We're #1! Again! Yup, Essex County, NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation!

I gotta be insane to live here.

Man, I remember the days when my property taxes were only eleven grand a year.

Good times.

Seven years ago a fellow named Chris Christie came along and said if I voted for him he'd tame the property tax monster. I wonder what ever happened to that guy? I heard he tried to run for president, and then something about him feeling sorry for drug addicts.

Maybe the tax relief thing slipped his mind.

All I know is this kind of "winning" isn't what I signed up for.

Posted at 11:12 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics property-taxes Essex-County   |   Tweet

NJ Dems concoct a plan to soak taxpayers for federal dollars withheld from sanctuary cities

Three New Jersey Democrats think they've found a sure-fire way to sidestep President Trump's plan to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities — have NJ taxpayers make up the difference.

Let me put this in words you three turkeys can understand.

No. Way. Jose.

The people of Union City and the 33rd District may have voted for you, and you might think your loyalties lie more with illegal aliens and less with your taxpaying constituents, but that's not my problem, it's theirs. And I stand with President Trump in wanting to see equal enforcement of our immigration laws. Which means if anyone should be on the hook for your virtue signalling, it's the people in your District, and not the rest of us.

Then let's see how they feel about your activism when you're raiding their pockets. Because I'm thinking they're not gonna be too pleased.

Fortunately Governor Christie would be insane to sign this bill into law.

So it's all just grandstanding on the part of Hudson County progressives, for now. But if NJ's voters are dumb enough to put Phil Murphy into the governor's office next year then throwing tax dollars at illegal aliens will be the least of our problems.

Posted at 15:40 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics Democrats Sanctuary-Cities President-Trump   |   Tweet

Legislating from the bench: NJ Supreme Court again decrees towns must build more slums

Reality took a back seat to social engineering today when the New Jersey state Supreme Court again unanimously ruled that every town in our fair state is required to provide "affordable housing." And after consulting their abacus they set forth a number to be built forthwith — 200,000 units, paid for, of course, by you and me.

Remember when Chris Christie was going to rein in our activist judiciary?

Yeah, me neither.

The premise of "affordable housing" itself is blatantly absurd. The social justice warrior crowd unilaterally decided poor people "deserved" to live in whatever town they wanted, regardless of whether or not that town's real estate market was priced out of their reach. Because "fairness."

Apparently working for what you want takes too long, and equality of outcome is better than equality of opportunity anyway. So, free houses for everybody! Ain't socialism grand?

Is everyone entitled to a nice car and fancy clothes too? How about golf club memberships and Disney vacations? Where does all this "fairness" end?

Time was people bought starter houses. Or they rented apartments and saved their pennies. And if you couldn't afford to live in Maplewood or Montclair you settled for Newark or East Orange until you got a better job. That's how my grandparents did it.

But nowadays folks want handouts, not a leg up. And why shouldn't they get to live in Short Hills without paying what everyone else who lives there paid? Our black-robed poobahs agreed, and decided to put a slum in every neighborhood. Except theirs, of course.

So COAH is reincarnated, and high-density, low-quality, traffic-inducing, school-overcrowding tenements will be foisted on us all. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the inhabitants of these housing projects are not always the most stellar of citizens, and they're not known for taking pride in their surroundings. Plus they expect certain "services" to be readily available, and I'm not just talking about check-cashing outlets and cash-for-gold storefronts. Think exotic pharmaceuticals and short-term female companionship, IYKWIMAITYD.

All of which slaughters property values and quality of life for those of us who were here first.

But the affordable housing activists don't care about that. They don't even actually care about "affordable housing." What they do care about are votes, and even in this deeply blue state there are pockets of Republicans to be infiltrated and subverted. Hence the imposition of affordable housing, and the Democrats who inhabit it. Import enough new voters and even the most conservative towns will flip to the Free Stuff side. And then the tax gouging can really begin because hey, this is where the rich guys live.

One of my Facebook friends is a former NJ resident who relocated to North Carolina. Every time he sees another story about how NJ is screwing the middle class he immediately adds the #GetOutNow hashtag. He has a point. Once the slums arrive it'll be too late.

