Word: florio
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...issue isn't more or less government," New Jersey Governor James Florio says tersely. "It's dumb vs. smart government." Barely into his sixth month in office, Democrat Florio has been giving lessons to politicians across the country -- and in Washington -- not only about smart government but also about leadership. Using populist rhetoric and unconventional straight talk and tireless stumping for his programs, Florio, 52, has launched the largest barrage of government initiatives in the Garden State since Woodrow Wilson sat in Trenton from 1911 to 1913. More important, he has set out to demonstrate that voters' "common sense...
Faced with a projected 1991 deficit of $3 billion when he took office in January, Florio rejected the back-door approach of relying on increased "user fees" and "sin taxes" (on liquor and cigarettes) so popular among his peers. Instead he became the only Governor of this read-my-lips era to embrace the discarded notion of a progressive tax, which hits New Jersey's wealthiest residents hardest by doubling the bite on their income...
...taxes. Coupled with an almost equal amount in spending cuts, the money will not only allow New Jersey to dig itself out of debt but should also provide additional state education aid to relieve homeowners of one of the most onerous property-tax rates in the U.S. Here too Florio soaked the rich: the legislature approved a plan to shift the bulk of its education assistance from the wealthiest to the poorest districts by 1995, leaving the affluent to make up the difference on their...
Opponents have dubbed Florio "Robin Hood" for his overt redistribution of the tax burden, but the Governor is unapologetic. "Something historically significant is happening here," he boasted after his legislative victories. "This is a day we bring fairness to the children of New Jersey and to the beleaguered and besieged middle class." "Hardly," countered Assembly * minority leader Garabed Haytaian, who assails the new budget as a "farce, a tragedy of tax increases that will give us a Florio recession...