Chris Christie's "Shirk Week"

By Joshua Henne
CWA NJ

With “Shark Week” in full blast, we just wanted to share this timely video on Governor Chris Christie’s “Shirk Week.”

Christie talks a big game. But, as this video shows, the governor already broke New Jersey’s economy. Now, he’s not only breaking his word by failing to make promised pension payments…he’s breaking the law in the process.

It’s simple: New Jersey’s pension doesn't need a commission or a study stocked with a handful of super-wealthy people unlikely to have any clue as to what it means to live on a fixed-income. The pension needs to be fully funded, as promised and required by law.

So, in honor of Shark Week…I mean “Shirk Week”…we hope you’ll enjoy this short video highlighting Christie’s continued failures.

Christie didn't only break his word when it came to funding the pension. He also broke the very law he signed and touted as a “major accomplishment.” Gone is the fanfare. Gone is the chest-thumping. And gone are the taxpayer-funded banners proclaiming the “Jersey Comeback.”

Instead, we’re left with Christie’s limp lack of leadership…as he continues to shirk responsibility at every turn.

New Jersey Cannot Afford Absentee Governor

New Brunswick, NJ – Buono for Governor Campaign Chairwoman Bonnie Watson Coleman today issued the following statement:

“It’s clear that Governor Christie’s top priority is advancing his own political career, not improving the lives of working and middle class families. While the Governor was on The Jimmy Fallon Show slow-jamming the news, New Jerseyans have been slammed by his failed economic policies that have left 400,000 people out of work and caused property taxes to increase by 20 percent. His so-called “Jersey Comeback” was nothing more than empty rhetoric as too many New Jersey workers and families struggle everyday to make ends meet. New Jersey cannot afford to have an absentee Governor who will spend the next four years pandering to conservatives in the cornfields of Iowa instead of rebuilding our economy and creating good-paying jobs right here in New Jersey.”

An Open Letter To Governor Christie From MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry: Pump Your Brakes, Gov. Christie

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

By Melissa Harris-Perry – MSNBC

Dear Gov. Christie,

It’s me, Melissa. Well, there’s no denying it–you are definitely having a moment. Since last year when you put partisan politics aside to praise President Obama’s disaster response to the recent kick in the pants you gave House Speaker John Boehner, it seems you’ve become the voice of America’s frustration with Washington. And as a resident of a city that knows all too well what it means to rebuild in the wake of catastrophe, I know the people of New Jersey are grateful to have you as a champion.

You can tell by your 73% approval rating. And even more impressive, as a Republican governor of a blue state, you’ve managed to get 62% approval among Democrats, 70% among women, and 69% among people of color. That makes you almost a shoo-in for re-election this year. No doubt all that love has got you feeling like it’s all aboard the Christie train–next stop, the White House!

But not so fast. I’m going to need you to pump your brakes.

Your ability to lead people through the aftermath of a disaster does not qualify you to be president of the United States. Just ask Rudy Giuliani.

Oh, that Time Magazine cover line certainly had it right–you are the master of disaster. It’s just that the disaster struck long before Hurricane Sandy came ashore. Let’s hope you do a better job presiding over the state’s storm recovery than you’ve done presiding over New Jersey’s economic recovery. Because New Jersey’s economic performance ranked 47th in the nation in 2011. And right now, the [New Jersey] unemployment rate is 9.6%–surpassing the national rate by almost 2%.

It seems, governor, that residents are still waiting on that so-called “Jersey Comeback” you claimed had already begun.

And so much for your reputation for telling the hard truths–or telling the truth at all. When you ran for governor, you promised not to cut pensions, property tax rebates, or education spending. When you became governor, you promptly cut all three. Oh, and there’s also the matter of those other cuts you proposed–the tax cuts for New Jersey’s wealthiest residents. You even went so far as to veto–not once, not twice, but three times–a tax increase on millionaires.

Given your policy preferences for the wealthy, is it any wonder that it took a natural disaster and some convincing from President Obama before you could get some reciprocation in your love for Bruce Springsteen? You know his every lyric, so you also know that The Boss–I mean the real Boss–in his songs celebrates the working class. The same folks who suffer when you refuse to raise the state’s minimum wage or when you cut the earned income tax credit for low-income residents, or cut $7.4 million from reproductive health care services.

Thanks to you, the women of New Jersey now have six fewer family planning clinics. Those that remain saw 26,000 fewer patients after your budget cuts. That’s fewer breast exams, fewer cancer screenings – fewer lives that could be saved with preventative care. So yes, by all means, enjoy your moment. You’ve earned it.

But thanks to your policy record you’ve also earned what’s coming to you in 2016–and I have a feeling America’s voters are going to give you exactly what you deserve.

Sincerely,
Melissa

HOLD CHRISTIE ACCOUNTABLE – HE CAN’T HIDE FROM 3-YEAR RECORD OF FAILURE & MISPLACED PRIORITIES

Christie’s State of State Will Surely Ignore Failing New Jersey’s Families

(NEW JERSEY) – In 2009, candidate Chris Christie said we must hold a governor accountable… the same holds true today. Governor Christie runs a remarkable public relations machine and does a tremendous job bending the narrative in his favor, while simply ignoring the facts that don’t fit his polished story. However, the State of the State is about reality – not fiction.

To hear Christie talk these days, one would think his first day as Governor started the morning after Superstorm Sandy reached New Jersey’s shores. However, the dark clouds of Christie’s policies have been hovering over our state for a full three years. The people of New Jersey are strong and resilient, but our state has been neglected and is in a worse state of disrepair due to Christie.

