(Bloomberg) --With all the crazy talk of President Barack Obama being the antichrist, it’s sort of amusing that the anti-Obama is a guy named Christie.
To understand the political force sweeping our country, one need only search the words “Chris Christie” on YouTube. The New Jersey governor’s town hall appearances have received hundreds of thousands of hits and glowing comments because the man, like Ronald Reagan before him, has an uncanny ear for what troubles Americans.
The truth is, a mensch like Christie could never have emerged in American politics if super-slick Obama had not enraged so many Americans first. If Jimmy Carter created Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama created Chris Christie.
Americans put their faith in a cocky Obama who wowed “The View” crowd in a bathing suit. But he gave us a government that didn’t know its own boundaries, defied common sense and fueled anxieties in post-financial crash America. Now the people of New Jersey have put their faith in a man who looks like the rest of us in a bathing suit.
Democrats might like to believe that the backlash embodied in the Tea Party movement is nothing more than a carnival of fools, headed for nowhere. But Christie is in touch with the national sense of unease that animates the Tea Party movement, and at town hall-type gatherings he has shown a grittiness that as drama surpasses the best reality TV shows.
On June 15th, Christie appeared at a town hall meeting in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The crowd assembled was hardly a stereotypical BMW-driving Republican audience, looking like a group that could represent any small town in America
One senses that these Americans rarely gather all in one place, and that when they do, the gravity of the moment is palpable to them. And then Christie says, “our way of life is being challenged by an economy where we have too much debt, too big a government, too much spending and taxes being too high. We all know it in our hearts…we all understand that the day of reckoning is here.” And while he speaks, the people gather -- even Wilda Diaz, the Democratic mayor, seem to nod in agreement.
As Christie concludes that the people in that room have a chance, that “we are going to be the people who fixed New Jersey’s problems,” the audience members have the same look on their faces that the troops have in the old war movies, just as Sarge tells them that they probably will not succeed, but they are going to charge up the hill and attack the machine gun nest anyway.
Showing posts with label New Jersey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Jersey. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Unstoppable Chris Christie does it again, capping property taxes
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) scored another in a series of major political victories, signing a bill capping the growth of property taxes and municipal spending at 2% annually. The bill replaces the Garden State’s previous cap, at 4%, which the governor assailed as ineffectual due to 14 exemptions that allowed local governments to virtually ignore the law. The new cap, which Christie pushed the Democratic-controlled legislature to enact, requires municipal councils to get approval from the voters before going over the lower limit.
The bill is the result of a compromise between Christie and Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Camden). Christie had proposed a 2.5% cap as part of a package of 33 bills, which he dubbed a “toolkit” for local government to get skyrocketing spending and property taxes under control. Christie’s proposal would have amended the state constitution to include the 2.5% limit and mandated the approval of a supermajority of 60% of voters for a local council to exceed the cap, with debt service as the lone exception.
The bill is the result of a compromise between Christie and Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Camden). Christie had proposed a 2.5% cap as part of a package of 33 bills, which he dubbed a “toolkit” for local government to get skyrocketing spending and property taxes under control. Christie’s proposal would have amended the state constitution to include the 2.5% limit and mandated the approval of a supermajority of 60% of voters for a local council to exceed the cap, with debt service as the lone exception.
Monday, July 12, 2010
As the nation stews with political corruption, stupidity and incompetence, the can-do spirit springs inelegantly to life in NJ
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A momentous deal to cap property taxes was all but done, but Gov. Chris Christie was taking no chances, barnstorming the state to commiserate with squeezed homeowners and keep pressure on the Legislature.
Outside a farmhouse here in central New Jersey last week, buttoned up in a dark suit despite the triple-digit heat, Mr. Christie promised to tackle rising pension costs, transportation financing, municipal spending — all while poking fun at his opponents, the news media and, mostly, himself.
When a reporter suggested that the governor do a rain dance, he said, “Don’t want to miss that, baby.” And in the rare instance of his withholding judgment on an issue, he said he preferred to know something about the issue before opining, although, he added, tongue in cheek, that actual knowledge was not necessarily a requirement.
It was a model taste of Mr. Christie, six months into his term as governor: blunt, energetic, clearly enjoying himself.
And having his way.
Outside a farmhouse here in central New Jersey last week, buttoned up in a dark suit despite the triple-digit heat, Mr. Christie promised to tackle rising pension costs, transportation financing, municipal spending — all while poking fun at his opponents, the news media and, mostly, himself.
