Here's what you've got to know about the 5th Congressional District: Up there, you've got your Sussex Tea Party people, the creationist-led, baby-dinosaurs-in-Noah's-Ark-believing captains of the effort to recall a seated US Senator, 'cuz they don't like how he votes. Tough, they are. But also up there, you've got you some progressives, and they're just as tough, and maybe more firmly affixed in the real world. And if you Tea Party folks get to have your legally-disputable recall of a United States Senator, maybe they go after your poster boy, Rep. Scott Garrett. Game on. - - Promoted by Rosi
This morning I read something that got my blood to boiling. As I frantically was working this morning to pay off my many medical bills at my very tiny small business, something I read before work kept me distracted - so I had to blog.
It was simply this: crazy nonsense about Tea Party activists who want to recall Senator Menedez, for VOTING. Not criminal wrongdoing, not Republican style adultery, not even ethical misconduct. Just for VOTING in a way that the little girls throwing their Tea Party tantrums didn't like. Aw.
I got news for those Tea Party guys. This cuts both ways you know. I have had to endure the heartless voting record of Mr Scott Garrett for way too long. Silly me, I assumed, when your guy loses the election, the other guy gets to vote for what HE wants. The loser LOSES. See, that's how it was supposed to work.
Well, the Tea Party activists stirred up by the hate groups here decided to go after the Senator with an ethnic sounding name. Lautenberg votes with Menedez and they vote so consistently Democratic that I trust they will vote for Democratic values 99% of the time - which they do. Why the little Tea Party girls chose to ONLY go after Menendez is shocklingly, astoundingly, absurdly blatant bigotry. In addition, The Tea Party activists, instead of actually winning an election, want to circumvent the democratic process and only invite their friends in for tea.
Here is where it can cut two ways. Who would Progressive NJ Dems who actually believe in evolution and helping their fellow man DEARLY love to remove from the Senate? Scott Garrett of course. You go after our guys, we will recall yours. We actually respected the outcome of the past elections where the 5th district was so gerrymandered as to ensure Scott Garrett's win for the foreseeable century. Lou Dobbs, king of anti-immigrants lives with other old angry white men in the rural parts of the 5th, and THEY have had their say for WAY too long here. I have been resigned to NOT having ANY representation in the House for the past 8 years. Because my guys lost the election. Now that the Tea Party folks have shown that ANY angry idiot with an ax to grind and too much time on their lazy hands can destroy democracy as we know it, I hope they realize they will have to reap the consequences of their actions.
You take away the Senators that speak for ME and the progressive community in NJ and I will see to it that your boy Garrett and his friends are recalled too. Just cause I don't like the way they vote and I think their mother dresses them funny. Wars have been fought over less. This recall effort by the Tea Party bigots is more than a silly prank. It is literally a shot across the bow. One that CANNOT go unanswered.
When Governor Christie announced his budget proposal, he called for "an era of sacrifice". However, it is clear that he means it for those who earn less than $400,000 per year, public employees, non-corporations and isn't a big business.
Of course, this "shared sacrifice" in an era where just about everything else is cut doesn't apply when close to $1 billion per year can be had from reinstating a very popular tax on those who (1) have seen the least pain and (2) can afford it the most.
But what about the other lies? Well, outside of the "never eliminating the property tax rebates" (regardless of whether they should or should not be eliminated), there is the history of Christie making up numbers out of thin air just in these past couple of months - and he has done it again. Christie's supposed $11 billion deficit includes close to $3 billion in pension obligations that he is not funding, and another $1.1 billion in property tax rebates which are being eliminated.
So we are talking about $7 billion - which is still a large number, but not $11 billion - just another Christie lie. Add back the tax on the super rich and that goes down to $6 billion.
Lastly, Christie seems to have replaced the word "taxes" with "fees" - and while our tax dollars go to pay for services like, well, repairs and removal of trees after a devastating storm for example, Christie was very adamant during the campaign about equating "taxes and fees" when hitting Corzine. Yet, here he is proposing "fees" on businesses - but don't call them taxes, of course....
