Category: Trenton

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“Another”Goldman Veteran on Fast Track in New Jersey Governor’s Race

Tax and Spend Democrat Phil Murphy for Governor

More than a year before New Jerseyans choose a replacement for Republican Governor Chris Christie, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Philip D. Murphy has lost a major competitor for the Democratic candidacy.

Murphy, 59, who most recently was U.S. ambassador to Germany, secured the endorsement of Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat who announced Thursday that he won’t run for the state’s highest office. On Sept. 28, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a 39-year-old former investment banker, said that he, too, won’t run, and threw his support behind Murphy.

“The party is coalescing around Phil,” Sweeney said in a Thursday interview. “As a Democrat, I’m going to support Phil Murphy.”

Murphy’s rise parallels that of Jon S. Corzine, 69, the Democrat and onetime Goldman co-chairman whom Murphy has called a friend. Corzine, a multimillionaire who grew up on a farm in Illinois, was elected governor in 2005, declaring in his inaugural address, “Hold me accountable.”

He was defeated for a second term by Christie, 54, who ran on a promise to restore stability as New Jersey plunged into economic recession. Term limits prevent Christie from running for a third term in 2017. He abandoned his presidential campaign in February, became a surrogate and adviser to nominee Donald J. Trump and reached a new low in recent polls as voters disapproved of his handling of state finances.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-10-06/ex-goldman-executive-on-fast-track-in-new-jersey-governor-s-race?utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics

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Doherty: Cut Road Construction Costs, Don’t Raise Gas Tax

Senator Mike Doherty

October 5,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) said that he opposes the newest plan to raise the state’s gas tax by $2 billion, and again called for the passage of legislation he sponsors which requires an analysis of New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation road construction costs.

Sen. Jennifer Beck and Sen. Mike Doherty held a press conference to oppose a gas tax increase proposal at the New Jersey State House on June 15, 2016. (SenateNJ.com)

Under the tax increase proposal that is set to be voted upon by both houses of the New Jersey Legislature on Wednesday, the state’s current gas tax of 14.5 cents per gallon would increase by 158 percent to 37.5 cents per gallon.

“I opposed the 23 cent/gallon gas tax increase in June, and I continue to oppose it today,” said Doherty. “Until we get a handle on why New Jersey spends significantly more per mile than every other state, any new gas tax revenues we raise would be wasted. I don’t think that’s fair to drivers.”

Doherty has long called for a study to examine excessive state transportation costs as the starting point of any transportation funding discussion. He is the sponsor of S-1888, which would create the “State Transportation Cost Analysis Task Force.”

He and Senator Jennifer Beck (R-11) maintain an online petition opposed to a gas tax increase that has been signed more than 16,000 times.

“The thousands of people who signed our ‘no gas tax’ petition are telling us that an increase would only add to the state’s already oppressive taxes,” added Doherty. “I guess some people aren’t satisfied with New Jersey having the third greatest tax burden in the nation. They won’t be happy until we’re number one.”

According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, New Jersey resident’s shoulder the third-greatest state and local tax burden.

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PRINCETON: Trial scheduled to start this week on lawsuit challenging university’s property tax exemption

princeton

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Princeton University is scheduled to go on trial this week in New Jersey tax court to defend its property tax exemption, in a closely watched lawsuit that a coalition of residents filed to make Nassau Hall pay more real estate taxes.

The case is due to start Thursday morning, before a judge who so far has rebuffed past attempts by the university to get the litigation thrown out. The initial phase of the case will be heard in Trenton, with university president Christopher L. Eisgruber the first witness the school intends to have testify.

Attorney Bruce I. Afran, the attorney for the four residents who brought the case, said Friday that both sides are preparing to go to trial. For its part, the university had no comment.

The two sides continue to try to settle the suit to avoid a trial and resolve a matter without enduring the uncertainty of a protracted legal battle that could end up at the state Supreme Court.

https://www.centraljersey.com/news/princeton-trial-scheduled-to-start-this-week-on-lawsuit-challenging/article_c60fcd02-8975-11e6-99d0-3f627ac01cae.html?utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics

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Did Bridge-gate take its first Democrat Casualty Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop?

