Big Labor Unions. Are They a Big Help or Just a Big Business?

Big labor unions have recently been in the forefront of political expression.

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Since last summer many unions have had their members clash with Tea Party protesters.   Some even pretended to be Tea Party protesters and made and carried inflammatory  signs  in an attempt to define participants of the Tea Party movement as racists.  On several occasions union members even physically attacked Tea Party protesters.

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Recently in New Jersey, dozens of public service unions hired busses and bodies to attend what was billed as one of the largest protests of its kind.   It was a protest aimed at New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.   Not long ago, he blamed the New Jersey Education Association for creating two classes of people in the state, one that pays for rich pensions and the other that enjoys rich pensions. Then he proposed a cap increase on public employee wages and benefits at 2.5 percent annually and added to that  a measure that would replace pensions with employee contribution plans. So more than 35,000 union members from allover the region descended upon Trenton to threaten Governor Christie for his fiscal responsibility.

Not long after that, hundreds of Service Employee Internationaly Union members trespassed on the property of a bank executive’s home to protest the activities of the Bank he works for, Bank of America. The man was not home, and so the 500 or more angry union hacks simply terrorized the bank executive’s 14 year old son, who hid from the unruly mob in the bathroom.

Now the SEIU is protesting the state of Arizona because they do not like the fact that Arizona is doing what the federal government fails to do…..enforce immigration laws.

All of this got me thinking about big labor unions and their activities, tactics and even their purpose.

Where do we  begin?

Do we begin with the fact that many big labor unions have outlived their purpose and lost track of their original purpose?

Do we begin with the fact that they have become “for profit” businesses of their own that rake in lucrative salaries for big labor’s leaders and managers at the sake of their members? Do we even begin to address the fact that the liberal-Democrat federal regime is taking taxpayer money and the dividends of shareholders of auto companies and giving them, not to employees, but to unions?.

Labor unions were borne out of a true need for better wages and working conditions in the early 1900’s.

At the time, there was no Department of Labor, there was no minimum wage, there were hardly any federal safety codes, no OSHA, no inspectors, and essentially nothing that prevented a business owner from taking advantage of hard working people whose livelihoods were at the mercy of the business owner and managers.

Unions provided that, and ultimately led to the creation of federal laws that have in many ways made unions, less necessary. And so unions deserve a certain amount of credit for making life better for working Americans and overall, for improving the quality of life in America in general.

So while before the rise of unions in the 1900’s a working class American had no protections, now they have many. They exist in the form of federal and state laws.

The redundancy of these protections has essentially turned contemporary big labor unions into boondoggles for union leadership and management that make them rich off of the sweat of their working class membership. And while unions force the working class American to pay costly dues, the leaders of public unions also hold entire states hostage as they threaten to strike and stop the productivity of their workers in order to take more money from their customers….the citizens of those states.

Unions have destroyed a state like of New Jersey.

Between pensions, exorbitantly high minimum annual pay raises and state contracts that are hammered out through extortion and patronage, taxes can’t be raised fast enough to account for the unduly high costs incurred to state government by its public workers unions. In New Jersey, the biggest culprits are the teacher’s New Jersey Education Association union and the Communications Workers Association union. Governor Chris Christie has made it clear that these once well intentioned unions have become enemies of the state. So what do they do in turn? The teachers union, which cries poverty, has spent millions of dollars to put ads on the air against Governor Christie. For a bunch of people who are in such need of money, they sure know how to spend it, and it isn’t on “the children”.

And in the mean time, who is on board and in bed with this contemporary union Ponzi scheme……well in New Jersey, former Governor, liberal-Democrat Jon Corzine, was the boyfriend of now former Communications Workers Association President Carla Katz. And up until his recent resignation as head honcho of the Service Employees International Union, White House records show that Andy Stern, former president of the SEIU, was THE MOST FREQUENT VISITOR to the White House…..the most frequent visitor.
You see how much access to power you get when you donate $70 million in campaign contributions to Democrats, as did the SEIU?

Of course it is Andy Stern being wined and dined in the White House and bedded in the Lincoln Bedroom, not the hard working union members who have a portion of their salary garnished by the union that they are often forced to join in order to get the job that they want.

When you think about it, the marriage between big labor and liberal-Democrats is more than just a marriage of convenience. It is a perfect pairing of harmonious synchronicity where one hand washes the other so thoroughly, that you can hardly make out the fingerprints that they leave at the scene of their economic crimes.

One does not even begin to realize how much the liberal laws-to-union demand ratio, raises the price of everything and overall cost of life in America. And many refuse to see the basic problem that unions are presenting to entire economies.

While we see that private sector wages and benefits have stalled during the current economic climate, many state and local governments are continuously forced to increase the compensation packages and salaries of public workers.

In 2008, while state and local workers received combined salaries and benefit packages of $1.1 trillion. That amounted to exactly one half of the total spending by state and local governments. In 2009, those compensation packages amounted to more than half of the total spending by state and local governments. And in the coming years these costs are expected to continue to rapidly rise because of increasingly lucrative compensation and benefit packages. Not to mention health care costs too. Can you say “increased deficit”?

The bottom line is that unions have made themselves too expensive to do business with and states cannot afford their ponzi schemes. The financial costs of union demands are rapidly outpacing the revenue of the states that they hold hostage. And at the same time, the added costs of union demands which is built into the cost of everything from items purchased and services provided, often prices those goods and services out of the reach of the consumer. And ironically, it even puts many of those goods and services out of the reach of the consumer who is also a union member that is paying union dues to wealthy American labor leaders.

Now you can argue that while Democrats are in the pocket of big labor, Republicans are in the pocket of big business. But your argument would be weak. Democrats are on par with Republicans when it comes to donations from big business. Just look at BP and their contributions to President Obama. But when it comes to “big labor unions” few of them are donating $70 million to Republicans as the SEUI did to Democrats.

Furthermore; while the laws that regulate business in the areas of working conditions, minimum wages, time off, insurance, paid leave etc., are practically infinitesimal, the number of laws that regulate big unions pale in comparison. In fact if anything, there are far more laws that give big union all the advantages. No business can demand that you pay them back $45.00 a week to keep your job. Yet the laws are written so that in order to get certain jobs, you must pay a union to represent you whether you want them to or not.

Not all unions are abusive and there does still remain a need for organized representation of workers interests among management, but such a collective representation does not require it to become a business of its own that provides perks and pay to people who call a dinner meeting work. This does not mean that a public sector union such as a transportation union, should be able to shut down the entire infrastructure and economy of entire cities. It just means that unions that are sincere about their mission, need to scale back their political agenda and focus on the real needs of their members without screwing over the taxpayers and consumers who pay their salaries.

