Dear Gov. Christie...

This is in response to two things from the Governor's 4/21 interview on Ask the Governor, NJ 101.5. Here's a segment of that interview, transcripted:

Eric SCOTT (NJ101.5): Peg in Rutherford writes: 'What are your issues with New Jersey's public libraries? A 74% cut indicates a clear lack of support.' And we got many similar questions to Peg as well about the reduction in support for libraries.
Governor CHRISTIE: Listen, I love public libraries, but public libraries are one of the few places where, by statute, municipalities are required to dedicate a certain amount to their public libraries. And so there is a dedicated funding stream to libraries and each and every municipality that has one. And again, I'm not looking to cut funding from libraries, but everyone is sharing in the sacrifice. Every department of state government has been reduced. For the first time in recent memory, every department has been reduced. Every program has been looked at. And libraries can't be immune to that. And so, I don't feel good about having to do it, but the fact of the matter is as one of the earlier callers said I was handed a bag of problems when I took this job. And I'm not complaining about it. I understood at least some of the problems I was inheriting when I asked for the job. And so we're just dealing with as honestly as I can. I understand. I've gotten a lot of letters from people who utilize public libraries-
SCOTT: Yeah.
CHRISTIE: And I think there's some misinformation about it too. It's not like because of this, public libraries are going to be closing. Municipalities are required to dedicate a stream of funding to libraries in their towns. And we do not believe you'll be seeing any libraries close or any significant diminution of services for people to be able to utilize. But there were a number of streams of funding that went there. We felt like in an era of tough choices, given that there was another funding stream available to public libraries across the state of New Jersey, that that was one of the areas we could aggressively cut for the time being while we are in a difficult period.

There are two parts of this to which I want to respond.

First: Yes, most of the public library funding is through a dedicated local tax. However, bill A2555 seeks to gut that by eliminating the minimum funding requirement! There are also multiple streames of funding for libraries because of shared services, regional cooperatives, and statewide programs which help ALL libraries. Your cut will result in loss of services, possibly cut hours but definitely reduced services. Your also puts funding below thresholds to get federal funding- so the cut runs even deeper than you portray.

Second: We all know how bad were the fiscal problems you inhereted were; we all did. If you didn't, I suggest in the future you read the newspaper. Be aware how utterly disingenuous you sound every time you complain about it- and then insist you're not complaining about it.

2009 Election Results for New Jersey

Governor's race

Local races by County:

Atlantic (look all the way to the right, in the box on top)
Bergen
Burlington
Camden
Cape May County
Cumberland
Essex
Gloucester
Hudson
Hunterdon
Mercer
Middlesex
Monmouth
Morris
Ocean
Passaic
Salem
Somerset
Sussex
Union
Warren


NOT EVERY ONE WILL UPDATE TONIGHT. The polls close at 8 PM, so some counties may start updating soon after that. (UPDATE 8:30 PM: several have started updating, and the NJ.com link for the Gov race is active.)

Keep your fingers crossed!

Just because I like him doesn't matter

I'm not voting for Chris Daggett.

The Star-Ledger loves this guy. His performance at the debate was pretty impressive. I agree with much of his position. Yet, why am I not voting for him?

This morning, the Times of Trenton ran George Amick's column (which they have unhelpfully not put up on NJ.com yet) titled "Daggett says N.J. is ready for independent gov." Two pages away, they ran a story by Linda Stein (also, unhelpfully not online) titled "Study finds every vote does count" citing Hightstown's recent Democratic primary (tie, 88-88; challenger Dimitri Musing will be on the ballot) and Southampton's school budget, defeated by 10 votes. The article is about mail-in voting, but the juxtaposition is what interests me.

I can't vote for Daggett. I can't risk Christie winning.

Daggett knows I feel this way. I'm sure he hears it from both sides. He has a nice page about how voting for him is not a wasted vote. His supporters know many feel this way; I can tell you who will respond to this post first, and what he'll say. But I still can't do it.

Al Gore came to endorse Gov. Corzine a while back. Do y'all remember the 2000 elections? If 550 people in Florida had voted for Al Gore instead of independent Ralph Nader, the world would be a different place. I'm not exaggerating: the world would be a different place now. That's the difference an independent vote makes. It can change the world.

And there are changes I can't risk.