Everyone agrees Superstorm Sandy was a hard hit for the state and devastated many families and businesses. But it is unfortunate and cynical for Christie to use the devastating storm as a smokescreen to obfuscate his anemic record of failures and misplaced priorities. And the governor should have to answer for his full record that has consistently hurt New Jersey’s middle-class.

The same problems New Jersey faced before Superstorm Sandy are still facing our state today. So, here are some of the facts that Governor Christie hopes you’ll forget. Because New Jersey has these issues – that predate Sandy and still matter:

• Unemployment is still hovering around 10%.
• Since Governor Chris Christie took office, New Jersey has consistently trailed the rest of the nation when it comes to jobs... and still does.
• Under Christie, New Jersey reached the largest gulf between state and national unemployment averages since Jimmy Carter was president.
• New Jersey residents suffered a gigantic net jump in property taxes since Christie took office – at one point reaching 20%.
• New Jersey ranks as the 46th worst-run state in America.
• New Jersey’s state economy ranks 47th.
• New Jersey’s business climate slipped to 41st.
• New Jersey now has the 2nd highest percentage of mortgage loans in foreclosure in the nation – as rates nationally have fallen to their lowest levels since 2008.
• Commuters are dealing with higher train tickets, bus fares and tolls.
• Schools are in disrepair... while teachers are disparaged.
• Higher tuition at public universities and colleges… while aid is slashed.
• 55% of New Jersey highways are in poor or mediocre condition.
• 35% of New Jersey bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
• Christie claimed a mythical "Jersey Comeback" and based his budget on rosy revenue projections that were far from coming true well before Superstorm Sandy.
• There is one stat in which Christie has New Jersey leading the nation. We just slipped to become the number one state that people are moving out of.

****Starting at 2 pm, please follow @JoshuaHenne – who will be livetweeting @GovChristie’s State of the State.

* * * *

One New Jersey is shining a light on politicians who act against the best interests of New Jersey’s residents and who seek to divide our state for their own political gain. It is giving voice to the important issues that affect our daily lives. One New Jersey will closely monitor policy positions and actions of elected officials and expose their records on the issues that matter. You can follow One New Jersey on Twitter (@OneNJ) or search for “One New Jersey” on Facebook.

Chris Christie 2012 RNC: There is no ‘New Jersey comeback’

Before tuning in to  Governor Chris Christie's keynote address at the Republican National Convention, here is a little something that you should keep in while watching. 

The follow op-ed was written by State Senator Barbara Buono and appears online at Politico.com

By Barbara Buono

Many tennis buffs probably remember the early ‘90s Andre Agassi camera ads, with the slogan “Image is everything.”

It’s not hard to compare this to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has let it be known that he hopes to “change people’s image of our state” when he delivers the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. If he can do that, he maintains, he’ll “have accomplished a heck of a lot.”

(Barbara Buono)

Unfortunately for New Jersey residents, image won’t address ballooning unemployment, an anemic economy and a stagnant revenue outlook.

Tuesday night, many Americans are due to get their first taste of the carefully constructed Christie image — a brash, tough-talking fiscal conservative who thinks his leadership, economic policies and tax cuts should serve as a model for the rest of the nation.

As always, he will be entertaining – he isn’t called “Gov. YouTube” for nothing. The problem is that this carefully constructed image is based on exaggerations, at best, and falsehoods, at worst.

Christie claims to have put New Jersey on a sound fiscal path — cutting spending, holding the line on property taxes, fighting off tax increases, investing in education and laying the foundation for the “Jersey Comeback.”

That is the image you can expect to see brandished on televisions Tuesday night.

Here is the reality:

New Jersey ranked 47th in economic growth in 2010 and 2011, and our economy shrink by 0.5 percent last year. There are 175,000 fewer jobs in New Jersey today than in December 2007, before the recession started. New Jersey lost 12,000 jobs in July alone, the highest job loss of any state in the nation.

Meanwhile, property taxes for the average New Jersey family were at a 20 percent net increase during his first two years in office, up from $6,244 to $7,519.

To be fair, Christie, like President Barack Obama and all the governors elected from 2008 to 2010, inherited an economy crippled by the Great Recession.

The question to ask however, is: What has Christie done as governor to fix it? And are his policies a model for “America’s Comeback Team,” as the presumed GOP nominee Mitt Romney seems to think? Or a prescription to avoid?

On taking office, Christie cut state aid for education by $1.1 billion, slashed property tax relief for senior citizens and cut government worker pensions — breaking campaign promises in all three cases, as The Star-Ledger, the state’s largest newspaper, recently reported.

In addition, Christie’s personal and political ideology has cost New Jersey billions of dollars in federal aid for education, transportation and women’s health funding.

It gets worse.

Poll after poll shows that New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes are residents’ No. 1 concern. So what does Christie propose? Offering a 10 percent across-the-board income tax cut that would give millionaires a $7,625 break, while a family making $50,000 a year would save just $80.

Sound familiar?

To prove that New Jersey can afford a big tax cut, Christie put out a budget that projects that the state will take in 7.3 percent more revenue this fiscal year – a wildly optimistic figure that represents the nation’s highest anticipated growth rate.

When a highly-respected, veteran budget expert for the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services questioned those numbers, Christie did what he always does: He went on YouTube and attacked Legislative Budget and Finance Officer David Rosen as the “Dr. Kevorkian of the numbers.”