PROPOSED NEW JERSEY BUDGET IS A PAGE FROM THE BERNIE MADOFF SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

    “Every day, across New Jersey, across America, millions of people are sitting down at their kitchen tables and sorting out their family budgets. On the backs of envelopes … with pencils and calculators in hand … surrounded by stacks of bills and receipts … families are figuring out how to balance their income and expenses …And they’re doing this amid alarming economic circumstances.

You pick up the newspaper and see the national unemployment rate rising above 8%. You see neighbors losing their jobs, their homes and their health care. People worry they might be next.

The economy may not be “in shambles” as Warren Buffet remarked last week, but it is clear that this is no ordinary recession. And the costs of this economic crisis are exacting a serious, human toll.

People from all walks of life are tightening their belts. Around the kitchen table, every family knows what it means to make tough choices in these tough times. But people also understand the importance of making the right choices. They identify their most important priorities, and they change their spending habits to live within their means.”

That is how New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine began his annual budget speech.

He then went on to say that state government is in the same position as its people and must make hard choices. But as is the case with most of Governor Corzine’s words, that is not exactly the case.

What Governor Corzine forgets is that our state government and all its largess exists on the backs of its residents. Every clandestine union contract he has negotiated, every state mandate he has supported and every state employee he has hired is paid for not by a needy government but by suffering taxpayers who flip the bill for government.

So it is not true that New Jersey state government is “in the same position” as New Jersey citizens. New Jersey state government ushered in an economic crisis years before the national economy realized its banking crisis and tightening up of the flow of money.

Governor Corzine tried to paint a picture of a state government that is suffering as much as its people. What he failed to make clear is that the people are suffering because of what his state government is costing them and doing to them. What he failed to do was spare the taxpayer from suffering even more in the name of government. What Corzine did do is demand more sacrifices from the taxpayer for the benefit of the state government bureaucracy.

In his budget address, despite his contention that he is not growing the size of government, he failed to make government smaller and he failed to make life better for the citizens of New Jersey. Instead he made things worse.

Rather than try to turn around New Jersey’s dismal, worst in the nation, business environment he increased the already high taxes that decimated business in New Jersey and instead of attracting new business to New Jersey he increased the state‘s payroll tax and made the state less attractive to conduct business in.

Rather than reduce the state’s, highest in the nation property tax burden, he increased it even more.

Instead of cutting government costs and eliminating programs or implementing a hiring freeze, the governor expanded programs.

In his budget address, Governor Corzine portrayed himself as a man having to make tough decisions, yet what he proved to us is that he lacks the courage to make those tough decisions.

He refuses to make needed decisions to reform his bureaucracy. He refuses to reform the state’s under funded, deficit riddled pension system and he refuses to stand up to costly government mandates that will ruin entire communities in New Jersey from High Point in the North to Cape May in the South.

As liberal philosophy dictates, Corzine’s budget speech made it clear that increased taxes are his answer. It is the same thinking that led Corzine to raise taxes by nearly 2 billion dollars when he first came into office. Yet, even though he raised those taxes, today we are in a deficit of almost 2 billion dollars.

What went wrong?

The answer is that his leadership offered policies that did not shrink the size and scope of the states bureaucratic jungle but did make it more expensive to operate. That increase was passed on to the taxpayers and that subsequently worked against the state. Instead of meeting state revenue projections, we fell short. Instead of growing our economy, Corzine’s tax increases helped to shrink our economy and that helped to further reduce state revenues.

And what is the Governor’s proposed solution?

He gives us more of the same that got us to where we are today.

He raises sin taxes, business taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes and more. He even has the gall to portray his elimination of property tax rebates to the taxpayer as a budget cut. He is not cutting the budget, he is simply costing the taxpayer more.

But such is the thinking of a liberal Governor. Such is the work of a self proclaimed Wall Street financial guru who exited Goldman-Sachs with a golden parachute of more than 400 million dollars. This is the best he can do even with billions of extra dollars that his state is getting from the recent stimulus package.

How would he have maintained his political bureaucracy had New Jersey not received federal assistance?

The answer is simple. Corzine’s liberal thought process would have led him to propose tax increases much higher than he just did.

Do New Jerseyans really want four more years of this thinking? Aside from his questionable ethical practices and secret union negotiations with his girlfriend, do they really want four more years of Corzine’s Bernie Madoff economic practices? Do they really want more of the same unaccountable conduct and endless tax increases?

New Jerseyans need to realize that government is not always the answer and that more government is not a solution. If Governor Corzine could grasp that fact, he would ask the political bureaucracy of state government to sacrifice more than he is asking the citizens of New Jersey to sacrifice.

Lacking that understanding, on top of questionable ethics that he seems to have learned at The Governor Jim McGreevey School of Ethics, Governor Corzine is simply implementing economic policies that were seemingly taught at the Bernie Madoff School of Economics and as a result, all New Jerseyans are getting ripped off.

When Albert Einstein died, he met three men in line outside the Pearly Gates. To pass the time, he asked what  their  IQs were.

The first replied 190. “Wonderful,” exclaimed Einstein. “We can discuss the contribution made to my mass-energy equivalence concept by Kenneth Bainbridge and his cyclotron research efforts “.

The second answered 150. “Good,” said Einstein. “I look forward to discussing the role of nuclear-free legislation in the quest for world peace“.

The third man mumbled 50.

Einstein paused, and then asked, “So what is your forecast for the budget deficit next year?”

CURBING GOVERNMENT & EMPOWERING PEOPLE; An interview with Steve Lonegan – Part II

     Confident that he will be the Republican nominee for Governor, Steve Lonegan answered questions in this interview in a way that came across to me as a back to basics strategy. A strategy that would scale back the scope of government and their intrusiveness in our lives. A strategy that intends to strip off the extras which cost us more.

In the previous installment of this interview, we got a good glimpse of that approach to government when the Mayor answered questions involving the Committee On Affordable Housing. Aside from calling the actions of the committee “leftwing social engineering“ he called for its abolishment.

Such signs of Lonegans desire to put government back in its proper place are most evident in the area of taxes.

In part two of this interview, Lonegan volunteered that the “first thing” he needs “to do in the state of New Jersey is to cut taxes“.

He says “we have the worst income tax, we have the highest top end rate in the east at 9%, we have the highest sales tax in the nation and the highest property taxes“.

The former mayor claims that these exorbitant taxes are all “a result of the massive growth of state government”. He adds that “we also have the worst estate tax in the country so not only can you not afford to live here, you can’t afford to die here” and he made it clear that under a Lonegan administration, the solution that he will provide to the problem will be achieved by cutting taxes across the board which you do by cutting the size of government. He added that he will do so by “cutting it with an axe, not a scalpel”.

• …..“The number one driving force behind increases in property taxes in New Jersey is the state government“…..-Steve Lonegan, 1/21/09-POLITICS 24/7 interview

As for property taxes Lonegan believes the key to solving the problem is lifting government off of our backs and giving mayors and local council members “back the tools they need to govern effectively rather than become functionaries of the state whose job it becomes to implement all the COAH mandates and all the other unfunded mandates that Trenton heaps on the backs of local officials.”

