Garden State Patriot

In the 7 or so months since I began blogging and have become much more aware of the issues and politicians in New Jersey, I can now say unequivocally that Joe Doria, the head of the  Department of Community Affairs, is the biggest tool we have in state government. If you want to know what’s wrong with New Jersey government, Doria epitomizes it.

With COHA wreaking havoc on this state - threatening the fiscal health of towns and municpalities all across New Jersey that can’t afford it – the good little socialist soldier Doria defends it at every turn.

“You can’t kill COAH,” he says. “You need to simplify it in a way that will meet court muster.”

Yes, you see our activist court is the be all and end all that should never be challenged. I mean, what is this, a democracy we live in?

On top of this, Doria continues his little “hack-a-thon” by defending the indefensible; the state’s unfair and unequal state school funding formulas. For the lowdown on that I recommend that you read in full Paul Mulshine’s latest. Mr. Mulshine listened to Doria spout his garbage at a Senate Budget Committee hearing yesterday.

When State Senator Marcia Karrow questioned Doria on state funding, and why so much of it goes to Democrat strongholds like Jersey City and so little of it actually funds the districts where the money comes from (think counties like Bergen) Doria had no answer. And he also had no answer as to why he approved raises for educrats in Jersey City in excess of $10,000 (some of whom now make well over $100 grand a year) during a recession.

Honestly, whoever wins the Republican nomination ought to use Doria as a poster boy for everything that is wrong with Trenton. It’s because of political hacks like Doria that we don’t have a government that represents taxpayers, but instead represents bureaucrats that confiscate and waste our money at every turn.

Cross-posted at Red County.

Just how unpopular is COAH across the state? Enough so that 251 of the state’s 566 municipalities have joined together to sue over latest COHA rules.

The State League of Municipalities said today it has gone to court to challenge the latest plan for low- and moderate-income housing put forth by the state Council on Affordable Housing.

The challenge claims the new requirements would bring “overwhelming financial burdens on property taxpayers.”

The league said its challenge is unprecedented because the group has worked with municipalities for more than 20 years to help them comply with COAH requirements.

“We did not take this lightly. This is not something we wanted to do,” said league Executive Director William Dressel.

He said the league decided to challenge the rules in state appeals court after meetings with the governor’s office, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria and legislative leaders failed to address its objections to how COAH came up with the housing allocation numbers and how they were apportioned.

“It became apparent to us we weren’t able to get any administrative relief, any legislative relief or any sympathy from COAH regarding our concerns,” he said.

“In my 35 years of lobbying, I’ve never seen an issue galvanize municipal opposition like I’ve seen on this issue,” said Dressel, adding the opposition comes from urban, suburban and rural municipalities.

The league claimed COAH’s conclusion that 115,666 additional affordable housing units would be needed by 2018 was based on “fatally flawed” estimates of future market housing and employment growth. It also criticized a “false and inaccurate analyses of vacant land” on which housing can be built.

Isn’t socialism and central planning fun?

While I fully support the law suit it isn’t the answer. Abolishing COHA – that is the answer.

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the Bergen County organizational meeting for Steve Lonegan. The meeting took place at the Elks Club in Paramus and, despite tonight’s dreary weather, nearly every seat was taken. Coming away from this event two words come to mind for me: ‘hunger’ and ‘opportunity.’

‘Hunger’ because you could just sense that those who came out tonight care deeply about their state and want to see an end to the runaway liberalism that is destroying New Jersey. Their appetite for change is strong and their reaction to Steve’s message was nothing short of enthusiastic.

‘Opportunity’ because this election is set up perfectly for conservatives to contrast their vision with the failed liberal policies of John Corzine and his liberal comrades in Trenton. New Jersey is now the epitome of bad government. It is the very symbol of how liberal policies – such as the socialist COHA experiment - create an environment that suffocates taxpayers and causes people and businessowners to leave.

This election also represents opportunity because it provides the Republican Party with its first major  chance to right the ship with a return to conservative principles of fiscal responsibility, individual freedom and less government.

As a conservative, the failure of some of our party’s leaders to stick to conservative principles and communicate them in a compelling and articulate manner has been disappointing. I hate to have to include George W. Bush among them but that unfortunately is the case.

But if there’s one thing about Steve Lonegan, this is absolutely not the case. His message is clear. His message is inspiring. And after you hear him speak you can’t help but believe that Steve is fully prepared to be Governor.

When Steve lays out his bold agenda, including…

1. A 20% cut in state government
2. Abolishment of the destructive COHA policies via referendum
3. Abolishment of Abbot District funding by way of executive order

…there is no hesitation. You know he is serious and will follow through on these commitments. This is why Steve has successfully raised over $340,000 in just a few short weeks.