When a reporter suggested that the governor do a rain dance, he said, “Don’t want to miss that, baby.” And in the rare instance of his withholding judgment on an issue, he said he preferred to know something about the issue before opining, although, he added, tongue in cheek, that actual knowledge was not necessarily a requirement.
It was a model taste of Mr. Christie, six months into his term as governor: blunt, energetic, clearly enjoying himself.
And having his way.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
NJ is Ground Zero in the fight between taxpayers and unions
New Jersey is ground zero in the national fight between taxpayers and government unions, with new Republican Governor Chris Christie trying to pull the state from the brink of tax-and-spend bankruptcy. This week he struck a budget deal with Democrats that makes modest progress, but the real game is now afoot over his proposal to impose a cap on property taxes.
The budget deal for fiscal 2011 closes a $10.7 billion gap, and the overall spending level of $29.4 billion is the lowest in five years. Democrats had said Mr. Christie's budget was dead on arrival in March, but in the end they agreed to most of his spending cuts. The Governor also vetoed a "millionaire's tax" that would have raised the top marginal income tax rate to 10.75% from just under 9%, though he did accept some new fees on insurance and hospital beds.
The budget's biggest weakness is its lack of long-term structural reform, as the state's labor agreements are left untouched. It also kicks to future years a $3 billion payment to a state pension fund that is underfunded to the tune of $46 billion. Mr. Christie says he won't put more money into pensions without reforms in overgenerous benefits, but sooner or later the state will have to come up with more pension money.
All of which makes the showdown over property taxes especially important for reform prospects and Mr. Christie's political future. The Governor wants to cap annual property tax increases at 2.5%, on the model of the successful cap that Massachusetts imposed in 1980. Over the next 27 years, property taxes in the Bay State rose 22% compared to 68% nationwide and 102% in New Jersey.
The cap is crucial to preventing local Garden State school districts, which are dominated by teachers unions, from raising taxes and thus defeating whatever spending restraint Mr. Christie can impose on Trenton. The unions know this, which is why they've spent some $7 million in TV ads portraying Mr. Christie as the scourge of police, firefighters and children. The Governor's approval rating has held up well despite the onslaught, which may reflect that voters understand the state's new fiscal reality. New Jersey's property taxes and its overall state and local tax burden are the nation's highest, and the state hasn't created a single net new private job in a decade.
The budget deal for fiscal 2011 closes a $10.7 billion gap, and the overall spending level of $29.4 billion is the lowest in five years. Democrats had said Mr. Christie's budget was dead on arrival in March, but in the end they agreed to most of his spending cuts. The Governor also vetoed a "millionaire's tax" that would have raised the top marginal income tax rate to 10.75% from just under 9%, though he did accept some new fees on insurance and hospital beds.
The budget's biggest weakness is its lack of long-term structural reform, as the state's labor agreements are left untouched. It also kicks to future years a $3 billion payment to a state pension fund that is underfunded to the tune of $46 billion. Mr. Christie says he won't put more money into pensions without reforms in overgenerous benefits, but sooner or later the state will have to come up with more pension money.
All of which makes the showdown over property taxes especially important for reform prospects and Mr. Christie's political future. The Governor wants to cap annual property tax increases at 2.5%, on the model of the successful cap that Massachusetts imposed in 1980. Over the next 27 years, property taxes in the Bay State rose 22% compared to 68% nationwide and 102% in New Jersey.
The cap is crucial to preventing local Garden State school districts, which are dominated by teachers unions, from raising taxes and thus defeating whatever spending restraint Mr. Christie can impose on Trenton. The unions know this, which is why they've spent some $7 million in TV ads portraying Mr. Christie as the scourge of police, firefighters and children. The Governor's approval rating has held up well despite the onslaught, which may reflect that voters understand the state's new fiscal reality. New Jersey's property taxes and its overall state and local tax burden are the nation's highest, and the state hasn't created a single net new private job in a decade.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Gov. Chris Christie wins again, sustaining veto of N.J. tax hike
TRENTON, N.J. - Democrats in the New Jersey Assembly have failed to override the Republican governor's veto of a tax surcharge on millionaires.
Monday's vote was strictly along party lines. All 47 Assembly Democrats voted for the override and all 33 Republicans voted against it. The measure needed seven GOP votes to advance.
The one-year surcharge would have raised about $600 million by increasing income taxes nearly two percent on the state's 16,000 highest wage earners.