Stating that after 12 years as Mayor of Bogotá he knows the burdens of which he speaks, and proclaimed that he knows what it takes to cut taxes and that due to the overreaching that Trenton participates in, local “officials do not have the tools” to cut taxes .”

He added “we need to eliminate COAH which will be driving up our property taxes. We need to give mayors and councils the ability to negotiate union contracts on a fair playing field and we need to give school boards the ability to negotiate teachers contracts and give them  a fair playing field which they do not have now.”

• …..”The real losers here are the students”…..      -Steve Lonegan, 1/21/09-POLITICS 24/7 interview

Another factor, one of the most important factors, in rising property taxes is the 15 year old Abbot School funding formula which Lonegan clearly states is plain wrong.

Calling the Abbot funding system “another product of our liberal state supreme court”, Lonegan explains that we have the 33 most expensive school districts in America. “These are the Abbot districts where spending per student ranges as much as $25,000 and in some cases $30,000 per student and the real travesty here is that after billions and billions of dollars pored into these school districts, we still have students coming out of these school districts with a less than mediocre education, often in unsafe schools”, he added.

• ….“I think the idea of collecting money from people and sending it back is absurd”…..                        – Steve Lonegan, 1/21/09-POLITICS 24/7 interview 

Still on the topic of property taxes, I asked the Mayor what he thought of the homestaed rebate program which eligible homeowners recieve after paying their taxes.  His response was expected and right on the mark.

“I think the idea of collecting money money from people and sending it back is absurd.  I think the whole sytem should be eliminated”  said Lonegan.  He  further stated that as governor, as  he reduces the size of government, “one of the programs that will go will be the homestaed rebate program”. 

• …..”cut taxes for everyone”…..           –Steve Lonegan, 1/21/09-POLITICS 24/7 interview

But before anyone takes tthe line about doing away with the homestaead rebate and tries to paint Lonegan as someone who refuses to make it easier for taxpayers in New Jersey, he made clear that his goal is to “cut taxes for everyone and give them real tax cuts, not some phomy income redistribution scheme that requires people to call into some stupid phone number and wait for an hour”.  Steve believes that if we can “start cutting the state’s income and sales tax for the people, they will say, we don’t want your rebate anymore”

As for the education of our children Lonegan declared that the highlight of his career will be the day that he signs a bill requiring every Abbot school districts to “give a quality education to students with the same funding as every other school district in the state of New Jersey”. 

If they don’t, Lonegan demands that they give each parent of those students a voucher so that they can go to the school of their choice.

With much of our discussion dealing with funding and mandates I asked Mayor Lonegan if as Governor, he would refuse any federal funding for the state because of strings that may be attached to it.

When it comes to our return on the tax dollar that New Jerseyans send to Washington, D.C., most of it has to do with the ability of our representatives in D.C. and how good they are at delivering for the state. Our representatives in the U.S. Senate, Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez have been a sleep and during their naps, New Jersey has fallen to last place when it comes to the money we get back from Washington. Although New Jersey could use all the help it can get right now, I asked Steve if there was any limit to what help he would reject  t from Washington because of some of the federal strings attached to it.

His matter of fact response was “I certainly would, it depends on the strings of course so it has to be analyzed case by case.”

The mayor did feel that it is a “sad state of affairs when the federal government uses money to manipulate us into implementing their agenda on the state level.”

But that answer cuts both ways.

For instance, I am a supporter of legislation sponsored by Texas Senator John Cornyn, which prohibits the use of federal money involving projects that a state or local entity obtains through eminent domain policies. I also support federal legislation to link the refusal of Homeland Security dollars to states that allow themselves to be sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants.

However the Mayor’s comment has merit. There are many cases where the federal government does refuse to turn over money to a state if they fall short of adopting some of D.C’s  intended social engineering programs, programs like COAH for example,  and besides, he did state that he looks forward to the day when we don’t need any help from Washington.

All in all Steve Lonegan presented a great case for not only conservatives but for taxpayers as well.

He also demonstrated that someone with the experience of a New Jersey township or municipal mayor, might just be what New Jersey needs in a Governor. Who knows best what the ramifications of Trenton’s decisions are in the towns, villages, cities and municipalities, throughout our state, than a mayor who has had to deal with what comes out of Trenton?

His points are hard to argue and the only real area for debate, regarding his points, deal with the approach to the solutions of each of those points and that’s what the Republican primary for the gubernatorial nomination will be all about.

In the next part of this interview we will get into that debate as we ask the Mayor about his opponents and his chances of winning.

We will also get into what may become a political liability and deep bump in Lonegan’s road to victory among Republicans.                                                                       

A friend of mine is in the naval reserves…………….

A few weeks ago, He was attending a conference that included admirals in both the US and the French navies. At a cocktail reception, my friend found himself in a small group that included an admiral from each of the two navies.  

The French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned many languages, Americans only learned English. He then asked. “Why is it that we have to speak English in these conferences rather than you have to speak French?”  

Without even hesitating, the American admiral replied. “Maybe it is because we arranged it so that you did not have to learn to speak German.”

The group became silent.

Submitted by Mike, Broomfield, Co.

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The Making of a Governor: Interview With Steve Lonegan – Part I

Click Above To Visit The Lonegan For Governor Web Site

     When speaking to Steve Lonegan one is immediately struck by his confidence and command of the issues. When you ask Steve Lonegan a question, although there may be many different answers, he states his with a comprehensive slew of facts that make it seem only logical that his is the only right answer.

In this interview I confronted Mayor Lonegan with some of the hot button issues such as taxes, state mandates, federal funds, Abbott districts and even his own campaign. You will come to see that Steve Lonegan does not shy away from any of the issues .

• “If I had my way, I would take Newark and divide it up into six small towns.”

We started off by asking the candidate about proposed efforts to curb the affordability crisis in New Jersey by consolidating  municipalities.  Some of these proposals have been made by Republicans like Senator Joe Kyrillos of Monmouth County.

When asked if he would oppose legislation requiring that municipalities adhere to a prescribed consolidation formula or incentives to do so, Lonegan replied matter of factly “Yes. Not only will I oppose it I will veto any such legislation.”

He expanded on his answer quite extensively by continuing with “The state government can’t manage themselves. Local government is the most efficient and effective government there is. Our small towns do a phenomenal job of keeping expenses down in almost every single case. And these people in Trenton do not understand the value of local government and for them to come in and force small towns to consolidate under the mode of big government and big government spending is destructive for New Jersey”.

When asked if he supports consolidation without state coercion the former Bogota Mayor says “science and statistics prove that small towns are the best type of governments in the state. The state government is on the verge of its own collapse and bankruptcy……..it is one of the biggest political diversions in state history…..trying to blame small towns under some bogus claim that if you force two small towns to consolidate, you will save the state money—It doesn’t. The statistics prove over and over again that small towns are much more cost efficient”.

