Governor is selective on his budget cuts

Governor Chris Christie’s gubernatorial campaign was endorsed by the Family Research Council Action PAC, a conservative Christian group that supports pro-family candidates and pro-family issues in elections and ballot initiatives around the country. However, contrary to supporting pro-family issues, Gov. Christie’s proposed budget cuts spell disaster for middle-class New Jersey families, from children to seniors. Our governor plans to short the school funding formula by more than $1 billion while giving a billion dollar tax break to people earning over $400,000 a year, hurting school districts in both the suburbs and cities. The New Jersey School Boards Association surveyed school officials about state aid cuts and found that 268 districts would lay off teachers, 185 would make cuts to their education programs, 206 would reduce the number of extracurricular activities and 96 would charge students an activity fee for the first time. How can these drastic cuts to New Jersey’s educational system possibly enhance our state and ultimately, at what cost to our children’s futures? The governor also wants to establish a $350 annual deductible for Medicaid and increase brand name drug co-pays from $7 to $15 for the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled program: 150,000 low-income New Jersey seniors depend on PAAD for their medications, and often these are life-saving drugs. Does this spell charity for senior citizens or the pharmaceutical companies? Is this what they mean by “death-panels?” While human service agencies are being compromised and downsized by state aid cuts, the need for assistance is rising, as people are losing their jobs. Would you call Gov. Christie’s refusal to renew an income tax increase on the wealthy that could have raised $1 billion to offset these cuts, pro-family Christian values? Have we been duped? Bonnie Rubin Highland Lakes