It would have put the top earners into a 10.75 percent tax rate on income above $1 million.
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the tax last month after the Legislature passed it along party lines. The governor vetoed the tax because it would deter hiring, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said.
Monday's vote was strictly along party lines. All 47 Assembly Democrats voted for the override and all 33 Republicans voted against it. The measure needed seven GOP votes to advance.
The one-year surcharge would have raised about $600 million by increasing income taxes nearly two percent on the state's 16,000 highest wage earners.
It would have put the top earners into a 10.75 percent tax rate on income above $1 million.
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the tax last month after the Legislature passed it along party lines. The governor vetoed the tax because it would deter hiring, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
New Jersey rallies behind Gov. Christie's budget balancing
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the state’s powerful teachers’ union, have been locked in mortal combat over Christie’s plans to balance New Jersey’s budget.
Christie has rescinded planned state aid to school districts for the remainder of the current fiscal year, sought changes to pension rules, and demanded that teachers contribute 1.5% of their salaries toward the cost of their benefits package and accept for a one-year wage freeze. The union has opposed him at every turn, running ads statewide accusing the governor of attempting to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class and at the expense of students.
Christie has been getting the better of the fight. His pension changes were enacted by the Democratic-controlled legislature earlier this year, and New Jerseyans turned out in record numbers in April to heed the governor’s call to vote down their local school budgets if teachers in their districts did not agree to the wage freeze and benefits contributions. Sixty percent of school budgets went down to defeat, the most ever in the state.
Now, as he attempts to close a gaping $11 billion gap in a total budget of just under $29 billion, Christie has proposed cutting state aid to school districts in fiscal year 2011 by close to $850 million. The NJEA is again calling foul. But after a spring of opposing New Jersey’s brash new governor with little to show for it, the teachers’ union finds its public support eroding.
A new Fairleigh Dickinson University/Public Mind poll released Tuesday found public opinion on the NJEA slipping nine points from the last survey in March. Forty-four percent of New Jersey registered voters now say they have an unfavorable view of the NJEA, compared to 35% two months ago. That number includes 26% who say they have a “very unfavorable” view of the union, up seven points since the last poll. Just one-third of voters now say that the view the NJEA favorably, and only 15% say their view is “very favorable.”
By contrast, the poll found that public support for some of Christie’s education initiatives fares better than the union. A plurality (43%) agreed that one pay scale for all teachers “tends to treat the most valuable teachers unfairly,” a nod toward the governor’s plan to institute merit pay for individual teachers in the state. A slightly larger plurality (46%) favors sending education vouchers to low-income families trapped in failing public schools, even if the money is used to finance private-school tuition. And an overwhelming majority of voters say that school administrators making over $200,000 a year are “overpaid considering what other important public employees make.”
Christie has rescinded planned state aid to school districts for the remainder of the current fiscal year, sought changes to pension rules, and demanded that teachers contribute 1.5% of their salaries toward the cost of their benefits package and accept for a one-year wage freeze. The union has opposed him at every turn, running ads statewide accusing the governor of attempting to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class and at the expense of students.
Christie has been getting the better of the fight. His pension changes were enacted by the Democratic-controlled legislature earlier this year, and New Jerseyans turned out in record numbers in April to heed the governor’s call to vote down their local school budgets if teachers in their districts did not agree to the wage freeze and benefits contributions. Sixty percent of school budgets went down to defeat, the most ever in the state.
Now, as he attempts to close a gaping $11 billion gap in a total budget of just under $29 billion, Christie has proposed cutting state aid to school districts in fiscal year 2011 by close to $850 million. The NJEA is again calling foul. But after a spring of opposing New Jersey’s brash new governor with little to show for it, the teachers’ union finds its public support eroding.
A new Fairleigh Dickinson University/Public Mind poll released Tuesday found public opinion on the NJEA slipping nine points from the last survey in March. Forty-four percent of New Jersey registered voters now say they have an unfavorable view of the NJEA, compared to 35% two months ago. That number includes 26% who say they have a “very unfavorable” view of the union, up seven points since the last poll. Just one-third of voters now say that the view the NJEA favorably, and only 15% say their view is “very favorable.”
