Modest expectations for special session

Will the Legislature's special summer session eventually lead to substantial tax relief? Don't bank on it.
The cast of characters in the Democratic-controlled Legislature - a Legislature that has done nothing to address the state's financial or ethical problems for the past five years - hasn't changed. There's little evidence it has the will to implement the major changes needed to provide significant tax relief. Changes to the school funding formula. Civil Service reform. Changes in the way public employee contracts are negotiated. State-imposed mandates requiring reasonable employee contributions for health insurance. Pension rule changes. Forced consolidation of municipalities or school districts. County-administered government and schools. True pay-to-play reform.
The Democratic leadership also has stacked the deck to ensure the recommendations the special-session committees make will have a distinctly Democratic flavor. Unless the leadership changes its mind before Friday, each committee will consist of four Democrats and two Republicans - a ratio ill-suited to achieving political consensus.
There are two reasons for guarded optimism, however. Legislators are feeling the heat from their constitutents; many are actually starting to act as though they are fearful for their jobs if they don't act. And if Gov. Corzine is indeed planning to use New Jersey as a steppingstone to a run for the presidency, as many observers believe, he needs to turn this state around. He has no shot at becoming president - let alone being re-elected to a second term as governor - if he can't deliver on his promise to reduce the tax burden and transform the state's corrupt political culture.