Meanwhile, state tax collections came in below Christie’s rosy-colored predictions in March, April, May and July. We know the June numbers were down anywhere from $250 million to $540 million. But we can’t be sure how much because Christie is violating his own executive order on “fiscal transparency” by refusing to release the June numbers.

So far, unfortunately, it’s “Dr. Kevorkian” and not “Gov. YouTube” who has been right about the revenues. Being honest about the numbers would undermine the “Endless Summer” tour that Christie has embarked on to demand that New Jersey’s Democratic legislature approve an immediate tax cut that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest – regardless of whether the state can afford it.

You won’t hear about any of this Tuesday night, when Christie joyously proclaims that his policies should serve as a model for the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket — and the nation.

But an interesting thing happened on the way to Tampa – Christie admitted there won’t be any mention of the “Jersey Comeback” in his keynote.

Perhaps he’s finally reached a moment of enlightenment? Perhaps, like Agassi, he’s finally realized that to truly achieve greatness, you have to let go of the notion that image is everything and accept reality.

Sincerely,


Barbara Buono
Senator, 18th Legislative District

How Ryan budget plan would hurt New Jersey

BY GORDON MACINNES

Cross posted from The Record

NEW JERSEY is hurting. It’s hurting so bad that the only way the governor could pay for his proposed tax cut is to borrow the money from our kids and grandkids. Float a bond for $260 million to pay for the $200 million or so tax cut proposed for this budget year. Benefits to future taxpayers? Zero. No matter, we can all enjoy a night out with the reduced taxes and let our kids pay. Given the amount we’ll get back, most of us can reserve a spot at the nearest White Castle.

This is not the condition one would expect of the “Comeback” state. But it gets even worse.

The United States has suffered a cut in its prime credit rating because Congress wouldn’t provide timely funds to repay the nation’s debt.

To add to our growing burdens, the House of Representatives has passed a plan that is supposed to balance the federal budget without increasing revenues. It’s called the Ryan Plan for its Wisconsin sponsor, Paul Ryan.

The first-ever state-by-state analysis of the Ryan Plan released this week by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities presents the bad news. The plan, if approved, would dig the New Jersey hole even deeper, about $760 million deeper in the budget year that begins next July.

That may not sound like enough money to worry about in a $32 billion state budget. But the reason the governor was driven to borrow money for his tax cut was that tax collections came in $700 million short between the time he delivered his budget message in February and when the receipts were counted in May.

1.5 billion in the red

By July, the non-partisan legislative research arm estimated the hole was $1.5 billion; Moody’s — the credit rater — suggested that it was closer to $2 billion and counting.

So, a reduction in federal aid of $760 million has significant and negative consequences for New Jersey citizens. Is the state helping to pay the bill for your grandmother in a nursing home? If so, you might have a problem since Medicaid — the federal-state program that pays for most nursing home care — is due to take a one-third cut between 2013 and 2021.

Other programs would suffer as well — programs for special education kids, for putting cops on the street and for providing emergency aid following fires, floods and hurricanes.

The companion proposal to the Ryan Plan is to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. The combination of repealing the act with its Medicaid expansion and the one-third cut proposed by Ryan is to add another $500 million per year to the budget burden.

This time the addition comes because there will be no expected reduction in the charity care payments to hospitals that treat uninsured patients. With the health care act and the existing Medicaid population, the state could assume a sharp falloff in its hospital payments (that now total about $1 billion).

Blance cuts with revenue increase

As New Jersey residents, we might hope that our governor would use his influence with Governor Romney and the national Republican Party to call on the House of Representatives majority to balance some of its tax cuts with revenue increases. Not only would such a move increase the chances of avoiding the “fiscal cliff” we all jump off on Jan. 1 if there’s no agreement on taxes and budgets, but it would do less harm to New Jersey, which is still crawling out of the Great Recession.

So far, instead of making the call for New Jersey, the governor has applauded Ryan, hailed the cuts in Medicaid and remained silent about the negative consequences facing his state. It’s not too late for him to show that he puts New Jersey above party politics.

Gordon MacInnes is president of New Jersey Policy Perspective

Christie’sRhetoric Does Not Match Reality

The following Op-Ed was written by Josh Henne and appeared in yesterday's The Record:



GOVERNOR Christie devotes a lot of time talking about a “Jersey Comeback.” But the truth is more like an impressionist painting by Monet or Seurat. From a distance, it seems as if things make sense … but the closer you get, the more you realize the dots don’t seem to connect.

When Christie goes on the cable news circuit or beats his chest to sympathetic audiences in far-off states, he paints a vivid picture. But in New Jersey, folks know the rosy rhetoric isn’t matching reality.

Whenever I hear beltway talking heads gush about Christie, I feel like yelling at the screen: “You’re not from New Jersey. You have no clue what you’re talking about.”

You aren’t sitting in traffic outside the Lincoln Tunnel or on a delayed train coming into Penn Station because Christie canceled the bipartisan-backed ARC tunnel linkage to Manhattan. Your kids’ teachers aren’t the ones being used as a political piñata to score points. Nor did your children lose out on $400 million in Race to the Top funding because your governor bungled the application.

Your air, land and water won’t be filthier because Christie is allowing corporate polluters to rewrite the rules via Department of Environmental Protection waivers. You aren’t living in a state where one out of every 12 mortgages is in foreclosure, and whose business climate has landed the state 41st out of 50. And you don’t have a governor who vetoed women’s health four times at $7.5 million a pop maintaining the money wasn’t there, while giving $261 million in bailout money to casino moguls.

