NJ Governor’s Debate – Two on One
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
CBS 2 Political Analyst

So the first gubernatorial debate in New Jersey is over and what have we learned from it?  Most significantly, Democrat Jon Corzine is thrilled that Independent Chris Daggett is in the race.  Daggett and Corzine look like they were in a WWE tag team handicap match against Republican Chris Christie. 

Corzine and Daggett took turns letting  everyone know that Christie has no plan to solve New Jersey’s fiscal problems, which amount to an over $8 million budget deficit and counting.  We also learned that Christie is not moving off the dime and insists that it makes no sense for him to offer specific proposals on the budget because he isn’t governor yet.  But what’s ironic is that while all of us, including me, are frustrated by Christie’s lack of specificity on the budget, he’s actually right.  Saying what you would do in detail as governor is easy but, in many ways, it’s irresponsible.

Consider that four years ago Jon Corzine specifically promised to increase property tax rebates by 40%...How’s that going?  Further, Daggett talks about cutting property taxes by 25%.  But how exactly would a governor do that since property taxes are established by local elected officials?  I didn’t hear Daggett say that he would mandate forced consolidation of services for local municipalities. 

Daggett was clearly the funniest and most entertaining of the three, and the Governor was adequate enough. As for Christie, he was the most forceful and dominant, but not necessarily the most appealing.  In person, Christie is engaging, an easy conversationalist, and quite funny.  But in this debate, and on the campaign trail, that part of his personality hasn’t shown.

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