In spring the young man’s fancy may turn to love but this homeowner’s fancy turns to spring- cleaning. Dutifully I have my rugs cleaned each year. Using the same service year in and year out, we get to talking, the carpet man and I. He goes to the same beach we do each summer. So we compare notes on people and commerce at our vacation hotspot. This year though the talk turned grim, to the toll hikes. He said it well…”These taxes are taking food out of our children’s mouths. “ The phrase and sentiment haunts me.
NJ residents pay perhaps the highest property taxes in the US. There is plenty of money for double dipping pension pay offs. There is money for boondoggling, giving judges and their entourages raises to make them the most highly paid in the nation. There is money for driving school board members in Abbott districts to meetings in limousines. There is $1 million for Jeanne Fox’s (the wife of Corzine's campaign manager) defense against a whistler blower lawsuit against her and the BPU for an $80 million slush fund that was secretly established. I am talking here of the tip of the iceberg. (For other examples of NJ waste see "End Government Waste " at
http://www.njassemblyrepublicans.com/ )
With the exorbitant property taxes we in NJ pay, how is it we do not have enough money for the taxpayers and our needs like hospitals, schools, senior prescription drug benefits or small municipalities? Why is it that Flemington as a small municipality may have its funding cut…is it because it is too hard to loosen the grip of party bosses from the bigger ones like Newark or Camden? (See Courier News, http://www.c-n.com/, March 7, 2008 “Small towns angered by Corzine cuts”) or
http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/NEWS/803070443
It turns out that the people some of our elected representatives pledge to serve upon taking office are themselves and their friends in Trenton. They do keep their promises to one another, this Trenton gang of marauders. Instead of using the swords honed of metal like the Huns did when they plundered the villagers, some elected officials and their party bosses slyly use legislation honed by greed to legalize their plundering of the state coffers. I cannot urge you strongly enough to read “The Soprano State” that details this culture of greed and corruption that has made Trenton a scar on the face of NJ, to borrow from the “DaVinci Code”. Also see http://thesopranostate.com/index.htm
This literal highway robbery will take food from our children’s mouths and college from their future and jeopardize our retirement security. It will force NJ residents to move elsewhere so the tax base will continue to shrink making the tax burden greater for those who must remain here. This overspending and then borrowing to pay our debts is not a problem that can be relegated to armchair discussion with no action plan on our parts. We must be vocal to our representatives that we will not stand for this mistreatment.
Here’s a form of protest…let’s start to pay our taxes in pennies...that’s about all we will have left for ourselves when a state spends several billion more a year than it has with ne’ery a thought about the unconscionable burdening of its taxpayers as it promotes the wealth of that privileged class of state party bosses and their kith and kin.
Wisdom tells us that the fox will clean out the hen house rather than clean up the hen house. So NJ needs a physical Department of Justice occupation here in Trenton. We need a freeze on NJ legislation while federal attorneys take over Trenton and review NJ legislation for conflicts of interest, propose new legislation on ethics, eliminate legislation that is robbery in disguise and review all bond schemes that side step the legislature’s power of the purse such as those floated by the NJ Turnpike Authority.
We need judicial review and the impeachment of justices whose rulings disregard the state Constitution.
We need our governor at town hall meetings, telling us how he will preserve the services to the people we rightfully deserve in return for our tax dollar. This is not a charity organization, the state of NJ. We expect some bang for our hard earned buck. If the governor is not committed to an appropriate distribution of tax dollars and an ethics based budget, he needs to be recalled for dereliction of duty.
Ridding NJ of those who are bleeding the life out of it is the kind of spring- cleaning I would like us all to undertake.
Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label soprano state. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soprano state. Show all posts
Friday, March 7, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
A Good Thing and I am not Talking Martha Stewart Here
"...that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing." Thomas Jefferson
“Dear Friend,
Please allow me to share with you my concerns about Governor Corzine’s so- called asset monetization /fiscal restructuring plan also known as his toll hike/ driver’s tax scheme….
Early in January, Governor Corzine held a private briefing for legislators on his proposal. As the Governor and his Chief of Staff, former State Treasurer Bradley Abelow, rolled out the details, it became apparent how convoluted and dangerous the program will be: a seventy-five to one hundred year bonding scheme under the control of two highly paid, newly created not- for-profit boards that will borrow $41 billion dollars for both debt service and NEW spending and will cost nearly $200 billion to pay off. Further, with tolls for commercial trucking nearly tripled in the first six years, it is frightening to imagine how much traffic will be diverted to non- toll roads, like Routes 78, 80, 46 and 31 all of which run right through our District. This is simply one more consequence of the proposal that I find completely unacceptable….” (excerpt from a letter written by Assembly woman Marcia Karrow , February 11, 2008 that was distributed at the town meeting at Hunterdon Central, Wednesday, February 20, 2008)
Expanding on Asemblywoman Karrow’s concerns is that the toll hike increase on trucks and commercial vehicles will be an expense that will be passed onto the consumer in the form of higher priced consumer products. These businesses will not be absorbing these extra costs as a gesture of kindness to their customers, be assured. So the cost of living in general will also increase.