Mayor Steven Fulop

The Intrigue Under the Jersey City Hood

By Max Pizarro • 09/28/16 11:09pm

The locals saw it, and their heads turned.

At Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s City Hall press conference on Tuesday a recognizable local figure showed up and stood at the outskirts of the activity.

This person had shown up to “gloat,” in the words of one person familiar with the dynamics of how and why the endorsement went down. He was front and center, shaking people’s hands and saying things like “glad we are on the same team.”

Insiders knew him mostly because of a publicized row he had with the mayor going back to 2013.

It was former Police Chief Robert “Bubba” Cowen, and in the hours following Fulop’s shocking exit from the 2017 governor’s race he increasingly became the subject of considerable local speculation.

Two sources today told PolitickerNJ that Cowen possesses evidence backing up his claims in a lawsuit that Fulop tried to politicize his police duties in a mini local version of Bridgegate.

https://observer.com/2016/09/the-intrigue-under-the-jersey-city-hood/

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Governor’s Official Residence in Princeton : Drumthwacket to Be Lit in Red on Monday, September 26th

Mary Pat Christie
September 26th 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton, NJ – First Lady Mary Pat Christie today announced that Drumthwacket, the Governor’s Official Residence in Princeton, will illuminate in red the evening of Monday, September 26th to celebrate the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) Family Day – Be Involved. Stay Involved®. Family Day is a national initiative to promote simple acts of parental engagement as key ways to help prevent substance use in children and teens. This is First Lady Mary Pat Christie’s  sixth year serving as an honorary chair of CASA Family Day.

“Confronting the issue of substance abuse and addiction is a public-private partnership, which involves leadership at the state, local and national levels with organizations like CASA,” said Mrs. Christie.  “During Family Day and every day, it’s important to take time out from busy schedules to sit down to talk with and listen to your children about what’s on their mind. Being engaged in their lives keeps the lines of communication open, which is so important in fighting substance use.”

Adolescence is the critical period for the initiation of risky substance use. In fact, nine out of 10 Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age of 18. Research shows that children with more involved parents are less likely to smoke, drink, or use other substances.

Recognizing the importance of the issue, Mrs. Christie has addressed organizations such as Community in Crisis to discuss substance abuse prevention in the local community. During her visit, she met with parents who have suffered the loss of their children to opiate abuse.

Over the last six and half years, Governor Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie have put a strong emphasis on changing the conversation on substance use and addiction, including mandatory drug court, the significant expansion of the Narcan program to include training of family and friends of addicts and a recovery coach program.

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Christie Demands The Legislature Do their Job and Fill Judicial Vacancies In Mercer County

Chris_christie_theridgewoodblog

September 1, 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton, NJ , Governor Chris Christie demanded today that the Senate “do its job” and act on seven judicial vacancies that are jeopardizing the efficient delivery of justice to citizens in Mercer County, where the reassignment of a Superior Court judge this week underscored the emergent need for a full complement of judges in the vicinage.

In May, Governor Christie nominated seven qualified candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, to fill the Mercer County vacancies, but the Democrat-controlled Senate has failed to schedule them for a review and confirmation.

Now, Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez, a Middlesex County judge who has been assisting Mercer County in its criminal courts for the past seven years, is being reassigned back to his home county. Mercer County, which normally has a complement of 24 judges, has had one vacancy on the bench since March 2012 and six other vacancies since the departure of six judges in the fall of 2014.

“This is a complete disservice to the public and it falls firmly at the feet of Senate Democrats. They continue to fail in their constitutional responsibility to review and act on nominees to many key government posts in New Jersey, including the courts. Just as Senate Democrats created problems in Essex County a couple of years ago by blocking appointments, their inaction now in Mercer County is impeding the effective delivery of justice there,” said Governor Christie. “These judicial vacancies not only threaten our efforts to enact bail reform, but also leave the short-staffed Mercer County judicial system juggling to resolve serious matters, such as issuing restraining orders for victims of domestic violence and providing people accused of crimes a swift adjudication of their cases.”