“If I had my way, I would take Newark and divide it up into six small towns.”

“In every case, these big units always need subsidies and aid. The other aspect to this agenda is that in all these small towns, you have volunteer ambulance corps, volunteer fire departments and when you consolidate them into big cities you then force unionized labor and the labor unions would love noting better than to get rid of all those volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps and have them all be unionized like Newark or Jersey City or what have you”

To further punctuate his point Lonegan explained that in his last year in office as Mayor, his town of 8,000 people (the same as Wasilla, Alaska) had a per capita spending of roughly $750 per person whereas nearby towns such as Teaneck with 40,000 residents spent $12 hundred dollars person and Hackensack where 45,000 residents live, their per capita expenditure was close to $16 hundred per person.

Another reason for his opposition to merging small towns was based on the fact that the small town Mayors and planning boards and zoning regulations get in the way of state officials which have designs on these small towns and their property.  So the state would love to do away with many of those local authorities through consolidation because it would make it easier for them to ride roughshod over local residents and implement their own big government plans and policies. 

 That conveniently brought us to another issuer. State mandates and COAH.

• “….its a very, very dangerous plan that will undermine communities, undermine the economy  and to capitulate on this will be forfeiting our rights as Americans”

Thanks to a series of state court ordered, legislative style, mandates the Council Of Affordable Housing has implemented policies to create so called affordable housing that will drive up property taxes, consume open space and change the character of the towns forced to comply with them.What does Steve Lonegan think about it? As he stated to POLITICS 24/7, “it has to be completely overturned”

He called it “a total leftwing engineering scheme, the most radical in all the country”.

Lonegan believes it is unfortunate that some Republicans feel that we have to “follow it” simply because it was court ordered.

“The court was not elected to govern the state and also the whole mentality behind this is nothing but social engineering on a level that the country has never seen before and again its an issue where local communities don’t want to have the agenda of Trenton shoved down their throats” said Lonegan.

How will he overcome COAH? Well the feisty firebrand says he will “accomplish that by defunding COAH, taking away their pencils and paper, appointing people to the existing COAH board who believe in abolishing COAH and while I am doing that, we will be pushing for a referendum on the ballot to have COAH overturned and the Mt. Laurel decision overturned“.

From COAH our conversation progressed to immigration of which I asked how the Mayor, as Governor, would, in New Jersey, combat the proliferation of illegal immigration?

• “I’ll be roling up the red carpet”

In rapid fire form Steve, as he asked to be called said “I actually support 287G empowering local police and county police to have the authority to act as an extension of the United States Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS). We will not be having driver licenses for illegal aliens, absolutely not and we will not be extending in state tuitions to illegal aliens. In state tuitions is for those who have supported and built this state, paid taxes in this state and can benefit from this discount. It is not just for anyone who barges into New Jersey illegally and unfortunately we’re dealing with the fact that the federal government has failed at controlling immigrants and we’re paying the consequences. So those are the steps we can take here.” 

Not satisfied with that statement alone, Lonegan again brought up COAH.  According to him “while we are driving high income jobs and businesses out of the state by having the highest taxes in America” the 100 thousand low income housing units that the COAH mandates are forcing us to build are “a red carpet to illegal aliens saying, hey come to New Jersey.  So i’ll be rolling up that red carpet”

As you can see so far, Steve Lonegan doesn’t hold any punches and as the interviews continues, tomorrow, you will see that he doesn’t give any inappropriate punches either.  He says it like it is and offers, to many, a politician who isn’t interested in playing politics but rather frustrated by the political games being played in Trenton

Be sure to log back into us on Friday for more. 

We get into everything from Abbot School districts, property taxes and  homestaed rebates to Steve’s competitors for the Republican nomination for Governor.

Just like the race for Governor, this is going to get interesting.   

“Well, did you all see Obama’s speech? He said America is finally ready to lead again, to which Bush said: ‘Hey, I’m sitting here! Hello! I’m still here!'”

–Jay Leno

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CORZINE’S STATE OF THE STATE WAS SAD….In More Ways Than One

     So New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine issued his State of the State address in Trenton.

He told us things don’t look good. He said the nation and the world are in the middle of tough economic times.

To help things out, the Governor has promised road repairs and that he will help those less fortunate than us. That says a lot. I mean compared to the over 400 million golden parachute that Corzine had after being booted from Wall Street and Goldman Sachs, everyone is less fortunate than him.

The sad fact is that under the last three years of Jon Corzine, all New Jerseyans really are less fortunate. He raised taxes by almost $2 billion and spent us into 2.1 billion dollars of debt. So under Corzine it cost more to live in Jersey and we got less. Unless of course you are Carla Katz and the communications workers union. They got more and they have also made it clear that they want more yet.

A spokesman for the CWA recently warned that when the Governor said that everyone is going to have give a little during the coming year, the CWA will not do so. They have made it clear that they won’t give an inch or a cent and that everything the Governor promised them is going to be taken by them. Now you know why the Sopranos‘s was filmed in Jersey.

Corzine’s sad state of the state had to be one of the most bland, uninspiring and bleak speeches given by a politician in recent memory. It almost made you wish you had the chance to listen to impeached Governor Rod Balgojevich recite more English poets in between his repeated cries of innocence. At least Blagojevich provided some dramatic backdrop for his story. Corzine had nothing.

You would think that at a time like this, New Jersey citizens could use a little something to go on that could give us the ability to hold on to hope for better economic times in the state. But there was nothing.

Perhaps the most interesting statements made by Corzine were those he said during the last quarter of his excuse,…..I mean address.

He said he agreed with the proposals of many Republican lawmakers who want more transparency in government and who want the state’s budgets to be available for the public to review.

Republicans like State Senator Jennifer Beck have been urging these things for years but I guess with nothing else to say or point to, Corzine was left with no alternative but to admit that the Republican proposals were good and needed to be adopted.

The other statement of mention came when Corzine said, that the one thing you can count on is that he will say what he means. That is actually quite profound especially coming from him the day after he won a court case that allowed the Governor to keep what he said to his ex-girlfriend, Carla Katz, during state contract negotiations with the local CWA union that she was the President of at the time.

The Governor actually asks us to believe what he says, yet most of what he says is kept secret.

Now that is liberal logic for you.

