Tag: Chris Christie

The reform governor needs to be reformed

Logic 101:

If reforming government requires full disclosure and accountability and the governor is connected to a private fundraising group that solicit donations from people seeking favors/jobs/rule changes from the state, then the governor cannot be a reformer.

Just saying.

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  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
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Battling over bad reforms

I’ve written about this often, so I’ll just say that the battle between the governor and the state Legislature over the proposed tool kits — “I say, ‘pass mine,’ one says; ‘no, pass mine,’ the other chimes in” — is pretty meaningless. Real reforms will do more than nibble around the edges of the problem and scapegoat public workers.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Finally, a uniter

OK, I’m sure this is not what Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have meant by uniting left and right, but the Transportation Security Administration’s attack on the Bill of Rights is bridging the gap in a way that no one could have intended.

Gov. Chris Christie is just the latest high-profile politician to climb on board, joining a bipartisan group along with civil libertarians on the left and libertarian right to call on the TSA to find another way to screen passengers instead of subjecting them to an invasive and potentially embarrassing full-body scan or pat down.

Maybe, just maybe, the TSA will listen.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Christie doubts the science of global warming (But he’s not running for president)

Chris Christie was considered a green-friendly Republican when he ran for governor, winning the NJ Environmental Federation’s endorsement in 2009 and praise from other groups that remained neutral in the governor’s race.

A year later and it is clear that Christie is not only not green, but he is downright dismissive of the environmentalists who helped him win the Statehouse by giving him credibility on green issues last year.

He has done some positive things — signing wind farm legislation, for instance — but on the whole he has been a disaster for the environment, gutting funding for alternative energy programs, reorganizing the state Department of Environmental Protection while making it more business-friendly and so on.

And now, with rumors flying that he will be on the national ticket in 2012 — rumors he denies, sort of, maybe, sort of — he is moving to ensure that his green credentials are in keeping with the wacko fringe of the Republican base that he will need on is side in a primary.

Here is a brief report issued by the Associated Press and posted on NJ.com:

Gov. Chris Christie says he’s skeptical that humans are responsible for global warming.
The governor, a new darling of the Republican Party, made the remark at a town hall meeting he hosted in Toms River Tuesday afternoon.

Asked by a man attending the event whether he thought mankind was responsible for global warming, Christie says he’s seen evidence on both sides of the argument but thinks it hasn’t been proven one way or another.

Christie says “more science” is needed to convince him.

More science? Really? Despite the consensus that exists within the scientific community on the issue, he wants more — which should make the fringe happy, but will leave us here in New Jersey dealing with the fallout.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

The governor’s priorities

Budgets are about priorities. They are more than just numbers.

Gov. Chris Christie knows that — and is making clear his own priorities. From today’s Star-Ledger editorial, which pretty much sums up what the governor views as important:

A few days after saying New Jersey is so broke it must cut medical benefits for retirees and freeze their pensions forever, Gov. Chris Christie now says he wants to cut income taxes for the rich.

Think about those priorities. Middle-class families just lost their property tax rebates. Schools lost nearly $1 billion in funding, their biggest hit ever. Thousands of working poor families were closed out of health care programs. And our colleges and universities were whacked hard, forcing tuition hikes as the state scholarship programs run dry.

The governor said those cuts were necessary because the state’s vaults were empty. He was the guy telling us to live within our means, to face hard realities. And now this — a tax cut that would blow a new hole in the budget.

I want readers of this blog to think about what he’s proposing and ask yourselves why giving money back to the rich makes more sense than providing teachers — or ensuring that the people who do the work that we need done get decent salaries and benefits.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. it can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.