Beyond Mercer County, the Senate also has failed to act on six other Superior Court nominees waiting to fill judicial vacancies elsewhere in the state and they are holding up 76 other nominations made by Governor Christie to various boards and commissions that serve the public.

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Governor Christie Takes Steps to Safeguard New Jersey’s Economic Future

NJ-Governor-Chris-Christies-staff-is-playing-some-tricks-on-people-who-did-not-support-his-re-election-bid

Vetoes Legislation That Would Impede Economic Gains and Hinder Garden State Businesses

August 30, 2016
the Staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton, NJ , Taking action to protect New Jersey’s economic future, Governor Chris Christie today vetoed Assembly Bill No. 15, which would have raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour by the year 2021. Three years ago, New Jersey residents voted to raise the minimum wage to $8.25, along with annual adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This bill would have made New Jersey only the third state to adopt a $15 minimum wage.

“Despite having a constitutional mandate in place, the legislature now wants to increase the minimum wage by almost 80 percent just three years later,” said Governor Christie.  “While this bill’s proposed increase surely is responsive to demands from Democrat legislators’ political patrons, it fails to consider the capacity of businesses, especially small businesses, to absorb the substantially increased labor costs it will impose, killing jobs and erasing gains of more than 275,000 private sector jobs since 2010. I cannot support a bill that undermines the positive results we have achieved in New Jersey and I am returning A-15 to the legislature with an Absolute Veto.”

Business owners would face added expenses from this substantial wage hike through increased payrolls, taxes and supply costs, leaving them with these undesirable options: laying off workers; reducing employee hours; raising prices; leaving New Jersey; or closing altogether.  Other states and cities ramping up to a $15 minimum wage – California, Seattle and Washington, D.C., for example – are already seeing those negative economic impacts, from fewer jobs to increased costs for goods and services on college campuses, in restaurants and in the manufacturing sector.

Similar outcomes in New Jersey would be a significant step backward on the road to economic recovery and an affront to all of the accomplishments of our private-sector businesses over the past six-and-a-half years.

From offering $380 million in unemployment insurance tax relief to merging the State’s economic development incentive programs through the Economic Opportunity Act, Governor Christie has fought to make New Jersey more competitive and to encourage businesses not only to move to the Garden State, but also to stay here, and to expand their operations and hire new employees.

Governor Christie continues to focus on creating better paying, middle-class jobs in innovative sectors and through small business growth while continuing to build on New Jersey’s economic momentum.

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Governor Christie Announces Trio of Fiscally Responsible Public Employee Contract Agreements

Chris_christie_theridgewoodblog

August 29, 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

IFPTE & IBEW Financial Terms Protect Taxpayers, Ensure Public Services

Trenton, NJ , Governor Chris Christie today announced a key public employee contract agreement with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), as well as two agreements with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). These state worker contracts, reflective of the state’s fiscal realities and budget challenges, will not require tax hikes, as taxpayers routinely experienced under past governors.

IFPTE’s negotiated settlement, ratified by the union last month, is retroactive to July 1, 2015 and extends through Fiscal Year 2019. Its financial terms include the following across-the-board salary increases: July 1, 2015 – 0 percent; July 1, 2016 – 0 percent; July 1, 2017 – 1.75 percent, and July 1, 2018 – 1.5 percent. This contract covers approximately 4,500 employees of the state and public higher education institutions.

The two negotiated settlements ratified by IBEW locals this month are also retroactive to July 1, 2015 and extend through Fiscal Year 2019, including the same across-the-board salary increases as IFPTE’s settlement. These two contracts cover an approximate total of 1,150 state employees, including several hundred in various managerial positions and hundreds of state attorneys.

“We have again negotiated fiscally responsible state employee contracts that protect taxpayers, provide the budgetary flexibility to fund public services and keep government wages in line with the private sector,” Governor Christie said. “This is how public worker negotiations should be, with union leaders and membership agreeing to sustainable fiscal decisions that they understand will benefit all residents. These are model public employee contracts to be followed by government at all levels in New Jersey and across the country.”