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR FAVORITE CONGRESSMAN IS CROOKED 

• When you shake hands with him, two of your fingers are suddenly missing.
• He has an off shore corporation based in the Bahamas that supposed to sell bananas.
• Instead of calling him “congressman” his employees call him “boss”.
• He has a wife at home, another in D.C., a maid, a housekeeper, a college intern, an out of college intern, and three more secretaries than he needs.
• He has a house in your district, but he never lives there, and one in Las Vegas, another in Costa Rica, another in D.C., another in Spain.
• Everyone pays him–the gardener, the garbageman, the cable guy, the local councilman, the mayor, the CEO from the airline, his mistress, his dog and the goldfish.
• The only way he gets to talk before the television cameras is if he is indicted.
• At roll call, he always seems to be on a foreign junket.
• Everyone else pays his bills.
• His pictures appear in his district at election time, but he can never make those debates that he scheduled.
• His dog is named “Bugsy”.
• All of his real estate holdings pay no taxes.
• His apartment buildings are run down and need of attention.
• His daughter and son are running for student council, and Dad is supporting them with a ticker tape parade down the school hallway.
• His guest list at his parties include labor leaders, politicians,
• Miss America winners, Miss Universe Winners, some business men with lots of money and nobody from the press.
• His suits come from Paris instead of “Suit Bargain Express”.
• His headquarters is in a high-rise.
• He never looks straight at you when he shakes your hand.
• After he does so, you notice that your rings are missing.
• His fillings in his mouth are now made of gold.
• His wife is driving his old Cadillac. His mistress is driving the new Lexus, and she is driving him.
• He has pictures of well-known politicians on his wall-with names such as “Lucky” and “Big Jim” and “Shifty”.
• He spends more time in Las Vegas than he does in Washington.
• You only see him in the district around election time.

 

Submitted by Bruce, Carol Stream, Illinois

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OFFER LEGISLATURE MERIT PAY LINKED TO THE ECONOMIES THAT THEY MANIPULATE

ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD MERKT

Assemblyman Richard Merkt recently proposed to slash the salaries of New Jersey lawmakers by 10%.However, the Assemblyman is a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination and the proposal could be viewed as an election gimmick. Then again, everything that any lawmaker does can be seen as a election gimmick.

In light of the recent pay raise of federal legislators, Merkt’s proposal is a noble one and worth looking at.

So his point is well taken. Times are tough and our representatives should be willing to make sacrifices and at least pretend to be empathetic to the people whose lives they affect.

Besides, lawmakers are partially responsible for any state’s economy including the one we are currently in here in Jersey so they should be more directly effected. I say they are partly responsibly because not everything is their fault. Nature, world events and human stupidity outside of Trenton politics, all play a part. But our lawmakers are elected to both steer us and our state economy in the right direction and to help our state better cope with the situations that we are dealt.

That being the case, it can easily be said that the current state legislature has not done a good job.

New Jersey has led the way in economic trouble over the past few years and under the direction of Governor Jon Corzine, the state legislature has been ill equipped at handling the situation. In fact, together the Democrat controlled state legislature and Democrat Governor have made matters worse.

Together they raised taxes, increased fees made it harder to do business in New Jersey and expanded opportunities for government corruption.

It could be said that Republicans bare no responsibility for this situation since they do not control any branch of state government. I can agree with that but it still doesn’t get Republicans off the hook.

Both parties have failed the people of New Jersey to one degree or another.

Democrats have failed to do anything right and Republicans have failed at convincing anyone that they could do better.

Given these circumstances, I have a more interesting proposal than Assemblyman Merkt’s.

How about we link state legislative and executive salaries to the economy and taxes of the state that they run.

Currently New Jersey State Assembly members and Senators make $49,000 a year.

I say let us reduce those salaries to a base of $41.000 a year and then use the following standard.

1. For every percent or portion of a percentage that any given legislature raises income and property taxes, their salaries are decreased by 2%. For every percentage or degree of a percentage that they decrease income and property taxes their salaries can be raise by half of one percent.
2. For every percent or portion of a percentage that they raise a sales or service tax, their salaries also decrease by that same percentage. Conversely, their salaries can be raised by half a percent for every full percent of a decrease in such taxes.
3. For any new tax created, their salaries are reduced by 2% plus the equivalent percentage of that new tax.
4. Every toll increase passed during any legislative session is matched by a reduction in legislative salaries that equal to the percentage of that increase.
5. And finally, state legislative salaries are further reduced by the same number of percentage points that the state’s unemployment rate is whenever it exceeds 4%.

To make it fair. Newly elected legislators would not be held accountable for the taxes and economic situation that any previous legislative session, which they did not have a hand in, was responsible for, and so they would start with the base pay of 41K.

Of course, such measures would not prevent rich people like Governor Jon Corzine from raising fees and taxes, misappropriating funds and offering sweet heart deals to sweethearts like Carla Katz. After all, Corzine took a $400 million golden parachute from Wall Street and doesn’t even accept his salary for Governor but this system could help to make less well off lawmakers work a little harder to address our problems and to fight the wealthy Governor. Having their own pockets linked to what they pick out of ours could just help to make them finally work together for the benefit of themselves as well as us. Maybe such a pay scale system will help to really create a sense of bipartisanship?

Perhaps if the lawmakers of New Jersey had their financial well being directly linked to the state’s financial well being and our own financial opportunities, maybe tax increases and increased fees for everything from driving to landscaping and joining a gym will be viewed as a last resort. Like it should be.

Perhaps by immediately linking their decisions directly to their own incomes, they may better empathize with the financial impact that they bring to bare on those they are representing .

You could say that it is not fair to those who vote against penalizing taxes or policies that drive businesses away and raise the unemployment in the state. That might be so, but, those who simply voted against something are still culpable. They have more than a responsibility to vote against such measures. They have the responsibility of leadership and the responsibility of making their case and doing it so well that a preponderance of people in the state as well as the legislature are persuaded by their arguments. They must convince people why others are wrong and they are right. Failing to do so is a failure that they share in common with those who support regressive economic policies.

So Assemblyman Merkt’s proposed 10 % reduction in salary is nice.

It is certainly going in a direction far better than the 2.8% pay increase that Congress is willing to take, at of all times, now. But the gesture Merkt is making could be made more meaningful and be more enduring. By linking legislative salaries to their actions we are adding a new incentive to politics and a new level of innovation……..political merit pay. If you do a good job and keep a good economy going you get paid better.

Is this crazy?

Maybe it is. Maybe it is as far fetched as a State Senator taking money from a no show job given to him by a school funded with state money that the same State Senator helped procure with tax payer dollars that he helped get through the state legislature. Maybe this political merit pay scale sounds just as crazy as that same corrupt State Senator getting his state funded pension after ripping the state off and being convicted.

But just like former *Senator Wayne Bryant, it may sound crazy but it could be true if like Wayne Bryant, we just did it.

__________________________________________

*Wayne Bryant pressured officials of University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey  to create a no-show job  that  allowed him to lobby himsef’ for taxpayer funds. Bryant also chaired the Senate Appropriations comittee which Funneled large sums of taxpayers dollare to UMDNJ.

 

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I was talking to a friend of mine’s little girl the other day.

I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she replied, 

“I want to be President!” 

