Why progressives should back Sweeney's spending cuts | Moran

Progressive voters gave Phil Murphy a decisive win last year after he promised a muscular expansion of government that would guarantee every child a shot at college, every toddler a quality preschool, and every commuter a reliable train or bus at affordable rates.

But he ignored the fiscal crisis, and now it sits squarely in his path. The crisis is not of his making, but it could be his undoing. Unless he changes course, it will extinguish all the hopes he raised during the campaign.

That's the dilemma for progressives. They like Murphy, and he's delivering on those promises that don't cost much, from climate change to pay equity to fighting President Trump on every front.

But NJ Transit's budget this year went up just 4 percent, barely above the inflation rate, nothing close to what's needed to answer the crisis. Grand hopes of universal access to community college were scaled back to a minor bump in scholarship money. Public schools got a small boost, finally, but remain far short of the full funding Murphy hopes to deliver. Some poor districts, like Jersey City, saw steep declines in state aid even though they remain way below the Supreme Court's mandated level of spending.

And Murphy has proposed nothing of grand consequence to answer several meaty challenges, like property taxes, the opioid epidemic and affordable housing. The fiscal crisis is tying his hands.

That's why progressives need to support Senate President Steve Sweeney's efforts to cut pension and health benefits for public workers, despite their misgiving about him personally, and their natural sympathy for unions.

Sweeney's plan can be tweaked, and it will be. Union leaders like Hetty Rosenstein of the Communication Workers of America have already raised thoughtful objections. Why are police and firefighters exempted from the changes, while lower paid state workers face cuts? Why should the state bypass collective bargaining when her union has proven to be a reasonable negotiating partner, recently saving workers and taxpayers $1.6 billion over three years by revamping contracts for prescription drug purchases?

But the hard fact is that limiting benefits further is the only realistic path back to solvency. The alternative, as Rosenstein concedes, is a never-ending series of tax hikes.

That is not going to fly in a state that already pays the fifth highest state and local taxes in the country. It's risky economics, since the state's economy is already stagnating. But it's even more unrealistic when you consider the politics.

There is no way the Democratic legislature is going to put its majority at risk by following Murphy down that path. Both Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, are ferociously opposed to going beyond the $1.5 billion in tax hikes they approved this year. Even the most liberal voices in the legislature, like Sens. Joe Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, say the priority now must be to cut spending.

Murphy is the unlucky governor who is paying a price for two decades of neglect by governors of both parties, starting with Christie Whitman. All of them ran up the state's credit card, and with the first pension fund on course to run dry by 2022, the bill is now due.

If you want a shock, consider how deep the hole is. The state is spending $3.2 billion on pensions this year, and that is rising to $7 billion by 2024. If previous governors had paid their bills on time, the cost would be under $700 million a year, freeing up enough money to finance all of Murphy's dreams, with money left over for significant tax cuts. We are in this jam because of the bipartisan malpractice of our state government over two decades.

Sweeney is a conservative Democrat and the unions hate him, mostly because he teamed up with Gov. Chris Christie to cut benefits in 2011. But neither the unions nor the governor has offered a better approach. Sweeney is showing them what leadership demands. If they don't like his plan, they need to propose their own.

More: Tom Moran columns 

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

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