As Governor Christie has previously noted, he has similar expectations from the other public employee unions with which the Administration continues to negotiate another round of labor contracts.

In its first round of agreements with state employee unions, the Christie administration stood with taxpayers to produce 0-percent wage increases for tens of thousands of employees in 2011 and 2012, followed by a 1-percent increase and 1.75-percent increase in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Under the governor’s leadership, across-the-board wage increases have totaled only 6 percent over eight-years of negotiated agreements, an average of just .75 percent per year, which is in addition to the landmark pension and health benefit reforms enacted to save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

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N.J. public pension system still among worst-funded in U.S.

Sweeney & Prieto

file photo Sweeney & Prieto
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 25, 2016 at 5:11 PM

TRENTON — New Jersey’s public pension fund is shakier than all but two U.S. states also known for their notoriously underfunded retirement systems, according to a new comparison by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The pension fund was just 42 percent funded in 2014, based on the latest data available for 238 retirement plans in 50 states, Pew said.

Illinois and Kentucky were each only 41 percent funded. Only three states — South Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin — were more than 100 percent funded.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/08/nj_public_pension_system_still_among_worst-funded.html?utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics#incart_river_home

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CATO Institute Ranks New Jersey 47th in Overall freedom

Trenton_New_Jersey
August 20,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

The overall freedom ranking is a combination of personal and economic freedoms. This year the Cato Institute ranks New Jersey 47th and here is the analysis :

About 50 years ago, New Jersey was considered a tax haven. It grew wealthy under that regime, but over the past two decades it has competed with California for the position as the second-worst state for economic freedom. As long as it is better than New York, it will probably continue to get tax refugees from that state, but more New Yorkers now move to Florida than to New Jersey.

New Jersey’s state-level taxes are slightly higher than average (5.7 percent of income), while local taxes are much higher than average (5.5 percent). New Jerseyans have more choice of local government than any other state, with 6.2 effective competing jurisdictions per 100 square miles. Government subsidies and debt are above average, but state and local employment is a little below average. We show a small improvement in each of those three areas between 2010 and 2014.

Land-use freedom is quite limited in New Jersey. The state lets cities adopt rent control, and local zoning rules are often highly exclusionary, even though the state has been losing population for years. Renewable portfolio standards are among the highest in the country, raising electricity rates. In 2013–14, the state adopted a minimum wage. Labor-market freedom was already bad because of strict workers’ compensation rules, mandated short-term disability insurance, mandated family leave, no right-to-work law, and a stricter-than-federal anti-discrimination law. Occupational freedom is, perhaps surprisingly for such a corrupt state, close to average. However, in 2013–14, nurse practitioner freedom of independent practice was abolished. Insurance regulation is fairly strict, and there is a price-gouging law, which Governor Christie deployed after Hurricane Sandy to devastating effect. The civil liability system is somewhat better than average.

New Jersey has improved over time on personal freedom and is now better than average. Incarceration and victimless crime arrest rates, drug and nondrug, have all fallen since 2000. Asset forfeiture, however, has not been reformed much. New Jersey is a bad state for tobacco freedom, travel freedom, and gun rights, but it is a good state for gambling and same-sex marriage. The picture on educational freedom is mixed. Homeschools and private schools are barely regulated, but there are no public or private school choice programs. Cannabis freedom is similarly mixed. The state has a limited medical cannabis law, but otherwise it has done nothing to reduce penalties. Alcohol freedom is a bit above average, but the state interferes here too. Direct wine shipment is tightly regulated, and the rules on when a grocery store may sell wine are complicated—perhaps to create a “tollbooth” where state politicians can extract rents.

