I am gravely concerned that Governor Christie's proposed FY 2012 State Budget fails New Jersey's most vulnerable populations - Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen)
Immediately on the heels of the Pension and Health Benefits bill comes the Battle of the 2012 Budget which must be fought and concluded by the end of next week. And the battle lines are being drawn. This year Senate President Sweeney (D- Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Oliver (D- Essex) have proposed more robust alternatives. Their plan envisions adding more than $1 million to Governor Christie's proposed budget.
Their plan includes:
Millionaire's Tax - increase tax from the current 8.97% to 10.75% on income over $1 million.
Earned Income Tax Credit - restore it.
School Funding - fulll formula funding for every school district.
Disgust toward recent Democratic leadership should not get in the way of supporting alternatives to Christie's budget proposals. Christie brandishes the veto pen so negotiation and even support from Republican legislators will be needed for an improved outcome.
Add your thoughts on alternative budget proposals and on needed strategies.
Reporter Michael Aron is there, looking glum. An NJN TV crew set up cameras to document their own future. There's some irony in all that. Because at this time, the NJ Senate Budget Committee is hearing testimony on the proposed sale of New Jersey Network to New York City's WNET.
As I'm writing this, NJ Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff is testifying, saying this decision was made to save NJ scads and scads of money.
I accompanied NJN's Michael Aron to the building entrance for what must be a bitter sweet moment, doing what he likes most - reporting on a political event but one hosted by a governor determined to end the very institution which has served New Jerseyans so well. Aron thought the legislature's increasing concern over the plans for NJN might be cause for optimism. However, he said, "Some days I'm up, and and some days I'm down." Even Aron, the Senior Political Correspondent and 30-year NJN veteran, has been given a termination notice effective about a week from now. Asked twice how WNET could create a viable New Jersey news organization with only some 15 employees and no office in our state, he declined to comment, but I guess the answer is obvious. Barring legislative intervention in the next few days, in-depth TV news reporting as we know it is coming to and end.
Those outside the Town Hall meeting with signs were predominately teachers and parents. They chanted "Kill The Bill," and "Negotiate, Don't Dictate." Signs said, "Christie doesn't want to improve education. He wants to fight." and "If you can read this sign, thank your teacher, not Christie." A parent explained he had two children in the Fair Lawn school system, one in high school and one a special education student. "Attendance at this rally," he said, "is the least I can do." He was disappointed that more parents did not attend.
Gene Kuffel, President of the Fair Lawn Education Association, was more blunt. He indicated that the teachers there have gone a year without a new contract. In spite of their willingness to negotiate, he said the Board seems more concerned with salaries for administrators than teachers and seems content to let Christie and legislators have their way. He added, "Christie, Sweeney and Norcross are having a menange a trois while public workers suffer." He has two busses lined up for a road trip tomorrow to Trenton.
Fair Lawn police ejected from the building a small LaRouche group, including a woman who wants to run for Congress in the 5th District, while they were trying to sing their anthem. I have attended many a raucous council meeting in Newark where attendees can be disruptive, but the Council President usually uses the gavel and stern words to restore order, not the police. I guess Governor Christie demands a "higher standard." Those of us outside the Town Hall have a different standard on so many issues.
The deal to let WNET of New York operate and determine the broadcast coverage of New Jersey on New Jersey's own station, NJN, is a classic political arrangement. It features the son of Newark's major political boss and close friend of Chris Christie, Steve Adubato, Jr, who just so happens to be closely tied to WNET.
But now the Governor carefully crafted "done" deal is showing signs of unraveling.
What do you think, Blue Jersey? - promoted by Rosi
Many people aren't familiar with NJN radio. Its nine stations reach only about 1.5 million people; the only important urban areas it covers are Trenton and Atlantic City.
But it's the only public radio presence in many central and southern shore areas and in the Northwest.
NJN radio's greatest asset has always been its potential to be a real statewide voice for New Jersey in a medium, public radio, that typically has many more listeners than public television has viewers. In many states, state-wide public radio networks are vital parts of civic dialog. In New Jersey such a network would join 101.5 as a major New Jersey voice.
Governor Christie is proposing to sell all nine stations for just under $2 million in cash when the recent assessment obtained by the state put the value at $4.5 million. NJN's former chief engineer put the retail value at around $9 million.
The out-of-state buyers, public stations WHYY which is headquartered in Philadelphia and WNYC (New York), will provide "non-cash considerations" valued at around $2.4 million most of which consists of, get this, public service announcements. Clearly, there is no real value to such announcements; the nine stations are all public radio stations located in New Jersey which are required by the Federal Communications Commission to provide service to their communities. Certainly public service announcements are part of the service the FCC already requires.