Steve now has a leg up over his opponents, as his campaign has qualified for matching funds. Thus, the campaign will have nearly $1 million in the bank already.

So, if you are a conservative or Republican in New Jersey I would urge you to go and see Steve in person as he continues to travel to each county in New Jersey to deliver his pro-taxpayer message. Republicans can win in New Jersey despite the fact that Democrats have owned the state for some time. But it will require those of you who have become disenchanted to join us in this movement to restore good government to New Jersey.

With a December 31st deadline looming for municipalities across the state to submit their plans to the state, many simply can’t figure out how to abide by strict COAH mandates and are scrambling to figure out their plans. Many towns are requesting a postponement, while 30 towns are actually challenging the new COAH mandates in court.

According to a New York Times article (Towns Racing To Meet Affordable Housing Deadline):

The current furor over affordable housing began in June, with new rules requiring towns to provide one unit of affordable housing for every five homes built, plus one affordable unit for every 16 new jobs. (A typical “affordable” two-bedroom town house would sell for $81,000, and a two-bedroom apartment would rent for $700, according to the State Department of Community Affairs, the council’s parent agency.)

The ratios are double those proposed in 2004. Moreover, every municipality has lost an important tool for meeting its housing obligations. In the past, many suburbs were able to use a loophole that allowed them to transfer part of their share, along with some money, to willing cities. In July, the State Legislature abolished that mechanism.

Moreover, many towns simply don’t have the land available to meet COHA requirements.

“They said we needed 891 units. Where would we put them? We no longer have the land available to do it,” Patricia Flannery, a coalition member and the mayor of Bridgewater, in Somerset County, said in a recent interview.

Bridgewater will meet the deadline, but will dispute the council’s analysis of how much vacant land it has, she said.

Many towns will do the same, and some will probably succeed in having their numbers reduced. The council has admitted that it relied on imperfect data for the blueprint it devised to predict growth. “There were sites shown as vacant that weren’t necessarily so,” said Lucy Vandenberg, the council’s executive director.

In Old Tappan, the council listed as vacant portions of backyards, school property, utility rights of way and land adjoining the Hackensack River, said Sean Moronski, the borough’s planner.

“We did a real review,” Mr. Moronski said. “They projected 91 units. We think a realistic projection would be 19.”

As I’ve previously posted, costs associated with COHA are now anticipated to skyrocket to $2 billion a year. Many towns feel they will simply be decimated by these outrageous expenditures, despite claims that the COHA housing will also be funded by non-public sources and trust funds.

Let’s face it. COHA is wreaking having on New Jersey. This is socialism and central planning on display. COHA represents everything that conservatives have been warning against when it comes to the liberal vision of government. Just imagine our health care industry being subject to similar such heavy-handed bureaucracy, mandates and central planning.

COHA needs to be overturned. It doesn’t need amending or tweaking. It’s a horrible idea that runs afoul of evrything our Founders intended, undermining our liberty and our ability to govern ourselves. 

Yesterday, Steve Lonegan formally announced his campaign for Governor. Watch Steve’s announcement here.

Also, Conservatives with Attitude! interviewed Steve following his announcement. You can listen to this interview here.

I came across this post from Diane Sterner at NJ.com regarding COHA. According to the socialistic Sterner:

It is only fair that every New Jerseyan have the opportunity to live in a decent home in a decent community, reasonably close to their place of employment. The new rules from the state Council on Affordable Housing, because they more accurately estimate the amount of New Jersey residents currently being denied that opportunity, constitute a step in the right direction. Their implementation should not be delayed.

Is this sinking in? It’s only fair for those of us who work hard every day to pay for others to live in a decent home, in a decent place.

Well, I responded to Miss Sterner and so did a lot of other fellow Jerseyans. Check it out.

So, Governor Corzine might eliminate property tax rebates for the already strapped New Jersey taxpayer in order to close the budget gap.

“We’re hopeful that we will be able to sustain it, but I can’t promise anything in this environment.”

So, let me get this straight. With property taxes in this state already through the roof, and many residents having been whacked in the past few years with re-evaluations, one of the the first things considered to go is rebates for homeowners?

On top of this, the Governor is still going full steam ahead on his social engineering scheme to build 100,000 taxpayer subsidized housing units (he calls them ‘affordable housing units,’ we don’t) all across the state, which will only hurt the value of the homes already in these communities. But here’s the kicker: The state already doesn’t have enough money for these projects a mere 4 months after the legislation passed the Legislature. The solution? What else? The Governor wants to give “the state Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency the power to borrow money to invest in affordable housing.”

More state debt. More burden on the taxpayer. No break for the homeowner, but the homeowner must pay the way for others. Welcome to the Peoples Republic of New Jersey.