Journalism and Media Studies Department News

March 18, 2009

How will the current economic and budgetary strains in New Jersey -- and the protracted battles and debates in Trenton over the state budget -- affect New Jersey's gubernatorial election later this year? Richard Lee, a SCILS Ph.D. student and a communication professional with more than 30 years experience in journalism, politics, and public relations, examined the forces at work in Trenton and at kitchen tables across New Jersey in an Op-Ed piece for The Record of Bergen County, N.J.:

Lee writes:

"ELECTED OFFICIALS are fond of drawing comparisons to household budgets in order to explain the intricacies of governmental fiscal policies. We have heard mayors, governors and even presidents maintain that the approach families take to make ends meet is similar to what a government must do to balance its budget.

"They identify their most important priorities, and they change their spending habits to live within their means. That's exactly what those of us in this chamber must do in this budget season," Governor Corzine told the Legislature when he delivered his annual budget address last week.

The analogy is a good one – but only to a point. A family balancing its budget does not have to gain majority support from a legislative body – nor does a family need to worry about keeping constituencies happy and getting reelected.

Lee, who has served as an Adjunct Instructor at Rutgers University and Mercer County Community College, is pursuing a Ph.D. in Media Studies while also serving as Director of Communications at the Hall Institute of Public Policy. He writes that the shifting information environment will change the way New Jersey residents make decisions at the ballot box in 2009.

Families still sit around the kitchen table discussing how to make end meets, but much of the information voters use to decide which candidate to support comes not from substantive debate and dialogue, but rather from the likes of quick sound bites, Internet postings and YouTube videos — any one of which has the potential to influence the results of an election.

How things will play out this year remains to be seen, but we can be certain that the final budget that emerges over the next few months will have a significant impact for New Jersey not only in November, but for years to come.