By: centraljersey.com
In the space of one week, Hillsborough hosted both the area’s congressman and the state’s governor.
The township should consider it an honor.
Last Wednesday, Feb. 23, Congressman Leonard Lance drew a crowd of 85 that wanted to have their say to their representative in Washington, D.C. There were as many people wishing to get things off their chest as question the congressman on his views or votes.
Yesterday, Gov. Chris Christie came to the same township municipal hall to press his arguments for his proposed state budget and the realities of what he’s calling "The New Normal." It’s a combination of more sacrifice from public-sector workers and cuts to services across the board.
We’re not sure why Hillsborough was chosen on either occasion. Hillsborough was next on Mr. Lance’s rounds of town hall sessions; his session had been postponed earlier in the month due to snowy weather. The governor, too, was making the rounds yesterday. Hillsborough was likely a convenient and welcoming destination on his circuit for the day.
At Mr. Lance’s session, people came to press him from both sides of the political spectrum. Conservatives urged him to keep on cutting the federal budget; he was one of the votes in the House that passed a $61 billion reduction to the current year’s budget.
But there were people on the left who were just as upset with his votes to repeal last year’s historic health care law, to end federal money for Planned Parenthood, and to extend the so-called Bush-era tax cuts in an age of zooming federal deficits.
Gov. Christie restated his position on the state budget – that a fiscal mess long in the making has to be addressed now. While not threatening public-sectors’ right to collective bargaining, Gov. Christie wants state and local government workers, emergency services and teachers, among many, to share more fully in the costs of their health insurance and pension benefits. New Jersey cannot afford the generous benefits it has granted in the past, he says. And it cannot continue to send state tax dollars back to local governments and schools on the plane it has for years – at least not for now, he maintains.
Hillsborough is receptive territory for Republicans, and that may be some answer to why politicians trek here to make their cases. But it is also a tribute to its fine facilities, receptive hosts and civic-minded citizenry that the officials knew they would be treated to a smooth-running ceremony with thoughtful interest from residents in the township and beyond.
