Posted: Thursday, 18 March 2010 5:39AM
As The Budget Bickering Heats Up, Jersey Residents Tune Out
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Seconds after Governor Christie finished his budget address on Tuesday, several special interest groups and
Democratic lawmakers launched a major attack on his proposed spending cuts - accusing the Governor of being unfair, insensitive and mean.
Not to be outdone, Governor Christie began his own verbal assault of his critics, in a series of e-mailed releases and TV appearances.
Seton Hall political science professor Joe Marbach says this back-and-forth sniping "will only contribute to the cynicism that already exists in New Jersey - there's a sense that politicians don't understand the needs and concerns of average citizens- that they're kind of playing inside baseball - and it all revolves around what's going on in Trenton…and as the level of discourse becomes louder and less civil, people are just going to turn away from it."
He says "the public in general is going to get tired of hearing the bickering…and to a certain extent, they're going to tune this out."
Marbach also points out if the tune out is broad enough it could hurt the Governor's efforts to push through the spending cuts he wants.
"If the public is not paying attention" he says, "then he certainly won't have that kind of support that he may need to put pressure on members of the legislature."
Montclair State political science professor Dr. Brigid Harrison agrees.
"This continuing bickering, and particularly the cynicism and the name calling" she says, "I think that's indicative of the kind of political war that we will see, and that's going to contribute to the cynicism that many people in the state feel- that government isn't listening to them - it isn't getting done what they want done…what this may mean is this political war could result in a shutdown of state government."
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