Legislative Rs: we know budget is unpopular, so we'll offer fake solutions we don't support

by: the_promised_land

Thu Jul 28, 2011 at 03:00:00 PM EDT

Really - you can read it right here (scroll down to the end).

Let's read the proverbial tea leaves, shall we?

There are some indications that the new District 11, where Casagrande is running for reelection, could go towards the Democrats (much as Casagrande's prior District 12 was held by Democrats for much of the last decade).

Casagrande presumably knows that Christie's budget and Christie himself is deeply unpopular among moderates in New Jersey.

So she pretends to be addressing the problem - more on that below the fold.

It actually COULD be helpful to charge fees to predatory lenders as a partial solution here. But this kind of "wouldn't it be nice" thinking does not represent actual law. There are four bills pending in the Legislature, according to a search for "legal services" on the Legislature's web site, that would find new revenue for Legal Services - A1704, A4197, SCR235, and SR92. Casagrande is a sponsor of exactly zero of them.

Even using the terms "slumlords" and "predatory lenders" would not fly so well with the Christie Administration, let alone charging new fees. Perhaps that is why Casagrande felt compelled to add the word "perhaps" before these suggestions.

Bottom line: at least people like Casagrande realize they are politically vulnerable for these awful cuts. But they are going to have to do more than offer fake solutions if they actually want to repair the damage done. Which, perhaps, they don't really want to do in the end anyway.