New Jersey New Rules: Post Budget Edition

The Proposed Rules (0.00 / 0)

...might have helped a bit; but it seems to me that this was all a power play that would have manifested anyway.

The only way Corzine could have "headed them off at the pass" would have been for him to have seen it coming (he should have) six or more weeks ago...and to have issued an AGGRSSIVE pre-emptive attack DEMANDING action in which outlined the disaster scenario that the end game would be.

Of course hindsight is 20/20...but as long as you're proposing technical rules changes in hindsight I thought I might suggest to our good Governor that he realize that he's not among friends, lest this kind of garbage repeats it self in other ways.

Roberts, and the entities behind him, need to be extirpated from our government.  Period.

If Corzine thinks this is all over, he's a fool....then again, it could even be worse than that; maybe he's already sold/chickened out?!?

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by: Nick Lento @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 17:03:23 PM UTC

the real loser will be the Dems.....not Roberts. (0.00 / 0)

Roberts did what was right to protect his caucus and the new democratic districts in South Jersey. He did what was right to protect Democrats. It took ten years to get the majority back after the Florio tax hikes and 15 years later people still remember (and loathe) Florio for what he did. 

The deal on the budget was a good compromise.  New Jerseyans do not want to see their taxes increased just to be deposited into the General Slush Fund. At least Roberts fought to have at least half of the sales tax increase dedicated to property tax relief making it more palatable.  In addition, Roberts has been a leader on property tax reform and is the only one to actually do something about it(eg. special session, CORE reform plan).

Stop raggin on Roberts when all he was trying to do was to accomplish the same goals as this blog....keeping NJ blue. 

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by: threadingdaneedle @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 17:43:14 PM UTC

the goals of this blog (0.00 / 0)

the goals of this blog do not include perpetuating a short-sighted, politically selfish and grossly irresponsible fiscal situation.

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by: Juan Melli @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 17:48:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I suspect you're right, hope you're wrong. (0.00 / 0)

We'll know if a few weeks if voter backlash is going to manifest or not; no one will be more pleased than me if doom-and-gloom predictions for Democrats (which I admit I've made) doesn't come to pass.  I don't doubt the Democrats will lose some seats, but I think we would have lost seats anyway (I think Karcher and Panter's chances are certainly not improved by the tax increase, voting against it notwithstanding, but they were always going to be in a tooth-and-nail fight for those seats).

If Roberts's compromise protects many of the seats from the southern delegation, we'll retain the majority.  Save District 38, I don't think many of the North Jersey seats will be in play; it wasn't coincidental that most of the support for the governor's plan came from Hudson, Essex, South Bergen, Middlesex and Union.  Those seats should, on the whole, be pretty safe seats (though if a significant backlash appears, it'll be interesting to see if high-profile Republicans jump into some of those races, seeing potential for a few underdog perfect storm victories).

I could see the State Senate flipping control, even with only a minimal backlash, due to the split; it'll be harder for the Republicans to win the ten seats they need to control the Assembly with anything less than a Florio-strength hurricane of voter discontent.

So, best case scenario for the Dems here seems to be a split Legislature, since a few of the seats were already going to be in play without any similarly endangered Republicans.  The tax hike is unhelpful, but might not be the deciding factor.  It'll come down to whether any Republican Senators in districts where Democrats hold the Assembly seats retire.  And, if the Republicans smell an upper-chamber victory, I suspect there won't be many retirements in the Republican caucus.

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by: sucopsucoh @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 18:05:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I Thought I Was "raggin" on The Gov Too (0.00 / 0)

Corzine's proposals were gutsy and generally sensible, if not fully thought out...or properly framed/strategized in the political sense.  My comment was also critical of his performance.

The silliness in "robbing Peter to pay Peter" has been well discussed/settled elsewhere on this site.  The property tax "relief" is a sad joke at best.

I don't think Roberts was simply acting out of petty political cowardice (i.e. doing the wrong thing to keep power) though that was part of the equation.  Again, way too much of the "budget battle" was about who has the power to dole out pork and favors in exchange for "contributions"...i.e. pay to play...and about keeping Corzine "in line'.

My own interest is primarily in having the state be well and honestly governed...I really don't have any arbitrary/over-riding "loyalty" to person or party.  And I pray our Governor sees it the same way.

When the NJ Democratic party puts the real long term best interests of the people ahead of any fears they might have about "holding on" to power......THAT'S the point at which we Democrats will DESERVE to retain power!  The people of NJ really are a lot smarter than you might imagine.

Having said that, I certainly don't want to see a Kean Jr/Bush Republican replace Roberts...I would love to see him turned out by the grass roots of his own Party in the next primary.

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by: Nick Lento @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 19:50:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Only three days since the budget was adopted... (0.00 / 0)

...and already people are pushing a revisionist history of what happened last week.

First off, Roberts strategy was a terrible failure and based purely on feeding both his and Norcross' egos.  Never was a clear, honest alternative articulated by Roberts/Greenwald (sorry, but just saying that revenues will be $300 million higher is not honest). 

Once the shutdown went into effect, the negative impact only got worse for Southern Dems.  The shutdown of Atlantic City - the region's biggest economic engine and biggest employer - will surely do more harm to Van Drew, Whelan and Albano than a 1% increse on the sales tax.  Not only did the 16,000 casino workers lose more money in those three days than they would have ever had to pay in higher sales tax, but the local businesses suffered as well.  Three days without business can bankrupt a small business.  So while the Democratic Assemblymen are acting as Joe Roberts' puppets, Bill Gormley comes out of it all looking like a hero and the only one that UNITE HERE can count on in Trenton.  If you think that's a good strategy for keeping Assembly seats, please don't share your wisdome with anyone else.

Second, Roberts never fought for the compromise, he never fought for half of the sales tax to be dedicated to property tax relief.  Up until 4:41 on Friday, he was "Mister all or nothing", with a lean towards nothing.  It was Governor Codey who developed the compromise and kept fighting for it.  That's why it's being called the "Codey Compromise" and not the "Roberts Compromise".  Roberts finally accepted the compromise on Friday after realizing that he was on the verge of losing control of the Assembly if he didn't.  Honestly, I think Corzine could have gotten 100% of the sales tax to balance the budget, but he allowed Roberts to save a little space.

Finally, I dispute that Joe Roberts is a leader on property tax reform.  Rather, he is a bandwagon supporter who took a lot of good ideas that he's held up in the legislature and held a press conference naming them his CORE reform plan.  He saw where the momentum was headed and didn't want to be left behind.

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by: PocketAces @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 19:52:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Re: (0.00 / 0)

New Jerseyans do not want to see their taxes increased just to be deposited into the General Slush Fund.

With help like this, the Republicans can sit back and do nothing.

Here's something to try: Be a Democrat for a change.  Go back to your constituents and show them how that money is being used instead of co-opting the reactionary anti-government BS the Republicans love to bandy about.

Guess what - this isn't the 1990s.  Stop whining "Florio, Florio" and start talking sense.  People are willing to pay taxes when they think they get something out of it.  If you're just tearing down what you're doing, then you're sowing the seeds of your own defeat - no matter how much you whine "Corzine, Corzine".

XT

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by: Thurman Hart @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 22:05:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

BRILLIANT (0.00 / 0)

If only Bill Maher would dedicate an entire show to NJ!

ROFLMAO
Thanks we need levity around here sometimes.

Media In Trouble

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by: Media In Trouble @ Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 17:46:29 PM UTC