Fire sale prices for the core of a potentially very valuable state-wide radio network, a network that could be a powerful factor in unifying a factored state -- one more reason for the legislature to reject the giveaway of NJ to out of state interests.
Chris Christie's message to the legislature today was more of an audition to be keynote speaker at the 2012 Republican National Convention than it was a budget message. He spewed the Republican Tea Party red meat of divisiveness and union bashing. Since the mainstream media's love affair with Christie prevents them from presenting an opposing viewpoint, this video shows the Democratic response from Senator Sarlo and Assemblyman Greenwald.
Tomorrow Governor Christie will present his budget message which will emphasize his ideology of cuts over our economy's need for repair. By calling for further income tax decreases, he sets up a cycle of continuing low state revenue which justifies ongoing cuts and achieves the ultimate ideological goal of much smaller government. The early indications are his budget will be too harsh, endanger our recovery, slash holes in our safety net, and try to solve in the present what is a serious but manageable medium-term problem.
HARSH - In addition to his push for lower taxes, there is talk about a draconian approach toward civil service reform, public sector pension and benefit changes, Medicaid cuts, closing Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital and much more.
.....says it all! "Disgusting", "Idealogue", "Arrogant", "Jerry Springer Show". And that's before one even reads the accompanying article. OK. So the sides are definitely drawn if in a rather inelegant manner.
And let's skip to the last quote in the article from Mike DuHaime: "Some of them (the legislature) are going to want to work with the Governor," he said. "Some of them are just going to want to throw stones."
So does this quote mean that the Governor, himself, has no responsibility to work with the legislature? In fact, though I don't want to be accused of "throwing stones", I believe this Governor would like to make the legislature as irrelevant as possible. His vetoes of bills which some could say for completely illogical reasons (read medicaid funding which won't cost the state any money).
I am generally not a "conspiracy theorist", but the undermining of our press corps (read: "elitist" and unfunding NJN); the undermining of our Judiciary: (read: former Supreme Court Justice John Wallace and accolades to current Justice Rivera-Soto), the undermining of public employees, particularly our teachers (read: No I won't let the NJEA support our request for $400 million from the feds even if it's helpful); his sometimes "selective" rooting out of government waste and fraud (read: fill in the blanks yourself); refusal of cabinet members to appear before legislative committees (read: the Treasurer's not appearing at the Assembly Budget Committee); his administration's continually stonewalling legitimate OPRA requests (read: too many to list) - all leads me (and I hope others) to examine a troubling and developing pattern. How about giving tax money (through EDA) to a company to move from Seacaucus to Newark? (read: how does this help New Jersey's economy?)
Does this Governor really believe that, given his national press reviews and his "Jersey Style" gravitas, he can steer this State unilaterally without much regard for the other two branches of government? Do we in the Legislature have the intellectual ability and the guts to stand up and start calling attention to this troubling pattern?
I am anxious to hear from Blue Jersey readers on whether you think we are on to something here, or have I really fallen prey to "conspiracy theories"? If I'm right about looking at this as a pattern, how do we go about it?
NJ revenue intake exceeds expectations The state took in $12.61 billion – almost $600 million more than was projected, according to state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff. Some key items of interest: > Some high-income taxpayers, expecting the Bush-era tax cuts to expire in 2011, took their income in 2010 > Corporation business taxes came in 21.7 percent above projections > Collections from the state lottery were down 3.3 percent.
It seems like Governor Christie's State-of-the-State oration is posted on a gazillion internet sites, while the Democratic response is difficult to find. Bill Orr posted some responses yesterday.
Below are two videos, one from NJN where Michael Aron interviews Senator Sarlo and Assemblyman Cryan right after Christie's address. The second video is from the Star-Ledger and is a press conference among several Democratic leaders commenting on Christie's assertions.
"Keep the N in NJN" - There has been a compromise which cedes authority to the State Treasurer to negotiate a sale with the legislature retaining the right to approve any deal. As a result Christie granted NJN a reprieve with additional funding to operate through next June. The only thing clear about NJN's future is that Christie wants its staff off the State payroll. With so much uncertainty some have been obliging him by seeking employment elsewhere. Let's get a good deal done and soon!
Arbitration Awards Governor Christie, who has been pushing his "Tool Kit" as a solution to high property taxes, now is quoted in the hard copy Record (page 8) of today, as saying, "There's no silver bullet to fix it." Thank you Mr. Governor. Christie had wanted the arbitration cap to include pension and health benefit costs, over which local entities have little control. The cap compromise excludes these two costs, allows for increases above 2% in multiyear contracts if the overall increase does not exceed 2%, and calls for the limits to go away after three years. The governor secured less "wiggle room" to fudge the cost basis of the cap and a random selection of the arbitrators. As a result Police and firefighter union contracts would be limited to 2 percent annual pay increases if they seek arbitration, although arbitration is not even available in many municipalities.