Christie’s boosters point to popularity in the polls as if it gives him a mandate to run roughshod. But these same folks should realize that in 1997, Gov. Christie Whitman came within a whisker of losing to a completely unknown Jim McGreevey a mere year after polls had her at 62 percent.

This Christie’s numbers are due more to dumping millions of unanswered dollars into television advertising than actual ability to govern.

Face-saving exit
Every time Christie claims he doesn’t want to run for national office, I immediately think of Br’er Rabbit begging Br’er Fox not to throw him in the briar patch. It should come as no surprise that Christie relished being in the mix as Romney’s potential running mate, not just to feed his ego, but also because the opportunity would provide a face-saving exit valve from a state whose residents know the true story.

Just last month, unemployment spiked nearly half a point to 9.6 percent – the most severe monthly increase since 2009 and the largest disparity from the national average since 1978.

In fact, underemployment stands at 15.5 percent. For Christie, success is measured in increments of attention rather than measurable improvements for his constituents. Recently, the governor’s staff squawked about hitting 5 million YouTube hits, as if that’s a measure of success. Viral videos, retweets and Facebook “likes” are not the numbers that matter to New Jersey residents.

The real stats are grisly in the Garden State. Chronically lagging the nation when it comes to unemployment, allowing corporate polluters to rewrite environmental regulations and borrowing money the state doesn’t have to subsidize a tax cut for multimillionaires – that’s Christie’s New Jersey. We have a state economy that ranks 47th in the nation and are facing a property tax rate jump of 20 percent – those numbers mean something.

Now that the fantasy of his vaunted “comeback” is crashing down around him in the face of actual facts, Christie is acting like a man with one foot out the door. Clearly, the governor is a gifted politician with a calculating mind for campaign strategy. So when he vetoes funding for women’s health, nursing homes, after-school programs and repairs at the Marcellus Street Bridge in voter-rich Bergen County a mere year before Election Day, one has to wonder if Christie’s head is in the game … or if he even still holds designs on standing for reelection.

Seeing enemies
Christie is acting downright Nixonian in seeing enemies lurking around every corner. At first it was Democratic legislators bearing the brunt of his anger — which is to be expected in politics. Today, he sees adversaries everywhere: in the classroom, at press events, even on the boardwalk.

With each escalating incident, Christie repeats himself – first as tragedy, then as farce. Maybe this is all just a brilliant smokescreen designed to divert attention from his failures or to set himself up for a job in the entertainment industry.

Christie may skip town before the piper comes to make him pay for his failures. It’s New Jersey’s taxpayers and families who are going to be left holding the bag.

Joshua Henne is a co-founder of White Horse Strategies, a New Jersey-based political consulting firm, and is a spokesman for One New Jersey.

The Dangers of the ‘Jersey Comeback’ Fantasy

July 16th, 2012  |  by Gordon MacInnes  |  Published in Editorials & Op-Eds, NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact ...

The Christie narrative goes like this: I inherited a Democratic-manufactured mess. I set to work to make tough choices, cut spending, reform pensions and reduce property tax burdens. It worked, so now it’s time to reward everyone with a cut in tax rates and to declare New Jersey the national model for fiscal integrity and effective bipartisanship. I call it the “New Jersey comeback.”

But the “comeback” is a slogan without substance or documentation. Instead, the evidence is overwhelming that New Jersey is still crawling out of the Great Recession:

• New Jersey’s jobless rate is fifth-highest in the country, down from 19th-highest when Gov. Chris Christie took office;

• In 2011, New Jersey was one of only six states with an economy that did not grow, ranking us 47th in the country;

• The rating agencies give New Jersey the third-lowest credit rating. It it weren’t for California and Illinois, we’d be dead last;

• The governor’s proposed budget included the largest spending increase and the most optimistic revenue forecast of any state. In just four months, the differences between forecast and actual tax collections have opened a gap in the 2013 budget of no less than $700 million (the administration’s hope) maybe as much as $1.5 billion (the Office of Legislative Services projection) and, possibly, $2 billion-plus (Moody’s warning); and

• More New Jersey families are sliding out of the middle class with almost 40 percent of households barely holding on.

This onslaught of bad news is not the stuff of partisan attacks or manipulation of a few negative numbers. The news comes from independent, trusted, dry statistical reports.
“Okay,” you say, “politicians are known to exaggerate and simplify, so what’s the big deal?”

The big deal is that the mythical “comeback” is being used to frame the agenda for New Jersey’s future, but it is an agenda that shrinks our future and blocks the path to restored prosperity.

Let’s be clear: The governor arrived just as the Great Recession hit New Jersey head-on. With Democratic support, he cut spending, passed pension and benefit reforms, imposed ceilings on property taxes and spoke out against gimmicks such as one-shot revenues and borrowing from our kids to pay this year’s bills. Then, he forgot his own sermon.

Like his predecessors, the governor finds it much easier to fall back on precisely the one-shot revenues and borrowing that put New Jersey in such a perilous state. His budget for 2013 is a replay of the practices he condemned and claimed to have conquered. In this, he is joined by the legislative majority, which accepted the Christie revenue projections.

The problem for New Jersey goes far beyond next year’s budget. “Comeback” deceives. It tells us that everything is pretty much taken care of and it’s time to invoke the panacea of tax cuts.

“Comeback” focuses our attention on the wrong problems and wrong solutions:

Distributing relatively small amounts to millions of households will not restore the state’s competitiveness or attract the kinds of jobs that made New Jersey a perennial leader in income and wealth.

