FROM NEW JERSEY, THE GREAT WHITMAN HOPE

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

On Monday, Christine Todd Whitman slashed taxes in New Jersey. On Tuesday, as the first Governor asked to give the official rebuttal to a State of the Union address, she started cutting into Bill Clinton. From a partisan point of view, she did not disappoint, starting with an off-the-cuff jab at the 81- minute speech. ``I am not going to ask for equal time,'' she joshed. But long after Clinton's speech, pundits and political operatives were still mulling over Whitman. Might this be the G.O.P.'s 1996 vice-presidential candidate?

Five years ago, she was completely unknown. Then in 1990 she came close to taking the Senate seat of the very popular Bill Bradley. In November 1993, running on a promise to cut state taxes 30%, she defeated incumbent Jim Florio. In a year's time, G.O.P. candidates were describing themselves as ``Christie Whitman Republicans,'' and wore that label to victory. Shortly before his death last year, Richard Nixon--a Jersey resident--mused that she was just the kind of candidate who could help the party's national ticket. A star was born.

Now Whitman is enjoying approval ratings that often move north of 60%, in large part because of her canny ability to build coalitions and deal head on with crises, always with a patrician air. Though her time in public office has been relatively short--she first won election in 1982 as a county commissioner--her political education is of the highest class. Her father Webster Todd, a building contractor whose projects included Rockefeller Center, was influential in the presidential candidacies of Eisenhower and Nixon. Her mother was a fund raiser for George Bush. Her husband and adviser John Whitman is the grandson of a Governor of New York. At least by lineage, she represents the pragmatic and waning Republicanism of Rockefeller. Says Marge Roukema of New Jersey, the ranking Republican woman in the House of Representatives: ``She shows the party must be more broad-based.''

But that is not what the populist, even radical, national party wants. Whitman pleased conservatives in Tuesday's rebuttal by repeating the canard that Clinton was responsible for the biggest tax hike in history. (Right answer: Ronald Reagan in 1982.) But her other positions make conservatives balk. For one, she is pro-choice. She also does not believe sexual orientation on its own should bar a person from a job--even in the military. And while Whitman backs such ``Contract with America'' standards as the balanced-budget amendment, she may just back away from their consequences. Billions of dollars in federal funds flow into New Jersey. If those are pared back by constitutional fiat, a tax cutter like Whitman could face a serious predicament.

While Whitman's fiscal strategies are popular with G.O.P. conservatives, they may not make sense in the long run. To balance her budget, she cut the amount the state paid into its pension fund, maintaining that the projections were vastly overestimated. Whitman plans to trim, among other items, the state's environmental-protection and transportation budgets. She will also lay off 812 state workers. An additional 2,200 positions will be contracted out to the private sector. However, with state funding for local services likely to shrink, some municipalities are raising local property taxes to make up the shortfall. According to the Office of Legislative Services, during Whitman's first year in office, state income taxes went down an average of $49, but local property taxes went up $175. During her campaign, she predicted that the tax cuts would help stimulate job growth of 450,000 over four years. Last year New Jersey grew by only 60,000 jobs, most owing to an economy that was improving before she became Governor.

Of course Whitman may not be around to answer for her promises. Her term ends in 1997, but 1996 may find her called away on national business. The Governor describes such talk as ``silly.'' She does have a take on the top of the G.O.P. ticket: ``My great worry is that we're going to nominate someone who appeals to a small constituency.'' To her supporters, Whitman would be just the balance that ticket would need.

--By Christopher John Farley. Reported by Bonnie Angelo/Trenton

With reporting by BONNIE ANGELO/TRENTON