Our Long, Hot Summer

by: Bill Orr

Wed Aug 04, 2010 at 11:16:50 AM EDT

                                     "We're having a heat wave,
                                     A tropical heat wave,
                                     The temperature's rising,
                                     It isn't surprising."
                                                       (Irving Berlin)

NJ's long, hot summer has been made all the more unpleasant by a governor, bursting with self-aggrandizement, who refuses to budge (for "financial reasons" he says) on family planning clinics, continues to flog his divisive "Tool Kit," meddles with medical marijuana, vetoes a homebuyer tax credit, hints he won't make a pension plan payment next year, amazes us with his non-transparent Reform Jersey Now affairs, issues half-baked commission reports, and disputes the OLS projection of another $10.5 billion deficit next year.

One has to hold a certain admiration for his abilities. He is able to maintain party discipline with Republican legislators toeing the line. He is a media darling in national circles. He is flexible enough to "find" the money when it's absolutely necessary for him. For better or generally for worse, he has cut the budget and tax rebates, decreased monies to municipalities, mistreated an un-tenured Supreme Court member, stood firm against a higher millionaire's tax, capped property tax hikes and school superintendent pay, and unrelentingly taken on teachers. So far he retains about the same level of popularity among voters.

I wish him a long and happy out-of-state vacation.  We all deserve a rest.  Maybe even the heat wave will subside.