Tag: Democrat Senate President Steve Sweeney

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Sweeney bombshell: Investigate NJEA, cops union for extortion over pension threat

Ridgewood EA teachers protest
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 03, 2016 at 12:16 PM, updated August 03, 2016 at 5:34 PM
 TRENTON — Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Wednesday that threats by public worker unions to withhold campaign contributions unless the Senate passes pension legislation amounts to “bribery” and “extortion” and should be investigated by state and federal officials.

At a Statehouse news conference, Sweeney (D-Gloucester) responded to reports the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, told county Democratic Party chairmen it wouldn’t release campaign cash until next spring as a cudgel to force action on a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing billions of dollars in contributions to the government worker pension fund.

Sweeney also said his office received a direct threat from the president of the Fraternal Order of Police. He penned letters to the U.S. attorney and state attorney general requesting investigate the threats as violations of both state and federal bribery laws.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/08/sweeney_calls_for_investigation_of_njea_pension_vo.html#incart_river_mobileshort_home_pop

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Gas tax? Pensions? What may happen on another crazy day at N.J. Statehouse

3 stoogies

By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 30, 2016 at 7:00 AM, updated June 30, 2016 at 7:27 AM

TRENTON — Four days after a marathon session that didn’t end until after midnight, the state Legislature on Thursday could be in for another crazy day.

Here is a look at what state lawmakers may — and may not — tackle:

1. The gas tax/sales tax deal could be finalized. Or not at all.

Gov. Chris Christie and the state Assembly orchestrated a surprise deal Monday: one that would raise New Jersey’s gas tax 23 cents a gallon to replenish the state Transportation Trust Fund that pays for road projects in exchange for cutting the state’s sales tax by 1 penny by 2018. The Assembly passed the proposal just after 1 a.m.

But even though the fund expires Friday, Democratic leaders in the state Senate say they are not on board with the plan. Some Republicans have also expressed reservations.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/06/gas_tax_pensions_what_may_happen_on_another_crazy.html?ath=9c46bfc08d76232bb5a5e00eeaf0bfa2#cmpid=nsltr_stryheadline

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Democrat Senate President Steve Sweeney Pushes for Gas tax Increase for unions , criticizes Christie

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Democrat Senate President Steve Sweeney Pushes for Gas tax Increase for unions ,criticizes Christie

DECEMBER 20, 2014, 11:55 AM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014, 4:37 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Senate President Steve Sweeney has gone on offense, criticizing Gov. Chris Christie and calling on him to detail his plan for saving the imperiled transportation trust fund. But Sweeney has not said how he would pay for his own ideas.

As the Legislature wraps up the calendar year without a deal to address the fund, Sweeney along with Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and Republican Gov. Chris Christie are still working behind the scenes to come to an agreement.

Thus far, Sweeney, the influential southern New Jersey Democrat, has been upfront in expressing what he wants the deal to look like: the fund should be beefed up to $2 billion from $1.26 billion, and money to municipalities should nearly double to $400 million.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Sweeney said his “bottom line” is the inclusion of rail projects in Hudson and Bergen counties, in Camden and Gloucester counties as well as freight rail infrastructure projects in the central part of the state.

“We are not gonna pit regions against each other,” he said. “The needs are great, they’re real and we have to advance them together. Too often it’s like us against them and that’s not how it should be,” Sweeney said.

While he says a tax increase is probable, he has not written or endorsed legislation detailing exactly what that tax would look like.

In part, that’s because talks with Christie and Prieto are still underway and no agreement would be possible without their support, Sweeney said. To publicly embrace a plan to pay for the fund — like an increase in the state’s 10.5 cent gas tax — could scuttle those talks, Christie said in an interview on 101.5 FM last week.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/sweeney-criticizes-christie-calls-for-plan-to-save-imperiled-transportation-trust-fund-1.1173185