Another major fear here is establishing a state mechanism for borrowing money that is now taken out the hands of the people. The wisdom of the Founders prescribed that the power of the purse remains in the hands of the people through their elected representatives in the legislatures. We can vote the representatives out or into office as we deem fit. This mechanism for borrowing ends our power as voters to control the purse strings. I don’t know about you, but being a serf does not much appeal to me.
Now folks, there is so much wrong here I hardly know where to begin. Even in the mind of this ivory tower philosopher who avoids number crunching passionately, borrowing $41 billion to retire a debt while making more debt and paying close to $200 billion to pay off some $41 billion in the first place, only if the interest rate stays at 2 percent, mind you, for the next 75 years…well this is hardly sound business and is ironically offered by our businessman governor. Surely he jests …but he does not. This is why in a period of some 48 hours I saw about 100 people at a Border's book signing for the book dedicated to exposing the corruption in Trenton, “The “Soprano State “ and some 300 people at the Little Theater at Hunterdon Central Wednesday who are ripping angry, talking of taking to the streets with pitch forks. See http://thesopranostate.com/index.htm for more info.
The bottom line here is that the state for several years now has been spending about $5 billion more than it has. Yet we see the spending increasing all the time. Seniors cannot afford this plan, our next generation cannot. I daresay neither can you. Yet we will be struggling with it, our children will be and so will their children. Not the hope for life we want to pass onto our offspring, is it? It says a great deal to you when a Republican delegation comes to town with little partisan talk, trying to impress on you that the ship of state is being sailed into a quagmire of unchecked debt. NJ, we have a problem. We cannot send a few soldiers into battle alone and think they will win the war against the political machinery well entrenched in Trenton that is at the root of it. These party bosses will not go quietly into the night. Assembly members, Marcia Karrow, Rick Merkt and Mike Doherty need to have the battalions of the taxpayers publicly behind them, showing this governor so cavalier with our money and our rights that we are putting our foot down.
For more information about budgets and NJ spending check
http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/ ... Here, you can check government salaries and figures by municipality i.e. Flemington specifically.
There are budget cuts to be made that will not adversely affect you. Check, http://www.njassemblyrepublicans.com/ …click on End Government Waste.
Stay tuned.
“Dear Friend,
Please allow me to share with you my concerns about Governor Corzine’s so- called asset monetization /fiscal restructuring plan also known as his toll hike/ driver’s tax scheme….
Early in January, Governor Corzine held a private briefing for legislators on his proposal. As the Governor and his Chief of Staff, former State Treasurer Bradley Abelow, rolled out the details, it became apparent how convoluted and dangerous the program will be: a seventy-five to one hundred year bonding scheme under the control of two highly paid, newly created not- for-profit boards that will borrow $41 billion dollars for both debt service and NEW spending and will cost nearly $200 billion to pay off. Further, with tolls for commercial trucking nearly tripled in the first six years, it is frightening to imagine how much traffic will be diverted to non- toll roads, like Routes 78, 80, 46 and 31 all of which run right through our District. This is simply one more consequence of the proposal that I find completely unacceptable….” (excerpt from a letter written by Assembly woman Marcia Karrow , February 11, 2008 that was distributed at the town meeting at Hunterdon Central, Wednesday, February 20, 2008)
Expanding on Asemblywoman Karrow’s concerns is that the toll hike increase on trucks and commercial vehicles will be an expense that will be passed onto the consumer in the form of higher priced consumer products. These businesses will not be absorbing these extra costs as a gesture of kindness to their customers, be assured. So the cost of living in general will also increase.
Another major fear here is establishing a state mechanism for borrowing money that is now taken out the hands of the people. The wisdom of the Founders prescribed that the power of the purse remains in the hands of the people through their elected representatives in the legislatures. We can vote the representatives out or into office as we deem fit. This mechanism for borrowing ends our power as voters to control the purse strings. I don’t know about you, but being a serf does not much appeal to me.
Now folks, there is so much wrong here I hardly know where to begin. Even in the mind of this ivory tower philosopher who avoids number crunching passionately, borrowing $41 billion to retire a debt while making more debt and paying close to $200 billion to pay off some $41 billion in the first place, only if the interest rate stays at 2 percent, mind you, for the next 75 years…well this is hardly sound business and is ironically offered by our businessman governor. Surely he jests …but he does not. This is why in a period of some 48 hours I saw about 100 people at a Border's book signing for the book dedicated to exposing the corruption in Trenton, “The “Soprano State “ and some 300 people at the Little Theater at Hunterdon Central Wednesday who are ripping angry, talking of taking to the streets with pitch forks. See http://thesopranostate.com/index.htm for more info.
