'We simply can't spend what we don't have', Gov. Christie says
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie spoke at a Statehouse news conference Thursday to announce he killed the plan for a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River.TRENTON — For Gov. Chris Christie, killing the biggest public works project in the country may have been the easiest political decision of his first year in office.
The governor, who said revised cost estimates for the Hudson River commuter train tunnel were skyrocketing, had to choose between angering some commuters and construction workers or burnishing his national reputation as a cost-cutter by, in the most public way, taking a stand against bloated government contracting.
"I know I sound like a broken record," Christie said. "We’re talking about another anywhere from $7 to $11 billion investment still to go. ... We don’t have it to spend. We simply can’t spend what we don’t have."
Christie, who faced sharp criticism from Democrats and transportation groups who said he will doom New Jersey to even more traffic jams in the next decade, supported the project during the campaign last year even though key campaign aides wanted him to oppose it.
Several former and current advisers to Christie said the campaign aides believed Christie could say no to the tunnel because it required a new station be built in Manhattan and for NJ Transit trains to go to a location different than Amtrak. Christie argued the money was already allocated and the benefits of the project outweighed its drawbacks, according to the advisers, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.
Once in office, Christie says he learned the $8.7 billion state price tag was growing quickly, even as he was slashing state spending and calling on public employees to go along with pension and benefits reform. With that, Christie floated the ultimate trial balloon: a 30-day halt to tunnel work so a revised and "reliable" cost projection could be put together.
That work stoppage was a simple gambit. Either contractors would bring their costs down to a point where he was willing to accept them or the governor would kill the project.
In that 30 days, the governor and his staff wanted to see whether there would be a serious political blowback, the advisers said. When there was none, Christie believed he had little to worry about when he delivered the news Thursday.
Political experts say the decision could boost Christie’s national image with only some risk of political pain at home.
"Particularly among the (out-of-state) deficit-minded Republicans and independents, this will be enormously popular. They don’t have to commute to New York, and Christie has become a fiscal hero," said Rutgers political scientist Ross Baker, an expert on national politics. "Whoever is the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 will be beating a path to Gov. Christie’s door to get him on the ticket."
Many political observers view Christie’s recent travels on behalf of other GOP candidates as a sign he is angling for a spot on the Republican ticket in two or six years. Christie has ruled out a run in 2012 and said he is not interested in a vice presidential nomination.
By killing the tunnel, Christie is turning his back on 6,000 jobs, which could prove to be a liability after vowing to improve New Jersey’s economy. Baker, however, said that’s a minor downside for a governor "very much inclined to stick his thumb in the eye of people who are not his supporters," such as Democratic-leaning unions and their members.
Princeton University public affairs professor Julian Zelizer said the decision adds another budget-crunching credential to Christie’s resume, but has risks. Suburban middle-class commuters — those most affected by Christie’s decision — are an important constituency and they tend to vote, Zelizer said.
"His attraction at the end of the day — being the budget cutting, socially moderate Republican — will be as a Republican who can deliver in blue state America," Zelizer said. "If he can’t do that, some Republicans will scratch their heads and say ‘Let’s go with a southerner.’"
Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin said it’s not clear how much fallout Christie will face because "there are lots of folks who didn’t even know the plans existed."
He noted, however, that long-term, the governor who says he’s fixing New Jersey could be tagged with putting it in the slow lane because if traffic gets worse, it "puts a halt on development. It puts a halt on job growth because people can’t get to work without having huge commutes."
Staff writer Mike Frassinelli contributed to this report.