“Comeback” ignores New Jersey’s strongest advantages. Talented, well-educated, enterprising people want to raise their families in pleasant, vibrant communities that enjoy good transit to New York in the north or Philadelphia in the south. And, that have excellent public schools. Instead of headlining the excellent performance of New Jersey’s students — second only to students in Massachusetts — the Christie administration has spent its time lambasting our schools, using the failure in the poorest neighborhood schools to condemn teachers in schools that are among the best in the nation.

“Comeback” and the tax-cut hysteria combine to divert attention from the economic and intellectual engines represented by New Jersey’s two great research universities, Princeton and Rutgers. While competitor states such as Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Texas have regularly invested in creating centers of research, engineering and innovation, New Jersey has stepped away and encouraged an “every-institution-on-its-own” mentality. The prospect of a modest bond issue for higher education this year is only a belated gesture — welcomed to be sure — at starting to play catch up.

“Comeback” pretends that all is well for most New Jersey families when, in fact, the proportion now struggling to provide bare necessities is growing dramatically. The recent theatrics around tax cuts dealt a cruel blow to poor working families with the governor’s veto of a bill to rescind the tax increase imposed on them alone just two years ago when he scaled back the earned income tax credit.

“Comeback?” We wish it were so.

If our leaders continue to blind us with unsupportable and fictional descriptions of New Jersey’s status and aim their policies at the wrong targets, we will continue to fall further behind.

This op-ed appeared in the July 15, 2012 edition of the Star-Ledger

Op-Ed: Tax Cuts: Wasting New Jersey’s Recovery

by Gordon MacInnes  |  Published in Editorials & Op-Eds, NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact ...
This op-ed appeared in the June 19, 2012 edition of the Bergen Record

Tax cuts are all the rage. Governor Christie and Senate President Sweeney are seeking to reduce taxes by10 percent for households earning $400,000 or less. They would add to New Jersey’s high debt level by borrowing the money to finance the cuts.

Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald, D-Camden, is pushing a similar but larger plan, which would reduce taxes by 20 percent and be partially paid for with a higher rate on high-income taxpayers.

Only Warren Buffet thinks his taxes are too low. The rest of us would delight in having more money stay in our pockets. Unless, that is, the tax cuts would kill New Jersey’s ability to regain its competitive edge.

The governor asserts that the state’s finances are in such good order that he can find $1.35 billion that the state won’t need by 2016. Actually, the evidence is overwhelming that New Jersey is still spiraling downward: Unemployment (5th highest rate naitonally), economic growth (4th lowest) and credit rating (3rd lowest).

We are one of only six states to suffer a decline in economic activity in 2011 — New Jersey is still in a recession.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the governor is right: New Jersey has a cushion of $200 million this year, $650 million to $700 million in FY2014, $1 billion in the following year and $1.35 billion by 2016.

Does it make sense to distribute these funds in barely noticeable amounts to millions of households, or would we be better off investing in regaining our competitive edge to attract well-paying jobs and providing concrete opportunities to struggling families?

Not so many years ago, New Jersey was a hotbed of research and development. Bell Labs attracted thousands of scientists, engineers and researchers (including Nobel Prize winners).

New Jersey’s boom years

This was the “World’s Pill Box,” in part because it was the center of the pharmaceutical industry with headquarters, manufacturing and, yes, research and development laboratories. With two world-class research universities at Princeton and Rutgers, the state enjoyed boom years with high wealth and income.

Gov. Tom Kean understood that New Jersey could maintain its place by only investing in new technologies and research. Build the laboratories and computer centers and they — the world’s best educated scientists, engineers and researchers — will come. In his tenure, New Jersey voters approved two bond issues that would be worth almost one billion in today’s dollars to create new centers of exploration on the campuses of Rutgers, Princeton, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Kean’s raising the visibility of higher education with bond issues and operating-budget support, paired with the construction of state-of-the-art research facilities, produced what is still called “the golden age” of higher education in New Jersey.

In recent years, New Jersey has lost its competitive advantages. States like North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, California and Massachusetts have been eating our lunch.

Instead of dribbling out modest tax cuts to everyone, New Jersey should concentrate any “cushion” on building on the science, research and technology foundation that brought us prosperity in the first place.

The amount required for the Christie-Sweeney tax cut, which would total $1.35 billion by 2016, could have a major impact on New Jersey’s restoration.

Starting with $200 million in the first year to assist higher education institutions with planning costs, a noticeable boost could be given to graduate, undergraduate and postdoctoral scholarships in specified fields like mathematics, computer science, genetics and nanotechnology.

By the second year, the investments would represent a 35 percent increase or so in state support for higher education, reversing decades of disinvestment.

To put the decline in context, matching the $231 million appropriation for Rutgers operating support in Governor Kean’s last budget in 1990 would require an appropriation of $408 million in FY2013. Instead, the governor’s recommendation is $241 million.

Tuition assistance

The other investment Governor Christie could include is to adjust the Tuition Aid Grants and Education Opportunity Fund scholarships to reflect the steep rise in tuition. A step in this direction would send a message to New Jersey’s striving students that the state wants to hold onto them by helping with rising tuitions and avoiding even higher student loan debt.

The choice is simple: invest in New Jersey’s future or play for short-term political points.

The state is stumbling at the bottom of the recovery from the Great Recession. Our leaders should drop “Comeback” and replace it with “investment” and “opportunity.”

Jobs comeback? C’mon!

Cross posted from NJBIZ.com
By Joe Arney

Well, when the governor calls a press conference to talk about a jobs report, you know you’re primed to hear some of the best news in a long time.

