Stile: New reality hangs over Governor Christie's policies and attitude

[malaise]

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Stile_New_reality_hangs_over_Governor_Christies_policies_and_attitude.html?page=all
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A somber Governor Christie repeatedly warned Tuesday of a “looming crisis” where debt and pensions costs will gobble up nearly every nickel in revenue, hampering the state’s ability to build new schools or roads or beef up law enforcement.

But Christie’s annual budget address was largely shaped by a crisis that he never mentioned: the twin scandals that have engulfed his administration and hampered his ability to rule the State House with impunity.

Built around an “Attitude of choice” slogan, Christie’s choices of substance and style reflected the new scandal-shadowed reality. He didn’t call for a broad-based tax cut – a recognition, perhaps, that the proposal would probably get laughed out of the room by the ruling Democrats in the Legislature, and that voters would probably reject it as a cynical ploy to grab headlines and change the subject.

The attack-dog governor, who once urged reporters to “take a bat out” on Sen. Loretta Weinberg, was now casting himself in a kinder, gentler hue, an admirer of Gandhi, the great leader of non-violent resistance.

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