Policy Recommendations

Fiscal: Cut spending on parking lots; New Jersey spends almost three times as much as New York. It also spends more than average in the “miscellaneous” category and on employee retirement. Income, utilities, and property taxes are abnormally high and could be cut.
Regulatory: End rent control. This move would have raised New Jersey four places on regulatory policy.
Personal: Decriminalize low-level cannabis possession, and make high-level possession a misdemeanor. These reforms would have raised New Jersey two places on personal freedom.

https://www.freedominthe50states.org/overall/new-jersey

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American Dream ongoing nightmare

Xanadu_main_theridgewoodblog

August 12, 2016

The state can’t scrape up the money to fix the state’s roads and bridges, fully fund its schools or pay for the pensions of retired state workers. But, somehow, it found a way this week to approve an $800 million bond after previously authorizing $350 million in tax breaks for a $3.1 billion megamall in the Meadowlands.

The state’s Local Finance Board, an arm of the state Department of Community Affairs, this week approved the bond for the massive Meadowland America Dream shopping and entertainment complex, known during a previous incarnation as Xanadu. After two false starts attributable to the project’s inability to get private financing, the project was taken over in 2011 by Triple Five, a Canadian firm, nearly a decade after it was first approved.

Last week’s approval by the Local Finance Board, and the approval of a financing agreement a day earlier by the mall’s landlord, the N.J. Sports & Exposition Authority, came unaccompanied by any outrage from state lawmakers other than Michael Doherty, R-Warren.

Why the silence? Perhaps legislators didn’t want to call further attention to the irony of their providing bonding for a private venture at a time they can’t scrape up enough money for the state’s basic needs, despite having the highest property taxes in the nation.

https://www.app.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/08/12/american-dream-meadowlands-bond/88634812/

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Byram Residents Call for Referendum After Town Authorizes $11 Million

Ridgewood_-4th_of-_July_theridgewoodblog

 

A group of five long term residents of the small township of Byram in Sussex County have issued a call for a referendum on November’s ballot. The referendum aims to allow voters to reject an approved up to $11 million expenditure for a new municipal building by putting it to a public vote. Alyana Alfaro, PolitickerNJ Read more

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After stinging loss, teachers’ new pension plan may begin with revenge

Steve-Sweeney-Atlantic-City-finances

By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 09, 2016 at 7:30 AM, updated August 09, 2016 at 7:56 AM

TRENTON — With a ballot question asking voters to constitutionally guarantee state payments into the public worker pension fund dead on arrival this year, the head of the state’s largest teachers’ union suggested  that Senate PresidentStephen Sweeney’s likely 2017 gubernatorial campaign will meet the same fate.

Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, stopped short on Monday of calling Sweeney’s refusal to post the measure for a vote ahead of a Monday’s deadline to get it on the ballot this year a deal breaker.

But he was also clear about the NJEA’s priorities — more specifically, its top agenda item.

“Our No. 1 priority has been passing this constitutional amendment,” Wendell said.

“I’m telling you that we will certainly send out a questionnaire to all of the candidates and we will screen all of them,” he said. “But we are definitely going to get involved in the primaries this year.”

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/08/with_pension_guarantee_dead_states_largest_union_l.html?ath=9c46bfc08d76232bb5a5e00eeaf0bfa2#cmpid=nsltr_stryheadline

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Reader says public-sector labor unions are attempting to influence the legislative process with campaign donations? Wow, there’s a surprise!

Sweeney & Prieto

The NJEA, FOP and other public-sector labor unions are attempting to influence the legislative process with campaign donations? Wow, there’s a surprise. Union thugs have destroyed NJ’s economy and made property taxes so unreasonable that the state suffers from net migration out and an economy that lags the recovery in surrounding states. The unions and their paid-for cheerleaders in Trenton are 100% to blame, they are driven by shameless greed.

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NJEA : Plot Thickens in Monmouth as Ousted Republican Goes on the Attack

REA, ridgewoood teachers

Plot Thickens in Monmouth as Ousted Republican Goes on the Attack

Early signs that Monmouth County will be one of the crucial proving grounds for a badly wounded Republican party in 2017 emerged Friday, as former Republican Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini called for her Democratic successors to acknowledge their ties to the NJEA. Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) called for state and federal investigations of the group this week after the state’s largest teachers’ union threatened to withhold campaign cash from state Democrats. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more https://politickernj.com/2016/08/plot-thickens-in-monmouth-as-ousted-republican-goes-on-the-attack/