Posted at 16:12 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics Mount-Laurel housing affordable-housing   |   Tweet

See this penny? It's no ordinary cent, it's my Chris Christie Sales Tax Cut!

Today is my lucky day! The daily $5 lunch special at Lakeside Deli cost me a whole penny less, because Chris Christie's sales tax cut kicked in!

Yup, 'tis true. NJ's 7% sales tax is now, drum roll please!, 6.875%.

A whopping 1/8 of a percent less!

Which means last week's $5.35 lunch bill is now $5.34.

Of course my euphoria is short-lived, because we only got this massive sales tax cut in exchange for a 23 cent per gallon hike in the gas tax. And I've already been paying that new tax for a few months now.

See how that works? Raise one tax by 23 cents. Cut another tax by 1/184th of that much. Because, fairness, or something.

So I guess I should save this penny for posterity. Or until the next time I need to buy gas, whichever comes first.

Thanks Governor!

Posted at 14:12 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Chris-Christie NJ-Politics sales-tax gas-tax   |   Tweet

Steve Sweeney's sneaky plan for hijacking the gas tax into bailing out NJ's public pensions

Last month when you voted to dedicate the newly raised gas tax to the Transportation Trust Fund I'll bet you thought that meant the gas tax revenue would be going into the Transportation Trust Fund.

Suckers!

State Senate President Steve Sweeney wants to divert it to, drum roll please, bailing out the public employee pension fund!

How? Easy! Just have the pension fund buy the TTF bonds. As in, New Jersey will borrow money from itself and then pay itself all the interest.

Nice obfuscation there Steve. The interest doesn't go to "Wall Street." It goes to mom and pop investors like me who buy government bonds. "Wall Street" is just the middle man, because New Jersey doesn't have a system like Treasury Direct that would allow individual investors to buy those bonds from the state, and "avoid paying bond underwriting fees."

Why not?, you might ask. Because then guys like Jon Corzine and Phil Murphy wouldn't get their cut, except it turns out, when the vig goes to the public employee unions instead. Then cutting off "Wall Street" is A-OK.

So there you have it. When they sold us on the gas tax they told us it was for important stuff like roads and bridges. But when they spend the gas tax it'll be going to some guy sitting on a beach.

Posted at 10:13 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics gas-tax pensions public-employee-unions Steve-Sweeney   |   Tweet

The exodus from New Jersey picks up steam, 227,000 taxpayers out, 62,000 immigrants in

Will the last person to leave New Jersey please turn out the lights?

The population of the Garden State is shrinking, as productive taxpayers move out, replaced by a smaller number of low-income immigrants.

Most of our refugees ended up in Pennsylvania, Florida, California, North Carolina, and Texas. Which says to me, if you're leaving NJ for Kookyfornia, well, things here must be pretty bad. Those nuts just banned plastic grocery bags, and they don't have any water. Yet almost 13,000 people thought it was a better place to live than our not so fair state.

But those other states, they have vibrant economies. Us? We've got Chris Christie back, seeing as how his audition for Donald Trump's cabinet didn't go exactly as planned. Color me underwhelmed. He doesn't want to be here, and frankly, we don't want him to be here either.

Except, the only thing worse than a Governor Chris Christie is limousine liberal Phil Murphy, or God forbid John Wisniewski. Yet they're the front-runners to succeed Governor Gas Tax, who is inexplicably doing everything he can to torpedo the candidacy of Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno.

Once upon a time our state slogan was "New Jersey and You, Perfect Together." Now it's "Get Out While The Getting Is Good."

Posted at 20:23 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics immigration migration   |   Tweet

Chris Christie (remember him?) vetoes unemployment benefits for striking workers

Taking some time off from his rapidly diminishing role on Donald Trump's presidential transition team, NJ Governor Chris Christie returned to Trenton today to whack some common sense into our state's legislative Democrats. He vetoed a bill that would have granted unemployment insurance benefits to striking Verizon and casino workers.

