Asbury Park Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Bullet points miss the mark
Asbury Park Press, Editorial, February 23, 2007

Gov. Corzine outlined a $33 billion budget Thursday that will provide Democratic legislators with some badly needed bullet points for the glossy mailings and TV campaign ads in their re-election campaigns this fall.

Among the boasts we can count on hearing: Democrats passed the first budget in six years with no new taxes or tax increases. Democrats passed a budget that provided the largest increase in direct property tax relief in state history. Democrats passed a budget that provided the first real increase in state aid to every school district in the state in years. Democrats passed a budget that provided an increase in municipal aid for the first time in three years.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, the Democrats' opponents will have far more bullet points relating to the budget to use against them in November, when all 120 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs.

Among them: The Democrats approved a budget that increased overall state spending 7.2 percent - three times the rate of inflation. The year before, Corzine's first as governor, state spending increased 9 percent. During the six years since Trenton has been under Democratic control, the state budget has increased 48 percent. During the six years Trenton has been under Democratic control, state debt has doubled.

Other bullet points we hope to hear: Most of the $2.1 billion property tax credit program was funded by recycled tax dollars - money that came from an increase in the sales tax and the elimination of the old rebate program. The state's structural deficit is expected to be worse next year than it is this year. The "fair contract" negotiated with the state unions will yield an estimated $40 million in savings next year - an amount equal to .001 percent of the state budget.

Corzine spoke Thursday about the need for the Legislature to address long-term fiscal troubles, about New Jersey having the third-highest level of debt in the nation and about the burgeoning increases in unfunded liabilities for government workers' pensions and health care.

Bullet point: We know. We've been hearing about it for five years, including from Corzine last year. Too bad for taxpayers that no one - including Corzine - has done what is needed to provide meaningful, long-term relief.

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For more information, contact:
Assembly Republican Press Office / 609-292-5339

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

After seven months, countless weeks of testimony and endless promises, the state Legislature has approved a bill that would give homeowners what they had four years ago: a not insignificant sum of money that feels less like tax reform than bribery... New Jersey actually went backward. Besides failing to reform the manner in which schools are funded, it actually failed even to reform the funding formula to provide greater help and more equity... It is an intolerable situation. The governor once promised if the Legislature was unable to achieve reform he would call for a constitutional convention. Legislators have failed. Corzine ought to call them on their charade and demand the convention. We, and our children, deserve that much.
- A tax-reform charade, Editorial
Home News Tribune, February 12, 2007

The Legislature's six-month attempt to approve real, substantive, lasting tax reform remains, in the end, a disappointment. There's no guarantee that the 20 percent tax credit will last more than one year. There's been no major pension reform. And perhaps most disappointing of all: There will be no serious pressure on towns and schools to merge or share services - even though virtually all experts agree that there can be no real tax reform without the consolidation of New Jersey's more than 600 school districts and 500 municipalities.
- Disappointing property-tax 'reform': the blame is shared, Editorial
The Press of Atlantic City, February 11, 2007

Largely lost amid the smoke - and mirrors - of the property tax relief fiasco in Trenton was the decision this week to put off revising the school funding formula. It isn't easy keeping up with the myriad ways Gov. Corzine and state lawmakers have managed to gut property tax reforms. One of their worst failures, however, was deferring action on the gross spending inequities in New Jersey's public schools... I''s disgraceful how few of the property tax reforms recommended by four legislative committees last fall have been enacted. There is no greater disgrace than the failure of Corzine and the Legislature to rectify the unfair manner in which state aid is funded and dispensed.
- School aid fix deferred again, Editorial
Asbury Park Press, February 10, 2007

JEER: To the state Legislature, for its colossal failure on reforming property taxes.
- Cheers & jeers, Editorial
The Daily Record of Morris County, February 10, 2007

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For more information, contact:
Assembly Republican Press Office / 609-292-5339

Locricchio Calls for Abolishing "Puharic Plan"
Freeholder Anna Little Says Plan "Borderline Unconstitutional"

Date: For Immediate Release
Contact: Joe Locricchio
Patriot0328@aol.com

After a recent Asbury Park Press editorial rebuking the Monmouth County GOP plan to charge candidates $1,000 or more to have a background investigation conducted on themselves before a "vetting process" is conducted by hand-picked supporters of the County Chairman, State Senate candidate for the 12th District and Manalapan Township Committeeman Joe Locricchio confirms his plan to shun the biased and questionable plan, and says it must be abolished.

