. “School districts, municipalities and health care providers desperately need certainty about the budget to prepare for next year.
“We need leadership from our governor that has been absent so far in his first term,” Oroho said. “If he felt he needed union support before imposing furloughs, it was irresponsible not to have this matter settled by now. Budget brinksmanship and chaotic leadership are hurting taxpayers and voters. We need a change, and quick.”
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June 8, 2009