Good. The Democrats think we're stupid and we'll gladly pay their unionista buddies to go on strike. Except that's what their precious union's strike fund is for. And in the Real World, if you can't afford to go on strike, don't go on strike.

Alas our reprieve might be short-lived. The Democrats have cleared the decks for limousine liberal Phil Murphy (aka Jon Corzine 2.0) to run for governor next year. And since the NJ GOP bench is, shall we say, weak thanks to Chris Christie's "troubles," it's likely he'll win, handing the reins of NJ government over to the Tax-And-Spend crowd.

But a lot can happen in a year. And a win's a win. So thanks governor. We're glad you remembered where your office was. Don't be a stranger, OK?

Posted at 16:26 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Chris-Christie NJ-Politics unions unemployment-benefits   |   Tweet

Sheesh, you go away for the weekend and Chris Christie enacts a massive gas tax hike

Show of hands. Who thinks gas prices are too low?

OK, I see Chris Christie. Anyone else?

Didn't think so.

So bend over New Jersey, because he just raised the price of gasoline by 23 cents a gallon, ostensibly to fund "road improvements." Which, of course, is politician-speak for more light rail boondoggles and useless bike lanes.

And there I was blissfully unaware while rocking out at the LBI Chowderfest all weekend. (It was a blast, thanks for asking!) But I probably won't be able to afford to attend next year because all the extra money I don't actually have will be siphoned off for gas taxes.

Thanks Chris. Thanks a lot.

Oh but golly gee, he's countering with a 1/8 percent cut in the sales tax! And a bigger pension income exclusion for the geezer set.

My cup runneth over... Not.

Then, because he hadn't given enough of the store away yet, he tacked on a big bump in the Earned Income Tax Credit, which as we all know is a "refund" on taxes that weren't actually paid. But as a wise man once said, if you rob Peter to pay Paul, Steve Sweeney can always count on Paul's vote.

There's something to look forward to. Governor Steve Sweeney, the mastermind behind Christie's capitulation. Say goodbye to the rest of your money New Jersey. This is only his first salvo, and he's got a lot of people counting on him to fill their pockets. None of those people are taxpayers. But that's OK. The takers outnumber us now and they can smell the Benjamins.

Posted at 11:58 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics gas-tax Chris-Christie   |   Tweet

Chris Christie calls the NJEA the single most destructive political force in New Jersey

He's right, of course. The teachers union is far and away the most reactionary and destructive force in New Jersey, a cancer on the taxpaying citizens of the Garden State.

Steve Sweeney, he would be Governor, recently lashed out at the NJEA for threatening to withhold campaign contributions to him and his fellow Democrats.

Blue on Blue fratricide; man oh man, the schadenfreude is delicious.

Because for going on 50 years Steve Sweeney and NJ's Democrats have been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NJEA. The union says "jump," and the Democrats say "how high?"

At least until the pension bubble bursted.

Because there isn't enough money in the universe for Humpty Dumpty to put that shit back together again.

Sweeney sees the writing on the wall.

"I'll care about the children when the children start paying union dues."
— Albert Shanker

The NJEA only cares about one thing, their gravy train.

And if kids don't actually learn, well hey, that's not their problem.

The 31 school districts that receive billions of dollars in extra court-ordered state education aid each year have not narrowed the gap with the rest of the state when it comes to test scores and college attendance, according to a Record analysis.

Do tell! Money can't buy progress? Who'da thunk it?

The Record assessed the performance of those 31 districts in three categories — elementary and middle school tests, the SATs and the percentage of college-bound students — and found that the achievement gaps generally stayed the same over 10 years.

So, where did all that money go?

Into the pockets of the NJEA and its members!

They're living high on the hog, and the kids in their classrooms are left high and dry.

But wait, because they've got excuses!

More money for the NJEA won't fix the "family support" problem.

That's been demonstrated time and again, as test scores stagnate and kids keep dropping out.

So, let's move the goalposts!

"Opportunity to succeed?" Without measurable results? Who's to say the "opportunities" are sufficient? David Sciarra?

