Though Democrats in both houses of the lLgislature today agreed on a budget proposal to put forward in the coming week, not all in the caucus are on board with the proposal.
The agreement calls for Democrats to craft a budget that includes $180 million for a tax cut, but delay the implementation until later in the year in order to gauge the state’s economic performance.
State Sen. Barbara Buono told colleagues today she thinks the budget agreement is kowtowing to Gov. Chris Christie’s budget wishes, adding she does not intend to vote for the budget introduced by her caucus.
“I support delaying the tax cut because we don’t have the money, I support putting additional money that would have been used for the tax cut in the surplus and I support passage of the millionaire’s tax to fund a tax cut,” she said. “But there are too many objectionable components in the governor’s budget that I can’t vote for it.”
Buono said instead, the Senate should be preparing to make a stand against the governor.
But sources inside the caucus said Buono is the one auditioning – for a spot on next year’s Democratic gubernatorial ticket.
“I have no idea why she opposed this, other than it gives her another thing to point to that she opposed,” said one Democratic source. “She wants to look like she is fighting at all costs. Even if there is nothing to fight with.”
State Sen. Dick Codey also was not fully on board with the plan, sources said. The former governor did not return calls for comment.
The Senate will no doubt get its 21 votes to pass the budget, sources say, but not everyone is in agreement.
One Democratic source said the party hopes that by passing a budget using Christie’s certified revenue figures, which they say are bloated and overly ambitious, they will set the governor up for embarrassment in six months when the state has not met the projections. At that point, they can shoot down the tax cut when revenue collections are off.
“What people aren’t getting is that by holding on to the (tax cut) money, they are giving the governor a story,” one source said. “He’s going to say ‘look I wanted to give you a tax cut and the money is there but the Democrats won’t release it.’”