George Amick has another recent column, helpfully online here, about how the time for instant runoff voting in Our Fair State is NOW. I wish we had it, I do.

The Governor answers our questions

Governor Corzine stopped by BlueJersey yesterday to answer some questions. Go check out his answers and post a few more if you have 'em.

Leadership

George Amick, on the governor's proposal and town hall meetings:

His plan will inflict financial pain on users of the state's toll roads, but Corzine has chosen to present it to the voters in person and take their questions. He has been willing to modify the details to meet reasonable criticism, including providing toll discounts for daily drivers and dropping the idea of collecting tolls on Route 440. He has displayed a dignity and a respect for his listeners that too many of the listeners aren't reciprocating. And he's doing all this barely 10 months after a catastrophic accident that left him near death on the side of the Garden State Parkway.
It's called leadership. We haven't seen a lot of it from governors and legislators in recent years.
Contrast Corzine's performance with that of his critics.
Republican legislators have decided to try to make political hay through flat-out opposition. Not one of the 49 GOP lawmakers has agreed to support the governor's program, and a group called the Republican Task Force for Fiscal Responsibility is mimicking the governor's strategy with its own series of town meetings. "We strongly, adamantly, 100 percent disagree with Gov. Corzine's toll plan, and we intend to inform the public why," the chairman, Assemblyman Michael Doherty, R-Washington Township, said at a forum in Warren County.
It takes no great political or personal courage, of course, to stand before people who don't want to pay higher tolls or taxes and tell them that they won't have to do it. Simply saying no doesn't take salesmanship.

Not that we expect any great political or personal courage from the Republicans in Our Fair State, but it might be nice if they showed some. Even a little.

Still, many Republicans are peddling the notion that spending reductions are the whole answer. For them, it would be instructive if they provided a specific list of cuts and used their open forums to defend them. Like Corzine, they should do it before audiences that aren't predisposed to be friendly. And they should do it week after week.
Let Republican legislators stand in front of an auditorium packed with state and local government workers and teachers and tell them there must be layoffs as well as modifications in their generous retirement and health-care packages. Let them inform a roomful of cops that the binding-arbitration law has driven up the pay of some public-safety workers to excessive levels and needs revision.
Let them say to audiences of suburban parents and educational professionals that school districts should be consolidated on a large scale for cost-effectiveness. Let them tell tax-averse listeners that an increase in the state's gasoline tax would be a reasonable alternative to some of the toll hikes in Corzine's plan.
All these things make sense, but could the governor's critics take the heat? Corzine has shown that he can.

It's called leadership. Unfortunately, George is right: We haven't seen a lot of it from governors and legislators in recent years. We're used to seeing pandering and and blind eyes turned to our problems.

Even if the proposal isn't the best idea for Our Fair State, at least Corzine has the guts to stand up and make his case.

Some random thoughts on Saturday's Gov. meeting

A friend and I attended Gov. Corzine's Mercer County meeting on Saturday. I'm sure you read all about it by now, but if not, here are some random thoughts of mine:

• The Gov made his case pretty well. I wish he'd explained a little more about other alternatives that he rejected and why- that might have helped.
• A number of people had well thought out questions about the impact of the plan. Thank you for that.
• A big concern in Mercer county was the fear that a toll hike will push more traffic onto local roads like 295, Route 1, and 130. These are very valid points and I hope they will be addressed with stricter truck regulation on smaller roads.
• Bill Baroni was there. Rush Holt was there. The mayor of East Windsor was there. But only 12th district State Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblycritters Cassagrande and Declan O'Scanlan got up to use the mike to ask antagonistic questions. Don't they have a different forum to talk to the Governor- say, in their respective assemblies in Trenton? Instead, they came down to Hightstown to wrest the microphone from taxpayers- for whom this forum was their best chance- just for political gain. Typical.
• The mayor of Hightstown took the mike too, only to point out that Hightstown High School isn't East Windsor Regional High School. I would call this a similar waste of time to the politicians above, but what he illustrated is the arrogance that keeps Hightstown and East Windsor from discussing any merging of services or, dare I say it, government. I'm sure everyone saw that pretty clearly.
• Note to the guy who kept spouting off about first ammendment rights, the one who got the police officer's badge number, the one who kept mouthing off when others tried to speak, the one who didn't bother to listen, just to shout: You're right, we have a first ammendment right to free speech. So here's my free speech: you behaved like a stupid jerk.
• It's a shame that some people didn't come with open minds. There may be better plans than this one, 's true, but you owe it to yourself to hear fully what's currently on the table.

