Editorial Pensions – Same issue, different tone this term

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What a difference a term makes. About this time in Chris Christie’s first turn in Drumthwacket, the governor was riding high on his ability to make villains of public unions — in particular, teachers. And he used the leverage he got from attacking them to force a historic bargain that required public workers to pay more into their…About this time in Chris Christie’s first turn in Drumthwacket, the governor was riding high on his ability to make villains of public unions — in particular, teachers. And he used the leverage he got from attacking them to force a historic bargain that required public workers to pay more into their pensions, in exchange for promises to begin fully funding the state’s share of the pension payments.

It’s a new day now, with the New Jersey Education Association last week walking away from the bargaining table and tossing the barbs at Christie for his failure to live up to his end of the deal. Perhaps the teachers are emboldened from fear of the berating they took from other unions when they worked with the governor to compromise the last time around, or maybe it’s just that Christie hasn’t been around to use them as a punching bag. Both sides are now gearing up for what promises to be a nasty battle before the state Supreme Court.

It’s a shame it’s come to this, because this is a hugely critical area for the state, as even a casual bystander could tell you. The most recent bond downgrade, by Moody’s, came in earlier this month, citing the financial structural imbalances that are fed, in part, by the pension mess. And the fact that it’s generating the kind of bad headlines usually reserved for property taxes and a lack of transportation funding is terrible for the perception of living and doing business here.

It’s not fair to blame Christie for the mess we’re in — the fine art of kicking the can down the road dates back several governors — but it’s also fair to say the problem has gotten worse on his watch. The pensions deal is the one big bipartisan accomplishment the governor can truly tout, but after holding up his end of the bargain for the first couple of years and making payments, he has backslid in a hurry.

We would prefer to see a legislative solution to this problem, or one hatched between the Christie team and the teachers, as opposed to one handed down by the courts. It’s clear to us that the unions have to have more skin in the game for this to work, but a deal’s a deal, and the governor needs to commit to making the promised payments into the system. Until his budgeting process better accounts for that, it’s hard to fault the unions for wanting what’s justly theirs.