Sure enough, Chris Christie was in full on told-ya-so mode today, touting the addition of 17,600 jobs in May as further proof that the “New Jersey Comeback” is here to stay.

Far be it from me to complain — the faster New Jersey adds jobs, the faster I’ll be able to quit the news racket and get myself a real job. But right now, it looks like most of those jobs are low-paying service positions cleaning the toilets at the just-opened Revel casino, as opposed to the kind of higher-wage positions the state really needs to attract. And judging by the amount of capital — political and paper — New Jersey has tied into Revel, it’s unlikely we can afford to open enough casinos to power much of a jobs comeback.

In fact, taking a closer look at the numbers, you see New Jersey lost nearly 5,000 jobs in the financial activities sector; to my knowledge, financial and insurance professionals do not work for $12 an hour to swab the pool deck or bring mai tais to silver-haired slot players busy converting their Social Security checks into casino winnings.

Then, there’s all the public-sector hiring. Governments added a net 4,700 jobs, including 3,800 at the local level. Remember all the bluster about towns seeking to exceed the property tax cap, and how they should slash budgets like the love child of Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden, even if it meant jobs? Suddenly, Christie likes those jobs very much.

Look, as the state battles out of the depths of a painful recession, any job is a good job. But New Jersey still trails the nation in employment recovery, we’re still losing jobs in key areas and we’re still bending over backwards to create a tax cut we can’t afford. The New Jersey Comeback may have wheels, but we’re still waiting for someone to put an engine under the hood.

OLS Revises Revenue Numbers Down … Again; Will Leaders Step Up to Stop the Tax Cut Madness?

by David Rousseau  |  Published in NJPP Blog: As a Matter of Fact ...


The news on the income side of the state’s bank ledger got even worse yesterday, with the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) notifying budget committee members that FY 2012 revenue is $50 million to $100 million below its estimates of just two weeks ago. As New Jersey’s potential shortfall reaches $1.5 billion, will the growing chorus calling to reject any tax cut grow louder?
 
May revenue collections from the major taxes came in “somewhat” below OLS’s expectations – expectations that were already more than $600 million below the Christie administration’s most recent projections.

The biggest surprise to OLS was the sales tax, which was actually 2.3 percent lower than last May, bringing the year-to-date growth in sales tax to 2.4 percent. In order to reach the administration’s target, sales tax would now have to grow by 8.3 percent in June; to reach OLS’s target, collections would have to increase by 7.2 percent. That’s asking a lot of any month.

Likewise, income and corporate business taxes are showing slow year-to-date growth (2.4 percent and 1.8 percent) and would have to increase at a much quicker pace in June (4.3 percent and 15 percent) if this year’s revenue targets are to be hit.

With the poor May numbers now in hand, OLS says revenue for the current year will be $50 million to $100 million below its forecast from just two weeks ago. If you adjust next year’s revenue for the new projected shortfall, the overall gap could increase between $100 million to $200 million. This could bring the shortfall to a total of $1.5 billion more than the governor originally estimated, and $800 million more than what the treasurer suggested it would be two weeks ago.

To their credit, Senators Codey and Lesniak have already gone on record saying that now is not the time to reduce state revenues. In addition, Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Prieto has repeatedly raised concerns about the validity of the “New Jersey Comeback” and cited the need to be cautious about any revenue reductions.

The politics among Democratic legislators is getting trickier as Senate President Sweeney continues to push a Christie-Sweeney tax cut. What might have made sense in February, when the projected two-year deficit was a more manageable $500 million or so looks increasingly dangerous to the state’s financial health. In March, no one expected that we would have to borrow the money from our kids to pay for our tax cut. Now, the treasurer says that we must.

A true fiscal conservative would never support more borrowing for less revenue in a state still in the throes of the Great Recession. The latest numbers should make fiscal conservatives of Democrats and Republicans alike.

Christie Returns to the Scene of the Lie

For Immediate Release:
Friday, June 8th, 2012


Will Christie Answer For Failure to Bring Promised Jobs From Illinois During his Latest Romney Audition

(NEW JERSEY) - With Chris Christie in Illinois today to continue auditioning for Mitt Romney, will he take the time to put aside politicking at the Conservative Political Action Conference to follow-up on the jobs he promised to bring to New Jersey over 16 months ago?

In January 2011, Christie took a trip to Chicago on the heels of a major taxpayer-funded public relations blitz to lure jobs from Illinois to New Jersey. His administration spent over $300,000 in taxpayer dollars on glossy magazine advertisements and radio spots starring Christie himself. Newspaper ads ran up and down the state encouraging businesses to pick up stakes and relocate to the Garden State. Christie deemed the trip an immediate success and claimed to have met with some 18 various business leaders - one of whom apparently told him they were "sold" on moving to New Jersey. Yet, 16 months later the reliably mouthy governor is tight-lipped about the end outcome of his much-ballyhooed trip to poach jobs from the Prairie State.

Today - as Christie returns to the scene of the lie - it is more imperative than ever to answer the question: "Where are the jobs Christie promised from Illinois?" With a penchant for finger-pointing and name-calling, it is Christie who must be held accountable for broken promises and failures that fly in the face of his laughable "Jersey Comeback" - especially when it comes to jobs.

Month in and out, New Jersey continues to consistently trail the rest of America when it comes to unemployment. Throughout Christie's entire tenure, New Jersey's employment rate has hovered at 9% or higher. And this week, it came to light that New Jersey ranks 47th in economic performance and that the state's economy shrank .5% last year - even as 43 other states enjoyed economic growth.