By contrast, the poll found that public support for some of Christie’s education initiatives fares better than the union. A plurality (43%) agreed that one pay scale for all teachers “tends to treat the most valuable teachers unfairly,” a nod toward the governor’s plan to institute merit pay for individual teachers in the state. A slightly larger plurality (46%) favors sending education vouchers to low-income families trapped in failing public schools, even if the money is used to finance private-school tuition. And an overwhelming majority of voters say that school administrators making over $200,000 a year are “overpaid considering what other important public employees make.”
Friday, May 21, 2010
Rasmussen traces an "unequivocal public repudiation of the agenda" of Obama and "a seismic shift" in thought about change
It began last November in statewide races in Virginia and New Jersey. Then it swept through Massachusetts in a stunning U.S. Senate special election this January. Most recently, it has spilled over into primary battles in Utah, Kentucky and Pennsylvania – growing more potent as the calendar year advances toward a climactic November 2010 showdown.
“It” is the ongoing, unequivocal public repudiation of the agenda of President Barack Obama – a seismic shift in the thinking of the American electorate regarding the sort of “change” they want for their country. In several races “it” is also a direct rejection of Obama himself – as evidenced by the deaf ear voters turned to his personal appeals on behalf of Massachusetts’ Attorney General Martha Coakley and party-switching Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.
Both Coakley and Specter enjoyed commanding leads over their opponents prior to Obama’s active engagement in their races, with Specter enjoying a 21-point cushion over Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak as recently as last month (Sestak ended up defeating Specter by a 54-46 percent margin). Similarly, Sen. Scott Brown trailed Coakley by 17 points just two weeks before pulling off his improbable five-point upset victory.
In both races, Obama appeared in radio and television ads on behalf of the losing candidates – and in the Massachusetts race he paid a last-minute visit to the Bay State in an unsuccessful effort to rally Coakley’s faltering campaign (similar to his failed last-ditch effort to revive the flagging candidacy of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine).
There was no eleventh hour visit for Specter – but only because Obama’s political advisors read the handwriting on the wall and were desperate to avoid yet another embarrassing image of their boss with his arms draped around another losing candidate. Accordingly, after pledging to give Specter his “full support,” when Election Day rolled around Obama was nowhere to be found – and wasn’t even following the race “all that closely,” according to his spokesman.
How’s that for loyalty?
Also worth noting was the tremendous shot in the arm that Sestak’s campaign received when he revealed that the Obama administration (in typical “Chicagoland” fashion) offered him a high-paying federal job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Specter – a charge which has yet to be properly investigated, but which served as a turning point in the race.
Meanwhile, halfway across the country in Kentucky another repudiation of Obama was taking place – albeit one that rattled the cages of a completely different set of Washington insiders. There, Kentucky ophthalmologist Rand Paul – son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul – trounced establishment Republican Trey Grayson in a race that demonstrated the growing political clout of the Tea Party movement.
Paul defeated the GOP’s hand-picked candidate by a 24 percent margin – even after Grayson received endorsements from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Similar to Obama’s last-minute shunning of Specter, McConnell also fled the scene of his anointed candidate’s downfall – ostensibly to attend to “Washington business.”
Paul’s win was the second demonstration of Tea Party power in as many weeks, coming on the heels of Utah Republicans’ refusal to re-nominate incumbent U.S. Senator Bob Bennett. Additionally, ten other U.S. Senators and twenty U.S. Representatives are retiring from politics in advance of the 2010 elections.
What’s fueling this “wave?”
“It” is the ongoing, unequivocal public repudiation of the agenda of President Barack Obama – a seismic shift in the thinking of the American electorate regarding the sort of “change” they want for their country. In several races “it” is also a direct rejection of Obama himself – as evidenced by the deaf ear voters turned to his personal appeals on behalf of Massachusetts’ Attorney General Martha Coakley and party-switching Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.
Both Coakley and Specter enjoyed commanding leads over their opponents prior to Obama’s active engagement in their races, with Specter enjoying a 21-point cushion over Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak as recently as last month (Sestak ended up defeating Specter by a 54-46 percent margin). Similarly, Sen. Scott Brown trailed Coakley by 17 points just two weeks before pulling off his improbable five-point upset victory.
In both races, Obama appeared in radio and television ads on behalf of the losing candidates – and in the Massachusetts race he paid a last-minute visit to the Bay State in an unsuccessful effort to rally Coakley’s faltering campaign (similar to his failed last-ditch effort to revive the flagging candidacy of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine).
