Governor Christie

The Jon Corzine era, as the two thousand zeroes are likely to be remembered in New Jersey, is over. After six years as a U.S. senator and four years as governor of New Jersey, Corzine has stepped aside and gotten off the stage. Now the state is in the hands of noted reckless driver Chris Christie, who has taken over a state that's in a sorrier situation than his driving record. The state is broke, property taxes are through the roof, and thousands of people are unemployed.

Christie has vowed to get to work right away, promising to get more aid to the state's unemployment insurance fund, give property tax rebates as a stepping stone to property tax reform, reform higher education, streamline state regulations, and, uh, give tax cuts to the rich. Well, he might not get very far on that last point, given a Democratic legislature. But as he's is my state's governor now, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He seems to be ready to get right to work and play hardball for reforming the state's pension systems and saving the state's sports authority, which runs the Meadowlands complex. We have to give him a chance to sort things out and set new Jersey right. No pun intended.

Let's see what happens. It's going to be a short honeymoon, to be sure.