Well sure. The Education Law Center is a taxpayer-subsidized arm of the Rutgers Law School. David Sciarra is a state employee, essentially paid to sue his employer. The day he says his mission has succeeded he's out of a job.

So to almost no one's surprise, his mission has not, and never will, succeed.

So let's go back to what that "more money" was designed to accomplish.

Because the Abbott district schools are not "equal" to the schools in the so-called affluent districts. In many cases they're significantly better. Hoboken and Jersey City have facilities my small town of Caldwell could only dream about. Indoor swimming pools. Science labs to rival the Manhattan Project. Elementary schools with turf fields. Middle schools with auditoriums better than Carnegie Hall.

You get the idea. I'm envisioning the mad scientist from Jurassic Park extolling how he "spared no expense."

That's the legacy of the sainted Abbott districts. They spared no expense. They didn't have to. All their money was "free," air-lifted in out of the pockets of us beleaguered taxpayers.

Remember when Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg air-dropped $100 million into "fixing" Newark's public schools? How'd that work out?

1. Labor and contract costs: $89.2 million

That's right. The single biggest expenditure from his windfall ended up right in the pockets of the Newark Teachers Union.

The NJEA didn't look out for the children.

The NJEA protected its most inept members.

And who in the NJ legislature was the number one champion of teachers' union rights?

Steve Sweeney.

He blocked the necessary reforms.

He sealed the kids' fate when he stood up for retaining tenure, protecting teachers not on the merit of their achievements but rather on the longevity of their service.

Clock punchers won. And children lost.

So all of this recent Kabuki Theater is a charade.

Steve Sweeney is in the pocket of the NJEA.

And the NJEA calls the shots in Trenton.

Chris Christie will be gone in a little over 15 months.

And then? Steve Sweeney will probably be our next governor.

His first order of business?

Assuage the NJEA.

They'll get their pension guarantee. In spades.

But here's another guarantee.

Nothing Sweeney does while he's living in Drumthwacket will change the education status quo. Kids in the Abbott districts will keep on failing. And taxpayers will keep on getting hosed. But, and this is the key point, every NJEA member working in those districts will make out like a bandit.

Because that's how our tax dollars work in New Jersey.

Posted at 23:11 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJEA Chris-Christie teachers unions Abbott-districts   |   Tweet

Hey NJ, if you thought the last gas tax deal was a joke, get a load of this new proposal

Remember when Vinny Prieto promised us a sales tax cut next year if we'd just let him hike the gas tax this year? And remember how that turned out to be a big fat lie?

Well, Vinny's back, this time with Steve Sweeney in tow, and boy oh boy do they have a deal for us! Is it a good deal? Bwahahahahaha!

So we get boned up the gas tank in exchange for what? Crumbs?

I think I'll curb my enthusiasm.

Their estate tax phaseout won't survive the next gubernatorial election, for the same reasons the sales tax cut was never going to be enacted. Any "Republican" whose vote is swayed by this charade is an idiot.

Raising the EITC is just more wealth redistribution, ie payments to poor inner-city Democrats to ensure their votes don't wander off in search of Donald Trump in November. Ditto for that handout to the AARP set.

And then in what's gotta be the biggest insult of all, they're flat out declaring that anyone earning more than $100K a year is rich and underserving of any tax cut at all. In other words, typical Democratic Party class warfare.

The only real cut in the list is the $3,000 personal exemption for veterans, and that's probably only in there because Prieto and Sweeney don't actually know any vets, and so they're thinking hardly anyone in the state will take them up on the offer.

No thanks fellas. Your plan stinks.

Cut spending. Use that to finance your transportation boondoggles. But then, as Glenn Reynolds is fond of saying, that would provide you guys with insufficient opportunities for graft.

UPDATE 22 Jul 2016 15:46:
Well, this is awkward.

Apparently this "deal" wasn't run by Chris Christie before being announced by Sweeney and Prieto.

Brian T. Murray, Governor Chris Christie's spokesman, told MMM in an email that Christie has not seen the Transportation Trust Fund legislation that Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto announced today.

