NJ.com - Daggett:' I Can Win'
News Article
BY MARK J. BONAMO
Hackensack Chronicle
MANAGING EDITOR
At the beginning of the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial campaign, only a select group of Garden State policy wonks had ever heard of Christopher J. Daggett. But Daggett, 59, a private environmental consultant who lives in Basking Ridge, entered the race anyway. He touts his record as deputy chief of staff and Department of Environmental Protection commissioner under former Republican Gov. Thomas H. Kean, his appointment by former President Reagan as regional administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and his chairmanship of an environmental permitting panel formed by Gov. Jon Corzine.
With his policy credentials and bi-partisan work record, Daggett has chosen an unusual path to the Statehouse in Trenton. He is running as an independent, without the financial backing a major party affiliation brings. Despite this, Daggett raised just enough money to qualify for public "matching funds" and a spot in televised debates this fall.
It was at the first debate on Oct. 1 that Daggett gained attention on the statewide stage, when New Jersey voters watched as he coolly articulated his property tax cut plan with humor amidst the crossfire between Corzine, the Democratic incumbent, and Republican challenger Christopher Christie. With the race now almost dead even between Corzine and Christie, Daggett has become a player in the race in its final weeks, polling as high as 17 percent. But in an interview, Daggett reminded voters that governing New Jersey is not a game. It's a job strictly for grown-ups.
Mark J. Bonamo: You're running against Gov. Jon Corzine, a former Wall Street CEO, and Chris Christie, a former U.S. Attorney. How does your experience qualify you to be governor of a state that is expected to have an $8 billion budget deficit?
Christopher Daggett: I have more experience than both of them bringing people together with different ideological positions and backgrounds to solve very difficult problems. I've done it over and over again in my years with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection, in the non-profit world and in the private sector. To me, that's what good government is about.
Jon Corzine was first a bond trader then the co-chair of Goldman Sachs, which was not particularly a bottom line responsibility job where he had to manage much. Then he went to the U.S. Senate, and then he became governor. So he came to the governorship without much of any management experience.
Chris Christie has had experience in his role as a federal prosecutor in tearing people down to bring people to justice, not bringing them together to solve problems. He has a set of skills totally unrelated to being governor.
MJB: You have stated that your tax plan will make New Jersey's tax system fairer and more equitable and lead to a 25 percent property tax cut up to $2,500 for all New Jersey homeowners. Why would your tax plan work?
CD: Right now, we have a large over-reliance on property taxes in New Jersey. The property tax alone takes in a couple of billion dollars more in revenue than the combination of sales, corporate and state income taxes. I want to expand the 7 percent sales tax to sectors of the service economy such as accountants, lawyers and architects to raise revenue by $4 billion. It's a more balanced and fairer system that better reflects the changes in our economy from a focus on goods to a focus on services, and it will knock down property taxes by $4 billion.
MJB: Wouldn't the expansion of the sales tax to sectors of the service economy actually hurt the state in the long run and potentially lead to greater job loss in New Jersey?
CD: I don't think so at all. This is a wealthy state, and the services I propose to expand the sales tax to are used by people with a lot of disposable income. The losses that people might have from expanding the sales tax is more than offset by the tax cuts that someone gets in the form of their personal property taxes. The sales tax expansion would not include business-to-business services. More importantly, my plan stimulates the economy to bring more businesses to New Jersey and keep existing businesses in the state.
MJB: How does your tax plan help cities such as Hackensack and suburban areas such as most of Bergen County?
CD: It makes people feel that they want to live here because they won't be crushed by local property taxes. It will make them feel like life can be affordable here.
MJB: Part of your tax plan includes a property tax credit tied to the imposition of a cap on municipal, county and school district budgets based on the Consumer Price Index. If these budgets go over the cap, homeowners in these municipalities would not be eligible for the new property tax credit. Would the cap make the property tax credit too hard to realize in a state with 566 highly independent municipalities?
CD: Just because it's tough doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it. People have to acknowledge the truth about the facts facing us with respect to the state budget and the state of the economy. It's tough, but it's fair. It's doable if people have the will and the desire to do it.
MJB: There has been considerable criticism of Chris Christie's campaign regarding his reluctance to issue a specific tax plan. Can he still win this race if he comes up with one in the final weeks before Election Day?
CD: He's not interested in that. He's going to stick with his plan, which is no plan. He says he'll cut taxes across the board, save the property tax rebate, save your income tax deductions from property taxes, but he doesn't really say how. And never mind if the math doesn't add up.
