(Alexandria, Va.) — The 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has urged lawmakers in New Jersey to reject the tax increases in Gov. Jon Corzine’s FY 2010 budget. Advocating on behalf of its 10,000-plus members in the state, NTU argued that New Jersey’s tax climate is one of the worst in the country as is, and putting further expansion of government on the backs of taxpayers will only worsen the recession in the Garden State.

“Gov. Corzine is punishing taxpayers for a problem he helped cause,” NTU State Government Affairs Manager Joshua Culling said. “Rather than coming to terms with the consequences of big government, he seeks to continue the tax-and-spend policies that got New Jersey in the economic mess it’s in. Conspicuous among them is that staple of dishonest budgeting — temporary tax hikes.”

The budget aims to “temporarily” raise the top personal income tax rate to 9.75 percent for a year, making it the third-highest in the country. It would also hike the cigarette tax, already the nation’s second-highest, another 12.5 cents per pack. A 4 percent “temporary” corporate business tax surcharge would be extended, and the excise tax on alcohol (excluding beer) would be increased 25 percent.

“Even though New Jersey is receiving $17.5 billion in stimulus funds from Washington and has already exported its massive cost of government to federal taxpayers across the country, Gov. Corzine is still intent on a slew of tax hikes,” Culling continued. “It’s as if he’s actively pushing residents out of the state.” 

It’s no wonder Corzine is already claiming to be “reconsidering” his proposals to eliminate property tax rebates and the property tax decuction.

By the way, for a good laugh, go to Facebook and tell Big Jon what he should do to balance the budget. I’m sure he’ll listen.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Jon S. Corzine, who hopes to win a second term in November, has now fallen behind Republican challenger Christopher J. Christie by 15 points – 49% to 34%. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state shows that seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate, and 10% are undecided.

Corzine trails another potential GOP challenger, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, 43% to 35%, while seven percent (7%) like another candidate and 15% are not sure whom they prefer. New Jersey Republicans will chose a candidate to run against Corzine in a primary on June 2.

The survey was taken Tuesday, the day Corzine was announcing $916 million in new and increased taxes as part of his $29.8 billion state budget for 2010.

Many Republicans claim a conservative can’t win in New Jersey. Well, based on this poll, it just ain’t so. Steve can win this thing.

“We all have to share the responsibility of keeping our financial house in order,” Corzine said in his noon address to a joint session of the Legislature. “The unprecedented circumstances of our national economic crisis requires choices we might not otherwise make.” –Governor Corzine

This is a really rich quote from our incompetent Governor. Make no mistake, he’s making it clear here that he felt New Jersey’s bloated state government and out of control spending before the economic downturn wasn’t a problem. He’s had to come kicking and screaming to make the cuts to balance the state’s budget.

And his priorities do anything but share responsibility. No, the Governor’s plan just sticks it right to the already beleaguered New Jersey taxpayer.

Inexplicably, Corzine is proposing to eliminate the property tax reduction for homeowners, effectively raising their taxes during the height of one of the worst economic downturns we’ve suffered in our lifetimes. He is getting rid of the property tax rebate for all but a select few.  Then there are cigarette and alcohol taxes.

He’s raising the payroll tax on business which will only further hurt industry. This in a state that hasn’t created jobs in 10 years and is already has the worst in the nation climate for business.

Honestly, if this isn’t the last straw for Corzine in New Jersey then I have no idea what it will take. He refuses to address New Jersey’s bloated, bureaucratic and inefficient government. Instead, he makes it clear that his priority isn’t the everyday Jerseyan; it’s his constituency of special interests (i.e., government workers and unions). It’s just a disgrace. Enough is enough!

Here are some select reactions to the Governor’s budget proposals from several Republican leaders:

Assembly Republicans

Lonegan Response

Rottino & Caruso Response

Tom Kean Statement

Alex DeCroce

NJ Biz Article

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

In large part this poll firmly indicates 2 things: 1) Corzine is unpopular and beatable and 2) Christie is simply benefitting from greater name recognition than Lonegan. #1 is obvious and speaks for itself but let’s look a little closer at #2.

• Among all Registered Voters: 43% are unaware who Christie is, 67% are unaware of who Lonegan is
• Among Republican Voters: 33% are unaware who Christie is, 53% are unaware of who Lonegan is

Steve Lonegan is trailing Christie by 24% and 20% among Registered Voters and Republican Voters, respectively. Quite simply, if Steve is going to have a chance to win this primary, he must – absolutely must – find a way to close this gap in the next few months.

Another component to the poll which is obvious, but needs to be pointed out, is that there are many undecided voters out there still. 

• In a Corzine/Christie match-up, 27% are undecided
• In a Corzine/Lonegan match-up, 31% are undecided
• Among Republican voters, 39% are undecided about which GOP candidate they will be voting for.

As such, there are many ’swayable’ voters – both for the GOP primary – and the upcoming general. The candidate that is best able to bring these voters clearly stands the best chance of winning.