As more and more bad statistics trickle out, those who live in New Jersey know that Christie's claims of a "Jersey Comeback" are pure myth. The state now has the 2nd highest percentage of mortgage loans in foreclosure in the nation. This number continues to spike as rates nationally have fallen to the lowest levels since 2008. Since 2009, New Jersey's homeless population rose 7% and food stamp usage is up 23.2%.

New Jersey is looking at a revenue shortfall anywhere from Christie's rosy projection of $600 million to the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services estimate of nearly $1.4 billion. Just this week, OLS reported revenues are likely to fall another $50-$100 million below earlier forecasts. Nonetheless, Christie doubled down on his pledge to veto a millionaire's tax, while still moving ahead with his plans to borrow money to finance a tax cut to the wealthy.

Rather than hobnobbing with national right-wing radicals in a bid to audition for Romney's VP slot, Christie instead should be in Illinois following up on his promise to bring jobs to New Jersey. Once again, Christie cares more about speaking to a fawning out-of-state audience than focusing on making life better for New Jersey's middle-class. Apparently, Christie is already on message with Romney. Much like Massachusetts was 47th in jobs under Governor Romney, New Jersey's economy is 47th under Christie.

To all those at CPAC who come away from this morning's bombastic speech saying Romney should choose Christie for his Veep slot, I suggest looking back just four short years to the last time a GOP nominee chose a running mate with less than 3 years experience who is far better at being provocative than productive. Try as he might, Christie can't put lipstick on the failure of his so-called "Jersey Comeback."

Here's some free advice to Governor Christie from one constituent: Don't come back to Jersey unless you come back bearing new jobs. Don't audition for a new job until you've done the job you already have. And that means creating the jobs that you bragged about and never got around to actually producing.

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One New Jersey is shining a light on politicians who act against the best interests of New Jersey’s residents and who seek to divide our state for their own political gain. It is giving voice to the important issues that affect our daily lives. One New Jersey will closely monitor policy positions and actions of elected officials and expose their records on the issues that matter. You can follow One New Jersey on Twitter (@OneNJ) or search for “One New Jersey” on Facebook.

Christie's Rosy Revenue Projections Are A Fraud

For Immediate Release:
Thursday,May 24, 2012

Still Pushing Tax Cuts to Multi-Millionaires While Lying About Revenue Projections Will Only Delay A Genuine Jersey Comeback

(NEW JERSEY) - The non-partisan Office of Legislative Services is warning that New Jersey is facing a whopping $1.3 billion tax revenue shortfall. These bleak numbers show the rosy revenue numbers Governor Chris Christie has been touting for the past several months have been self-serving, delusional and completely wrong.

Christie's administration now claims the revenue shortfall will "only" be a mere $676 million - which is akin to saying Snooki is just a little bit tan. Even with this newly-crafted, best-case scenario, Christie continues pushing income tax cuts for the wealthy in spite of the bad news. In fact, yesterday, the OLS's budget chief said an additional $900 million shortage could be tacked onto the already-stark numbers if revenue growth rate continues at its current clip.

Just as his "Jersey Comeback" has been undercut by reality and cold hard facts, Christie's revenue projections are inflated and unrealistic. Since the non-partisan OLS numbers don't match his stubborn attempts to cut taxes for the super-wealthy, Christie has once again resorted to name-calling and mean-spirited attacks. He's referred to OLS staff as "Dr. Kevorkian" and "hand maidens." Hopefully, his salty language won't fool anyone into ignoring the real issue. Namely, that Christie's rosy rhetoric fails to match reality.

Just as there is one set of rules for Chris Christie and one set of rules for everyone else, it seems there is also one set of revenue projections for Chris Christie and another for everyone else. Christie's delusional fairy tale flies in the face of facts that consistently prove tax cuts to the super-wealthy fail to create jobs, but instead merely create more wealth for the One Percent - many of whom are his campaign donors - to sit on.

Christie likes to say the debate now isn't whether to cut taxes or not, but which taxes to cut. Well... the question now isn't whether Christie's rosy revenue projections are off, but whether they are only insanely off by hundreds of millions like he now admits, or obscenely off by $1.3 billion, as OLS projects.

Christie wants to claim more money on the books, so he can bankroll unfair and unsustainable tax cuts benefiting the One Percent, while leaving the middle-class out in the cold. Yet, it is painfully clear that the state does not have the money needed to fund this scheme. And it is New Jersey's middle-class and municipalities who will be harmed if it comes to pass. By continuing to foolishly and blindly charge ahead and push tax cuts to multi-millionaires while lying about the numbers, Christie is simply delaying a genuine Jersey Comeback.

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One New Jersey is shining a light on politicians who act against the best interests of New Jersey’s residents and who seek to divide our state for their own political gain. It is giving voice to the important issues that affect our daily lives. One New Jersey will closely monitor policy positions and actions of elected officials and expose their records on the issues that matter. You can follow One New Jersey on Twitter (@OneNJ) or search for “One New Jersey” on Facebook.

Facts Show Tough Week For Governor Christie

For Immediate Release: 
Friday, May 18th, 2012
 

Christie Clearly Cares More About YouTube Hits Than the Negative Numbers Plaguing New Jersey

(NEW JERSEY) – Several clear-cut facts and statistics released this week prove that the reality in New Jersey fails to match Governor Chris Christie's rosy rhetoric. At best, Christie's "Jersey Comeback" is delusional… at worst, it is an outright fib.

