The first person giving testimony at yesterday's Assembly Judiciary Committee hearings on marriage equality was Speaker Sheila Oliver. If the results of the last civil rights referendum in New Jersey were allowed to stand, she would not today have the right to vote, let alone run the lower house of the legislature.
In case you missed (I did), here is an unsmiling, and deadly serious NJ Speaker Sheila Oliver discussing Gov. Chris Christie's ignorant remark about the civil rights movement, made this week.
btw - New Jersey was the last state in the union to abolish slavery. Did you know that? It's part of the history lesson Oliver, Rush Holt, Reed Gusciora, Loretta Weinberg, John Wisniewski, Gordon Johnson, Rep. John Lewis and others have been required to review this week for the benefit of a governor who let a bit too much of his own prejudices show, as he attempted to make his stand against a rising tide of Equality in marriage going on in the New Jersey Legislature.
After the upheaval and sadness in the NJ Legislature following the death of Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce - at the Statehouse and in the very last hour of Lame Duck - most of the traditional agenda-setting, the reorganization, and speeches of the Legislature were put off until Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Today, we're posting remarks as prepared for delivery of the top majority leadership in both Houses - on the Senate side of President Steve Sweeney & Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, and on the Assembly side of Speaker Sheila Oliver and Majority Leader Lou Greenwald.
It's important to see what they promise, how they see the challenges ahead, and what their best intentions for the new session are. We'll be watching for both the successes and the failures. We're damn sure you will be. But right now, as they set off to begin New Jersey's 215th Legislature, I've got nothing but my best wishes for their fortitude, internal integrity and stamina as they face down a Republican governor working to make a national brand of himself, at the expense of the people of New Jersey.
Please note that any formatting errors are likely my own, and not the legislators'.
Remarks as prepared for delivery by Speaker Sheila Oliver Jan. 17, as the NJ Assembly reorganized for the 215th NJ Legislature:
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, colleagues, friends and family − thank you very much for coming today and for your gracious and warm welcome.
On behalf of everyone sitting behind me, I want to offer our sincere gratitude to the people of New Jersey for the support and trust they have placed in us.
Last week the New Jersey General Assembly - and for that matter, the entire state of New Jersey - was struck by an inconceivable tragedy when we lost our friend Alex DeCroce.
We have mourned Alex ever since, and will never forget his great service to the people of our state. He was a gentleman, a statesman and a tireless advocate for what he believed was right. He was a fixture in the Assembly and it will be difficult to move on without him.
And as we mourn Alex, let's also take a moment to honor the memories of two other friends and public servants who served New Jersey with distinction: Assemblyman Peter Biondi who would have been serving his eighth term; and former Assemblywoman Carol Murphy.
On behalf of the New Jersey Assembly, I thank them all for their service. Let us all pause in a collective moment of silence in their honor.
So it seems as though Chris Christie is channeling his inner Christie Whitman with his proposal to cut New Jersey income taxes by 10% across the board. We know how well Whitman's 30% tax cut worked out. New Jersey borrowed massive amounts of money to pay for pensions and government projects, which led even lesser governors to stop paying into the public employee's pension system, which resulted in the underfunded system becoming the state's unofficial bird, the Albatross, when the economy bottomed out in 2009. I wish the rest was history, but unfortunately it's become the present and future for hard-working middle class public employees across the state.
Watching the NJTV coverage of Governor Christie's State of the State Address was like watching a train wreck. It's no surprise that the station, run by Christie's Adubato clan, made this broadcast just the opening salvo in the governor's re-election campaign.
Of course, Christie is an excellent orator. That's part of his appeal to the average voter. But it's NJTV's job to inform the average voter, not to provide an unchecked platform for the governor. And the Democrats are just abettors in this process.
Garden State Equality is rapidly ramping up it efforts to help pass the recently re-introduced Marriage Equality bill (S1 and A1), which may be voted upon as early as March. The Senate appears to be taking the legislative lead on this bill. With primary sponsorship from Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37), President Steve Sweeney (D-3) and Raymond Lesniak (D-20), it was immediately referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. PolitickerNJ reports that its sources indicate the Senate could already be only one vote short of passage, and its article lists senators now believed to be supporters. Less is known about the Assembly where it primary sponsors are Reed Gusciora (D-15) and Speaker Sheila Oliver (D34), and where it has not yet been referred to a committee. In spite of what PolitickerNJ says, we can not take passage for granted in the Senate, much less the Assembly.
