Christie, Lonegan laud Pa. budget The N.J. Republicans say the larger state spends less. But experts assert a direct comparison is complicated.

A strange thing is happening in New Jersey's Republican primary for governor: Candidates are portraying Pennsylvania as a bastion of fiscal restraint and, by extension, Democratic Gov. Rendell as a right-minded fiscal leader.

Both major Republican candidates, Christopher J. Christie and Steve Lonegan, note that even though Pennsylvania is bigger and more populous than New Jersey, it has a smaller budget.

But budget experts in both states say the two count and spend money so differently, it is almost impossible to compare them. New Jersey sends more money to local schools, municipalities and courts than does Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has local income taxes; New Jersey doesn't.

Still, the GOP candidates are singing the praises of the Keystone State and its top Democrat, who also is a former national Democratic Party chair.

In a stump speech, Lonegan said: "If you look across the river to Pennsylvania, a state with more land and more population, their [2009] budget is $28 billion - they've managed to keep spending under control." And, on Feb. 11, he began a radio ad by saying: "They've managed to keep spending under control."

Christie, in a recent interview, said: "Look at the Pennsylvania state budget. They have 45 percent more people, more than three times the land mass as New Jersey, and $6 billion less in spending. So how is it that I don't see anybody picketing Harrisburg and saying to Ed Rendell, 'You're not providing services'? He's the most popular governor in the region."

New Jersey and Pennsylvania do have different spending habits, which accounts for the difference in budgets.

Sharon Ward, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, said that when state and local budgets were added up, "Pennsylvania spends more than New Jersey."

In 2006, according to the latest available overall state and local spending figures compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, Pennsylvania spent $55.6 billion to New Jersey's $43.3 billion, she noted. New Jersey spends about $1,000 more per person than Pennsylvania does, but individuals in New Jersey devote a smaller percentage of their personal incomes to cover state and local governmental costs, according to the census figures.

Besides distributing more money to schools and local governments than Pennsylvania does, New Jersey covers the costs of the state court system. In Pennsylvania, counties pick up much of the tab.