This just smacks of political opportunism — and seems fiscally foolish, given the dire straits of the state’s finances. Taking any revenue stream and directing it toward a dedicated expense can only create problems down the road.
But then, this is the staet group of legislators who have shown little political courage in tackling the problem over the years.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog
E-mail me by clicking here.
Interesting post from Wally Edge on Politics NJ today that reminds us that Democrats are not the only ones who know how to use their office to take care of their own:
The Record‘s story this morning on the federal probe of legislators who received some personal benefit from state budget items suggests that only Democrats are being targeted. According to The Record, there are some similarities between State Senator Joseph Coniglio and Assemblyman Brian Stack, both Democrats who have received subpoenas, and two Republican legislators who have not: State Senator Robert Singer and Assemblyman David Wolfe.
Like Coniglio, Singer works for a hospital — he is with the St. Barnabas Health Care System, which runs two facilities in Ocean County — that has received “Christmas Tree” grants. And Wolfe, like Stack, has a wife who works for a non-profit organization that has received funding from the state; Carol Wolfe’s organization, Homes Now, received $500,000 from the state in 1999 to build a women’s shelter in their hometown, Brick. Carol Wolfe founded the group in 1997, but did not receive a salary until 2001.
While the statute of limitations for most non-capital federal offenses is five years but federal prosecutors can look back further in some cases. In the Jack Abramoff corruption case, they went as far back as 1997 to detail offenses he ultimately pled guilty to.
This brings into focus something that the GOP is unwilling to address, i.e., the party’s own complicity in the “Christmas Tree” program. While sites like Red Generation and Enlighten NJ like to use the flow of subpoenas around the state as an indictment of Democrats, the reality is that Republicans have been willing collaborators.
The difference right now between the Democrats and Republicans has far more to do with power than with anything endemic within the New Jersey Democratic soul.
“I don’t think the Christmas tree was planted in 2004,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Englewood.
Most of the subpoenas served on lawmakers and their aides in recent months seek records starting in 2004. That could be for a number of reasons, including the fact that the probe began with a senator who became chairman of the Budget Committee that year. But it also happens to be the year Democrats took full control of the Legislature. That has some wondering whether Republicans would be getting more of the subpoenas if investigators looked back a bit further.
In the context of the U.S. Attorney’s probe and the apparent politicization of the federal Department of Justice, it is a fair question to ask.
That said, the most important thing that can come out of this mess is reformation of the process, an opening up of the budget to ensure that these last-second grants are given the kind of scrutiny they deserve. At least some of the money in question was for legitimate programming, but all of it now is tainted by the actions of a handful of elected officials.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog
E-mail me by clicking here.
Let’s do some math.
First, 78 percent of school budgets on the ballot yesterday — including all four in the towns my papers cover — were approved. It was the highest approval figure since 2001.
Then add the results of the Quinnipiac Poll released yesterday:
Sparked by increased approval for his property tax reduction plan, the poll results released today are Corzine’s highest ever, and show “little apparent effect from his auto accident,” according to Quinnipiac.
Here are the numbers:
51 – 36 percent approval among more than 800 registered voters surveyed April 10 – 12, before news of his accident was widely known;
52 – 35 percent approval among almost 500 voters surveyed April 13 – 16, or after the accident;
51 – 36 percent overall approval for the entire survey.Voters approve 71 – 21 percent of the property tax cut Corzine signed recently. The Governor still gets a negative 41 – 44 percent approval for his handling of property taxes, but this is his highest score on this issue, up from 33 – 57 percent February 28.
The numbers, when added together, would seem to indicate that a tax revolt similar to the 1991 purge that gave the Republicans a majority is not in the offing.
But then, the Legislature remains in the red in the poll. But there is another number that probably needs to be added into the mix: the Democrat’s 4-1 financing advantage.
(Rider University Professor David) Rebovich said safe districting and Democratic Party cash advantages will likely prevent any power shift in the coming election.
“Plus, most residents like their individual lawmakers while disapproving of the institution,” Rebovich said.
So much for an angry electorate.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog
E-mail me by clicking here
The Record may think county “super” superintendents are a good idea, but I have to disagree.
Here is the editorial we ran on the topic in November — our opinion hasn’t changed, even though the governor has signed legislation creating the newly empowered bureaucrats.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog
E-mail me by clicking here
At least Gov. Jon Corzine knows that the legislation he signed enacting a 20 percent tax credit is only a pebble in the ocean as far as the reforms needed in New Jersey.
“I’d be skeptical too, if I was a taxpayer. Until I see the results, it’s show-me time,” Corzine said, adding that those results will take years to happen. “The reforms take time. It’s not one of those things where you’re going to get instant gratification.”
Certainly not. The fact is that the legislation signed yesterday was a small Band-Aid on a huge problem — property tax bills that are growing at about 7 percent a year and that are already the highest in the nation; a tax system that reinforces the state’s economic disparities; a political system that rewards campaign contributors and ethically challenged legislators; too many towns and school districts; an illogical school funding formula. The list is long.
And it’s why, as the Asbury Park Press points out, the credits are far from the “landmark” reforms touted by the governor and Legislature.
The only thing remarkable about it is how Corzine and the Legislature believe voters will be fooled into thinking it is worthy of the adjective “landmark.” Clearly, they are counting on the gullibility of the electorate. All 120 seats in the Legislature are up for election in November.
Instead of reducing spending by cutting government programs and jobs, and bringing public employee salaries and benefits into the 21st century, they have opted for a shell game instead — demonstrating once again their low regard for the intelligence and attention span of the voter.
Would the Republicans do better? Doubtful. They had a decade in the majority to improve the system and all they came up with was an income tax cut that helped create the fiscal problems the state currently faces.
Jon Shure of New Jersey Policy Perspectives had it right in February when he wrote in an op-ed that so-called reformers dismissed the most logical proposals — an expanded state income tax, realignment of local and county governments — in exchange for what they thought was politically palatable. (Even those proved too extreme for the risk-averse Legislature.)
When we get beyond slogans and sound bites, New Jersey is left with this reality: we collect more from local property taxes than from the state sales and income taxes combined. It’s also true that the lower your income is in New Jersey the higher percentage of it you pay in the form of sales, income and property taxes combined. Real reform of the tax system would put all of this on the table. And it would also accept the fact that as bad as New Jersey’s tax system is (and it is) it is really a symptom of the larger problem: 566 municipalities and 613 school districts-an archaic, unsustainable structure more reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire than a 21st century state.
He describes “real reform” as “looking not just at how much New Jersey spends, but where we spend it and who we call on to pay it.”
An honest assessment of tax burdens that squarely confronts who pays how much, and in which taxes, would point the way out of the morass. It would recognize the value of raising and spending more of our resources at the state and even county level and less locally.
And it’s only likely to happen if we empower citizens — via a tax convention — to do the work.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog
E-mail me by clicking here
Hank Kalet 