There was no eleventh hour visit for Specter – but only because Obama’s political advisors read the handwriting on the wall and were desperate to avoid yet another embarrassing image of their boss with his arms draped around another losing candidate. Accordingly, after pledging to give Specter his “full support,” when Election Day rolled around Obama was nowhere to be found – and wasn’t even following the race “all that closely,” according to his spokesman.
How’s that for loyalty?
Also worth noting was the tremendous shot in the arm that Sestak’s campaign received when he revealed that the Obama administration (in typical “Chicagoland” fashion) offered him a high-paying federal job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Specter – a charge which has yet to be properly investigated, but which served as a turning point in the race.
Meanwhile, halfway across the country in Kentucky another repudiation of Obama was taking place – albeit one that rattled the cages of a completely different set of Washington insiders. There, Kentucky ophthalmologist Rand Paul – son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul – trounced establishment Republican Trey Grayson in a race that demonstrated the growing political clout of the Tea Party movement.
Paul defeated the GOP’s hand-picked candidate by a 24 percent margin – even after Grayson received endorsements from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Similar to Obama’s last-minute shunning of Specter, McConnell also fled the scene of his anointed candidate’s downfall – ostensibly to attend to “Washington business.”
Paul’s win was the second demonstration of Tea Party power in as many weeks, coming on the heels of Utah Republicans’ refusal to re-nominate incumbent U.S. Senator Bob Bennett. Additionally, ten other U.S. Senators and twenty U.S. Representatives are retiring from politics in advance of the 2010 elections.
What’s fueling this “wave?”
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Home owner does job government should have done, but didn't
A man with a U.S. census badge knocked on Amy Schmalbach’s door on May 4. Thinking that answering the door to a government worker was a safe bet, she did. And then she wondered why he looked so familiar.
As soon as the man left her Pennsauken home, Schmalbach realized where she had seen him before: on the state’s sex-offender registry.
"I figured this is a government worker, I'm safe," Schmalbach, 33, told the Inquirer. She had given him names and birthdates of her family to the man who called himself “Jamie.”
The man’s real name is Frank J. Kuni, but goes by many aliases, including Jamie Shepard. It was under the name “Jamie Shepard” that he applied for a door-to-door job with the census bureau.
Schmalbach verified on the sex-offender registry that the man who was knocking on doors in her neighborhood was indeed the 47-year-old Kuni who has been convicted of assaulting an underage girl, and having “inappropriate contact with two other victims,” according to the registry.
Then Schmalbach called police and warned her neighbors.
"If I had not recognized who this person was, none of my neighbors would have, and I believe he would have continued to go door to door," Schmalbach told the Inquirer.
Kuni was arrested Monday on charges of false representation and impersonating a public official, according to police.
A census official told the Inquirer that a “Jamie Shepard” had been hired in late April after passing the name check, but was fired May 5, as he failed the fingerprint check.
As soon as the man left her Pennsauken home, Schmalbach realized where she had seen him before: on the state’s sex-offender registry.
"I figured this is a government worker, I'm safe," Schmalbach, 33, told the Inquirer. She had given him names and birthdates of her family to the man who called himself “Jamie.”
The man’s real name is Frank J. Kuni, but goes by many aliases, including Jamie Shepard. It was under the name “Jamie Shepard” that he applied for a door-to-door job with the census bureau.
Schmalbach verified on the sex-offender registry that the man who was knocking on doors in her neighborhood was indeed the 47-year-old Kuni who has been convicted of assaulting an underage girl, and having “inappropriate contact with two other victims,” according to the registry.
Then Schmalbach called police and warned her neighbors.
"If I had not recognized who this person was, none of my neighbors would have, and I believe he would have continued to go door to door," Schmalbach told the Inquirer.
Kuni was arrested Monday on charges of false representation and impersonating a public official, according to police.
A census official told the Inquirer that a “Jamie Shepard” had been hired in late April after passing the name check, but was fired May 5, as he failed the fingerprint check.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Gov. Chris Christie takes on New Jersey's teachers and bloated school bureaucracy, and still lives
You haven’t made it in New Jersey until organized labor wants you dead. By that measure, Chris Christie is already one of the most influential governors in the Garden State’s — shall we say, colorful history. Just a few months into his term, Christie has taken the fight to the blood-engorged leech of a public sector so quickly and so hard that one teacher-union apparatchik sent an e-mail to thousands praying for his untimely demise.