Oops.

Posted at 14:06 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: New-Jersey NJ-Politics gas-tax Steve-Sweeney Chris-Christie   |   Tweet

The 7th time wasn't a charm: Chris Christie again vetoes Democrats' subsidy to Abortion, Inc.

It's a scene that's played out 6 times already. But that didn't stop Loretta Weinberg and her harridan caucus from again passing a budget bill that includes $7.5 million taxpayer dollars earmarked for the charnal houses of Planned Parenthood.

And with a stroke of his veto pen, Chris Christie nixed it for the 7th straight year.

"Birth control" is of course their euphemism for abortion. Planned Parenthood is in the infanticide business. Period. All that other stuff is ancilliary, and ephemeral. Baby parts are profitable; condoms, not so much.

According to their audited financial statement, Planned Parenthood took in more than $230 million dollars last year. And they've got $284 million in net assets behind that. So they're not exactly poverty stricken. They don't need New Jersey's $7.5 million.

Or to put it another way, PP could easily cover that $7.5 million and restore those supposedly "vital" health services. That is, if they actually wanted to help women rather than play politics.

But politics it is, because to a virtue-signalling liberal the appearance of "doing something" is always better than actually getting something done. So we'll see you again next year Loretta. And you'll go 0 for 8.

Posted at 10:07 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Chris-Christie Planned-Parenthood abortion Loretta-Weinberg   |   Tweet

Steve Sweeney puts the brakes on Chris Christie's backroom gas tax / sales tax deal

Enjoy your Fourth of July weekend New Jersey. The impending 23 cent gas tax hike, scheduled to go into effect at midnight, is (temporarily) dead.

It's not for lack of trying. And it's not because State Senate Democrats have suddenly seen the light in our already overtaxed state.

Nope. It's because Steve Sweeney wants the tax hit to be bigger. Christie's fake sales tax cut has gotta go! To be replaced with, well, the Democrats are still working that out.

So the fund that was running on fumes suddenly has an extra month of life. It's a miracle!

"We're going to go talk to the Assembly because we don't feel there's enough support in the Senate to do the Assembly bill. So we have to go to the Assembly with what we feel is a bill that could pass," Sweeney, D-Gloucester, told reporters. "It's a negotiation, and we're going to try to negotiate with the Assembly when we leave here. But we're not going to take any action on either bill today."

The only part the 2 sides agree on is the immediate 23 cent hike in the gas tax.

Christie and the Assembly say they'll offset that with a one percent sales tax cut sometime after 2018.

Senate Democrats had cobbled together a hodge-podge of estate tax phaseouts, retirement income tax exclusions, and charitable contribution deductions for some "middle class" tax filers to maybe appease enough fence-sitters into backing the gas tax increase. Christie called that plan "unfair," which is how he came to be siding with the Assembly's proposal.

Meanwhile the Transportation Trust Fund is $30 billion in debt and every dime currently dedicated toward it now goes to interest payments, leaving nothing to pay for actual transportaton projects. Hence the zeal to more than double the gas tax.

And of course all of this plays out against the backdrop of Sweeney's 2017 gubernatorial ambitions. Which of course might get detoured if he's seen as the mastermind of a whopping gas tax hike.

Happy, uh, Independence Day.

Posted at 16:50 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics Chris-Christie gas-tax sales-tax Steve-Sweeney   |   Tweet

Chris Christie's midnight sellout: Gas tax hike now, sales tax cut maybe later

Hanging around with Donald Trump seems to have given Chris Christie the idea that he's capable of cutting yuge deals. Except his idea of a deal is actually a complete sellout to the Democrats.

Raise the gas tax now. Maybe cut the sales tax later. No estate tax cut. No income tax cut. Nothing upfront except Tax and Spend. It's such a great deal they had to sneak it through in the dark of night.

Fourteen minutes! That's gotta be some kind of World Record for deliberative scrutiny. Obviously no one actually read the bill, or bothered to care what the public might have to say about it. Too late peasants! It's a done deal, so bend over and take it like a man.