"From the start I have been against Mr. Puharic's hand-picked selection process. The Asbury Park Press compared the Puharic plan to a Communist concept used in the former Soviet Union. That is not what the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan stands for. The Constitution of the United States allows for representatives to be chosen by all the people, not by a back-room vetting process decided by a dozen of Puharic's loyalists. I call on Mr. Puharic to allow the people to make their own choices."

On Monday, Monmouth County Freeholder Anna Little announced her concerns for the Puharic Plan, calling it "questionable at best and borderline unconstitutional," and the plan to charge candidates at least $1,000 for a background check "unusual."

Locricchio says Mr. Puharic in one breath has called his plan "voluntary" and "recommended," however has stated "Only those approved by the screening committee may participate in a Republican county convention."

"Mr. Puharic calls this 'voluntary,' but if you don't submit to the Puharic plan or pay to be a part of it, you can't be a part of the election process. I call on Mr. Puharic to remove what has been called his 'Orwellian scheme' and place the election process back in the hands of the people."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

The way in which state lawmakers have eviscerated the 98 property tax reform recommendations made by four legislative committees last fall is beneath contempt. But it's too soon for taxpayers to give up the fight.

- Don't give up on the reforms, Editorial
Asbury Park Press, February 4, 2007

If you think for one minute that Gov. Corzine or that bunch under the gold dome cares one bit about you and your family, you are out of your mind. They are shameless and soulless.

- Corzine shows true colors, Editorial
Asbury Park Press, January 29, 2007

There was a time when earning $100,000 a year made one wealthy, just like there was a time when a $100,000 home was a large estate. That time is long gone. If the state is going to give tax credits by using income levels, it should raise the ceiling for maximum benefits to an income of, say, $200,000 a year.

- Ceiling is too low, Editorial
Daily Record of Morris County, February 4, 2007

Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, could have done a better job of standing up for the taxpayers. The Republican opposition is making that point clear.

- Do the math on tax cut proposal, Editorial
Ocean County Observer, February 2, 2007

The state Senate is slated to vote tomorrow on the final bills in the property tax "reform" package. We put that "reform" in quotes because Trenton's definition of reform differs from how the word is normally understood... No doubt when it's all done, legislators will tout what they've done as property tax "reform." Only they could see it that way.

- The fantasy of reform, Editorial
The Star-Ledger, February 04, 2007

On Monday, the tax relief proposals will be before the state Senate. At the very least, the Assembly package should be approved. At best it should be strengthened because taxpayers are being crushed by the tax burden.

- Tax relief plan now goes to the Senate, Editorial
The Herald News, January 31, 2007

Meet the new reform, same as the old reform: Election year property-tax rebates that may quickly vanish and a leaky cap on local spending... Unless the Senate tightens this cap bill, Corzine should conditionally veto it - as well as the comptroller - and refuse to approve this election-year rebate until the Legislature passes strong, effective bills. The governor called for bold action back in July, when this exercise began. He ought to take the lead.

- Property tax reform: this sounds familiar, Editorial
The Press of Atlantic City, February 1, 2007

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!!!

