“He uses clear language, he doesn’t mince words, he’s funny, and he says what he thinks.”

So said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute describing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and reported in The New York Times. He has been relentless, ruthless and a welcome type of politician that is honest and does what needs to be done to get the budget balanced and live within their means. Hopefully he will continue to be the man he is today: honest, courageous, and blunt.

“The most important thing in public life, in a job like governor, is for the people you’re representing to know exactly where you stand,” Mr. Christie said in an interview on Friday. “People who disagree with me on things at least have a sense of comfort in knowing where I’m coming from.”

In a mostly blue state where Democrats control the Legislature, Mr. Christie, a Republican, won election last year mostly because of the deep unpopularity of his opponent, Gov. Jon S. Corzine. Mr. Christie, a former federal prosecutor known for aggression rather than deal-making, took office to predictions that his hard-charging style would not work in the labyrinth of Trenton, where factions of party, region and interest group would slow him down.

Instead, he confronted the powerful public employees’ unions and won, cutting future pensions and benefits, and persuaded voters to defeat hundreds of local school budgets. He got nearly everything he wanted in the state budget, making the deepest cuts in generations. And the Assembly is expected this week to give final passage to one of his cherished goals: a cap on local property taxes.

The governor has repeatedly used his powers more confrontationally than his predecessors, wading into school budget fights, freezing the actions of semiautonomous public authorities and breaking with tradition by refusing to reappoint a State Supreme Court justice.

“I think we all underestimated his political skill coming in,” said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University. “You can’t deny that he’s been a tour de force in Trenton. He has managed to control the legislative agenda more than other governors, despite having a Legislature controlled by the opposite party".

"New Jersey Governor Defies Political Expectations" By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA; Published: July 11, 2010

"Mr. Freeze"

Leadership: As politicians spend America into the fiscal abyss, Republican Gov. Chris Christie has a novel idea: Freeze spending. For such statesmanship, watch him be demonized like no one before.

In his first inaugural, President Reagan noted the spending constraints that individuals face and asked, "Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?" And in the most famous line from that speech: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

New Jersey's new governor, the successor of so many corrupt chief executives, is taking action that will make him, like Reagan, the focus of pure hate from those who think what taxpayers earn is Monopoly money to be treated according to the whims and desires of politicians, bureaucrats, union bosses and other power players.

"We must, and we will, shrink our government," Christie pledged as he addressed the legislature on Thursday...

..."New Jersey does not have a revenue problem," Christie told the lawmakers. "We already have higher taxes than any other state in the union. . . . What has it given us? 10.1% unemployment, a dormant economy and a failure of hope for growth in our future. Higher taxes (are) the road to ruin."

IMAGINE SUCH A NOVEL IDEA - TO TIGHTEN ONE'S BELT AND LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS! WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK THIS!

Read at IBD