Success for the re-introduced Marriage Equality bill will be difficult and will necessitate significant grassroots support. This time around Garden State Equality will have less staff and resources to coordinate activities than it had during the lame duck session in 2010. The Catholic Church hierarchy and social conservative opponents remain implacable, and legislators can be fickle. However, with NY's recent victory and stronger support now from legislators (and their leaders) there is reason to hope. There is also reason to be concerned.
What can happen? In the ideal scenario it passes with a veto-proof majority in both houses and become the law in spite of Governor Christie's opposition. In another scenario it passes without a veto proof majority and can then be vetoed or signed into law by the governor. In a really bad scenario it can fail in one or more houses of the legislature. In terms of the overall M. E. objective, inextricably connected are the Garden State Equality / Lamda Legal lawsuit currently in the lower court, a similar federal lawsuit which originated in San Francisco, a possible vote on the part of New Jerseyans, and a possible federal law.
More on the key scenarios and other options for ME in NJ below the fold.
It was as if the General Assembly chamber in Trenton had a mechitza down the middle. But instead of separating the genders, it separated the festive atmosphere on the Democratic side from the mostly empty Republican side.
The occasion was the opening of the lame duck session, highlighted by the swearing in of the newest member of the body, Troy Singleton.
Here they are in their first public appearance together, the new leadership teams in both the Assembly and Senate. (Note: incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Nia Gill was not present).
"If you don't know where you're going,
you'll wind up somewhere else."
- Yogi Berra of Montclair, New Jersey
I've written and deleted six versions of this diary about the maneuvers that discarded two people who distinguished themselves this year by exhibiting core Democratic values, when it wasn't always simple to do so. Frankly, it's hard to think about this without wanting to pick the broken glass out of my teeth; Even with solid Democratic wins, this has been an awful week. A tense week for some people we admire greatly.
It was easier, and perhaps more profitable this year to bind with the Christie collaborationists. To fall in line. To hear Tea Party activists screaming in one ear about the cost of government, and New Jersey's unelected power brokers whispering soft directions in the other ear. Plenty of our Democrats fell in line. On more than one issue. Barbara Buono and Joe Cryan did not.
It is not news to most people who followed the debate here at Blue Jersey and elsewhere that the pension reform bill did not save the pension system. A few, mostly cosmetic, changes were made that will have little effect on the deep structural problems in the fund. Some have even called the very notion that the bill solved even part of the problem idiotic.
But let's table all that for now and look at another threat to the pension fund: the growth of risk in the fund's investments. A threat that resulted from bi-partisan irresponsibility in managing the fund, particularly in not making payments or underfunding.
The lack of contributions, and in one case raid to pay for tax cuts, forced the fund's investment managers to seek more novel ways to get the returns necessary to maintain the solvency of the fund. The riskiest strategy by far is the increased use of "alternative investments" to get abnormal returns to plug the gap.
Investments in alternative investments are limited to no more than 28% of the portfolio. The individual categories of private equity, real estate, real assets, and hedge funds are limited to 7%.
Let's be clear, "alternative" is a euphemism for extremely risky. Putting aside real estate (how's that doing?) and real assets (commodities) the categories include private equity and hedge funds. These types of funds are so risky that only sophisticated investors are legally allowed in. This is because, though their returns can be large, the risk of major losses and even a fund collapsing is high.
As will be discussed later the pension fund's other, seemingly less risky, investments are having serious problems right now. Who knows what kind of exposure or danger the "alternative investment" section of the portfolio has.
(The NJ Pension Fund has considerably extended its use of "Alternative Investments" - increasing risk)
But let me be entirely clear, this is not the investment managers' fault. This is the unfortunate but reasonable response to both political parties and their leadership failing to fully fund the pension system. Because of underfunding, investment managers had to try and do more with less and the only way to do that in finance is to take on more risk or be creative. Creativity in the arts is wonderful and life affirming, in money management it's generally a prelude to pain.
Bottom line: underfunding has lead to more risk in the pension fund, jeopardizing its stability and in the worst case its solvency.
Yesterday former For-Profit Education Lobbyist Governor Christie got together with former President and COO of Edison Schools Incorporated Acting Commissioner Cerf to present the Education Transformation Task Force's Initial Report - you can download it here.