But Chris Christie lives. And nearly two-thirds of the state’s bloated school budgets are not so lucky, having perished at the polls — the local tax levy proposed by each school district in New Jersey is subject to voter approval — in greater proportion than in any year since 1976. This is undoubtedly a win for New Jersey taxpayers, who recognize the necessity, if not the palatability, of Christie’s strong fiscal medicine in a state that teeters on the brink of bankruptcy even as it pays the highest tax burden in the nation.
Faced with an $11 billion hole in a $30 billion budget, Christie used his broad constitutional discretion (New Jersey’s is arguably the most powerful governorship in the Union) to wield not a scalpel or an axe, but a scalpel the size of an axe against a Trenton machine rivaled only by Chicago and Albany in sheer size and scope.
As part of his efforts, he cut state aid to school districts by about 5 percent of their total budgets. Predictably, as school boards across the state pondered cutting programs like music and athletics to make up for the shortfall, the powerful New Jersey Education Association and its affiliates raged at the prospect of layoffs, even though new teacher hires in the state have grown far faster than enrollment, and have continued to grow even as the rest of the economy shed jobs.
“Think of the children!” the unions cried. But Christie called the bluff, promising to restore aid for districts whose staffs agreed to one-year pay freezes (not even cuts mind you, much less permanent ones) and to pay 1.5 percent of their salary into their exorbitant benefits packages (the vast majority currently pay 0 percent). Of the state’s 591 active school districts, fewer than two dozen have so far agreed to the concessions.
But Chris Christie lives. And nearly two-thirds of the state’s bloated school budgets are not so lucky, having perished at the polls — the local tax levy proposed by each school district in New Jersey is subject to voter approval — in greater proportion than in any year since 1976. This is undoubtedly a win for New Jersey taxpayers, who recognize the necessity, if not the palatability, of Christie’s strong fiscal medicine in a state that teeters on the brink of bankruptcy even as it pays the highest tax burden in the nation.
Faced with an $11 billion hole in a $30 billion budget, Christie used his broad constitutional discretion (New Jersey’s is arguably the most powerful governorship in the Union) to wield not a scalpel or an axe, but a scalpel the size of an axe against a Trenton machine rivaled only by Chicago and Albany in sheer size and scope.
As part of his efforts, he cut state aid to school districts by about 5 percent of their total budgets. Predictably, as school boards across the state pondered cutting programs like music and athletics to make up for the shortfall, the powerful New Jersey Education Association and its affiliates raged at the prospect of layoffs, even though new teacher hires in the state have grown far faster than enrollment, and have continued to grow even as the rest of the economy shed jobs.
“Think of the children!” the unions cried. But Christie called the bluff, promising to restore aid for districts whose staffs agreed to one-year pay freezes (not even cuts mind you, much less permanent ones) and to pay 1.5 percent of their salary into their exorbitant benefits packages (the vast majority currently pay 0 percent). Of the state’s 591 active school districts, fewer than two dozen have so far agreed to the concessions.
Monday, February 8, 2010
RINO of the day: how to desecrate the party label
Should a congressman with this record be rewarded with a 15th term in office?
• Voted for Cap and Trade
• Co-sponsored Card Check
• Voted twice with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats against making the 2001/2003 tax cuts (Bush tax cuts) permanent
• Voted to allow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to sue companies that require employees to speak English
• Voted with Nancy Pelosi to defeat a 2008 Republican budget resolution which would reduce spending $12 billion and impose a moratorium on pork barrel earmarks
• Voted twice to increase taxes on domestic energy producers (which is passed on the consumer)
• Vote three times against drilling at ANWR
• Voted for the Pelosi light bulb bill in which the government will decide the type of light bulbs you can use in your own home
• Voted for Barney Frank’s housing trust fund
• Voted against free speech when he supported a bill to regulate the Internet including, email and blogs
• Accepts tens of thousands of dollars from Big Labor Unions each election cycle
Would you have guessed that these votes came from a Republican?
This is the record of 28-year incumbent Republican Chris Smith from New Jersey’s Fourth Congressional District (NJ-4). Believe it or not, these are just a few of his votes from the last two legislative sessions. Is it a wonder why Smith has earned the ranking as one of the most liberal Republicans in the House by the American Conservative Union. This goes along with his “F” rating from American Gun Owners and “D” rating from the NRA.
