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.
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.
Monday's Quote of the Day comes from LD-25 Assembly candidate George Stafford. George, you see, is in a bit of a pickle. On the one hand, he doesn't want to be associated with the likes of Sheila Oliver, whom he considers a misguided turncoat. On the other hand, George is trying to win a seat in the Assembly and can't avoid good campaign opportunities just because Oliver will be there, too. Over at PolitickerNJ, they have reported it thusly:
"Now as an underdog State Assembly candidate these are the very folks I need to work and vote for me in the coming election," (Stafford) said in his email. "How can I ask for their support if I am seen to embrace the frankly cold, calculating, amoral practices of the likes of Ms. Oliver? On the other hand how do I avoid contamination if I attend the fund raiser? If I do not attend how best to explain my absence to my fellow Democrats? If I attend do I confront Ms. Oliver with her treachery? After all, I'm an old school Irish gentleman, chastising distinguished ladies in public is simply not in my nature." Stafford said if Sweeney were present he would get the senate president in a corner and challenge him."
S2937, the Christie-Sweeney plan to dramatically alter collective bargaining rights in New Jersey, passed the Senate this afternoon 24-15. The Assembly version - A4133, as introduced by Lou Greenwald (D) and Declan O'Scanlon (R) - is next, first in Assembly Budget (which Greenwald chairs), then to the full Assembly for a vote. Gov. Christie will almost certainly sign it into law if it reaches his desk. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, who has pushed this bill despite a body that may not be warm to it, said "bold, demonstrative large steps" are what's needed now.
Labor - CWA Political Director Bob Masters told the Assembly minutes ago that "real Democrats" would have killed this bill. Charlie Wowkanech, NJ AFL-CIO President said, "Where labor has no voice, democracy has no future."
Gov. Christie owes Steve Sweeney - Senate President, Democrat and 'union man' - a great deal for introducing and championing this bill. Its motive and agenda is largely Republican, as any student of current events can see. And Sweeney is choosing to use his position in the Senate to ram home legislation that threatens the long tradition of pubic employee labor having the power of collective bargaining negotiation to help determine working conditions, a fundamental of the Party he leads.
As 12mileseastofTrenton notes, Sweeney's own caucus voted against him 2-1, and the calls for his ouster as Senate President may grow louder.
The Norcross Provision As we noted earlier, the Senate bill was amended today to remove a much-disputed and cost-ineffective provision to limit public workers' access to out-of-state medical care. But Assemblyman Greenwald appears interested in restricting public worker medical care to inside-Jersey, a highly debatable concept given for example that of the top 50 cancer hospitals in the U.S., none is in New Jersey. The part of the bill snidely referred to as the "Norcross provision" comes about as New Jerseyans calculate who might have stood to benefit from this legislation, or at least that part of it. Several of the world's best hospitals in the world are just outside New Jersey's borders, in NYC and in Philadelphia. Norcross, Sweeney's benefactor and South Jersey Democratic Party boss, is Chair of Cooper Hospital in Camden, which has recently stepped up advertising to compete with premiere hospitals in Philadelphia. Restricting public workers to NJ facilities would certainly have boosted traffic to Cooper, and the fact that the provision would have furthered Sweeney's benefactor's interests added to the sense that this was payback to Sweeney's benefactor for Sweeney's monumental effort to ram this home against a rich ethical tradition of his own Party.
This is an open thread. Won't have time to live blog this today, but your comments and reactions to the video streaming of the hearing (link below) is welcome.
UPDATE - Senate Hearing begins about 45 minutes late - a full gallery in the Senate chamber will hear an historic vote on a bill proposed by 'union man' Steve Sweeney, President of the NJ state Senate. Watch here. Feed is not embeddable or we would post it. The hearing is starting late, with the Full Senate link still at this time showing Pending, which may mean there are furious negotiations going on outside the chamber.
#StandUpNJ - Twitter hashtag being used by union participants and their supporters.
Section 76 repealed - As we reported earlier, Senator Sweeney and Assemblywoman Oliver have backtracked on one of the most fiscally unwise and damaging parts of the plan, which would have blocked state employees from using their own health insurance at out-of-state hospitals.
Sen. Loretta Weinberg told Blue Jersey this morning she will not support the bill as currently construvted
Early this morning, outside a fundraiser in Trenton for Assembly Democrats, protesters jeered Assembly Democrats supporting the Christie-Sweeney plan, and cheered Democrats they know will not be selling them out today. Shouts of: "We will remember in November!"
A Tent City has sprung up behind the Trenton War Memorial - dozens of tents constructed there legally or illegally, I don't know yet.
March for Collective Bargaining - Led by historical re-enactors, union folks and their supporters marched into Trenton this morning to stage what they call Trenton Battle Two. Video:
Deciminyan is there, but couldn't get into the hearing itself. The room is full, and fire regulations prohibit any further crowding. Deciminyan's now headed over to Tent City.
(I'm lucky to be here at Netroots Nation which starts today, surrounded by sane and rational progressives. People I've talked to already lament the demise of democratic principals in the Democratic Party. Mr. Liberal's diary hits the nail on the head for the New Jersey incarnation of the new DiNoism. - promoted by deciminyan)
"I do let loose my opinion, hold it no longer"
- The Tempest, William Shakespeare
This is probably the least politic diary I have written on Blue Jersey in the last 5 1/2 years. As a young Democratic activist, I've thought, wouldn't it be politically inane to speak out against the leaders of my own Party? As a candidate for local office in a conservative part of New Jersey, I thought, wouldn't it make more sense to stay silent rather than alienate potential constituents?