New Jerseyans voted for a change in Governors. However, they will now be waking up with a horrible hangover as to the effects of their vote.
Just before the budget address yesterday, the Democrats put out a release with statements made by Republicans in the past few years when Governor Corzine proposed cuts in some of the same areas:
"The lack of state aid will translate into school property tax increases across most of New Jersey." - Sen. Tom Kean
Tom Kean, press release, October 9, 2009
"This budget will increase the property tax burden on the middle class at a time when they have borne bad decisions of the past several years. We've seen the flat funding or the cuts in municipal aid over the past several years increase the property tax burden...This is an extension of that." - Sen. Tom Kean
Tom Kean, press release, March 11, 2009
Cutting municipal aid, Check. But still the Governor swears he's not raising taxes. Next please:
"The governor claimed that he recognized that property taxes in New Jersey were high and needed reform. No one interpreted that as eliminating or curtailing the only program that provides some relief to taxpayers. The ultimate effect of doing what the governor is suggesting is actually a tax increase."-Alex DeCroce
Alex DeCroce, press release, 2/26/09
Cutting rebates, check. Still not gonna raise taxes though, right? Still more on the rebates:
"[This] budget proposal would remove property tax relief for middle-class New Jerseyans who are already struggling to survive in this tough economy. Now is the time when the people of New Jersey are most in need tax relief, but [the Governor] is offering little more than higher taxes." - Sen. Andrew Ciesla
Sen. Andrew Ciesla, press release, March 10, 2009
What a difference a change in Governors makes. Now they're all praising Christie's bold action and attacking the opposition by Democrats. This time the Republicans will have to stand up and vote for these changes rather than taking pot shots in press releases, which is clear from their difference in tone and response.
Congressman Adler has been a continued focus for healthcare watchers over whether he would give his support to the legislation making its way through Congress. Meeting with the Courier Post, he said this:
"I would vote against the Senate bill," he said while meeting with the editors of the (Cherry Hill) Courier-Post. "The Senate bill has different fundamental flaws and some of the same fundamental flaws that the House bill had."
He left open the possibility of supporting the bill that would make fixes to the Senate bill if it includes more cost-containment measures.
I don't really know what cost containments they would add at this point to satisfy him and get his vote. But he may not get a chance to vote on the Senate bill depending on how things proceed:
Under the procedure, known as a "self-executing rule" or a "deem and pass," the House would adopt a rule for a vote on a package of fixes to the Senate health-care bill, with passage signifying that lawmakers "deem" the underlying bill to be passed.
Labor and progressive leaders are threatening House Democrats who oppose health care legislation with potentially destructive third party challenges in November.
The Republicans are going to attack him no matter what he does or how he votes. They'll attack him because he's a Democrat and tie him to what the leadership did to get the bill passed that he may ultimately vote against. While some reports have him as a solid no, he's still leaving the door open to something according to his comments, so you should call and let him know what you think. Yesterday Adler could look out his window and see those opposing the bill while today he can see the Citizen Action rally in favor of it. If you want to call and let him know your opinion, numbers are:
Rush Holt took to the floor of the House (I think this is from this morning)(Just found out this was from late yesterday). to remind legislators caught up in the kind of frenzy over parliamentary procedure that only Congress could cook up, what the stakes are for the people who need the health care reform.
Watching the comments following the budget address was great. Assembly Budget Minority leader Joe Malone gave us this when Michael Aron pointed out that Republicans criticzed the lack of a pension contribution in the Governor's budget last year, but weren't saying anything this year when Christie was contributing nothing at all:
You talk about not making a pension contribution this year. Corzine didn't make it last year. We criticized him for it. Yes, but you know what, he didn't try to make changes in the pension system. We're going to try.
Excuse me, what? So just because you're trying to fix a broken system, you're allowed to continue the actions that helped to break it? What the hell kind of logic is that?
Indeed, Mr. Christie's budget would squeeze those with lower incomes by eliminating cash welfare for the able-bodied, imposing new $310 deductibles and doubling some drug co-payments for Medicaid patients, cutting state-financed school breakfasts and rental assistance and trimming the state's earned-income tax credit to 20 percent of the federal benefit, from 25 percent.