MJB: Do you agree with Gov. Corzine's changes to the state school funding formula? Would you keep these changes to the funding formula as governor?
CD: It's a good step in the right direction. Having the money meant to help poorer children follow the child, and not the zip code of whatever specific district they live in, is not a bad idea in my mind. We just have to watch the plan to make sure that it's doing what it's intended to do.
MJB: Regarding education, you also expressed support for merit pay and no tenure for new teachers. Teacher unions are very strong in this state. Will this policy idea work?
CD: It better work because we can't afford what we're doing now. The teacher pension system, and the pension benefits system for all public employees, is basically insolvent right now. And what profession other than teaching allows people to have a guaranteed lifetime job?
I went through the public school system, and so did my kids. But although I'm a deep believer in the public schools, I'm also a deep believer in accountability. We have spent billions in the urban areas, and we have schools there where we have a greater than 50 percent drop out rate. First, we have to fix the schools. And if we can't do that, we have to supply other options, including expanding charter schools and if necessary go to the voucher system. I don't care what it takes. I want our kids to have the opportunity to get the same education that I did.
MJB: The first televised gubernatorial debate took place on the same day as opening arguments in the federal corruption trial of former Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero. How would you clean up corruption in New Jersey, and how would you do it better than Gov. Corzine or Mr. Christie?
CD: It is not just about arresting people who break the law. It's setting a tone. Right now, we have a culture of corruption that says let's do anything we can to evade playing by the rules and find ways to game the system. This includes things like pension padding, which includes part-time workers becoming part of the pension system, including part-time legislators.
It's also about ending hypocrisy. Both Gov. Corzine and Christie have said that they are against pay-to-play and want stricter ethics standards. But the two of them did not oppose the spending by special interests of large sums of money in their campaigns funneled through the Democratic and Republican Governors Associations. That money paid for all of the negative campaign ads this summer.
The worst of all of it is Chris Christie prides himself on his high level of ethics, and yet his brother Todd Christie contributed $200,000 to the Republican Governors Association.
You can't have it both ways. An independent can make changes to the tone we have now in New Jersey far better than the other candidates can.
MJB: What are your views on health care?
CD: We need to pass a national health care bill, but frankly that bill is not going to help New Jersey as much as people think it might, because we are already doing many things that would be mandated as part of any health care bill.
We need to get a greater portion of Medicaid dollars. Right now, we are only getting 50 cents on the dollar, while some other states are getting as much as 72 cents on the dollar. We have to encourage our Congressional delegation to get a better proportion of Medicaid dollars than we do.
MJB: As an independent candidate, you have experienced difficulty in many New Jersey counties getting your position on the ballot prominently placed. How concerned are you about your ballot position?
CD: I think that it's inherently unfair the way the system is set up. The two main parties get the first two columns, and then 10 candidates split five columns, each getting a different row, making it look like they're running as partners. People will just have to look a little bit harder.
MJB: Bergen County is one of the most densely populated counties in the most densely populated state in the nation. What would you do as governor to help preserve remaining open space?
CD: We have to make the best use of brownfields and convert them into open space, and take existing parks and make them better. A constitutionally dedicated source of funding that I've proposed would help us promote open space programs.
MJB: Out of over 529,000 registered voters in Bergen County, approximately 248,000 are independents, which is nearly 70,000 more than registered Democrats and Republicans combined. How do you get these voters to come to your side?
CD: As they learn about me and learn about my policies, they gravitate towards me. You can see it in the polls.
MJB: Is your campaign the ultimate lighting rod for voter anger in New Jersey?
CD: I certainly hope so. I'm counting on part of that idea for sure. I'm telling the truth. My policies and my message make sense.
MJB: One common concern in this gubernatorial campaign is the increasing number of people choosing to leave New Jersey. Why have you decided to stay? Why do you want to be governor?
CD: I love this state, and I refuse to give up on it without trying to make it better. My campaign may be based on ideas, but I'm trying to convey that sense of passion to the voters every day. No one will out work me ever. It's time to end politics as usual.
MJB: Can you really win this race, or are you just a spoiler for the other two main candidates?
CD: Absolutely I can win. There is an enormous amount of disaffected Democrats and Republicans. Most of the people voting for Christie or Corzine are voting against the other guy. I know that there are enough people who feel like it's time for a change and time to vote for an independent candidate. We just have to get people to think like the 1973 New York Mets, who said You gotta believe!" If we do that, I win in a walk.
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