Former New Jersey governor, congressman James Florio dies at 85

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: 6ABC/AP

TRENTON, New Jersey -- Former New Jersey Gov. James Florio, who championed a plan that substantially raised the state's sales and income taxes leading to his reelection defeat in 1993, died Sunday. He was 85.

His law partner Doug Steinhardt and current New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed Florio died in statements on Monday. "Governor Florio was a fighter who never backed down. He was a leader who cared more about the future of New Jersey than his own political fortunes," Murphy, a fellow Democrat, said in a statement.

Link to tweet

Florio was a longtime public servant who held numerous posts on the local, county, state and federal levels.

A Democrat, he made three unsuccessful runs for the governor before finally succeeding in 1989, when he defeated Republican Jim Courter and became the first Italian-American to serve as the state's chief executive.

Read more: https://6abc.com/jim-florio-dies-former-nj-governor-congressman-new-jersey-gov/12267891/

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Governor Florio was a fighter who never backed down. He was a leader who cared more about the future of New Jersey than his own political fortunes.
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8:31 AM · Sep 26, 2022

NJ certainly has had some iconic Governors. R.I.P.

[Wicked Blue]

1. Florio wrote the Superfund bill

He drafted the legislation that protected the NJ Pine Barrens.

He fought hard to clean up and protect the NJ environment.

RIP Gov. Florio

[H2O Man]

2. +1

[H2O Man]

3. Recommended.

[The Wizard]

4. Balanced the budget

without gimmicks. He raised taxes to cover the State's operating budget as demanded by the NJ Constitution. He was beat by Christie Whitman because she cut taxes and paid for the operating budget with bonds, an act considered verboten . We are still paying back Whitman's loan with interest. I met him a couple of times. He was a straight shooter and a good Governor.

[Wicked Blue]

5. Correct

From what I heard, Whitman raided the pension funds of various government employees and teachers to cut taxes. One of my friends in the teachers' union was boiling furious about it at the time.

[Grins]

6. "...substantially raised the state's...taxes leading to.."

A BALANCED BUDGET!!!!!!!

NJ was in deep shit because of the previous GOP Governor, so Florio did what was necessary - did what Reagan did and raised taxes - and balanced the budget.

And for that bit of good governance, Republicans went after him and ungrateful NJ voted him out, and Christine Whitman in and - back into the budget hole, only deeper.