Tom Moran: N.J. Gov. 'Wrecking Ball' Christie swings budget ax, misses tax cut for wealthy.
Charlie Stile: We're guinea pigs in Christie's trickle-down experiment
Mulshine: Gov. Chris Christie's real budget message: Forget about property tax relief.
Star Ledger: Restore N.J. tax on the rich; Enact local property tax cap.
Asw L. Grace Spencer on the budget impact to Newark, and to the working poor. Characterizes the speech as "unnecessarily aggressive".
As expected, Linda Greenstein got the line for Senate to oppose Tom Goodwin who took the seat that used to be Bill Baroni's yesterday (video of his swearing in). But voting to choose their sheriff's candidate took a nail-biting 2 hours.
Where was Gov. Chris Christie during the weekend crisis?
Charlie Stile calls out Christie for going MIA during the impact on his constituents from the floods, the loss of drinking water, and the power outages. Aerial shots of Passaic flooding.
World Trade Center prosecutor appointed first assistant U.S. Attorney in N.J
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced the appointment of J. Gilmore "Gil" Childers yesterday. He is a lifelong NJ resident.
Votes on 3 Christie cabinet nominees in Senate Judiciary
The NY Times is out tonight with a story about some of the spending cuts and proposals in the Governors budget. The other day the Auditor reported Senator Sweeney was not in favor of extending the tax on people making more than $400,000 and and the Governor would veto it. We questioned why not make him veto it and send him a bill that had the extension. Apparently, Sweeney had a change of heart and is questioning the lack of even considering it tonight:
"The fact that the governor took that higher income tax off the table, I think is a major mistake on his part," said the Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney, a Gloucester County Democrat who has been an ally of Mr. Christie's in cutting public-sector pensions. "This is a very cold budget. There has to be a little more compassion for the middle class and poor, because all the burden is being put on them."
Speaker Oliver already said the other night that she believes there is support in her caucus for an extension. The public opposes getting rid of the tax on the super rich across the board, including the more well off. If the Governor wants to take this stand, the Democrats should make him do it and not just talk about it. That can only happen if Senator Sweeney and the Senate join the Assembly sending the Governor a bill that includes it.
And this brings me to the point that we saw back in the marriage equality debate. Sweeney wants to be the Senate President, which is, by definition, a LEADERSHIP position. Which, of course, means he should LEAD. By claiming that Christie will just veto it anyway, he is being a defeatist and not leading HIS caucus to do what the majority of New Jerseyans want anyway.
Say what you want (and we certainly do) about Republicans - but they stand up for what they want, do it unabashedly and don't care if the polls show otherwise. It is one of the things that people actually respected about George W. Bush - you may not agree with him, but you know exactly where he stands and he won't back down from what he believes. And the problem with many Democrats - and from what we have seen so far, Senator Sweeney is one of them - they may feel one way but won't stand up for it because of some weak reasoning that makes the public feel that they really won't stand up for what they believe in or what their constituents want.
This is nice that Sweeney is starting to come around, but he should be ahead of this no brainer of an issue - especially as a LEADER.
Each week, Blue Jersey Radio streams LIVE with New Jersey's latest political buzz, interviews with newsmakers, and your stimulating calls.
This week: We're joined by NJ-5 Congressional Candidate Tod Thiese seeking the democratic nomination in New Jersey's 5th District, for a chance to take on Scott Garrett in November.
Sure, it feels like we've been through this before. So, what's Tod got in mind to change it up this cycle? Find out from the candidate himself.
Have your own ideas? Drop 'em in the comments, then tune in and join the conversation!
It's all LIVE tonight at 8:00 p.m..
And, of course - you can always give us a call and have your say. That number again is: 646-652-2773.
There was plenty of reaction to the Governor's budget address, but I'm going to have to give the nod to Paul Sarlo for the creative quote of the day:
"At this rate, towns and school boards will have to make indiscriminate cuts to education and essential services. Rather than wait around for a toolbox, they will be forced to gas up a chainsaw, light some dynamite and find a backhoe to clear the rubble.