Yet I cannot stay silent. I am a Democrat because I believe in the rights of workers - blue collar and white collar, male and female, of all races and creeds - to seek a just and better world for themselves and their families. It is that fundamental freedom - the right to organize - that I see under attack in New Jersey tonight.
Via Capitol Quickies, pretty much at the last minute, the pension and benefit reforms bill is out and will be formally introduced today.
It's 120 pages long. A plain-language conclusion starts at the bottom of Page 114, concluding on page 120. Haven't got time to parse it at the moment, so let's call this an open thread, for your comments as you read it.
Yesterday, Blue Jersey's own Senator Loretta Weinberg, one of the women legislators he has openly insulted, asked some of the same questions in an Open Letter to Gov. Chris Christie.
Today, in case you didn't catch it, this is how Star-Ledger's editorial board illustrates - perfectly - the hostility Gov. Chris Christie has shown to New Jersey women legislators who dare to disagree with him. And, at the same time, an depiction of the gender gap between how men view the way Christie's doing his job, and the way women do. Star-Ledger's graphic is titled: Hey, Christie, what is it about women?
The Courier-Post's opinion editor Mike Daniels ran a recent Sunday feature citing folks, "who closely follow state politics to give us their take -- who they think might vie for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and what advice they would give the candidates."
I am excited to hear how'd you'd answer. Meantime, here was my take:
"My short list includes Sweeney, Buono and Booker at this point. If the election were tomorrow I think a Sweeney/Buono ticket seems most plausable, given the state's machine-driven dynamics which don't favor Booker at the moment. A Rob Andrews/Loretta Weinberg ticket is my fantasy pick."
My recommendations for the Democrats who throw their hat in against Christie: (below)
Twas a good convention. I was moved by speeches given by Chair John Wisniewski, our Senator Frank Lautenberg and most notably the one passionately delivered by Speaker Sheila Oliver. The theme of all was: remember why we're Democrats, and go back to the grass roots who share our values. Young people, candidates, vendors and many interesting folk in attendance. The breakout sessions were informative, and meeting other Dems was most satisfying. Made some great connections with other women throughout the state who want to help with the womens' access to health care issue. Also enjoyed meeting some of the very famous Blue Jersey bloggers in person. They were all over the convention. Rosi, with her trusty computer, kept all of you up to date in real time.
But why do some in our ranks continue to try to plant negative stories with the press? Not designed to help anyone!
Along with the Women's Political Caucus, we hosted the Women's Health Roundtable in Trenton this past week. Very well attended and representatives of the various groups including nurses and other health professionals, womens' organizations, and providers were outspoken in describing what the cuts to these health programs mean for women and their families. Thanks to Jay Lassiter for being there with his camera. I did describe the Governor as having initiated a "war on women". Mike Drewniak, Gov's press secretary, responded with: 'that's over the top - everyone knows Chris Christie is a loving husband and devoted father to two daughters'. I would assume that's very true, and would only add: And they have very good health insurance and access to health care! more below...
Flanked by Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and Democratic State Party Chairman Assemblyman John Wisniewski, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley answered questions at a press conference prior to last night's Jefferson Jackson Dinner in New Brunswick.
The Blue Jersey community was very excited to read this week that our very own, Jeff Gardner, has made his electoral intentions official and opened up a legislative campaign account. Ever since John Girgenti voted against marriage equality and set in motion a process that was kicked into high gear when Jeff's slate of County Committee candidates defeated Girgenti's last June, enabling Jeff to become Hawthorne's Municipal Chair, I have thought about how redistricting might impact Jeff's chances of running for and winning a State Assembly or State Senate seat in 2011.
There has been a lot of talk about John Girgenti's future with regards to redistricting, primarily because he was a loyalist of Governor/Senator Richard Codey's when the Steve Adubato/George Norcross axis of corruption staged their takeover of the Democratic leadership in Trenton. As a result, neither Jeff nor Girgenti have any advocates for keeping their otherwise Republican-leaning town of Hawthorne in the very Democratic (thanks to Paterson) 35th LD on the legislative redistricting commission. I could be wrong, but I think that if there is anything that Jeff and Girgenti agree on, is that it is in their best electoral interest for Hawthorne to stay in LD35.
But without any advocates on the LRC, the only thing that might help them keep Hawthorne in LD35 is a compelling argument that serves the agendas of some of the commission's members. There are two members of the LRC in particular whose agendas have become quite clear over the last year.
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.
Governor Christie was accurate in saying a few days ago there would be no big surprises in today's speech. His three themes were "maintaining fiscal discipline, achieving needed education reform, and fixing the state's broken pension and benefits systems." His tone was somewhat more subdued than normal, but he was also frequently blunt and to the point.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex/Passaic) statement: "It's been painfully clear throughout the Governor's first year in office that we are living in two very distinct and separate New Jerseys.
"In Chris Christie's New Jersey, he thinks he can say 'buck up' and deal with my painful budget cuts and working and middle class families will simply fall in line without missing a beat. In the other New Jersey - the reality the rest of us live in - families are paying more for less and systematically being forced out of their way of life.
"Working class women have lost access to critical healthcare. Seniors have lost their property tax rebates and the working poor have seen their Earned Income Tax Credit cut while the state's wealthiest received a tax break. Vital after-school programs have been slashed, while transit fares have been hiked. Meanwhile, our unemployment rate remains alarmingly high and the Governor seems content with that.
"This year cannot be about more of the same.
"This week the Legislature finished passing a package of roughly 30 bills designed to create real and lasting jobs and stimulate long-term economic growth. The fate of New Jerseyans everywhere is now in the Governor's hands.
"If Governor Christie truly cares about turning New Jersey around, he will sign this package into law and he will do it quickly. We are now on year two of the Christie agenda and residents cannot afford to wait any longer."
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