• Voted for Cap and Trade
• Co-sponsored Card Check
• Voted twice with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats against making the 2001/2003 tax cuts (Bush tax cuts) permanent
• Voted to allow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to sue companies that require employees to speak English
• Voted with Nancy Pelosi to defeat a 2008 Republican budget resolution which would reduce spending $12 billion and impose a moratorium on pork barrel earmarks
• Voted twice to increase taxes on domestic energy producers (which is passed on the consumer)
• Vote three times against drilling at ANWR
• Voted for the Pelosi light bulb bill in which the government will decide the type of light bulbs you can use in your own home
• Voted for Barney Frank’s housing trust fund
• Voted against free speech when he supported a bill to regulate the Internet including, email and blogs
• Accepts tens of thousands of dollars from Big Labor Unions each election cycle
Would you have guessed that these votes came from a Republican?
This is the record of 28-year incumbent Republican Chris Smith from New Jersey’s Fourth Congressional District (NJ-4). Believe it or not, these are just a few of his votes from the last two legislative sessions. Is it a wonder why Smith has earned the ranking as one of the most liberal Republicans in the House by the American Conservative Union. This goes along with his “F” rating from American Gun Owners and “D” rating from the NRA.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Ralph Reed: Elections were "disaster" for Dems
Tuesday’s election results were a disaster for the White House and the Democratic party. Not only did the Obama coalition of young voters and minorities not return to the polls (African-American turnout fell from 20 to 16 percent of the electorate in Virginia, for example, while the youth vote fell by 50 percent from 2008), but independents abandoned Obama’s favored candidates in droves. Chris Christie carried indies by a 58–30 percent margin in a three-way race, and Bob McDonnell won independents two-to-one.
Perhaps that is why the White House spin machine — personified by David Axelrod and David Plouffe — went into overdrive to suggest that (the) truly salient fact that came out of 2009 was the impending civil war between conservatives and moderates in the Grand Old Party.
This is utter nonsense.
Perhaps that is why the White House spin machine — personified by David Axelrod and David Plouffe — went into overdrive to suggest that (the) truly salient fact that came out of 2009 was the impending civil war between conservatives and moderates in the Grand Old Party.
This is utter nonsense.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Virginia, NJ voters turn thumbs down on Obama
One year after President Obama swept to power on a promise of “hope” and “change,” American voters got an early chance to pass judgment on his administration. If yesterday’s Republican victories in Democratic strongholds like Virginia and New Jersey are any guide, they don’t like what they see.
While results from around the country were still coming in at press time, the outcome of the race in Virginia is proof positive that the sands have shifted beneath the administration’s feet. Last year, Barack Obama became the first Democrat presidential candidate to win the state since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The Left and their media allies swooned with excitement, and portrayed the 230,000 vote margin of victory as a sure sign that the Republican hold on the state was broken. Democrats were winning the culture wars in what had once been safely Republican territory, it was claimed. Tomes were written performing autopsies on Virginia’s GOP, examining personal rivalries and acrimony, sloppy communication and a demoralized base as reasons for the surprising defeat. Such was the Democrats’ glee that Virginia Republicans were all but added to the registry of endangered species.
A year later, their demise seems greatly exaggerated. Virginia has gone solidly Republican, with the GOP wining the races for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, and, according to the early results, winning them by wide margins. This is bad news indeed for the Democrats, as they current hold six of the state’s 11 Congressional seats. A reenergized state-level GOP organization will now have a full year to raise funds, mobilize support, and make a hard push to put the state back firmly in the red column in next year’s midterm elections.
A similar story has unfolded in New Jersey, where Republican challenger Christopher Christie has defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine – this even as he was outspent 3-1 by the billionaire governor who sunk some $23 million of his own money into the general election race. As is typical of New Jersey politics, the issue of corruption in the state’s government was a campaign hot-button. Yet polls — including today’s exit polls — showed that most voters are worried about taxes and the economy.
The New Jersey result is particularly ominous for Obama, who campaigned for Corzine this past weekend but failed to sway the vote in his favor – another sign of his rapidly fading star power. After witnessing nine months of massive spending surges in the midst of a recession, and detecting no clear plan of how to pay for any of it, it is no wonder that New Jersey voters worried about their taxes and the struggling economy would fail to be impressed by the president’s appeal.
