Budget passes Assembly and Senate

A shameful performance (4.00 / 2)

It's being portrayed as a Christie victory, which it is an which probably was inevitable.  But worse, it's being portrayed as him rolling the Democrats without a fight, which is also true.  The Democrats totally abdicated their role in the process.  As I've said before, they should have come up with their own budget, passed it, and let Christie veto it.  Before cutting a deal with him.  And well before the budget deadline.

They may think they did the politically smart thing, but it will only embolden Christie, and will hurt them in the long run.  Worse, it was a totaly abdication of their constitutional role.  They chose a cowardly course.

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 10:43:31 AM UTC

dems voting for it? (0.00 / 0)

roll call?
anyone?

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:28:37 AM UTC

Dems voting for it... (4.00 / 1)

Nelson Albano (D-Vineland), Upendra Chivukula (D-Franklin Twp.), Albert Coutinho (D-Newark), Joe Cryan (D-Union Twp.), Matt Milam (D-Vineland), Assembly SPeaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange), Ruben Ramos (D-Hoboken), and Caridad Rodriguez (D-West New York).

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by: Jason Springer @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:34:21 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

that was fast!!! (0.00 / 0)

thanks mister springer!

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:48:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Was watching on NJN (0.00 / 0)

around midnight for about an hour or so, as each assembly member spoke.  I don't remember hearing these particular members speak.  Did anyone hear them?  Did they present any kind of coherent reasoning? What did they get?

You know, Malone hardly even put up a fight when challenged in public.  He couldn't even defend most of the cuts.  

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by: joanneleon @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:57:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The Republican defense (0.00 / 0)

was beyond weak. It was painful to watch this on NJN. When Ruiz spoke, she talked about voting for it because of some restoration for cuts made.

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by: Jason Springer @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 12:00:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Spineless, lazy, political game-playing Democrats (0.00 / 0)

I can't imagine who thought this strategy was a good idea.  I'm not even sure if I know what they are doing (or if they do).  It looks to be a political move, and that they believe if they should give Christie the rope, he'll do himself in politically.

So, instead of working hard to come up with their own ideas and to fight Christie (this should have been an easy task when kids were doing walk outs by the tens of thousands, teachers and public workers demonstrating) they rolled over and left the people of NJ in the lurch.  The millionaire's tax was political gold.  But I guess they wanted the summer off and will just try to use all this stuff in November.  Poor us, we had control of both Houses and we got rolled by the big, bad governor.

Not a lot of difference between NJ legislature and Congress in DC.  Feckless and risk averse, having no idea how to stand up for the people and how to knock down fish in the barrel Republican memes, afraid to stand up for teachers and unions, and essentially in the political wilderness of their own capitulating political minds.   And they think this will play well for them somehow?

You'd never even know that they control both Houses.  No leader rose up, really.  It's pathetic.

Did they really want to oppose Christie in the first place or do they agree with him?  It's really hard to tell.  The guy's name was mud a month or two ago and his approval ratings tanked.  And today he's out doing victory laps in the news saying he got 99.something % of his budget passed.

This isn't leadership.  These aren't leaders.  We need real leaders.

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by: joanneleon @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:44:12 AM UTC

Dems have control of both houses.... (0.00 / 0)

....and got rolled by the big bad governor.  I love that you put it this way.  my sentiments exactly.

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:50:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dems ran away from environment (0.00 / 0)

Agree with your comments.

At a time when global warming is a paramount issue, and while Christie was running around the state claiming to support "green energy" and "green jobs", Christie stole $417 million in Clean Energy Funds.

Senate Dem "leaders" Barbara Buono and Bob Smith and Assembly D's McKeon and Chivikula made some noise in the press, but completely folded.

Nada - completely ineffective oppostion.

Did for the Chrisite EO's adn ReD Tape Review Grfoup Report that attack the envrionment wholesale.

Not one word of oppostion to any of that - despite the Gulf disaster a giant neon sign of what happens when regulatory ovesight is cut back.

Totally Pathetic.

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by: Winston Smith @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 12:11:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bob Herbert gets it (0.00 / 0)

This Op-Ed applies perfectly to NJ as well when you scale it down to a state level:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06...

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by: joanneleon @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 12:46:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The reason... (0.00 / 0)

there was no alternatives offered is because there really are no alternatives.

Ok, you can tax millionaires are restore senior rebates. But cuts to municipal aid, cuts to education funding, they are all necessary. And even WITH those cuts, there is NO pension funding this year, and there's one report last week that shows the pension system will be bust in as little as 3 to 8 years.

Everyone knows these cuts are radioactive but necessary, that's why there were no alternatives put forth. They just won't admit it.

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

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by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 14:36:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh, and thanks a lot, Cory Booker (0.00 / 0)

You're all over the cable news, portrayed as a staunch Christie supporter.

The kids in Newark schools have more sense than Cory Booker.

How wrong was I about him?

Austerity will do wonders for Newark! Fool.

