By Steve Sweeney In New Jersey, the economic burdens for middle-class families and working people continue to make life hard….
By Steve Sweeney and Loretta Weinberg While most of the analysts and pundits have been speculating about what the results…
Governor Christie’s State of the State was long on rhetoric, but short on ideas. It reminded me of that old Wendy’s commercial: “Where’s The Beef?” The governor had a unique opportunity to map out a version for New Jersey moving forward. He failed badly to do so, and as a result, people in New Jersey are no more certain now than they were before of what the future holds.
The governor spent most of his speech discussing the heroic efforts and actions of our first responders and everyday residents during Sandy. Naturally, we all share his pride in our fellow New Jerseyans. But what they need is more than a pat on the back: They need specific answers on how they can move forward with their lives.
Last week, I saw firsthand the damage and destruction that devastated the shore. New Jersey institutions like the Seaside Heights’ boardwalk decimated, and homes ripped from their foundations. Neither pictures nor press accounts can do justice to what it looks like there and in other parts of the state.
While Hurricane Sandy may have hit us hard, she didn’t knock us out. Our state is showing the world the tremendous good, unbelievable kindness and never-quit spirit of New Jerseyans that sometimes can only arise after such a painful and devastating crisis.
But if the storm has taught us anything, it is that the New Jersey we grew up in is gone, both literally and figuratively. When we begin experiencing 100 year storms seemingly every year we must take a serious look at both our existing infrastructure and how we rebuild our state. That means not rushing through a bunch of well meaning legislation that has long term, unforeseen consequences. Our goal must be to rebuild smart.
New Jersey’s minimum wage went to $7.25 per hour in 2009. But what should be shocking is not that it happened, but how it happened. It actually took the federal government to act when Trenton wouldn’t, as state government hadn’t acted to increase the minimum wage since 2005.
Let’s face it, we live in one of the nation’s most expensive states, with housing costs among the highest anywhere. It’s embarrassing enough that we have dragged our feet in ensuring a livable wage for those at the very bottom of the economic ladder, but even more so that we have left the minimum wage to the whims of politics.
Transparency and accountability shouldn’t just be a “gotcha” gimmick used by opposing political parties in Trenton — it should be a bedrock principle of all of our politics and policies. The public’s right to know, for example, how we spend health care dollars and whether we put patient care first, before profits, seems a key principle to us.
That’s why consumer groups, health plans, health advocates and health care unions joined together recently to support our legislation that would require all hospitals – for-profit and not-for-profit — to report on finances and governance to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
Equality, fairness and justice are the most basic of American principles. The last century especially has seen numerous episodes of Americans fighting for, and eventually receiving, their civil rights.
Yet there remain Americans for whom these principles are not fully realized. As long as we deem it acceptable for some citizens to have dissimilar rights and benefits – and by definition, lesser than those of the majority – equality, fairness and justice will elude us as a society.
Dear Editor,
We live in an age of constant change and of rapid discovery. As society and technology advances, we must make sure that our laws keep pace and confront the new issues that inevitably will arise.
Governor Christie recently signed into law a bill I sponsored that addresses the issue of ‘sexting’. The law will allow certain juveniles charged with ‘sexting’ to enter into an educational program and thus avoid criminal prosecution. The Attorney General’s Office will develop the program, which will include information regarding the consequences of ‘sexting’, the long term impacts of engaging in the activity, and the possible connection between bullying, cyber-bullying, and juveniles sharing sexually suggestive or explicit materials.
The governor has blamed everything and everyone for the highest property tax increase in four years. He continues to state that if only his ‘tool kit’ were passed, New Jersey’s property tax problems would magically disappear.
Closer scrutiny of the governor’s kit proves his claims are false and are merely meant to distract from his own culpability in property tax hikes. The governor cut over $2.4 billion in funding to schools and municipalities last year. That is why your taxes are going up. The tool kit will not make up that shortfall.
It’s a simple choice of whose priorities rank higher: Millionaires or retirees.
I’m willing to line up with the retirees. Tax cuts for millionaires will not make any appreciable difference in our economy or make New Jersey more affordable. Giving middle-class retirees a tax break can do both.
Our traditional public school education is under attack by current proposals to abolish tenure, enact vouchers and expand charter schools as rapidly as possible.
Yes, I am a public school teacher and a member of the New Jersey Education Association. I do not always agree with some of the NJEA’s positions, as evidenced by past picketing of my office when I supported pension and benefits reform. But ending due process for the firing of teachers? No.
Gov. Chris Christie has framed this issue so that you might think that teachers are the only public employees who have a process for reviewing an individual’s case before dismissing them. Police officers, firefighters, and most other public employees have similar protection, under civil service rules. In education, that protection is called tenure.
THE GOVERNOR has been on the stump for months proclaiming that the property tax crisis could be solved if the Legislature would only speed up its work on passing his tool kit of reforms for towns to better deal with the impacts of the new 2-percent property tax cap.
In a case of “If you hear something enough, it must be true,” many mayors and newspapers have joined his hallelujah chorus.
Earlier this month, Governor Christie announced a broad policy reform agenda touching on areas of economic recovery, pension and benefit overhaul, changes to the state’s education system and ethics reform.
While some cynical political observers might question the timing of such an announcement – coming on the heels of his administration’s various missteps and mistakes in failing to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education aid – the governor’s proposals at least offer a starting point for necessary reform discussions, particularly in the area of ethics.
Innovation is the mother of progress. Today, before leaving the house, I had already text messaged a daughter at college, paid several bills using my laptop and accessed my daily schedule via BlackBerry — all before programming my GPS to guide me to my first morning meeting. Ten years ago? I would have been at the kitchen table juggling a checkbook and phone, all the while searching for my appointment calendar at the bottom of a briefcase. And that first meeting of the day? I’m sure I would have been late.
Technological advancements surround us and have, for the most part, improved our lives. Yet this innovation is sometimes strangely absent in government, where processes and policies often seem stuck in a time warp, to our detriment.
I can’t help but imagine that the ghost of Ronald Reagan is standing on the sidelines somewhere cheering on Gov. Christie as he attempts to resuscitate “trickle-down economics.” Some 30 years later, we’re watching the ramifications of this failed experiment play out on the national stage. Do we really want to replicate this disaster at the state level?
Gov. Christie’s proposed budget is like a vice that will squeeze out the lower- and middle-income classes in New Jersey.