According to a recent report from the Center for Public Integrity, New Jersey has the highest rating for corruption busting in the United States. Certainly better than California, and much more so than more "Republican" states like Georgia, which scored at the bottom, New Jersey's reputation for responsible rule surprises many who have characterized the mid-Atlantic state as a media-hyped amalgam of neurotic mobsters, spoiled beach bums, and crass politicians who love sticking it to the Big Apple just across the Hudson River.
However, I am not surprised that the Garden State has earned such high marks. Ever since Governor Chris Christie came to office, he has cut spending, drastically lowered New Jerseyans' tax burden, and has stopped all wasteful projects which threaten both the solvency and efficacy of the Garden State. Swearing to limit government and cut cozy handouts to public sector unions, Governor Christie and his sometime estranged legislature have demonstrated an elected maturity to put the needs of the voters ahead of party and political partisanship, all of which, if left unchecked, will contribute to a culture of corruption time and again.
Without a doubt, Governor Christie's experience as a federal prosecutor also afforded him time and practice to forge an identity for attacking waste and fraud. Taking down corrupt and inept bureaucrats, civic leaders, and even crooked religious figures, Christie enhanced his and New Jerseyans' distaste for Big Government, an unsavory development which sickens the rule of law and threatens the financial stability of any state.
No longer a thoroughfare for corruption, New Jersey is an example of limited government as the essential element in establishing good government. From California to New York, governors and legislatures, both left-leaning and conservative, are learning the hard lesson that pilfering the public pursue, even in the name of public good, is the central evil out of which corruption, dysfunction, and ultimately economic depression are borne. Only by attacking the problem at its root, by pruning back the size and scope of the state, can any governing body ensure the life and vitality of the entire body politic.
Once again, I hope that the voters in New Jersey take pride in having elected an executive who stood by his word, and by doing so stood up for the best interests of the voters, his state, and the country.
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