Lame economy, Lamer ducks

Abstract

The last time a lame duck was in Drumthwacket was 2008, when ® ^ Chris Christie was measuring the curtains in Jon Corzine's office.

The last time a lame duck was in Drumthwacket was 2008, when ® ^ Chris Christie was measuring the curtains in Jon Corzine's office.

With the downturn in full swing and austerity the buzzword in the hallways of the capital, Corzine asked the Legislature to use the lame-duck period to find $400 million to cut from the fiscal year budget, meaning business lobbyists were mostly playing defense to avoid drastic cuts to incentives programs.

In hindsight, they had nothing to worry about. While Corzine signed off on some lucrative incentive programs, under Christie, the biggest awards have extended well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The justsigned Economic Opportunity Act is only the latest example.