Christie targets unions

Chris Christie’s call for an immediate end to dual-office holding in the state makes sense, as does his call to revoke pensions for convicted ex-officials. But why add labor unions to the state’s pay-to-play ban? The answer, of course, is politics. Labor unions give money to Democrats and endorse Democrats (Bill Baroni in the 14th is an exception). Forcing unions to abide by pay-to-play rules would essentially dry up this revenue stream to the Republicans’ benefit.

Look, if you want to clean up electoral politics then take all of the money out — renew clean elections for 2011 (it is an outright travesty that the Legislature let it die this year) and expand it across the board.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet