Garden State Patriot

The latest Corzine-Weinberg campaign e-mail is so chock full of lies, deceipt and manipulation I couldn’t let it go. The e-mail begins by touting Corzine’s 5-point lead in a ‘widely-respected poll.’ So respected is it that the name of the poll isn’t mentioned, nor is a link provided.

Next, Corzine-Weinberg attempt to demonize Christie on the issue of health insurance mandates. Their campaign has been banging the drum on the mammogram issue for some time now. But their e-mail is a clear attempt at the politics of fear; attempting to manipulate people into thinking that no government mandate would mean insurance companies would not offer coverage of mammograms and autism screenings at all.

Likewise, they attempt to scare people by claiming that Christie would let hospitals discharge moms 24 hours after giving birth. Again, the impression Corzine-Weinberg want to create is a scenario in which a mother and newborn child would be pushed out the door even if they were in no condition to be discharged – as if any well-respected doctor or hospital would allow such a thing. The irony, of course, is that this is exactly the kind of rationing of healthcare we will see if Obamcare becomes the law of the land. 

As for paid family leave, what Corzine-Weinberg won’t tell you is that it is a tax for a benefit that most workers will never use in their working lifetime. Paid family leave also puts more pressure on businesses who have to compensate an inactive – and thus unproductive – employee. Moreover, paid leave is unfair to those who work in small companies – something I documented here.

Corzine-Weinberg claim Christie supports a constiutional amendment to ban abortion. I’ve never heard him say such a thing. I have heard Christie say he’s pro-life, but that’s about it. Moreover, even if Christie supported a constitutional amendment, he would have no say in the matter. Such an amendment would have to be passed by Congress and then ratified by the state legislatures.

The Corzine campaign also continues to perpetuate the falsehood that he has cut property taxes. NJ remains worst in the nation for property taxes. Corzine all but elininated our rebates. State aid has been cut to places like my hometown of Hackensack, resulting in considerable increases (when I moved here in 2005 my taxes were over $2500 less than they are now).  

On top of this, the Corzine team would have us believe they took stimulus funds and used them to keep property taxes from escalating further. The reality is they took the funds and used it as a one-shot gimmick to plug a gaping budget hole. In other words, Corzine put off the tough choices and, now, the state is staring at a $8B hole next year. And at the same time he raised taxes by a billion dollars! But the idea promulgated here – that rejection of the stimulus funds would result in a $2B increase in property taxes – is pure bunk.

Of course, none of this should be too surprising. When your record is one of abysmal failure, resorting to outright lies and distortions to get re-elected is probably the only card left to play. 

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

There are numerous polls out there but Rasmussen remains one of the few to be trusted. Their latest poll shows Christie up 46%-43% with Daggett falling back to 7%. With just a week to go I believe this signals that Chris Christie is going to win this election. Only 4% remain undecided and those folks tend to skew in favor of the challenger(s).

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in New Jersey show Christie with 46% of the vote and Corzine with 43%. While the margin is little changed from a week ago and the week before, the biggest news may be that support for independent candidate Chris Daggett has dropped four points to seven percent (7%). The number of undecided voters is down to four percent (4%).

The decline in support for Daggett comes in a week when several state newspapers endorsed Christie or Corzine, but none followed The (Newark) Star-Ledger’s lead and came out in favor of the independent candidate. Additionally, Christie began a new ad campaign linking Corzine and Daggett.

Christie leads by eight points among those who are certain they will show up and vote. A week ago, he was up by five among that group. Christie’s supporters are also less likely to say they might consider voting for someone else.

Corzine does better among voters who might not make it to the polls. That’s one reason President Obama, former President Bill Clinton and other Democratic Party luminaries are spending time in the Garden State in hopes of encouraging turnout.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

As if anyone cares, several newspapers issued their endorsements today. Christie got the nod from  The Press of Atlantic City, the Asbury Park Press of Neptune and the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill. Corzine was endorsed by The Times of Trenton and The Record of Bergen County.

Of course, in the past The Record’s endorsement probably would have carried some weight. Today the paper is lucky to still be in business. Their endorsement today is truly laughable and helps to illustrate just how completely in the tank their editorial board is for Democrats. After all, when the only reason you can come up with to throw your support behind a governor with a 4-year record is to point to his Lt. Governor selection, Loretta Weinberg, it’s pretty safe to say all credibility is gone.

IT IS not a good year to be an incumbent. The nation is reeling from the worst economic conditions arguably since the Great Depression. New Jersey is particularly hard hit. Yet the challenges facing New Jersey existed before the recession and they will not magically disappear with a new governor.

Jon Corzine has not been the governor that most New Jerseyans wanted. They expected the Wizard of Wall Street to make decades of state debt magically disappear. They expected him to eliminate the back-room political dealings that make New Jersey and corruption perfect together. They expected him to have the backbone to stand up to pension-padding cronies.

But New Jerseyans elected, and will elect on Nov. 3, a governor, not a wizard. There is no magic. There are no tricks. It’s a difficult job.

Corzine’s personality is not well-suited for elected office. But his lack of charisma is tempered by a genuine desire to improve public education, expand health coverage and attract new business to New Jersey. In good times, these laudable goals would make him popular. But with public coffers bleeding red, an expansive social agenda is impractical.

The governor does not take advice well and that has crippled his effectiveness. He is too cozy with organized labor. What would be different in a second term can be summed up in two words: Loretta Weinberg.

The state senator from Teaneck is unknown statewide. In North Jersey, she has built a reputation for fighting the system. She says what she thinks and most often, she thinks before she speaks. As the state’s first lieutenant governor, she will be essentially married to Corzine for four years. Weinberg understands how the politics of New Jersey work. Most valuable to the governor is that she can be the “honest broker” the Corzine administration desperately needs to become effective.

Corzine alone has been adrift in the State House. Weinberg is more than a skilled political navigator. She is the compass the Corzine administration has lacked. With Weinberg as lieutenant governor, we believe there will be change.

On Chris Christie, The Record says:

Republican Chris Christie has a different perspective from Corzine on the role of government. Christie has grown in stature during the campaign, despite a barrage of negative advertising from the Corzine camp. We agree with him that government needs to shrink, that New Jersey can no longer afford to be as generous as it has been in the past with public employees, and that the governor must be willing to challenge entrenched special interests.

But Christie’s impressive record as U.S. attorney is no guarantee that he will be the long-sought wizard of Trenton. It will take more than a bully pulpit to pass legislation. We have hungered for more specifics from him as to how he will address an estimated $8 billion deficit in next year’s budget. And while social issues are not paramount on voters’ lists today, we fear that school vouchers, which Christie supports, would ultimately undermine public education. And we would rather Corzine nominate the next justices to the state Supreme Court.

That’s interesting. They agree with Christie that they want government to shrink, but praise Corzine for his willingness to expand it. They want Christie to be specific but don’t require the same of Corzine. Nor do they look to his record of evidence of more failure to come. And they think school vouchers will undermine public education?! Last time I checked our failing schools needed some *udermining.* Does The Record editorial board actually think our public schools are successful? Or are they just as in the tank for the NJEA as Corzine is?

And what of Chris Daggett? Well, he’s just a ‘wild card’ apparently without Corzine’s vast leadership abilities.

The wild card in this campaign has been independent Chris Daggett. He has a plan to expand the sales tax to redistribute the tax burden away from property owners. We are not convinced it can work, but we applaud his innovative approach. Most of all, his presence in this race has made it clear to Democrats and Republicans how weak their respective bases have become.

Daggett has much to offer – independence, government experience and an impressive wit. He belongs in government. He can make New Jersey better but we do not believe he has the right qualities to be the state’s leader during this crisis. An independent may not be beholden to any one party and that is good. But an independent does not command a natural base of support to push through legislative reforms.

So, let’s sum up this endorsement.

The state’s finances are in shambles but, hey, it’s really not Corzine’s fault. And, c’mon, fixing the state’s finances is tough. Sure Jonny really hasn’t shown any leadership in addressing it - but let’s give him another shot because, well, we love all the his big government goodies and social programs he throws our way. Businesses are leaving the state because of his policies, but…but…he cares and wishes they would stay. And, yeah, we know he’s in the back pockets of all the public sector unions who are bleeding taxpayers dry but…but…put we’ll just put that aside. And, oh, yes, nobody really likes the guy, he has the personality of a wet mop, and he can’t schmooze anyone in the legislature, but he’ll send Grandma Weinberg over bake them some cookies and work them over and, voila, everything will be okey dokey! And did we say we hate Republicans and Chris Daggett’s a joke?

Honestly, how can anyone take The Record’s editorial board seriously after this ‘endorsement?’ Seems to me it’s about time to just close up shop altogether. Or at least be more upfront and put a (D) after their moniker.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

In what could be a real blow to Corzine in this very close election, former Bergen County Democrat Organization head, “Goomba” Joe Ferriero, has been found guilty on fraud charges:

BERGENFIELD — The former northern New Jersey political boss Joseph Ferriero was found guilty by a federal jury this afternoon, according to a report in The Record.

During the third day of deliberations, Ferriero was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of mail fraud, according to the report, but was acquitted on five other mail fraud counts.

Prosecutors had argued that Ferriero and Dennis Oury, who was borough attorney for Bergenfield, had conspired to defraud the town by hiding their co-ownership of a consulting business. The consulting firm had sought contracts from towns in the county.

Ferriero was head of the county’s Democratic organization from 1998 to 2008; Oury was borough attorney for Bergenfield.

Oury had pleaded guilty and testified against Ferriero.

And here is a statement on the verdict released by Assemblyman DeCroce:

The guilty verdict of the former Bergen County Democratic chairman is another example of how Governor Corzine and his party have allowed corruption, which robs money from honest residents, to fester throughout the state, Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said today. 

            A jury found former Joseph Ferriero, once one of the most powerful figures in New Jersey Democratic politics, guilty of defrauding the residents of Bergenfield . He was found guilty of conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud. 

            “The jury’s verdict of Ferriero is also an indictment of Governor Corzine who turns his back on ethical behavior and reform in order to further his own political goals,” DeCroce said. “The governor has refused several calls for a special legislative session to enact tough anti-corruption measures. Even worse, he has funneled millions into the campaign accounts of power brokers such as Ferriero, while portraying himself as a champion of campaign finance reform. The governor’s intent is reflected by his actions, not his talk.” 

            Corzine, and his family, have contributed more than $440,000 to the political accounts of Ferriero and former State Sen. Joseph Coniglio, D-Bergen, who has also been convicted of corruption. 

            DeCroce said Assembly Republicans stand ready to vote on a comprehensive package of legislation that would suspend indicted officials, take away pensions from those convicted and eliminate the corrupting influence of campaign contributions from government contracts. 

            “We are prepared to implement real ethics reform before another one of the governor’s cronies is sent to prison,” DeCroce said. “Although Governor Corzine is satisfied with our current system that since 2002 has seen more than 100 public officials convicted, the public demands more from those who influence how public dollars are spent.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Tomorrow, The Anointed One is coming in from on High to stump for the Corzine campaign in Hackensack. The Tea Party Protesters will be there ready to greet him. Here is the info if you want to participate:

When: 2:00pm

Where:  At the corner of Temple and Hackensack Avenues near the Target at 2:00 PM

Note: It is recommended that you do not park at the Target. Rather try to park on one of the side streets off of Main Street.

TRENTON — President Barack Obama will stump for Gov. Jon Corzine at Fairleigh Dickinson University next Wednesday, the governor’s campaign announced today.

The rally will be held at Rothman Center on the school’s campus.

Not sure yet what time the rally is to be held but I will be looking for it. Sounds like a good time to protest if you ask me.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

I’ve heard of backhanded compliments. Well, this is what we call a backhanded endorsement.

The Star-Ledger today endorses independent candidate Chris Daggett and recommends his election as the next governor of New Jersey.

The newspaper’s decision is less a rejection of Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican Chris Christie than a repudiation of the parties they represent, both of which have forfeited any claim to the trust and confidence of the people of New Jersey. They share responsibility for the state’s current plight.

Only by breaking the hold of the Democratic and Republican mandarins on the governor’s office and putting a rein on their power will the state have any hope for the kind of change needed to halt its downward economic, political and ethical spiral.

New Jersey needs radical change in Trenton. Neither of the major parties is likely to provide it. Daggett’s election would send shock waves through New Jersey’s ossified political system and, we believe, provide a start in a new direction.

It would signal the entrenched leadership of both parties — and the interest groups they regularly represent — that an ill-served and angry electorate demands something better.

The lamentable fact is that the two parties are, themselves, little more than narrow special interests. Their competition for short-term political and/or monetary gain has jeopardized the state’s long-term economic health and left it with a tarnished national reputation.

Where the major parties have differed, their differences have been inconsequential. Where they’ve been the same, their similarities have been destructive.

They have contributed equally to gross overspending in Trenton by consistently pandering to the pay, pension and retirement policies demanded by powerful public employee unions. Democrats have financed the spree with tax hikes, Republicans with borrowed money, and both with pension-fund raids.

How do we now signal them that this has got to stop if not by rejecting their anointed candidates? How if not by electing Chris Daggett?

On Chris Christie:

The most disappointing of the three candidates is Christie. Six months ago he seemed an almost certain winner, a highly successful federal prosecutor facing an embattled governor saddled with a collapsing economy and soaring budget deficits. He could run a rocking-chair campaign, it seemed, make only safe commitments, avoid controversy, and win.

Unfortunately, that’s mostly what Christie has done — a strategy that looks less promising now that his double-digit early lead has melted away.

On Jon Corzine:

Corzine is an eminently decent and likable man, and not without achievement. We especially salute his unflagging commitment to state education and his success in changing the Abbott school aid formula to ensure that money intended to help poor children follows them whether or not they live in specific districts.

But his shortcomings as a leader are serious. They’ve become all too apparent in his dealings with public employee unions, an often unruly Legislature and a Democratic Party that is, at best, an ethically compromised ship and, at worst, harbors a corrupt crew.

The governor may be the nominal leader of his party but there’s mounting evidence its commanding figure is George Norcross, an unelected South Jersey political deal-maker who’s currently rearranging the Democratic leadership in the Senate and Assembly.

Corzine is the chaplain on a pirate ship, not really its captain.

Nice to see the folks at the Star-Ledger couldn’t conceal their true colors entirely. Corzine is ’decent and likable’? <snort>

On a serious note, The Ledger’s rationale is flawed. While their criticism of the 2 major parties has merit, that does not mean that Chris Daggett has the ideas, let alone will have the power, to make the necessary changes in Trenton. They would have been better suited to have made no endorsement at all.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Paul Mulshine has an absolute must-read piece today. If for nothing else, it will provide you with an education on property taxes in New Jersey. More importantly, however, Mulshine’s piece explains in stark terms why neither Christie nor Corzine will do anything to address the out-of-control property taxes in New Jersey. As such, it’s also as good an explanation as any as to why so many principled conservatives simply can not bring themselves to support Mr. Christie. Here is a teaser:

It was a fun week for the Star-Ledger editorial board. All three candidates for governor came in to be interviewed about their plans for the state.

The bad news for you the taxpayer is that the top two, Jon Corzine and Chris Christie, made it clear they have no plans to address the issue most important to voters in this state: high suburban property taxes.

You’ll note I employed the modifier “suburban.” That’s because our cities get massive amounts of state aid and their residents pay just a tiny proportion of the cost of government.

As you can see from this Star-Ledger data base, in Newark the residents pay a mere 5 percent of the cost of government. No wonder they don’t mind when the councilmen get big salaries and big cars and the kindergarten teachers make $90,000 and more.

And no wonder they vote Democratic. Governor Corzine has made it clear he’ll keep piling the pork in the urban pork barrel if re-elected.

But what about the suburbs of these cities? Why do they go Democratic by such large margins?

Beats the heck out of me – especially after what I heard Corzine say Thursday.

As you can see in the above video, Corzine gave the outlines of his budget plan during the interview.

And he gave his usual spiel about how under his new school-funding formula “the money follows the child.”

One problem: It doesn’t follow the child if the child lives in a town considered too wealthy to get state aid.

Two such towns are Montclair and West Orange. These towns have what must be the highest property-tax bills on the planet – though it’s difficult to make exact comparisons.

As I noted in a prior column on West Orange, property taxes are so high there that they are approaching the level of the mortgage. If you wanted to buy a condo in West Orange, your would find that the tax bill would likely be just a bit lower than your mortgage payment.

Who in their right mind would buy in such a town? Well, Whoopi Goldberg. But she’s got a lot of dough.

Here’s an example of the absurd disproportion as illustrated by figures from that data base:

 The typical homeowner in Montclair gets a mere $564 in property-tax relief aid on his school tax bill.

Now try and guess how much aid a typical homeowner in Newark gets?

 Twice as much? Five times as much? Ten times as much?

 Nope. Thirty-five times as much.

That’s right. The typical Newark homeowner receives a staggering $19,625 in state school aid against his property-tax bill.

Until we address this imbalance, we will not have property-tax relief. Both Corzine and Christie like to yammer on about non-issues such as municipal consolidation. But the figures don’t lie.

Read the rest here.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

Over at the Politics 24/7 Blog, Kempite has a terrific (and accurate) commentary on the Governor’s race. Here’s an excerpt:

The race for Governor of New Jersey is one that has been a truly wasteful political exercise. It is by far the most shallow, useless and pointless race for office to have taken place since Missourians elected their dead former governor, Mel Carnahan to the U.S. Senate over then incumbent Senator John Ashcroft.

In this case New Jerseyans may as well have two dead candidates on the ballot. As it is, I have firmly concluded that both are brain dead.

In one corner we have incumbent Jon Corzine. He came into office as a financial genius. He was a Wall Street wizard who accumulated a personal fortune in excess of $400 million dollars, bought himself a seat in the United States Senate and then decided to buy the Governor’s Mansion. In just his first six months in office he increased taxes in New Jersey by almost $2 billion dollars. And after promising to “control spending”, not only did he raise taxes at the beginning of his term, now at the end of his term he created a budget deficit slightly larger than the total amount of revenue he raised in tax increases when he first came to office. On top of that Jon Boy increased tolls in the state and tried to pass a plan that would put tolls on roads that do not currently have any and more than triple the ones that currently exist.

He has also raised the state sales tax and created new taxes on everything from gym memberships to landscaping. And let us not even get into the business and corporate taxes that he raised. His assault on business in New Jersey drove them out of the state and is in large part, the reason why unemployment went from 4.3% at the beginning of his term to above 9.3% at the end of his term.

Throw in some of the most crushing state mandates in the areas of housing and other areas of social engineering and scandals involving him, his girlfriend, secret state contract negotiations and the union thathis girlfriend was the head of and Corzine has just been a disaster. He has captained the ship of state and taken us for a ride, a ride on the Hindenburg.

Read the rest here.

Rasmussen Reports still has Christie leading but by the hair of his chinny chin chin. At this point the race is a flat out toss-up and extremely volatile with many voters undecided and/or willing to change their mind.

With less than a month to go until Election Day, one-third (33%) of New Jersey’s likely voters are either undecided or say they could change their minds about how they will vote for governor.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Garden State also finds that 21% of voters say they’d consider pulling the lever for a third party option, Chris Daggett. That includes 13% for whom Daggett is the first choice, five percent (5%) who current support Republican candidate Chris Christie and three percent (3%) who are planning to vote for Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine.

All this in a race that has seen Corzine pull to within three percentage points of Christie after trailing his GOP challenger for weeks. The latest numbers show Christie getting 47% of the vote, Corzine with 44% and Daggett at six percent (6%). Three percent (3%) remain undecided even when asked which way they are leaning.

Just two weeks ago, Corzine was behind by seven points. In addition to closing the gap with Christie, Corzine’s 44% level of support is the highest he has earned this year.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The latest polling shows that Corzine is within two points before leaners are included. Leaners are those who initially indicate no preference for either of the candidates but answer a follow-up question and say they are leaning towards a particular candidate.

However, among voters who are certain of how they will vote and say they won’t change their minds, Christie does a bit better. The Republicans hopeful holds a five-point edge among those “certain” voters.

Where it gets especially interesting is among the third of the electorate who are undecided or could change their minds. Among these voters, Daggett is the first choice for 27%, Corzine for 24% and Christie for 22%. But most who prefer Daggett say they could change their minds before actually casting their votes.

Read the rest here.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!