But from a Lonegan camp perspective, the positive is plenty of opportunity still exists. Steve’s team will just have to find a way to capitalize on it.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Unfortunately, though, the more I read the more I am worried that Chris Christie is just another Republican in the mold of Christie Whitman (you can just hear him being referred to as ‘Chris Christie Whitman’ soon enough).

Here are some examples I find troubling:

Today our problems are not Republican or Democrat problems, so our solution must rise above partisan politics as well.

What kind of utter mush is this? Certainly, all Jerseyans are effected by the problems that we are now having, but these problems have been mostly the responsibility of Corzine and the Democratic machine in Trenton. For the past decade they have run the state into the ground and this is all he can muster up as the supposed leading Republican candidate?

The article also mentions some of Christie’s broader positions:

Regarding, New Jersey’s problems, Christie stated that if elected, he would push a four-year plan designed to cut state spending, reprioritize budget issues, lower income and business taxes, improve the state’s regulatory environment and supplant a divisive state affordable housing problem.

Now, I have already registered my dissatisfaction with Mr. Christie’s stance on COHA (See here). I’ve heard words like “gut” and “supplant” now, but what I don’t hear is “kill” or “abolish.” So, I have no reason to believe at this point that Mr. Christie is committed to getting rid of this destructive policy that is bankrupting the state.

Another issue that I had yet to hear from Mr. Christie on also caught my attention: consolidation of New Jersey’s smaller towns and municipalities.

Christie said that he would encourage town consolidation or shared services, but would not “force consolidation.”

Now, I’ve also previously detailed by staunch opposition to consolidating towns (See here). In my view, these just leads to more government and less democracy. It’s not a solution; it’s a band-aid that doesn’t address the real problem, which is too much spending in Trenton.

Yet, here Mr. Christie makes it plain that he does not support ‘home rule.’ Nor does he seem to grasp that it is not the real solution. If he were truly committed to cutting state government and spending we would not to start going down this road of consolidation.

Lastly, Mr. Christie had some things to say about being able to overcome partisanship and special interests.

I will be strong enough to say ‘no’ to the entrenched partisan interests and open-minded to listen to new solutions…And I promise you that I will put aside the divisiveness and bitterness of old-style politics to open a new day of trust.

Considering that Christie is the darling of the Republican establishment in New Jersey, one wonders how he will stand up to them. And it’s great to be open-minded to solutions, but it would be nice if with less than 4 months until primary day that he’d start being a bit more specific about his own solutions.

As my friend Michal Illions points out at Conservatives with Attitude!, it would also be nice for Mr. Christie to agree to start debating the issues against his Republican rivals, Steve Lonegan, Richard Merkt and Biran Levine.

The voters deserve to hear all the candidates so that they can make an informed and wise decision. They shouldn’t be subjected to a candidate that is evasive and is only being propped up by the party’s establishment because they think he is most electable.

Cross-posted at Red County.

Well, well. Looks like the Governor’s ex-boyfriend-in-law is ready to pen a tell-all tome.

Rocco Riccio, who is married to the sister of Gov. Jon Corzine’s former girlfriend and labor leader Carla Katz, is seeking to publish a book about his one-time friendship with Corzine, promising to expose details of the governor’s breakup with Katz, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inqurier.

The report said an outline and partial rough draft of the untitled book by Riccio blames Corzine for ending his state career, for trouble in his personal life, and for financial ruin. Riccio describes Corzine’s staff members as “harsh,” calling them “henchmen” who coldly destroyed him because he was “no longer a valued asset for the governor’s political ambitions.”

Hopefully, Riccio’s work will hit the streets around mid-to-late October. Fun, fun.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Unemployment benefits are normally reserved for people who are forced from their jobs, not people who simply walk off their jobs — except in New Jersey, that is, where all common sense was toppled this week in an odd and strained ruling by the state’s Supreme Court, which determined that nurses who went on strike at a South Jersey hospital are entitled to receive jobless pay. As troubling, the decision upheld a backward state law that says strikers can receive unemployment benefits so long as their company remains open.

It is a “pro-labor decision,” said Fred Askin, a professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark. “It’s a progressive decision.”

No kidding.

And so the high court let political bias shape its thinking by rearranging long-established law.

The Social Security Act of 1935, which created the Federal-State Unemployment Compensation Program, is clear and unambiguous in its intent and language. The program’s main objective is “to provide temporary and partial wage replacement to involuntarily unemployed workers who were recently employed,” with emphasis on “involuntary.”

The ruling was 6-1. The lone court member to get it right, Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, called the decision “perverse,” noting it “upends the common sense notion that striking employees have left their employment voluntarily and, hence, should be disqualified from unemployment compensation benefits.” His was a direct, succinct and accurate rendering of the flawed thinking of his fellow Supreme Court justices.

It’s bad enough that so many politicians in Trenton are beholden to Big Labor in New Jersey but for the highest court in our state to thumb their nose at the Rule of Law to support a liberal constituency is utterly unethical and shameful.

The Court has yet to come up much in the gubernatorial race but it ought to. The New Jersey Supreme Court, with its outrageous decisions on affordable housing (COAH), Abbot Districts and voting on state borrowing, has consistently overstepped its bounds and unleashed havoc on the people of New Jersey.

