Word: florio
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Jersey, Democratic Governor James Florio did some fast backpedaling after prompting the state legislature to enact a Robin Hood plan last year that would have used $1.1 billion in state taxes to raise the level of funding in poor school districts. When affluent voters expressed outrage, Florio agreed to shift $360 million of the school aid back to property-tax relief. His political standing was badly damaged; at board of education meetings in Florham Park, N.J., angry parents showed up seeking to turn their public school district into a private...
Every Governor in America last year could have recited the Jim Florio Rule of political survival: never mount an honest attack against a state deficit...
...Jersey Governor, who combined service cuts with the highest tax hike in the state's history, was all but tarred and feathered for his efforts. But now, with at least 29 states facing potential deficits, Florio's approach is beginning to seem almost prescient. In the past six weeks, Governors from California to Connecticut have been doing the unthinkable: they are trying to turn their fiscal disasters into political opportunities. First-term Governors, with all the bravura of newcomers, are the most ready to break the rules...
...Jersey, it is said that Bradley was punished by voters upset with Governor Jim Florio's $2.8 billion tax increase. That was part of it, but the main reason Bradley almost lost is that he threw away his ace. For 12 years Bradley was that rarest of breeds, a politician of decency, candor and intellect. "He looked at issues one at a time, voted as he thought right and never ducked," says G.O.P. consultant Roger Stone. Until this year. All of a sudden, the architect of the 1986 federal Tax Reform Act avoided taking a position on Florio's taxes...
...While Bradley suffered a Florio problem, Cuomo's meager showing represented a vote against Cuomo himself -- against his aloofness and his governance. "We must learn to do more with less," Cuomo said during his first term. But state spending has soared, New York's overall tax burden is in the stratosphere, the state's budget deficit is close to $1 billion, and Cuomo's massive spending programs are perceived as having had little if any impact on crime and poverty...