"Our principal problems are not the product of great global economic shifts or other vast, unforeseen forces. They are the creation of government."
So said New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman in her inauguration speech last Tuesday. Sounding themes from the Reagan Revolution, Whitman began her administration by calling for tax cuts, spending cuts, and the reduction of government regulation of the state's economy.
Last November, Whitman defeated incumbent Jim Florio in the country's most closely watched political contest. Florio was revered in national Democratic circles for proposing and signing the largest tax increase in New Jersey's history. Bill Clinton saw Florio as a political role model, and members of his administration campaigned extensively for Florio's reelection.
Florio led throughout most of the race as the Whitman campaign stumbled. Liberal Democrats crowed that raising taxes was not politically harmful and boasted that Florio's victory would reflect well on Clinton's reelection chances. But late in the campaign, Whitman unveiled a bold and daring economic plan. Calling for a thirty percent reduction in the state income tax and corresponding cuts in state spending, Whitman offered voters a radically different vision of New Jersey's future.
While The New York Times editorial page and Washington pundits scorned Whitman's plan as a return to supply-side economics, New Jersey voters responded with enthusiasm. Charging back from a 15 point deficit in the polls, Whitman became the first challenger ever to defeat a sitting New Jersey governor seeking reelection.
Whitman's victory shows that the Republican party will prosper when it offers a clear and well-defined alternative to the program of the liberal Democrats. The GOP does not need to moderate to recapture the White House in 1996 or to do well in this year's midterm elections. Republicans must forcefully articulate the conservative principles that have made our party great.
If there is any issue that unifies most Republicans, it is a commitment to economic freedom. We instinctively believe that the invisible hand of the free market works better than the clumsy hand of the government bureaucrat. Unfortunately, far too many Republicans, including George Bush, have voiced this rhetoric while implementing policies to increase taxes, government spending and business regulation. Such hypocrisy is extremely damaging to the GOP.
Thankfully, Whitman does not appear to be one of those Republicans. In her inaugural address, she pledged to implement her sweeping economic plan.
Surprising the audience, Whitman announced that she would immediately seek to cut income taxes by five percent effective Jan. 1, 1994, eliminate all taxes on those making less than $7,500 a year, and cut the corporate business tax. "If President Clinton and his Congress can reach backward into time and raise your taxes retroactively," she said, "your governor and your legislature can cut them retroactively."
With more income tax cuts coming in the following two years of Whitman's plan, New Jersey residents will receive over $1.4 billion in tax cuts over the next three years. She has promised to reduce state spending by five percent in order to maintain a balanced budget.
On other issues, Whitman promised to allow Mayor Brett Schundler to test a revolutionary school voucher program in Jersey City and to provide for public school choice, magnet schools, and charter schools in the rest of the state. To deal with violent crime, Whitman proposed to mandate life sentences without parole to anyone convicted of a third felony. Justifying her get-tough approach, she said "Criminals are not the victims of society. Society is the victim of criminals."
Christine Todd Whitman appears poised to join a select group of Republican governors on the cutting edge of reform. Along with Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, John Engler of Michigan and Carroll Campbell of South Carolina, Whitman is implementing on the state level the principles we will need to turn our country around in 1996. Conservatives around the nation should wish her the best of luck.