While results from around the country were still coming in at press time, the outcome of the race in Virginia is proof positive that the sands have shifted beneath the administration’s feet. Last year, Barack Obama became the first Democrat presidential candidate to win the state since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The Left and their media allies swooned with excitement, and portrayed the 230,000 vote margin of victory as a sure sign that the Republican hold on the state was broken. Democrats were winning the culture wars in what had once been safely Republican territory, it was claimed. Tomes were written performing autopsies on Virginia’s GOP, examining personal rivalries and acrimony, sloppy communication and a demoralized base as reasons for the surprising defeat. Such was the Democrats’ glee that Virginia Republicans were all but added to the registry of endangered species.
A year later, their demise seems greatly exaggerated. Virginia has gone solidly Republican, with the GOP wining the races for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, and, according to the early results, winning them by wide margins. This is bad news indeed for the Democrats, as they current hold six of the state’s 11 Congressional seats. A reenergized state-level GOP organization will now have a full year to raise funds, mobilize support, and make a hard push to put the state back firmly in the red column in next year’s midterm elections.
A similar story has unfolded in New Jersey, where Republican challenger Christopher Christie has defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine – this even as he was outspent 3-1 by the billionaire governor who sunk some $23 million of his own money into the general election race. As is typical of New Jersey politics, the issue of corruption in the state’s government was a campaign hot-button. Yet polls — including today’s exit polls — showed that most voters are worried about taxes and the economy.
The New Jersey result is particularly ominous for Obama, who campaigned for Corzine this past weekend but failed to sway the vote in his favor – another sign of his rapidly fading star power. After witnessing nine months of massive spending surges in the midst of a recession, and detecting no clear plan of how to pay for any of it, it is no wonder that New Jersey voters worried about their taxes and the struggling economy would fail to be impressed by the president’s appeal.
In politics, winning anywhere is big, losing is trivial
Heh.
No doubt the RNC response was to insist that they were merely local races signifying nothing about the national mood.
But Rahm was right that time, wasn’t he?
[L]ooking back at First Read’s coverage the day after the 2005 New Jersey and Virginia contests, we had forgotten that Rahm Emanuel — then chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and now White House chief of staff — had called us to argue the very point Republicans are now making: that the two gubernatorial contests say something about the upcoming midterms.
Here’s what we wrote then:
Democratic House campaign committee chair Rahm Emanuel, calling First Read immediately after Kaine’s and Corzine’s victories were announced, argued that it’s clear Democratic voters were already energized earlier in the year when Democrat Paul Hackett nearly won a traditionally GOP-leaning Ohio House district. “I think that’s even more true today.” He also pointed out that the mayors of Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Paul, MN were all losing. “A lot of incumbents are losing to change,” he said (although he neglected to mention that these three mayors are Democrats, though the one from St. Paul endorsed Bush last year).
No doubt the RNC response was to insist that they were merely local races signifying nothing about the national mood.
But Rahm was right that time, wasn’t he?
[L]ooking back at First Read’s coverage the day after the 2005 New Jersey and Virginia contests, we had forgotten that Rahm Emanuel — then chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and now White House chief of staff — had called us to argue the very point Republicans are now making: that the two gubernatorial contests say something about the upcoming midterms.
Here’s what we wrote then:
Democratic House campaign committee chair Rahm Emanuel, calling First Read immediately after Kaine’s and Corzine’s victories were announced, argued that it’s clear Democratic voters were already energized earlier in the year when Democrat Paul Hackett nearly won a traditionally GOP-leaning Ohio House district. “I think that’s even more true today.” He also pointed out that the mayors of Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Paul, MN were all losing. “A lot of incumbents are losing to change,” he said (although he neglected to mention that these three mayors are Democrats, though the one from St. Paul endorsed Bush last year).
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Gangbangers bearing names and addresses campaign for Dem candidates in New Jersey
How would you like to be a New Jersey police officer and look out your window and see several known criminals, including a man you arrested several weeks ago and another who had just been released from prison for shooting a cop? And then find out that the men were sent into the neighborhood by the Democratic Party for GOTV operations - complete with lists of voters names, addresses and phones numbers!
That is what happened Sunday on a quiet street in Morris Township. The officer, who’s name we are with holding, specifically heard the men discussing that he was a police officer and that they now know where he lives. The officer confronted the men and they took off. He contacted the local police who responded and caught up with them and about a dozen other men a few blocks away. According to the police report, the men were known criminals and when asked why they were in the neighborhood they stated they were “campaigning for the Democratic Party.”
Below is an interview with another Morris Township resident who also witnessed the gangbangers going door to door. She contacted a local Democratic Party Official who sent her an email stating, “Thanks for writing. Yes, I heard about this and am very sorry for the incident.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