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by: joanneleon @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:48:25 AM UTC

And look at this (4.00 / 1)

msg on Twitter from @CoryBooker

RT @njspotlight: Alliance between @CoryBooker and @GovChristie could put Newark Schools front and center. http://bit.ly/aM3dt3  #education

Front and center in the great take down of public education maybe.  Personally, I can't wait for my kids to have a CEO instead of a principal.  How about you?

Just the time to get all bipartisany and sh*t, when we've got the biggest and most destructive idiots in the country running around in the Republican party.  Hey, they wrecked the country so let's partner with them and give them some more power, right?

What will Booker endorse next?  Chickens for Checkups?

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by: joanneleon @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 12:23:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Stile: Christie Republicans Take No Prisoners (0.00 / 0)

http://www.northjersey.com/new...

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by: Winston Smith @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 12:03:14 PM UTC

Lots of clueless "progressive" comments (0.00 / 0)

Now I know why so many "progressive " issues never see the light of day!

It is amazing how many people on this site have no idea how the process actually works.

The Governor of New Jersey controls everything. Constitutionally he is the most powerful Governor in the country.

It is his budget and he controls the agenda on it. The Legislature has the ability to negotiate with him but they do so with only one "hammer" ,that hammer is a state shutdown which both sides know is political suicide.

To say the Democrats were cowardly is just showing your political ignorance. The Democratic leadership tried ,but failed to override the millionaires veto. The Democratic leadership got as many concessions as they could .However in the end EVERYONE  who knows how the system works knew that the budget had to be passed.

Progressives do themselves a disservice with continued ignorant comments about " fighting the good fight" .

This budget was done the day Corzine lost.

The only way to beat a New Jersey Governor is to have a veto proof Legislature.

I hope some on this site wake up and start to look at political reality instead of continuing with pie in the sky martyrdom.

Learn a lesson from Senator Weinberg. She got the Family Planning Bill passed not with silly progressive rhetoric but instead with intelligent political maneuvering.

You want to beat Chrisite,then work towards getting a veto proof Democratic majority and stop the crying .    

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by: firstamend07 @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 12:13:33 PM UTC

Political ignorance (0.00 / 0)

is thinking that you're going to win more seats for the Democrats after a performance like this, when representatives did not put up a fight for people who are hurting.

Christie went for extreme measures. Dems should have answered with the same.  They should have stood up for the people who elected them.

How often do you see people and kids in New Jersey taking to the streets?  They did it against Christie.  And their leaders just rolled over for him.

It seems that you are suffering from some kind of dissonance (and heck there's a lot of it going around) and some kind of delusion that weak leaders get bigger majorities.

Stop the crying? The only ones I see crying are the NJ Dem legislature, not the people criticizing this.  You're out of touch.

Concessions?  WHAT concessions?  Christie got his budget almost entirely intact.

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by: joanneleon @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 12:32:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

and Dems should do what? (0.00 / 0)

The Democrats fought for the millionaires tax. They lost on a veto override vote. What more could have been done on that one?

Pensions were not funded but the Democrats have a constitutional amendment for dedicated funding on this years ballot. IT IS GETTING NO SUPPPORT FROM THE GOVERNMENT WORKER UNIONS! What more could they have done?

Democrats have offered an alternative to the Christie hard cap. People want property tax reform and the Dems have given an alternative. What more could they have done?

The Family Planning Bill came up as a supplemental Bill and passed. What more could they have done?

The reality is that for this budget year there simply is no money and NO ONE  wants to raise taxes.

The NJEA ruined their cause by out right refusing to make even the smallest concessions and they gave Christie the high ground. That Union hurt everyone's cause. Is that the Dems fault?

The Governor owns the budget. It is up to people who do not like the budget to show how it is hurting people now.

Adds must be targeted  that explain to seniors, and the many others the choices that Christie has made.

There are times in life where the choices are between bad and worse. The Dems only had those two choices this budget year.

The only alternative was to shut down the State which would have been political suicide.  

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by: firstamend07 @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 14:10:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You need a lesson in civics (4.00 / 1)

The governor does not "control everything."  It is up to the Legislature to pass a budget.  That is their constitutional responsibility.  The governor can propose a budget, but he cannot impose a budget.  There was nothing to prevent Democrats from coming up with their own budget.  Christie would have vetoed it, but they would have put a marker down.  And the public would have known that they had some relevance.  

Instead, they totally abdicated their responsibility.  It was unprecedented.  I've never seen an opposition party in control of the legislative branch simply throw in the towel and roll over for the executive without trying to come up with their own budget.  It was disgraceful.

And to further show your ignorance, given that there will be redistricting next year, the Democrats will be lucky to keep control of the legislature, never mind a "veto proof majority."  

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 23:44:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sweeney backed down from Christie (0.00 / 0)

at the first opportunity ...
Sweeney, speaking to The Inquirer's editorial board, said he would insist on reauthorizing a tax hike on incomes of $400,000 and up, even if it meant a government shutdown.

"There's no way he's going to get a budget without it," Sweeney said in his most emphatic public comments to date about the tax

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer...  

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by: speedkillsu @ Wed Jun 30, 2010 at 18:21:37 PM UTC