Electing Republicans to state goverment is just a first step towards fixing this state and addressing this particular problem. Once elected, Republicans will need to confront the Court head on by using the power of the elected branches to hold it to the authority it has constitutionally been given. Conservative justices will need to be appointed and those who consistently rule with no basis in law need to be held to account. To put it simply: Enough is enough!

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

In a press release today Lonegan came out with guns blazing, taking dead aim at Christie on a couple of fronts. First and foremost, Lonegan challenged the heretofore silent Christie for specifics on the issues.

With just three days until the first campaign debate, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan warned a potential opponent “vapid doubletalk will not beat Jon Corzine.”

Lonegan aimed his comments at former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who Lonegan says has avoided comment on virtually every single issue of importance including most recently a question about COAH on Monday night…

…“I look forward to debating Mr. Christie.  So far, his alleged campaign has been one of intellectually insulting platitudes and statements so banal that even his strongest supporters are starting to ask questions,” Lonegan said.  “I know because every day more and more are coming over to our team.”

He also criticized Christie for running a ‘Dewey-like campaign’ — referencing the failed campaigns of the two-time Presiential candidated Thomas Dewey in 1944 and 1948 which were devoid of substance.

“Mr. Christie’s speech tonight to the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors — ‘Looking forward to the future’ — bears an uncanny resemblance to Dewey’s 1948 campaign theme ‘Your future lies ahead of you’.”

“This kind of mindless drivel is the reason people don’t vote,” Lonegan said.  “Vapid platitudes and vague platforms won’t motivate fed up taxpayers to come to the polls this November,” Lonegan said.  “Taxpayers want a leader who will stand up and speak out, not someone who cowers in a corner, hiding from controversy.”

Moreover, Lonegan said his campaign would essentially model itself after Ronald Reagan who won the Presidency – and New Jersey – twice through being bold and true to conservative principles.

“Ronald Reagan won New Jersey twice because he took bold stands that sharpened his differences with Jimmy Carter and the liberals, just as I did by winning three times by double-digit margins in a town that voted 64% for Barack Obama,” Lonegan said.  “Chris Christie, on the other hand, couldn’t even win his own primary for renomination as Freeholder, finishing sixth out of six and losing by a 2-1 margin.”

“The only way we’re going to beat Jon Corzine is with a clear line between what we believe and what he has done,” Lonegan explained.  “We’re not going to beat Corzine by being Corzine.  We’re not going to beat Corzine by trying to run away from who we are.  “We’re going to beat Corzine by standing tall for working families and always putting taxpayers first.  That’s how we’re going to win the Governorship.  That’s how we’re going to take the State Assembly this November.  And that’s how we’re going to pick up downballot offices from Freeholder to Mayor to Township Committee and Council.”

“We’re going to stand tall, stand together and stand as one — fighting for taxpayers and in defense of our towns and our conservative values,” Lonegan explained.

The Lonegan campaign, with over a million dollars in the bank, has also begun to air ads throughout the state. To hear Steve’s ad click here.

And to hear Steve’s latest interview with NJ 101.5FM. This interview can be heard here.

We wish Steve the best as he forges ahead with his campaign. New Jersey desperately needs conservative change and we believe he is the man to do it.

Note: This weekend’s debate will take place at the Somerset County Federation of Republican Women at the Fox Hollow Golf Club, 50 Fox Chase Run, Branchburg, will run from 8:30-10 am

This is cross-posted at RedCounty.com.

With the Inauguration taking center stage on Tuesday, this little tidbit seems to have flown under the radar. On CNBC’s Squawk Box, Governor Corzine said that New Jersey may receive as much as $4 BILLION in ‘economic stimulus’ over the next 2 years. That’s $4,000,000,000.00. Just last week the Governor announced that he would be seeking at least $300M for FY2010, but somehow this figure has multiplied more than tenfold - across 2 years - in a mere matter of days. 

Heck, Obama’s Oval Office chair isn’t even warm yet but our groveling Governor is acting as if it’s a fait accompli. However, I have the feeling our fellow Americans, who are still stewing over the trillion dollar TARP fiasco, might not take so kindly to this news. At the least, it will add more fuel to the fire of a Governor’s race in New Jersey that is already expected to be quite heated.

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said the Garden State could receive close to $4 billion in federal stimulus money over two years to help pay for education and health care.

Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday, Corzine called the federal stimulus package being advanced in the House “quite substantial,” but warned that it won’t be a blank check.

“We ought to take this time and make sure we’re reforming government, so it’s not just a bailout,” Corzine said.

Well, sorry to break it to you, Governor, but it is a bailout.

This notwithstanding, how can this even be called a stimulus? Throwing money at education and health care will do little, if anything, to create jobs. In fact, let’s face it. The only job that’s at issue here is Corzine’s.

Suffice it to say, this year’s Governor’s race is going to be one to behold. Most assuredly, Obama will finally make his way to this state – one which he has heretofore had little use for – to bail out Johnny completely by trying to drag him over the finish line in November. Dare I say: ‘Bring it on!’