The whole thing is a sham. By 2018 Christie will be a memory in Trenton. And dollars to donuts whatever Democrat succeeds him will find enough budget "emergencies" to ensure this sales tax cut never sees the light of day.

But that didn't stop Governor Sellout from doing his Happy Dance.

Screwing the public is bipartisan fun!

Prieto and his unionista buddies are salivating at getting their mitts on that projected $2 billion annual boost to the Transportation Slush Fund.

They say it'll be used to fix our crumbling roads and bridges. And at an average cost of $2 million per mile there'll be plenty of opportunity for sticky fingers to latch onto some loose cash. Especially when some projects top out at a whopping $27.3 million per mile. Go ahead, tell me that one wasn't padded by the usual assortment of shady characters.

Then again, a lot of it will probably be earmarked for utopian socialist boondoggles like light rail, bike lanes, and the urban planners' perennial favorite — Transit Villages, which they'll sell on the idea of, wait for it, cars being too expensive to operate.

And then like I said, any hope of a future sales tax cut will fade into oblivion when the Democrats decide to use that money to bail out the public employee pension fund.

For a guy who entered office on the promise of shaking up the Trenton establishment, Chris Christie has now cemented his stature as the epitome of Business As Usual. Thanks governor. Thanks a lot.

Posted at 12:18 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: NJ-Politics Chris-Christie gas-tax sales-tax   |   Tweet

Chris Christie agrees in principle with NJ Democrats planned 23 cent gas tax hike

And, Chris Christie sells us out once again. Or folds like cheap suit. Take your pick.

NJ Democrats want to raise our state's gas tax by a whopping 23 cents a gallon to pay for more transportation boondoggles like Camden's light rail to nowhere and a new rail tunnel for people who work in Manhattan. Er, "to fix our crumbling roads and bridges," at the low, low price of $27.3 million dollars per mile. Or, so I'm told.

In exchange, they're going to "phase out" the Estate Tax. In theory, anyway.

And today Chris Christie signaled he's OK with that plan, if the tax-and-spend party pinky-swears they'll phase out the estate tax "faster."

"Tax fairness!" Because tacking 23 cents a gallon onto the price of gas is "fair!"

Oh, but, we're going to get rid of one of our dueling death taxes. Maybe.

Both plans propose raising $2 billion a year for the Transportation Trust Fund over the next 10 years. A critical component to achieve tax fairness, Christie said, is the elimination of the estate tax, one of the two so-called "death taxes" that many critics say make New Jersey uncompetitive with other states and unpopular for retirees. But the legislative proposals would phase out the estate tax over four years. Christie wants it eliminated by the time he leaves office in two years because, he said, "I don't trust them."

Yeah, well, we don't trust you either Chief.

And we certainly don't trust your bureaucratic brain trust to wisely spend that new $2 billion in annual revenue you're squeezing out of us. Because their track record stinks. Where else but New Jersey could you find a 3½ mile roadway reconstruction project costing north of one billion dollars? I must be the only guy in the state whose palm isn't getting greased on that one…

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. We don't have a revenue problem, we have spending problem. And Chris Christie's "solution" is to look the other way.

Thanks governor. Thanks a lot.

Posted at 14:45 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Chris-Christie gas-tax NJ-Politics transportation   |   Tweet

NJ Democrats propose paying unemployment benefits to striking Verizon unionistas

Verizon's unionized workers voluntarily walked off the job, to demand higher pay and more lavish benefits. Now they're earning zero, and crying poverty. So naturally New Jersey Democrats want to bail them out with our tax dollars.

I wanna shake the hand of the person who voted "no."

"This legislation we obviously think is important for the thousands of workers who have really almost (been) forced to be off the job, walked off their job, because of the contract dispute and the way in which Verizon has negotiated this contract and what Verizon has asked their employees to do in order to maintain their employment," state Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex), who sponsored the bill along with state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester).

Um, OK. Except Verizon didn't lock them out. They could be working right now, earning a paycheck, which as it happens, is already bigger than current telecom industry norms.

The unionistas voluntarily walked off the job.

Actions have consequences. And one consequence of walking off the job is that you no longer get paid.

Nicholas Sheola, a chief steward for CWA Local 1000, said that while CWA has a strike relief fund that pays out about $300 a week, IBEW members don't have the same benefit. To get by, he said, they're borrowing money from family and friends or "they're robbing Peter to pay Paul."

The IBEW doesn't have a strike fund?

Don't their members pay union dues? Where does that money go?

Oh, right, it goes toward campaign contributions to Democrats.

Which, of course, is why the Democrats are so eager to pander to them with our money.

"We don't know when we're going back to work. It's a big hit," he said. "A lot of us have families. We don't have medical anymore, so we may have to pay for Cobra or something like that. So another source of income would be good to have."

Yo, Chief, I know when you can go back to work.

Today.

Show up. Do your job. And amazingly Verizon will pay you!

But that's harder than taking a taxpayer-funded vacation, so it's obviously a non-starter with you wannabe socialists.

Fortunately Governor Chris Christie is almost certain to veto this insanity. So it's merely grandstanding by bought-and-paid-for Democrats for their gullible unionista donors. Vote Democrat, it's easier than showing up for your job!

Posted at 10:11 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: unions Verizon IBEW CWA unemployment   |   Tweet

NJ Democrats vow to defy Christie's order expanding gun permits, say only criminals should have guns

One of the few good things to come out of Chris Christie's quixotic quest for the presidency was his embrace of the Second Amendment. Earlier this month he issued an Executive Order relaxing gun permit and transport regulations. Because, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. And New Jersey issues fewer than 500 carry permits annually, mostly to retired law enforcement officers. Which didn't help domestic violence victim Carol Bowne, whose application for a firearms permit was held up by red tape, allowing her stalker ex-boyfriend to murder her in cold blood in her own driveway.

Well, as much as it sounds incongruous, State Senator Loretta Weinberg is OK with Bowne's murder. How else to explain her opposition to Christie's attempt to make it easier for women like Carol Bowne to legally carry a gun?

Woah. Loretta Weinberg only wants the criminals to have guns!

Hmm. The very definition of a "high-crime neighborhood" is where the bad guys have the upper hand. Meaning, they have guns, and we don't.

Seems to me that leveling the playing field ought to cut down on crime. And cutting down on crime is good, right?

Nope. Loretta Weinberg and the NJ Democrats would prefer that law-abiding NJ residents remain victims instead of standing up for our rights.

Because victims vote Democrat. Especially when they're dead.

Posted at 21:08 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: guns Second-Amemdment Chris-Christie NJ-Politics Loretta-Weinberg   |   Tweet

Chris Christie's NJ Supreme Court nominee is Joe DiVincenzo's Get Out Of Jail Free card

Remember when the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) was investigating Essex County Executive For Life Joe DiVincenzo's blatant misuse of campaign funds?

And remember how that investigation suddenly ground to a screeching halt, which of course the media spun as a "victory" for Joe D?

Wanna know who swept the mess under the rug?

Walter Timpone, the Democrat Steve Sweeney Chris Christie just nominated to sit on our state supreme court.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

The long and the short of it is this. Earlier in his career, Timpone reached out to Joe D for a favor, because his nephew needed a job. Joe D found the kid a spot, as a field representative in the Essex County Citizen Service Office at $45,000 a year.

Fast forward a dozen years, and Timpone is the lone Democrat on ELEC when Joe D's alleged misuse of campaign funds comes to light. Rather than move the investigation forward, Timpone recused himself, citing that favor Joe D did for his nephew.

State law says ELEC must have at least one member from each party, so no Timpone, no investigation. Which works out nicely for Joe D, seeing as how he and Timpone are both good friends with Chris Christie.

Now you may ask yourself, why are there only 2 people sitting on ELEC, one Democrat and one Republican, when there should be 4?