Governor Christie runs a remarkable public relations machine and does a tremendous job bending the narrative in his favor, while covering up bad news. So it's no wonder the only numbers that Christie and his press secretary keep talking about this week are the number of YouTube hits for his adorable, humorous video clip co-starring Mayor Cory Booker. Christie should spend less time troll-tweeting Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien, Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Tebow links to his video in a bid for attention and more time getting to the bottom of why New Jersey is limping backwards under his watch.

Numbers don't lie. And here are several numbers that came to light this week alone:

• 230 - On Tuesday, a Department of Treasury report warned that tax collections are falling $230 million short of original budget projections in New Jersey.
• 121 - Yesterday, the Office of Legislative Services warned the state is facing an additional $121 million revenue shortfall in terms of energy tax receipts.
• 351 - When the numbers are crunched, New Jersey is looking at a combined $351 million miss of revenue projections for the year… yet Christie stubbornly continues to push an income tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the super-wealthy, rather than more equitable property tax cuts that help middle-class families.
• 9.1 - Yesterday, the state Labor Department released April numbers showing that New Jersey's unemployment rose to 9.1% - a full percentage point higher than the national rate of 8.1%.
• 8.4 - Yesterday, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that New Jersey now has the 2nd highest percentage of mortgage loans in foreclosure in the nation. This number continues to spike as rates nationally have fallen to the lowest levels since 2008.
• 54 – Yesterday, the Star Ledger reported that - over the past 8 months alone - Christie has taken 54 out-of-state trips (not even including trips to New York, Philadelphia or the Super Bowl). Ranging from last month's Wisconsin fundraising jaunt in support of union-busting Governor Scott Walker, to this month's Washington D.C. banquet with the right-wing Cato Institute, to last year's secret confab in Colorado with the Koch Brothers, Governor Christie has been more focused on burnishing his right-wing credentials and auditioning for Mitt Romney than he is on New Jersey. (This weekend, Christie will take his 55th trip when he heads to Lexington to headline a fundraising dinner for the Republican Party of Kentucky).

This week's numbers show unemployment and foreclosures going up and tax revenues going down. With depressing trends like this, the biggest question is now wondering which Christie staffer will be tasked to sheepishly take down the gigantic "Jersey Comeback" banner from Christie's taxpayer-funded political rallies.

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One New Jersey is shining a light on politicians who act against the best interests of New Jersey’s residents and who seek to divide our state for their own political gain. It is giving voice to the important issues that affect our daily lives. One New Jersey will closely monitor policy positions and actions of elected officials and expose their records on the issues that matter. You can follow https://twitter.com/#!/OneNJ or search for “One New Jersey” on Facebook.

One New Jersey: GOVERNORS ONE PERCENT UNITE IN WISCONSIN

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
 

Christie Rushes To Help Embattled Walker in Shared War Against Middle-Class Families

 
(NEW JERSEY) – Today, America’s two most anti-middle-class governors are joining forces, as One Percent Governor Chris Christie heads to Wisconsin to headline two fundraisers for fellow One Percent Governor Scott Walker. By rushing to Walker's aid during this historic recall, it is clear which side Christie stands on in the struggle between middle-class families and corporate interests.


Walker and Christie are cut from the same Koch Brothers cloth. They both do the bidding of deep-pocketed backers at the expense of the middle-class and share the same political D.N.A when it comes to harming the working families who make up the backbone of their states. Just like Walker, Christie demonizes public unions and puts collective bargaining in the crosshairs as the centerpiece of so-called “reform”.

While raking in the right-wing money for Walker, Christie will undoubtedly tout his self-serving and factually-challenged “Jersey Comeback” - while conveniently neglecting to mention that New Jersey consistently lags the rest of the nation when it comes to unemployment. Considering how he shares the same warped worldview as Walker and the donors who support them both, Christie should have little trouble finding red meat to offer fawning audiences in Milwaukee and Green Bay. For once, Christie can rely on the truth – that he and Walker are kindred spirits in promoting the interests of the powerful and politically-connected ahead of the well-being of seniors, children and middle-class families. Tonight, Christie can easily clasp Walker’s hands as, together, they wave the banner of corporate interests while demonizing cops, firefighters, teachers and other public workers.

In New Jersey, Christie has championed rolling back environmental protections, union contracts and health benefits. He’s claimed fiscal discipline in cutting services, while giving handouts, bailouts and tax breaks to casino moguls, mall developers and the wealthiest One Percent. Christie refuses to even contemplate a millionaire's tax, while his much-ballyhooed income tax plan won’t help middle-class families in any meaningful manner. If Christie had his way, a family earning $50,000 would save a piddling $80.50 and a family earning $100,000 would get back just $275. Of course, millionaires will benefit most - by getting back a whopping $7,265.

In taking his swagger to Wisconsin, Christie is clearly embracing both Walker’s regressive policies and his politics of divisiveness. This is no surprise to anyone who has followed Christie’s record in New Jersey – where he has showered the super-wealthy with benefits and freebies, while hammering middle-class families. With a Walker-like reputation of his own, it will only be a matter of time before the people of the Garden State come to the same obvious conclusion against Christie as Wisconsin voters have against the out-of touch governor in the Badger State.

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One New Jersey is shining a light on politicians who act against the best interests of New Jersey’s residents and who seek to divide our state for their own political gain. It is giving voice to the important issues that affect our daily lives. One New Jersey will closely monitor policy positions and actions of elected officials and expose their records on the issues that matter. You can follow One New Jersey on Twitter or search for “One New Jersey” on Facebook.