So, go to your county's meeting if it hasn't been held yet. It was interesting, to say the least.

Blue Jersey interviews Gov. Jon Corzine

Click here. It's amazing.

Stubbornly Turning Their Backs

That's Frelinghuysen, Garret and Saxton! From this morning's Daily Record:

Gov. Jon S. Corzine accused Reps. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen and Scott Garrett of "stubbornly turning their backs" on the state for opposing the expansion of a children's health insurance plan.
Frelinghuysen, R-Harding and Garrett, R-Wantage, responded by saying Democrats are politicizing the issue and reiterated their support for President Bush's veto of the bill.
Corzine pinpointed the two local congressmen along with Rep. Jim Saxton, R- Mount Holly, as the only three members of the state's 15-member delegation to reject the bill to expand the program by $35 billion over five years.
The governor and other state Democrats are calling on the House members to vote to override President Bush's veto of the bill on Thursday.

The gov, state Democrats, and most people of compassion and thought.

(hat tip Blue Jersey)

Well, duh.

Corzine's motorcade told to cut speed:

A panel that studied Gov. Jon Corzine's State Police protection detail after he was gravely injured in a motor vehicle accident said yesterday the motorcade should not drive at excessive speeds or use emergency lights unless there is a specific threat.

No kidding!

Drive Safely this holiday weekend

Governor Corzine's seat belt public service announcement, just in time for Memorial Day Weekend.

(hat tip jmelli)

Give change a chance

Our Fair State's seriously in the weeds, financially. We have high property taxes (thanks, Christine!) and a wicked debt load. So, we go and elect ourselves a financial guy as a governor and hope for a change; a real change, a true change, a shot at overhauling the money house of cards we've built for ourselves.

He proposes a change in how schools are run to consolidate and save money; people bitch bitterly that they won't even try it.

He wants to work with unions to negotiate some changes in state worker benefits; people bad-mouth him and criticize his efforts.

He wants to cap property tax increases at 4% (with some exceptions): people complain about how impossible that will be.

I guess everyone expected Corzine would just get to Trenton and pull the excess money that the legislators have been hiding out from under a mattress? Or wave a wand, perhaps?

This is reality, folks- sacrifices will have to be made. This ain't George W., the only moron to cut taxes in the face of a disastrously expensive war; this is someone who has a financial background and realizes money doesn't just fall from the sky and hope is not a sound financial strategy. We voted for him so he would make the tough changes. For chrissakes, let him change something. Maybe some of his proposals won't work, but face it- it ain't working how it is now.

Give change a chance.

(Special to the woman who I heard on the WHYY report on the Washington Township meeting where they screamed about the chance that they might have to consolidate within their county as a pilot program, the woman who said that Home Rule is what made our education system so great- honey, what are you smoking and will you share? Home Rule isn't what made our education system great, but it is what has made it crazy expensive. Wise up.)

"Restructuring New Jersey's Future"

With Rep. Rush Holt, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh of West Windsor, and Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes in attendance, Corzine held a town hall meeting entitled "Restructuring New Jersey's Future" at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor earlier this evening. The Governor was brief in his opening remarks, mentioning that he'd just given a long speech the day before, and let most of the evening be led by questions.

Two themes emerged with the questions: First, people were concerned about how the proposed 4% cap on property tax increases would affect their town's ability to provide services, especially with so many unfunded state mandates they must shoulder. Boards of Education have been cutting their spending already since voters are unwilling to pass budgets; how will towns live within a 4% cap? Corzine answered that there would be budget items excluded from the cap, but they were "still working hard at negotiating" the details of the proposal. He also mentioned how he would like to give towns the ability to add revenue raisers, such as impact fees, but hadn't been able to get the legislature on board with it. Corzine also repeated several times that he wants the state aid formula amended to be "per child, not per zip code," so school boards that have received flat funding for years might see an increase.

