Running for governor in 2025, Senator Jon Bramnick (R-21) told InsiderNJ that one-party rule in Trenton continues to result in diminished checks and balances, as Democrats simply spend with impunity. This year’s budget proposal by Governor Phil Murphy fits snugly within the ruling party’s grand tradition of increasing annual spending, this time to a record-high $56 billion, or three-percent more than last year’s $54.3 billion budget.

“I don’t think we should talk about a budget in just a one-year term,” Bramnick told InsiderNJ this morning as he prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Budgets should be looked at over a long period of time. People say, ‘what would you do,’ and I say, ‘wait a minute, we’d have to start three years ago or four years ago.’ Take over this budget today – ok – but we have to view this over the past few years.”

Bramnick gets along with Murphy. But that doesn’t mean he likes the budget the Democratic governor put forward last week, or agrees with the crux of Murphy’s characterization of his budget priorities.

“Specifically in this year’s budget to say, ‘I want a more fair New Jersey,’ if you want it to be more fair, why cut funding from 150 school districts?” Bramnick asked. “I’m convinced there’s way to take a little more from districts that got a lot more and make sure no one gets cut. As governor, I would make it more fair. In a two- party process you wouldn’t see 150 schools with budget cuts. It’s not fair to cut music, arts, and sports. It’s not fair to add more than a billion in special projects when you have to cut education.”

Democrats routinely fund things like a French museum in Jersey City or golf courses in Essex County.

“I really like Phil Murphy but how’s that more fair?” Bramnick wanted to know. “Domino’s club versus arts classes in Toms River is more fair? A golf course in Essex versus high school sports being cut in Brick is more fair? That’s not fair. If you spend a billion more, why are there no cost of living raises to police officers and firefighters when they haven’t had a cost-of-living increase in a decade?”

As governor, Bramnick said he would oversee unannounced audits of public institutions to insure that state money gets to the taxpayers. “I’m talking to people in the middle of the state, moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans. I don’t need to hate what he’s [the governor’s] doing. I want to expose the fact that it’s not that fair. It is overwhelmed by the left-wing and it is a partisan budget; a partisan budget driven by one party rule. How do I know? There was not one meeting with one elected official prior to the delivery of that budget speech. If you had a Republican governor and Democrat legislators, I guarantee you everyone would have to be represented in the room. Then you wouldn’t see the kind of partisanship in this budget.

“My campaign for governor is to bring back balance in government,” Bramnick added. “There’s no pushback when you have one party rule. With what we have now, one party is not afraid of the voters. [Special project] money is a way to get reelected. There’s no two-party compromise and no consequences for overspending. There is an incredible thirst for a reasonable Republican to negotiate. If you go out there and scream and yell at the Democrats, guess what? The average voter is not going to like you and you will continue with one-party rule.”

In addition, the veteran GOP lawmaker says as governor he would prioritize a legislative overhaul of affordable housing standards in New Jersey. Right now, litigation connected to affordable housing requirements for municipalities continue to create considerable costs, which he would not ignore as a contextual component of the budget process. “It’s the wild west right now, which the legislature has abandoned for five years. We have had no attempt to handle this issue, and it’s a financial and economic disaster for municipalities. I would set the state up into three zones and we would determine the number of housing communities.”

Specifically regarding Governor Murphy’s budget proposal of a 2.5 percent Corporate Business Tax for businesses making over $10 million annually, Bramnick said, “I think it’s part of this global discussion about spending.”

As Democrats prioritize special projects they simultaneously “send a terrible message to the business community.”

“Finally, the context is I’m not voting for this budget and here’s why: if you’re not going to bring Republicans to the table, and you have the same amount of special projects you had in the past, don’t tell me you need a corporate business tax.”

Bramnick does not support any tax hike.

“I’ve always been in favor of a two percent tax on state spending,” said the senator. “We do it to municipalities. If you don’t put the state on a budget, you will have increased spending. I will have no problem saying no to this budget. Look at the last three or four years. When you get a lot of money in, in my business, if I have a successful year, I don’t spend the money. I put it in the bank. When COVID hit and we had to close that office, I didn’t sweat it. Everyone got paid. I didn’t spend in the good times and so had it in the bad. When you’re really successful, you save your money.”