By Howard Dean

From 1991 to 2003, I governed Vermont, the only state in the nation that doesn't require a balanced budget.

Nevertheless, we balanced the budget every year, through both Bush recessions and reduced the total bonded indebtedness of the state. We also eliminated pre-existing conditions from medical insurance policies, guaranteed health insurance to 99 percent of children under 18, and all pregnant women, drove down child abuse rates dramatically, and locked up hundreds of thousands of acres of farm and woodland that would never be developed.

We also were the first state in the nation to legislate marriage equality.

Progressive politics goes hand in hand with fiscal discipline. Eliminating "funny money" accounting, off the books spending, and passing obligations incurred by the Legislature onto local taxpayers is what makes progressive reforms sustainable.

And dedication to progressive reform in New Jersey is why a large majority of New Jersey voters elected Phil Murphy as New Jersey's new governor.

There is a desperate need for strong fiscal stewardship right now in New Jersey. That New Jersey needs a fiscal makeover is no surprise, and how it got to this point is no mystery. Across the years, governors and legislators of both parties perfected the art of pushing off to the future what they didn't want to deal with on any given day, with stopgap spending and fiscal gimmicks designed to only get the state to the next budget, where the cycle of games would begin anew.

This is the New Jersey Gov. Murphy inherited. And, as promised, Phil intends to put an end to these games once and for all.

For years New Jersey acted like an irresponsible shopper with a wallet full of credit cards and no restraint, opening up a new card when the first one was maxed out, but then never paying off the balances. This is how the state has been able to promise its people one thing, but then -- with no sustainable way to pay for it -- turn away after only a year or two, after the funding ran out.

But now, the IOU's have come due.

The state's top-tier public education system was underfunded by $9 billion over the past eight years, adding to a big increase in local property taxes. NJ Transit, the once nationally renowned bus-and-rail mass transit system utilized by more than 850,000 riders every day, is in disarray after being defunded by 90 percent.

In addition, middle-class and working families, seniors, and small businesses have shouldered greater tax burdens while the wealthiest residents and biggest corporations were sheltered by preferential tax policies.

Phil Murphy is determined to restore fiscal sanity and honesty in accounting practices in Trenton without continuing to pass the burden on to hardworking middle class New Jerseyans.

Murphy needs your help.

Let your Assembly members and state senator know that you've had enough of short term financial gimmicks that always end up costing you. Pass Murphy's budget package and stop New Jersey's decline now.

Howard Dean was governor of Vermont and a former chairman of the National Democratic Committee. He is a consultant and commentator.

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