The second theme was state workers being concerned about a loss of their benefits. Corzine reminded each person who questioned this that negotiated and agreed benefits are non-forfeitable. Workers with 5 years in shouldn't see any impact. A current Turnpike employee who will soon retire was assured that his pension benefits would be assured even if the Turnpike is sold or leased out. Showing his financial background, Corzine took some time to explain why the pension has spread some of its savings into higher risk investments. He was also quick to point out that even if benefits ware changed for new hired employees, that won't make a huge impact on our state budget- "This budget won't be balanced on the backs of the state workers."

When questioned about town and school district consolidation, the governor reiterated his support for the county superintendent pilot program and his support to offer incentives to towns to consolidate to take advantage of economies of scale. But he was clear that this is a democracy and if towns declined to join together he didn't support economic punishment.

When questioned about medical marijuana use (S-88 and A-933, perpetually in committee,) Corzine stated that he did support it but he was clear that it was not a priority at this time. He did mention support for universal health care and needing to get coverage for the 1.3 million in Our Fair State who have no health insurance.

"Mad as Hell" was how Gov. Corzine expressed his feelings about extending Our Fair State's National Guard's time in Iraq and more call-ups of reservists. Amen to that.

Overall, Corzine stuck with the same underlying points that he made in his State of the State address the day before, stressing the ballancing of interests in the common good. The questions from attendees were more specific and much less angry than I've seen at town hall forums like this in the past; almost as if these folks realize that he gets it, and is really working to balance the wants and needs of Our Fair State.

(MCCC's cable channel 26 ran their tape of the forum shortly after it ended. I'm not sure when/if they will run it again; if I find out when they will, I'll post the info.) (Cross-posted on Blue Jersey)

The Governor's 2006 Budget Address

Governor Jon Corzine made his Budget Address earlier this afternoon. As reported in most of our newspapers in the last few days, Corzine mentioned raising the sales tax from 6% to 7%, elimination of 1000 state jobs, cuts in over 70 state programs, restructuring of the child welfare system, and an increase in cigarette taxes. The governor also stated that "economic growth should be the engine to expand revenues, not taxes," and announced some strategic investment concepts to increase economic growth, specifically for pharmecuticals and biotech industries.

The governor stressed that this budget contains "hard choices" and that those hoping for a magic solution from the former Wall Street CEO are out of luck- the budget solutions come down to "old-fashioned arithmetic. We can't keep spending more then we take in." The budget proposed today is only the beginning; the legislature will spend the next two months hammering out the final version.

The address and commentary are available on NJN, and will also be rebroadcast tonight at 10PM. Text of the address is available here.

There was a great moment in the wrap-up where Democratic commentator Rick Thigpen and Republican Roger Bodman began to argue about exactly whose fault is the state's budget mess, and Thigpen compared the spending of the Whitman administration to that of a drunken sailor. He also got in a partisan dig at the federal budget; nice job of hitting the talking points about Republican fiscal irresponsibility!

Assemblymen Louis Greenwald (D) and Joseph Malone (R) and Senators Wayne Bryant (D ) and Anthony Bucco (R) were interviewed by Michael Aron as a legislative response to the address. The Republicans harped on the fact that the total budget increased: "We're raising the taxes to raise the budget," said Assemblyman Malone, without noting the fact that such increases were mostly mandated by previous legislation or by the courts and not on the table for discussion- they must be funded.

Assemblyman Malone also harped on the idea of consolidation but there is no way a consolidation of towns, school districts or services will make a difference in this budget cycle. I hope and expect that the Assemblyman will remember his comments and cross party lines to support Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts when he proposes a package of bills to encourage consolidation.

The budget process will be a long fight, with everyone trying to keep tax increases lower while trying to keep services at the same levels and reducing the budget and posturing politically. As logic dictates, we can't have it all. The governor wapped up his address by saying:

New Jersey is one community, with one future.
If you don’t like what I’ve proposed, then give me an alternative that is as far-reaching and as fair.
If you don’t like the taxes, give me more cuts.
If you don’t like the cuts, then you’re out of luck – because there are already more taxes than I want.
We’ve got a tough few months ahead of us. I am sure there will be a temptation to duck some of the hard questions we must face. But in our hearts, we know better.
And most of all, we recognize that one course is not open to us - just doing more of the same.
So, let’s get at it – together.>)

(cross-posted at bluejersey.net)