COMING TO A COURT NEAR YOU: ASSEMBLY GOP v. NJ TAXPAYERS

HERGET, APP BACK TO SIDING WITH THE GOP

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP (MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ): Asbury Park Press reporter Alison Herget published an article in the Bayshore Reporter on January 25, 2007 entitled "Motor vehicle agency opens new office in Hazlet."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Reformers, reform thyselves. The evisceration of New Jersey's quest for a comprehensive property tax overhaul is nearly complete, and it gives every taxpayer reason to be angry. After a six-month brainstorming session by Gov. Jon Corzine and legislative committees (Remember the 98 points of reform?), the results have been reduced to mush... Who's going to stand up and read the riot act? Not Corzine. Not Democratic legislative leaders. Although it seems nakedly partisan to tell voters to "elect Republicans" in this year's races, it's now clear that one-party-rule in Trenton has had its day on the tax-reform front, and like other state governments before it, it has failed.
- Struggling homeowners find little help in Trenton, Express Times Editorial, January 26, 2007

New Jersey's Democratic legislative leaders do not want meaningful pay-to-play reforms. Let's say that again, with added emphasis: New Jersey's Democratic leaders do not want meaningful pay-to-play reforms. That has become painfully obvious.
- Dems won't fix pay-to-play, Editorial, Courier News, January 26, 2007

That cloud of dust you now see way out there on the horizon, moving in the opposite direction of the front line, is General Jon's legislative troops in full, all-out retreat from the challenge of property tax reform.
- Behemoth obstacle blocks tax relief, Editorial, The Trentonian, January 26, 2007

Crime fighting is not an exercise in fine legal distinctions. All pension benefits elected officials and state employees earned should be at stake after guilty pleas or convictions for corruption. They should be part of the price paid for putting service to themselves ahead of service to the public.
- Stiffen penalties for corruption, Editorial, Asbury Park Press, January 26, 2007

For voters and taxpayers, all this appears to be more confirmation that government for the people fades near Exit 7A of the turnpike, where New Jersey's authors of law and government policy balance the public good against their own pensions, patronage, and potential prison sentences with a consistently cynical and often transparent tilt.
- Backward steps on tax reform, Editorial, Gloucester County Times, January 21, 2007

We can hardly blame the public for being skeptical. After four months of working hard to look at reforms that would put New Jersey's fiscal house in order, the Legislature has seen special-interest groups and members of its own institution try to kill or at least water down proposals that would cut out double-dipping, get at the systemic problem of public employee pension and health-care costs, and encourage consolidation of school districts and municipalities.
- Still no tax reform, Editorial, Trenton Times, January 26, 2007

Garden State citizens should ask themselves one question. What does it say about New Jersey when there seems to be endless debate over attempts at passing laws that protect state residents from their own lawmakers?
- Legislators talk up self-policing efforts, Editorial, The Jersey Journal, January 23, 2007

Another week passes without true property tax reform for New Jersey residents. Taxpayers are running out of patience very quickly, if they haven't already.
- Spotlighting some of the good and the bad, Editorial, The Daily Journal, January 22, 2007

New Jerseyans are supposed to thank their legislators for something rather than nothing at all. So thanks for almost nothing. It's a pathetic exercise. And unfortunately the way the state's legislative districts are drawn, there is little consequence for Democrats. Democratic seats for the most part are safe regardless of what they do. They have more to lose personally by reforming government than by sticking with the status quo.
- Six degrees of political bacon, Column by Alfred P. Dobin,
Editorial Page Editor, The Record of Hackensack, January 26, 2007

In another disappointing move, the Senate voted to strip public officials of only part of their pensions if they are convicted of a crime involving public service. It would apply only to the office they held when the offense occurred. That's ridiculous: A crooked politician should not expect a dime in pension. Of course, the pension issue is one of many to show that this Democrat-controlled Legislature, with its Democratic governor, has so far lacked the will to speak to the pressing issues of the day. The time for talk is over; what's needed is action.
- Governor must move reform along, Editorial, The Herald News, January 24, 2007

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For more information, contact:
Assembly Republican Press Office / 609-292-5339