This week, I had the pleasure of being on the floor of the Assembly (and later the Senate) as they quickly debated and passed the most comprehensive anti-bullying law in the nation, which now awaits Gov. Christie's signature. It was a win for anyone who has ever been bullied in school. A great win. And it felt really good.
But, one quote stuck out for me when I heard it, and has been sticking with me all week. When Assemblywoman Valerie Vanieri Huttle spoke of the need for the bill in the Assembly, she told of students who said to her, "I used to love going to school, and now I hate it." That sounded familiar from my own childhood, for sure. But, it also resonated on a totally different level. Politically. Today.
I think too many of my friends and fellow activists from the progressive community, LGBT and straight, have acted this way for the last year - like they used to love being involved in politics, and now they hated it. It's like they've been bullied - whether by the loss of the marriage equality bill earlier this year in NJ, or the continued failure to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell in DC, or the overexposure of the Tea Party in the media, or the "bullying" by Governor Christie of not just the NJEA, but Democrats and progressives across the board.
Whatever it was, it seems like there's no time like the present to fight back. Time to start standing up to the bullies: whether it's our Governor, a biased media, the overreaching GOP or anti-progressive elements within the Democratic party. And time to call out the bullies where we see them.
We were reminded with the passage of the anti-bullying bill this week - winning feels way better than losing. Thank goodness. So, let's get our love for politics back - the passion so many of us felt in 2008 for Obama, if not like in 2004 for Dean. And, let's start winning some more.
Every day the Governor's office sends out an email to count down the remaining days for the legislature to complete the all-mighty "Tool Kit." It's the same countdown to December 31 for NJN, which on that day is scheduled to fade to black. Staff have already received notice. Legislators have offered to provide temporary extension funding, but the Governor says he would only agree if there were a workable plan which includes removing staff from the state payroll. It appears that NJN as we know it, love it and sometimes dislike it is coming to an end.
The Star Ledger reported today a meeting in Newark, including Christie point-person State Treasurer Andrew Eristoff, foundation leaders, out-of-state broadcasters, and others where there was a broad-based discussion, but no definitive solution. One proposal mentioned Thursday night on NJN included WNET in a possible collaboration with Steve Adubato. Montclair Universty has expressed interest but the governor does not want to transfer staff to another state institution. WNYC is interested in the radio properties.
It is difficult to believe that with Thanksgiving and then Christmas fast upon us that deals can be finalized by the end of the year, plus, the legislature has to transfer sale authority to the the governor's office. Given the governor's impatience and reluctance to provide an extension, NJN may indeed fade to black. We can only hope that like the phoenix it will rise again from its ashes.
After handing NJN Workers 45 day layoff notices, in another cruel twist of the knife, Chris Christie has followed that up by refusing to recognize the state's contractual obligations to NJ Public Workers entitlement to the Displaced Workers Pool (4 months severance pay) outlined in their contract.
Mr. Christie might want to head back to law school for a contract law refresher or hire some lawyers who can read a contract and amendments before making claims that are false.
In his March budget address, Gov. Chris Christie reasonably questioned why the state needs its own television network.
There is a clear and direct answer to our governor's question ... a state operated network, now called New Jersey Network or NJN ... was the only way to ensure broadcast coverage of New Jersey news, information, public affairs and culture.
After two decades of fruitless attempts by legislators and public leaders to get New York and Philadelphia broadcasters (11 of whom are formally licensed in New Jersey towns and cities) to seriously cover New Jersey, the Hughes Commission recommended and the Legislature established New Jersey public broadcasting radio and television, which began operations in 1971.
Now 40 years later, NYC and Philly continue their absolute domination of the New Jersey media/broadcast with two important changes in those years. First, NJN has become a unifying factor for a notoriously fragmented state. As the voice of New Jersey, NJN is the place to tune in to get information about elections, critical legislative and gubernatorial initiatives, and to get relevant and immediate information during times of crises like 9/11.
The other big change has been the drastic reduction of other sources of New Jersey information. Though commercial broadcasters, aside from 101.5 FM, have never been a major source of information about New Jersey, recently that industry has cut the resources devoted to news, raising the prospect of cuts in their current thoroughly inadequate New Jersey coverage. But the decline of New Jersey newspapers has been even more dramatic with the future only seeming to hold further cuts.
.gif)
