Robert Torricelli's blog

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Torricelli says The Record is dead
The Record announced yesterday that it was closing its Hackensack offices and "reinventing"itself. It was actually announcing its own death without the benefit of the Obit page.

It reminded me of the death of an aging uncle. You felt badly because of the loss but you remembered all of the times that he kicked the dog and yelled at the kids.

It's a death march that started long ago. A generation ago, the Record was the Bible for suburban living in Bergen County. Every local football game, road closing and store opening filled its pages. It was "A Friend of the People it Serves". Somewhere it all fell apart.

It's easy to dismiss its death as an evitable result of changes in technology. The Internet will eventually destroy most newspapers but the looming death of the Record is still ahead of its time. Bergen County has among the best demographics in the United States. Incomes are high, educational levels are good and there's a real sense of local community. Available advertising from retailers may be the best in the nation.

It has everything that the Ledger, Inquirer and a dozen other papers lack. They'll survive another decade or two while the Record will be gone in a matter of a few years. Why?

Everything that I admire and fear about the Democratic Party was on display this week. The compassion for creating affordable housing and the insensitivity to economic growth were both reflected in the new COAH rules.

New Jersey needs affordable housing. Young workers and people on modest incomes need a place to live and raise their families. We all agree.

The problem is the tragedy of unintended consequences. Previous policy allowed communities with a COAH obligation to send money to other communities with a need to build. It worked very well. Rural communities where we want to stop suburban sprawl would subsidize housing in Jersey City or Elizabeth. Affordable housing was built along mass transit corridors where services were available at more modest costs. Urban areas with sufficient affordable housing were exempt. A consequence of the exemption was that Trenton or Newark didn't impose COAH fees on developers and they achieved a comparative advantage with suburban and rural areas for new development.

The rules that govern the Democratic Party's Presidential Delegate selection process are the result of thirty years of conflict. National conventions have been divided and reform commissions have fought into many long nights. There's really only one major reform in recent decades that represented a consensus: everybody recognized the need for the Super Delegates.

Some New Jersey Democrats are facing the February 5th Presidential Primary with consternation. With three credible and capable candidates it appears to be a difficult choice. It’s actually quite simple.

There's no more lost art in America than oratory. Chief executives, union leaders and politicians seem to have lost the ability. Even our most successful leaders seem to engage in no more than a stream of consciousness.

Several years ago I published a collection of great American speeches (In Our Own Words). The book was separated by decades. The finding of speeches worthy of inclusion from the early 20th Century was easy. As the decades progressed, it became harder and harder. The last great speech worthy of the collection was Mario Cuomo's at the 1984 Democratic Convention.

The reason for the decline is legend. Even great universities rarely stress communication skills. A command of the language is seldom emphasized in school or in the work place. It's no coincidence that the best American oratory was contributed by William Jennings Brian, Woodrow Wilson, T. R., F.D.R. Stevenson or J.F.K. Success at the law, business or academia required the same basic skills that result in great political oratory.Each had a privileged education or excelled at a profession.

Here's a report from the front lines. I don't mean the insurrection in Baghdad, I'm referring to hunting season in Hunterdon County.

We're into our third month of this exercise of American manhood. A few little observations from my own farm might help enlighten. It's not quite the romantic bonding experience that you imagine. I've yet to encounter my first father and son slaying the wild beast to defend home and hearth while feeding the young'in's back home.

I did, however, observe a bow hunter last month while hiking through the woods. This gentleman must have weighed in at about 250 lbs. This was probably his first sporting experience since the hot dog eating competition at Nathan's.

A single question in the Las Vegas Democratic Presidential Debate exhibited everything that you need to know about the contemporary American media. Wolf Blitzer, CNN moderator, asked each candidate to choose a priority between human rights and national security.

Blitzer didn't want to be troubled by analysis. He wanted an answer as simple as the thought process that developed the question. It must be nice to live in a world without nuance. There must comfort in choosing policy without the burden of history or experience.

The State has a debt of over $30 billion. The annual deficit could reach  another $3 billion and the unfunded liability of the State Pension is in excess of $27 Billion. Those aren't numbers that argue for approving new bond issues.

There's just one exception. State voters are being asked to approve a $200 million bond issue to continue buying open space. It's part of the most successful state program, Green Acres, in the State's history.

A firestorm has developed over Hillary Clinton's vote to designate an element of Iran's Revolutionary Guards as "Terrorists". Pundits declared the decision as the beginning of the general election campaign. Critics claimed that the non binding resolution would provide a foundation for a military attack. Everybody seemed to have everything to ask except for one thing. Is it true?

The real measure of whether Hillary's vote was correct is whether it's an honest assessment of the situation. Because Bush lied about Iraq it can't be wrong to tell the truth about Iran. The simple fact is that the Iranian regime does sponsor terror.

The remarkable thing about the public policy priorities facing New Jersey is the general consensus regarding which issues should be priorities on the agenda. Nobody seems to argue about the need to fulfill our moral and legal responsibility to rebuild aging schools in less affluent areas. The financial ruin of the Schools Construction Corporation is the worst failing of this generation of New Jersey political leadership but the need to resolve the problem crosses all partisan and ideological lines.