Both of her parents are liberal Democrats and were standing there. So then I asked her, “If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?”

She replied, “I’d give houses to all the homeless people.” 

“Wow – what a worthy goal.” I told her, “You don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where this homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward a new house.” 

Since she is only 6, she thought that over for a few seconds. While her Mom glared at me, she looked me straight in the eye and asked,

“Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?” 

And I said, “Welcome to the Republican Party.” 

Her folks still aren’t talking to me.

 Submitted by Dick, Williamsport, Md

CHRISTIE TELLS SUPPORTERS THAT HE WILL MAKE IT OFFICIAL

FORMER MORRIS COUNTY FREEHOLDER AND FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CHRIS CHRISTIE

This morning Chris Christie officially declared that he will make a run for the Republican nomination for Governor official during the first week of February.

 

With access to lists of Republican supporters and activists collected by Christie supporters such as State Senator Joe Kyrillos, the former prosecutor sent the following message.

Dear Friend,

This morning I am filing papers to begin the process to become a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey.

I did not take this step lightly. It was only after careful consideration and consultation with my family that I decided to become a candidate.

New Jersey is broken. New Jersey’s taxes have become so unaffordable that more families are leaving our state than moving here. Our state’s business tax climate is ranked 50th in the nation and has become so unattractive to employers that only government jobs are growing in New Jersey. Yet nothing in Trenton gets done to fix these problems.

We can change this. We can solve these problems if we’re willing to make the tough decisions.

In my seven years as your United States Attorney, I didn’t shy away from any of the tough decisions. I took on corporate greed, political corruption, terrorism and environmental polluters. Public officials from both parties were prosecuted for corruption – more than 130 were convicted, and not one was acquitted. Corporate executives who cheated their companies and hurt their workers were successfully prosecuted. Terrorist plots were disrupted; polluters punished.

Many didn’t believe we could win these battles. We did, and with strong leadership we will win the fight for Governor and change this state for the better.

My formal announcement for Governor will come in the first week in February and I hope you will join us (I will email you the details). With strong leadership now, we can fix our broken state and make it more affordable for all New Jersey families.

Sincerely,

Chris Christie

The filing of papers with the State Board of Elections to begin making his his candidacy for Governor of New Jersey a reality is about time.

For Christie to stall his decision to run or not run any longer would be detrimental to both his own success and our party’s success.

It is no secret that he would probably be running and to begin with a late, or later start than he already intends, only makes things tougher for the G.O.P. than they may already be.

From the message sent out by Christie, which essentially makes his intentions clear, one can see that the soon to be candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey is banking on a campaign that will play up his prosecutorial, clean government credentials and business interests.

Those are important issues however, Christie would be wise to highlight the damage done to the citizens of New Jersey due to the anti business climate that Corzine and Democrats have created in the state more than just the desire of businesses. The focus needs to be on the people. By simply making himself the “pro-business” candidate, Christie will fall into a trap that Democrats are great at. It is a trap that, in the minds of voters, Democrats perpetuate a sense that Republicans are the party for big business.

So Christie needs to carefully phrase his intentions to improve the environment for business in New Jersey.

 

One of the most encouraging comments in his email was a reference to the fact that only government jobs are growing in New Jersey. If Christie can hammer home the fact that Democrats have made government a business that they treat like corrupt Wall Street, ponzi schemers and profit from at the sake of taxpayers, he may be on to a winning theme in November.

But first he must get our nomination.

It is my hope that Chris Christie will work hard for that nomination. He just might have to with people like Assemblyman Richard Merkt and former Mayor Steve Lonegan on his tail.

The two, especially Mayor Lonegan are going to be innovative in their approaches to government and in a time when Americans were wanting “change”, New Jerseyans are really wanting change. Business as usual is not something that New Jersey residents want from government and people like Steve Lonegan are anything but business usual. Many can see that as a refreshing change from the business as usual that we have gotten from the current administration in Trenton.

So once Christie does become an official candidate and starts campaigning as one, it will be interesting to see how he distinguishes himself from the pack and from your run of the mill politicians.

And the sooner he starts trying to do so, the better.

 

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POSTED EARLIER TODAY:  JACK KEMP – A POLITICAL ICON BATTLES CANCER

It has been reported that Jack Kemp has cancer.

His office released the following statement:

“Mr. Kemp has been undergoing tests to determine the origin of the disease and the options for continued treatment. He will continue to serve as Chairman of Kemp Partners and plans to remain involved in his business, charitable and politically related activities. Mr. Kemp and his family are grateful for the thoughts and prayers of friends and appreciate respect for their privacy at this time”……….

To Read More, Go To:

https://politics247.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/jack-kemp-a-political-icon-battles-cancer/

CORZINE TAKES NEW JERSEY FOR A RIDE….On the Hindenburg

 

Governor Jon Corzine

Governor Jon Corzine has declared that he is slashing New Jersey’s budget by as much as $812 million in order to close in on the state’s $2.1 billion budget gap.

Wow, a whopping $812 million dollars. That will do a lot. Well not really. But I guess Governor Corzine knows what he is doing. I mean after all, he is a Wall Street genius and we all know how smart those Wall Streeter’s are and he did have a golden parachute that earned him $4oo million dollars after he got pushed out of Goldman Sachs.

So maybe his $812 million in budget cuts are smart. I am not too sure though.

 When Jon Corzine first came to Trenton, in just six short months he increased taxes in New Jersey by almost $2 billion dollars. This happened after he ran for Governor promising to “control spending”.

Now Corzine is up for reelection and we have a budget deficit slightly larger than the total amount of revenue he raised in tax increases when he first took office.

I think we can safely say that Governor Corzine did not “controls spending”

Ponzi Schemer Bernie Madoff

In fact Governor Corzine has not controlled anything in New Jersey. What he has done is try to take his Wall Street experience and apply it to government. The problem is that his finance experience depends upon bailouts and golden parachutes. He has even delayed a presentation of New Jersey’s own annual budget till March in the hope that the federal government will come to his rescue. I bet you didn’t know that when we elected Barack Obama, he became the de facto finance chairman for New Jersey.

When it comes to budgets, Jon Corzine attended the Bernie Madoff School of Finance. It is located right next to the Jim McGreevey School of Ethics, where ,by the way, Governor Corzine also got a degree.

Disgraced Ex-Governor Jim McGreevey

His major in finance and minor in ethics both came in handy during his secret negotiations with his former girlfriend Carla Katz, as the two hammered out a lucrative state contract that greatly benefited the Communication Workers Union that Katz presided over. For the Governor’s efforts, Katz and the CWA made out like bandits and taxpayers got suckered out of more money than investors in Madoff’s ponzi scheme. More than a year later and we’re still trying to figure out how that deal happened and the courts are figuring out exactly why Corzine and Katz refuse to release the details.