The report is interesting in that it was exactly the kind of power grab some (people who write here) predicted and is not limited to "struggling" schools but creates a centralized system for all schools in New Jersey and the flow is pretty obvious - centralize, homogenize and privatize. I have always been surprised how much disdain this Republican governor has for local control. Either way there are many forthcoming posts on this report.
That was Chris Christie on streaming radio yesterday, talking about teachers. Listen, and then I'll tell you what I think, as a newly-elected school board member:
Early on, in the conversation hosted by NJ School Board Association, he trotted out the now-debunked canard that only 17 tenured teachers have lost their jobs for poor performance. We know that many poor teachers are either weeded out by not getting hired for the third year, or by self-selection (leaving the profession). But it suits his purpose to blame tenure for poor teachers as if that's the real and only problem in poorly-functioning school districts. His plan is to continue evaluating teachers even after they have earned tenure. If they are rated "ineffective," then they lose tenure for the next year. They can earn it back, but that's not guaranteed. It's a great plan in his mind.
I suspect that Christie's real plan is to poison the well of teachers. Make teaching, or getting ahead in the profession, so difficult, that most new teachers won't see the value of the union. If joining becomes optional, then fewer and fewer will join and pay dues. He called union dues a "political slush fund." That's right, a political slush fund. So, reducing that fund will reduce the influence of the profession and allow the hedge fund managers to take over.
It’s the classic “he said, she said” scenario. The secret tapes of Governor Christie’s dealings with the Koch brothers oil and coal barons indicate that the governor made a deal with New Jersey Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver to allow her to keep her leadership spot in return for her votes to eviscerate public employees’ benefits and collective bargaining rights. Oliver denies such a deal was ever made.
So what? That’s how politics work. Those of us who support the working class may be pissed off at Oliver, but government is the art of compromise deal making, and if the Speaker wants to make a deal with the Devil, she is certainly entitled to do so, and she needs to be held accountable.
Lost in this kerfuffle are two points that are much more important than Oliver’s power grab.
News broke today of Gov. Chris Christie's remarks - with audio - claiming he protected Sheila Oliver's position as Speaker with the promise of GOP votes if she couldn't get Democrats, in exchange for her support to post the Christie-Sweeney-Oliver pen-ben bill and shepherd votes. His remarks came at a meeting in Colorado Christie took pains to cover up - failing to disclose it, its hosts (far-right oil billionaire Koch brothers) or even his out-of-state travel that day. No matter which account you believe - if either - what we learned today confirms something is very wrong in the way decisions are made in New Jersey.
The 4 hour-plus time lag before an Oliver denial of Christie's story concerns me. If Christie's story was bullshit, you'd expect her to say so immediately. First, Oliver's late-day statement - a humdinger:
"The assertions that Gov. Christie has made, they are outright lies. Outright lies. I am beginning to wonder if Gov. Christie is mentally deranged," Oliver said. "At no time did I ever, ever pick up the telephone, call Gov. Christie and ask him to quote 'save my leadership.' " The governor was engaged in a chest-thumping vaudeville entertainment session in front of the Republican donors, she said. "I don't expect to call him at all," she said. "I think it's disgraceful."
Mentally deranged, she calls Christie. This story may unleash a war of words between the GOP governor and the Democratic Speaker, a breaking of the confederacy between them that has infuriated so many Democrats. And it may mean that the compliance Christie counts on from Oliver may be cracking as Oliver attempts to save herself from political embarrassment. Though, it's impossible to miss that Oliver expended her energy distancing herself from political allegations from the Governor; she still hasn't said anything worth reporting about her role pushing pen-ben, in defiance of core principles. The possibility that Oliver may now wiggle out from under Christie's thumb and begin to lead as she was elected to do, keeps us from calling for her ouster from leadership.
Sheila Oliver is worse than we thought. She did it ALL in order to maintain her position.
This is the treachery and treason that has become the NJ Democratic Leadership.
A vote for these lying, treasonous turncoats is a vote for Christie and the death of New Jersey's middle class.
The article says it all. the Audio says it better!
Today's the 91st anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. In 1971, the first boss I ever had (later) - Rep. Bella Abzug - got Congress to designate August 26 as Women's Equality Day. Real equality is of course a function of the opportunities and well-being of masses of women. We're not there - in Jersey, or the world. But a few women deserve mention today.
