Being asked to give less, not more

...in which I must disagree with Carla Katz. Ms. Katz, former high-profile union leader, comes out strongly against furloughs on PolitickerNJ:

The fight over furloughs has been characterized by the press in a variety of ways. The Governor's "tough times budget" spin-the state is in an economic meltdown, everyone must share the pain, and 14 unpaid days and a wage freeze is better than layoffs. The unions' collective message-a contract is a contract and furloughs (AKA pay cuts) and demands for givebacks of negotiated wages undermine the collective bargaining process and unfairly penalize middle class working families who have already made massive concessions and cannot afford to give more in this troubled economy any more than their neighbors can.

My neighbors? They gave their jobs. In the last three months I've had several friends laid off and unable to find new jobs. These are parents, homeowners, spouses. They have NO JOBS. I must disagree, Ms. Katz; asking state workers to give up 12 paid days of work is a heckuva lot less than these guys have had to give up.

I'd rather take that cut in pay and we all get to keep our jobs.

Ms. Katz makes a great case later in her commentary about class distinction; how the AIG executives got their contractually-guaranteed bonuses but we may not keep our contractually-guaranteed wages. Sure it's a good point, but it's not like Our Fair State's government is the one giving away these AIG bonuses.

I understand contracts and collective bargaining.* I'm not saying furloughs are the best or only answer. I'm just saying that this arguement against the f-word isn't the way to go.

*I've said it before, but just in case, here's my full disclosure: I am both a public employee and a union member.

This year's ballot questions

Someone asked me the other day if there were any ballot questions this year. There are two, but they've gotten rather little publicity. Here's the info from the League of Women Voters.

Also, the Times of Trenton today had an editorial titled Yes and yes. Looking over their reasons for their endorsement, I agree- yes and yes.

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.

Do you have an extra $3317?

Our Fair State (or should I say Our Broke State?) is $33.7 billion in debt, the fourth-worst of the fifty states. That's $3,317 for every person- so I need over $13K for my family of four.

New Jersey has been among the nation's five most indebted states since 1998, when public officials borrowed to pay for everything from public employee pensions and school construction to business incentive grants and the state's annual operating expenses.
With about $3 billion allocated to repaying the debt each year, state Treasurer Brad Abelow and Gov. Jon Corzine have said the state's credit card is maxed out. They are considering leasing operating rights to the New Jersey Turnpike, the State Lottery or some other high-profile state asset to pay down the debt so that they can borrow the additional billions of dollars needed for school building, highways and open-space acquisition.
...
The increase in state debt last year, $800 million, was the smallest since 2001, the report shows. While New Jersey was taking a breather, Massachusetts piled on $2.5 billion in new debt, pushing it past New Jersey on the list of top debtors.

Corzine has made some financial improvement in Our Fair State; at least our rate of borrowing has slowed.

Hey, it's something.