But all is well. The Governor has promised to make $812 million dollars in cuts to the budget. Some of the cuts include $11,000 from adolescent illiteracy, $4 million from The turnpike and parkway, $15 million from aid to municipalities and $75 million from public schools.

Never mind the over 83 aides that the Governor has earning a hundred thousand dollars or more a year. Never mind the countless patronage positions that exist in every school district, municipal government, state agency and legislative staff. Never mind the endless array of programs that government should not be involved in in any fashion. No, none of those things add up.

Let’s face it. Like everything else Jon Corzine has said or dne, it is meaningless. It is just like his first gesture when he

Jon Corzine

 initially took office. With generosity and sincerity of purpose, Jon Corzine made it clear that he would not accept the $175,000 annual salary that comes with the job. Oh boy, thank you Jon. That is so,….. it is so,……. so kind of you. I mean with a personal fortune in excess of $400 million dollars those few thousand must really be a great sacrifice for you.

Sarcasm aside, it was a publicity stunt and like everything else, the gesture was meaningless. It was not a sign of sincere intentions and it did not make a difference. Much like his entire tenure as Governor.

To date, the only significant action that New Jersey has encountered under his leadership was the abolishment of the death penalty in New Jersey and the worthiness of that achievement is quite debatable.

Other than that, he has raised taxes every chance he has gotten and he has pushed for increasing tolls on our roadways every year for decades to come. He even pushed for putting tolls on roads that don’t have any tolls.

The Hindenburg Going Down In Lakehurst, New Jersey

Truth is, Jon Corzine is like the Hindenburg. He floats around like a big deal but instead of getting us from point A to point B, he explodes and unleashes a load of rubble allover the place. There is not a single problem that he has solved or improvement that he has created. All he has done is enter into shady deals, hire inept cabinet officials, tinker with budgets and raise taxes.

New Jersey really does need a change.

We need a leader who can take control of circumstances, not be controlled by circumstances. We need someone who can clean up the mess, not make a mess.

It is time for Republicans in New Jersey to get their act together.  The Republican Minority Leaders in the Senate and Assembly have better get on message.  They need to create and present their own budget, drop everything else and from High Point to Cape May, make that budget known.  They need to point to the empty list of  achievements that the Governor has accomplished and point out what the Democrat majorities in the legislature blocked.  Beyond pointing out what they did wrong and the right things that they didn’t do, Republicans need to make it clear what they would do and present New Jersey with their roadmap.

After that, we have to get rid of Corzine.

Ridding ourselves of him wont eliminate all of New Jersey’s problems but it will at least help prevent us from getting into more trouble.

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The rest of the world cannot understand how after bitter election campaigns…

…….American politicians can return to reality. For instance, Sarah Palin has invited to her great state of Alaska the men who defeated her, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

She has provided a moose hunting trip for their enjoyment and has hired two other prominent men to assist them. Dick Cheney will instruct them in safe gun handling, and Ted Kennedy will drive them back to their cabins in the evening.

What a gal! That Sarah is such a sport and thinks of everything!

Submitted by Bill, Ardmore, Pa.

AS ONE DOOR IN NEW JERSEY CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS?

US Attorney Chris Christie has made it official. On December 1, he will step down from his post as New Jersey’s prosecutor. His departure from the post will be missed. During his past seven years of crime busting, Christie did more to positively effect the state than did the tenures of Govenor Jon Corzine and his predecessor Jim McGreevey.

Christie Resigns from U.S. Attorney’s Office

 

 

Elected officials from local townships to county governments and from state agencies to state legislators were indicted, found guilty and arrested. Democrats and Republicans alike, suffered the consequences for wrongdoing rooted out by Chris Christie. And there were many.

Knowing that there is so much corruption in our state is a sad state of affairs. But such corruption is a natural result of a state where the largest source of employment is government. Despite it’s small size in landmass, and being one of the smallest states in the union, it has 21 counties, and 566 municipalities. Some of these local towns consist of as many 274,000 people and as few as 20. On top of that exists the all encompassing, cumbersome state government.

All these governments make corruption quite a lucrative endeavor. The growing amount of governments allows patronage to pile up as so many people have the opportunity to create inconsequential posts that they can hire relatives for. The numerous governments creates the opportunity for numerous contractors to offer so many government officials and employees special favors for the inside track on a “government contract”. The system simply breeds corruption and the people pay for it on top of the price for running the prolific preponderance of governments that make corruption so popular.

Short of mandating a consolidation of governments and reducing the number of “governments” in the state, not much can reduce this rampant scope and popularity of the governmental culture of corruption.

But as the US Attorney for the district of New Jersey, since December 20, 2001, Chris Christie provided New Jerseyans with reasonable justice and a relieving sense of corrective adjustment to a system that is weighed against the working class and in favor of the governing class. On the very day that Chris Christie announced the date of his resignation , a jury found a Democrat State Senator guilty on all the charges that Christie brought against him. The timing only helped to accentuate the positive effects that Christie’s leadership has brought to New Jersey.

But is Chris Christie’s resignation as US Attorney for New Jew Jersey really a loss for New Jersey?

Christie’s leaving one office could mean entrance into another…..the Governor’s office.

With the state in the midst of an affordability crisis that seems only to be worsening, New Jersey is looking for leadership. More than 65% of the population feels the state is on the wrong track and the poll numbers show that only 43% of the state inhabitants approve of Governor Jon Corzine while 46% disapprove of him. In the same poll 51% of respondents feel that Corzine should not be reelected.

This all indicates, that at this point, New Jersey wants “change”.

That makes it seem that the GOP has a great window of opportunity to climb through during the year leading up to next November’s state elections. But such is not the case as of yet.

Having no major media market of it’s own, New Jersey is stuck in between the most expensive and the third most expensive media markets in the nation, New York and Philadelphia. So reaching out to the whole state requires one to go through Philly in the South and New York in the North. This makes running a statewide campaign in Jersey quite expensive and money is something state Republicans don‘t have. This goes especially for the Governor’s race where incumbent Jon Corzine has spent tens of millions of his money in previous races. As a Wall Street millionaire he has the money and doesn’t have a problem trying to raise the funds to compete.

On top of that, state Republicans have not helped themselves. They have failed to provide any believable, appealing alternatives to those offered by Democrats.

They have also failed to provide any leader who inspires a sense of optimism and positive change.

State Senator Jennifer Beck

St. Sen. Joe Kyrillos

There are a number of Republicans inside and outside of the state legislature who are promising and could provide the party with the infusion of innovative ideas and inspirational voices that we need. People like State Senator’s Joe Kyrillos and Jennifer Beck. Former Assemblyman Paul DeGaetano is another and so is Morris County Freeholder John Murphy. Of those four, I am confident that Jennifer Beck will some day be our Governor or one of New Jersey’s two United States Senators but that is not so for this coming race.  Time is needed for Senator Beck  to establish herself. But for now, the greatest reason why none of these four  will emerge as a likely candidate for governor in ’09 is money and name identification. The disjointed access to media in the state makes their names less than household names in the south and to become well known would take millions of unavailable dollars to their campaigns.

