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.

Greenstein to stay in Assembly

Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein will not be seeking the 14th District state Senate seat being vacated by state Sen. Peter Inverso. Ms. Greenstein, a Demcorat, will instead seek re-election to her fifth Assembly term leaving South Brunswick resident Seema Singh to battle Assemblyman Bill Baroni for the soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat.

The 14th District includes Cranbury, Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick, as well as Hamilton, Plainsboro and West Windsor.

Ms. Singh had won the Democratic nomination last month with endorsements from both the Mercer and Middlesex County party organizations. Those endorsements were issued before Sen. Inverso, a Republican, announced last week that he would not seek re-election.

Mr. Baroni had originally planned to seek re-election to a third term in the Assembly, but opted for the Senate run when Sen. Inverso announced his retirement. He has been endorsed for the seat by Sen. Inverso and by numerous organizations, including the South Brunswick PBA.

Because of speculation that Sen. Iverso might retire, Ms. Greenstein and Ms. Singh had agreed that the pair might switch ticket positions.

In a telephone interview at about 2 p.m. today with South Brunswick Post reporter Paul Koepp, Ms. Greenstein said that friends and colleagues had encouraged her to run for the Senate seat, but that she opted to seek Assembly re-election because she felt she could be more effective in the lower house.

In addition to Assemblyman Baroni, the Republican ticket includes two Assembly candidates — former Jamesburg Borough Councilman Adam Bushman and Hamilton Township Councilman Thomas Goodwin.

The Democrats are expected to select a candidate for the second Assembly seat on Saturday. Politics NJ is reporting that the choice has been narrowed to former Hamilton Council President Daniel Benson and former Hamilton Councilman/labor leader Wayne D’Angelo.

She is expected to issue a formal announcement this afternoon.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

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The news gets worse

New Jersey’ pension system — through no fault of the state’s employees — is in complete disarray. Thanks to the efforts of several gubernatorial administrations (of both parties) and a compliant state Legislature (run at times by both parties), there is not likely to be enough cash in the system to pay off the workers who eventually might like to retire.

And, according to The New York Times, things maybe worse than we think.

In 2005, New Jersey put either $551 million, $56 million or nothing into its pension fund for teachers. All three figures appeared in various state documents — though the state now says that the actual amount was zero.

The phantom contribution is just one indication that New Jersey has been diverting billions of dollars from its pension fund for state and local workers into other government purposes over the last 15 years, using a variety of unorthodox transactions authorized by the Legislature and by governors from both political parties.

The state has long acknowledged that it has been putting less money into the pension fund than it should. But an analysis of its records by The New York Times shows that in many cases, New Jersey has overstated even what it has claimed to be contributing, sometimes by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The discrepancies raise questions about how much money is really in the New Jersey pension fund, which industry statistics show to be the ninth largest in the nation’s public sector, with reported assets of $79 billion.

State officials say the fund is in dire shape, with a serious deficit. It has enough to pay retirees for several years, but without big contributions, paid for by cuts elsewhere in the state’s programs, higher taxes or another source, the fund could soon be caught in a downward spiral that could devastate the state’s fiscal health. Under its Constitution, New Jersey cannot reduce earned pension benefits.

This is a disaster with longterm implications for the state. We have an ethical obligation to replenish the fund as quickly as we can — but this will mean increasing taxes, dwindling services and a broken economy to follow.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

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Runner’s diary, Wednesday

Bike and then a run:

Five miles on the bike in about 13:50 — not too bad. Haven’t done the stationary bike much and may need to rotate it into my routine occasionally.

Then, with already tired legs, three miles running on the treadmill in 27:10.

Today’s iPod selection: The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Endorsements are piling up

Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein may be running out of time.

Another group has come out for Assemblyman Bill Baroni in his campaign to replace state Sen. Peter Inverso, who is retiring from his senate perch this year.

Baroni snatched several major labor endorsements from state public employee unions and laborers. Today, it won the endorsement of a South Brunswick union, according to Politics NJ.

PBA Local 1066, which represents police officers in South Brunswick, has endorsed Bill Baroni for State Senate. “We work hard at protecting our communities and Bill works hard at protecting our future from corruption and abuse”, said PBA Delegate James Ryan. “Bill has been one of New Jersey’s hardest working legislators and we have maintained an open dialogue since his election to the Assembly.”

Greenstein had an uphill climb to begin with against Baroni and as the endorsements mount that climb becomes even more steep.

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On a related note, some readers of the paper the last few weeks may have noticed that we have spent time covering the legislative races. That represents a change — one our readers seemed interested in. We will be covering the race this year by focusing on those issues that have a direct and indirect impact on Cranbury, Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick.

And we plan to endorse.

The Dayton papers — the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press — cover towns with a total population of about 80,000, meaning we represent about 40 percent of the district. Add the two Packet towns — Plainsboro and West Windsor — and we have a majority.

I’ll pass along more lateras we develop our coverage guidelines.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.