Printed in The Press of Atlantic City on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 in the Region section, page C6.

Corzine spokesman Josh Zeitz said Christie announced 219 of the same line-item spending cuts and freezes that Corzine had identified four weeks ago. Zeitz said the former governor had already targeted nearly half of the $2 billion in "dramatic" cuts Christie announced. "I guess they only count if you announce them on television," Zeitz said. "Compare that sum to the $4.4 billion that Corzine cut in midyear in (fiscal year) 2009 - without fanfare - and Christie is nothing but a grandstander."

I don't know why the full printed version isn't included in the on-line version but here's the link. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_8fbcb1aa-1a4d-11df-b11d-001cc4c002e0.html

You posted "I had a friend that served on the school board here in a northern N.J. town and he basically told me how thet literally wasted monies at the end of their fiscal year to avoid a surplus and hence not getting increased funding the following year."

Your friend is absolutely right, every school board in New Jersey does it, but it's not just the school boards. Every municipal and county government, every authority, commission and agency, every state college and university, every department in state government. Every entity that receives state funding goes on a spending spree toward the end of the fiscal year. How many school districts are there in New Jersey? How many municipal and county governments? How many authorities, agencies and commissions? How many colleges and universities? How many departments in the state? The waste is beyond belief!