The bottom line here is that the state for several years now has been spending about $5 billion more than it has. Yet we see the spending increasing all the time. Seniors cannot afford this plan, our next generation cannot. I daresay neither can you. Yet we will be struggling with it, our children will be and so will their children. Not the hope for life we want to pass onto our offspring, is it? It says a great deal to you when a Republican delegation comes to town with little partisan talk, trying to impress on you that the ship of state is being sailed into a quagmire of unchecked debt. NJ, we have a problem. We cannot send a few soldiers into battle alone and think they will win the war against the political machinery well entrenched in Trenton that is at the root of it. These party bosses will not go quietly into the night. Assembly members, Marcia Karrow, Rick Merkt and Mike Doherty need to have the battalions of the taxpayers publicly behind them, showing this governor so cavalier with our money and our rights that we are putting our foot down.
For more information about budgets and NJ spending check
http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/ ... Here, you can check government salaries and figures by municipality i.e. Flemington specifically.
There are budget cuts to be made that will not adversely affect you. Check, http://www.njassemblyrepublicans.com/ …click on End Government Waste.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Nature of Insanity
It all comes down to money, folks. Like power, it corrupts. But there is a little bit of insanity in the mix too…we taxpayers let it happen, shooting ourselves in the foot over and over when we vote.
Together with some friends my husband and I trekked up to the book signing at Border’s in Bridgewater to welcome and commend authors, Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure on their sell out book on the culture of corruption in NJ, “The Soprano State”. Could the timing be any better? Just as the governor’s toll hike plan has sparked our indignation, this excellent book, calling for overall reform in Trenton, is released. Ingle, political columnist for the CN and Friday afternoon guest of the Jersey Boys with his co – author Sandy McClure cite citation after citation and quip after quip about how our money is grabbed by the hands of the few and how we are cheated of the moral and diligent fiscal management we are entitled to as NJ residents. Judges, party bosses and elected officials think our hard to come by money does grow on trees. Just this morning the CN informs there is more money requested for that money pit known as Abbott. Here we see virtually no fiscal accountability for money disbursements and scant results for the BILLIONS already spent. Yet year round school, which has previously shown improvement in test score performance of migrant farm workers’ children, is not investigated to address education problems in low- income districts. We get virtually no bang for our buck with Abbott. But hey let’s just keep up the poor work here. Didn’t Einstein once say insanity was doing something over and over and expecting a different result? This is to say nothing about this obscene pension system! Would only the everyday citizen also get a pension for part-time work. Now this would be an improvement, wouldn’t it, folks?
Good News. The book signing was the most successful I have seen. There were perhaps 100 people buying and discussing and angry. Amazon is already low on the books that had just gone on sale yesterday.
This leads us to the town meeting at Central tonight about the toll hikes. It is being sponsored by a Republican delegation and they are coming to hear you. The meeting will run from 7:30-9:30 in the Little Theater off Junction Road.
Sty tuned for more on that.
Together with some friends my husband and I trekked up to the book signing at Border’s in Bridgewater to welcome and commend authors, Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure on their sell out book on the culture of corruption in NJ, “The Soprano State”. Could the timing be any better? Just as the governor’s toll hike plan has sparked our indignation, this excellent book, calling for overall reform in Trenton, is released. Ingle, political columnist for the CN and Friday afternoon guest of the Jersey Boys with his co – author Sandy McClure cite citation after citation and quip after quip about how our money is grabbed by the hands of the few and how we are cheated of the moral and diligent fiscal management we are entitled to as NJ residents. Judges, party bosses and elected officials think our hard to come by money does grow on trees. Just this morning the CN informs there is more money requested for that money pit known as Abbott. Here we see virtually no fiscal accountability for money disbursements and scant results for the BILLIONS already spent. Yet year round school, which has previously shown improvement in test score performance of migrant farm workers’ children, is not investigated to address education problems in low- income districts. We get virtually no bang for our buck with Abbott. But hey let’s just keep up the poor work here. Didn’t Einstein once say insanity was doing something over and over and expecting a different result? This is to say nothing about this obscene pension system! Would only the everyday citizen also get a pension for part-time work. Now this would be an improvement, wouldn’t it, folks?
Good News. The book signing was the most successful I have seen. There were perhaps 100 people buying and discussing and angry. Amazon is already low on the books that had just gone on sale yesterday.
This leads us to the town meeting at Central tonight about the toll hikes. It is being sponsored by a Republican delegation and they are coming to hear you. The meeting will run from 7:30-9:30 in the Little Theater off Junction Road.
Sty tuned for more on that.
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