NYT: Corzine Explains Budget Cuts to Angry Students at Rutgers [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Corzine Explains Budget Cuts to Angry Students at Rutgers
By DAVID W. CHEN
Published: March 28, 2006

NEWARK, March 27 — Getting a taste of the public anger over his proposed budget, Gov. Jon S. Corzine was greeted on Monday by a phalanx of 100 Rutgers students here protesting his plan to cut spending on higher education by $169 million, or 8 percent.

But instead of ignoring the chants of "Corzine Pay!" and "Fight the Cut!" Governor Corzine did something that politicians are generally trained to avoid doing: He waded into the crowd, asked for a bullhorn from a student protester and explained his policies, before fielding a couple of questions.

In a calm voice, Mr. Corzine told the students that his budget proposal, which was unveiled last Tuesday, was only a first step, and that reducing the cuts to higher education would be his highest priority. But he cautioned that the state had many worthy and pressing needs, one of them being elementary and secondary school education. And he hinted that colleges might need to make sacrifices and redouble their efforts to root out any budgetary flab.

"I understand how this impacts individual lives, and why you might be angry, but think about it in the holistic context of what we're trying to do for kids," he told the students after a swearing-in ceremony for Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen at Rutgers School of Law. "We have to do more than just look at one area of the budget when you want to challenge me."

The exchange marked the most dramatic — and most unscripted — moment yet in Mr. Corzine's fledgling efforts to explain and build support for his $30.9 billion budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which starts on July 1. Getting the most attention have been Mr. Corzine's proposals to raise the sales tax to 7 percent from 6 percent, and increases in other taxes, in hopes of plugging a projected shortfall of $4.3 billion. And for the past week, Mr. Corzine has devoted much of his time to explaining his rationale to various newspaper editorial boards and bond-rating agencies, some of which have offered tentative words of encouragement....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/28/nyregion/28corzine.html