Assemblyman Richard Merkt

Regardless of the odds stacked against them one little known Assemblyman has declared his candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Assembly Richard Merkt made his intentions known for a few months now and although his voting record is conservative oriented, he still lacks the innovation of ideas that inspires anyone. The same goes for former and potential GOP candidate for the nomination Steve Lonegan.

Former Bogata, NJ Mayor Steve Lonegan

Lonegan’s ideas are quite conservative and he has a truly consistent conservative approach to government. But that in and of itself is a problem. Openly conservative candidates do not go over well in New Jersey. Especially under funded, conservative candidates. Like many other potential candidates, Lonegan is severely hampered by the lack of financial resources that will be available to him.

That brings us back to the beginning. What alternatives does New Jersey have to the current menage~a~tois between the Democrat governor and Democrat controlled state senate and assembly?

By losing Chris Christie in the corruption busting crusade to change government from the outside, he may now be the best person for Republicans to use to change government from the inside.

He has the name id that others would need to raise tens of millions of dollars to achieve.

He has a reputation of success, taking on government and government officials and for nonpartisanship.

All of this appeals to Jersey’s very large and crucial independent voting bloc and gives him a leg up.

If Chris Christie were to declare his candidacy for governor, for the reasons mentioned above, he would be a figure that people would automatically have reason to rally around.

If he ran on a platform of reform he could be one of the most effective candidates to do so, that the state has ever seen. Christie could discuss reform of the culture of government and corruption. He could call for the outlawing of the dual office holding which consolidates power and increases the opportunity for corruption. He could preach the virtues of reforming many of the practices that have led to illegal conduct in government that he prosecuted. He could promote the consolidation of municipal governments so that we reduce costs and reduce the opportunity for hundreds of governments to be corrupt.

Add to this other reforms such as those to our state’s economy, it‘s contract negotiation process, future pension plans, property taxes, education funding, infrastructure development and you have an agenda of reform that offers real hope to a state populations that wants change.

I do not know where Chris Christie stands on these issues. As a Republican I would hope that he believes in many of the ideological principles that make me a Republican. I would hope that he would want to reform New Jersey’s anti business atmosphere of over taxation which reduces job opportunities and growth. I would hope that he is willing to cut spending by reducing ineffectual programs, the size of government and it’s overabundance of government employees. I would hope that he understands that New Jersey is unaffordable to live in and that taxes must be cut in order to alleviate that problem.

Until I know where Christie stands on these issues, I can not say that he has my support. Besides he has not yet made his intentions known or announced his candidacy. If he does make such an announcement and runs for the Republican nomination, I hope he makes his ideological philosophy clear. Part of the reason for the failures of other recent statewide Republican candidacies is due to their unwillingness to distinguish themselves from Democrats. They have felt a need to go along to get along and it has not worked. There are plenty of Democrats to choose from in New Jersey and given the chance, residents of the state will choose a Democrat acting like a Democrat over a Republican acting like a Democrat on any given day.

With the reputation that he has already established, Chris Christie can offer conservative oriented initiatives and they can be well received. Unlike Steve Lonegan whose conservative philosophy is shadowed by a right wing image problem, Chris Christie has a more independent, nonpartisan image that can make any right leaning initiatives, that he offers up as reform, more palatable and acceptable to a liberal oriented electorate. Chris Christie is the only possible candidate who can do that at this point in time.

There is another potential candidate out there though.

John Crowley has a remarkable story. One so compelling that books have been written about it and actor Harrison Ford will be playing John Crowley in a movie about him.

Bio Tech Millionaire John Crowley

Crowley started his own bio tech business here in New Jersey. He started it not for profit but for survival. Survial of his new born children who were diagnosed with a rare and fatal disorder called Pompe disease. There were no treatments for the disease and since it was so rare, the pharameucitical and science industries did not bother with trying to find a cure. So began Crowley’s creation of a bio tech company that raced time to discover a cure.  To date the company he statred to keep his children alive has done just that and his childrens lives have been extended as the treatments so far established have allowed John Crowley’s kids to ward off the worst of the disorders effects.  There were many ups and down that the Crowley family took to get to this point but determination and clear thinking got them this far.

Now a multimillionaire, Crowley has pockets almost as deep as Governor Corzine. This gives him the chance to develop name id and possibly mount a competitive race against Corzine. He almost ran for US Senate against Frank Lautenberg but passed that up. Now he has expressed some possible interest in the race for Governor.

 Although his financial situation might make Crowley viable, and his story is remarkably inspirational and proof oh his determination, where he stands on the issues is yet to be known.

The unknown positions of both Christie and Crowley prohibit me from leaning to one or the other and it should also prohibit others from doing so too. The way it currently stands, conservative Steve Lonegan has my initial philosophical support. But philosophical support is meaningless. It means as much as a Governor who has the right philosophy but can’t implement that philosophy into the application of government. My philosophical support must translate into tangible support. So should Crowley or Christie articulate ideological lines of thinking similar to Lonegan and an ability to implement them, they could easily win my physical support.

This makes declaring their candidacies as soon as possible, quite important.

New Jersey Republicans need to choose our gubernatorial nominee carefully and we need to close ranks around that nominee as quickly as we can. So the debate must begin and in order for that to happen we need to know who the debate is between and what the players stand for.

The most important declaration of candidacy happens to be Chris Christie’s. Many other potential candidates are awaiting his decision. If he runs, many others will bow out. If Chris Christie does not run, the field will fill up fast. Promising candidates like former candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Freeholder John Murphy may just go for it again. His spirited, fresh faced, energetic, Trenton outsider image could shake things up quite a lot.

Freeholder John Murphy

In any event, Chris Christie is holding the greatest promise of hope for New Jersey. His crime busting reputation could be the making of New Jersey’s version of what Tom Dewey was to the state of New York and what Rudy Giuliani was to New York City………squeaky clean politicians who are reform minded, and inclined to creating prosperous governments that improve the quality of life for all it’s citizens.

That’s how it could be and if it is to be so, Chris Christie must first make intentions known quickly. The first week of the new year should be the latest for that decision.

Should Chris Christie decide to go for it then he must not be afraid to preach the Republican principles that have, more often than not, reformed government for the better.

Republican defeats have forced Republican candidates to sound like Trenton Democrats. Doing so has only helped to increase Republican losses at the ballot box. Chris Christie is poised to turn that all around but only if he leaves no doubt about his Republican inclinations and no doubts about his desire for the job.

A little girl asked her father, “Daddy? Do all Fairy Tales begin with ‘Once Upon A Time’?”

He replied, “No, there is a whole series of Fairy Tales that begin with ‘If elected I promise’.”