Ah, you can thank Chris Christie and Steve Sweeney for that one. Christie didn't appoint a second Democrat to the commission after the previous guy died in 2011. In retaliation, Sweeney is blocking Christie's second Republican nominee, which Christie then cites as his reason for not appointing a second Democrat.

Yeah, the whole thing stinks to high heaven. Because a cynical guy like me might see Timpone's nomination as a thank-you for him helping Joe D. And a cynical guy might further notice that once Timpone is confirmed, ELEC will be effectively defanged, right before a presidential election this year, and a gubernatorial election next year in which Sweeney hopes to prevail. Not to mention that whole Bridgegate thing…

Welcome to New Jersey. Please hold your nose.

Posted at 12:59 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Chris-Christie Joe-DiVincenzo Walter-Timpone ELEC   |   Tweet

Chris Christie's surrender is complete as he nominates a Democrat to NJ Supreme Court

Steve Sweeney is now officially the governor of New Jersey. In deed, if not in name.

And Chris Christie is exposed as the feckless, unprincipled hack his detractors told us he was.

Christie's six-year charade to "remake" New Jersey's activist Supreme Court ended with a whimper yesterday as he surrendered to Sweeney's demand that only a liberal democrat can be nominated to fill the court's last vacancy.

"Ramifications?" Yeah, that's Christie-speak for "capitulation."

"I wanted to get something done. People of this state give us these jobs expecting us to get stuff done," Christie said.

Ye gads, what utter hogwash. We expected you to "get done" the stuff you promised you'd get done. Like reining in judicial activism, not ensconcing it. Like standing up to bullies instead of getting rolled. We expected you'd have principles. We expected you go be made of sterner stuff.

And you sold us out.

No wonder you're backing Democrat-turned-Republican-of-convenience Donald Trump for president. He's the only guy with fewer scruples than you.

Wait, I take that back. You and Trump are two peas in a pod.

Thanks for leaving New Jersey worse off than when you started.

Posted at 10:24 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Chris-Christie courts New-Jersey Steve-Sweeney   |   Tweet

Another Joe DiVincenzo success story: Newark Bears Stadium is sold, at an $11 million loss

It cost $34 million dollars to build. It was a white elephant before it ever opened. But at long last, Essex County is out of the baseball stadium business. And I suppose we should be grateful that County Executive For Life Joe DiVincenzo managed to only lose $11 million dollars on the deal.

Of course Joe D is patting himself on the back.

"We are very excited about the future development of the Broad Street site where the Bears and Eagles Stadium currently is located," said Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. "This dynamic project will contribute immensely to the economic revitalization of Essex County and Newark, and serve as a catalyst and anchor in the northern section of the city's downtown."

Gee, that's almost exactly what he said when he built this boondoggle back in 1999.

What makes anyone here think he'll be less wrong today?

I predict that within 10 years a place where you might once have heard the crack of a bat will be a place where you can score some crack. Because Newark is where dreams, and tax dollars, go to die.

Posted at 14:35 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Newark-NJ Newark-Bears Riverfront-Stadium Joe-DiVincenzo   |   Tweet

Having solved all of Essex County's other problems, Joe D is spending $7 million on giraffes

Joe DiVincenzo will tell us he must raise taxes, to provide critically needed county services like housing.

For giraffes.

Because giraffes come before the homeless. And the hungry. And the unemployed.

Unless all our other problems are already solved and nobody bothered to tell me.

Which could be the case.

But somehow I doubt it.

Members of the freeholder board said they will be reviewing the budget over the next month. Newly elected board president Britnee Timberlake said she hopes to focus on "everything dealing with social services" in the budget. "We need to service all people (in the county). I feel that the county is lacking in areas…to provide social services in the most effective way possible."

Do tell.

"We are not where we want to be yet," DiVincenzo said, pointing out that the county has high foreclosure and unemployment rates, and a high percentage of its population seeking government assistance.

Ah, but now we have giraffes.

Maybe the giraffes will eat cake.

Posted at 14:10 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Essex-County-NJ Turtle-Back-Zoo Joe-DiVincenzo taxes giraffes   |   Tweet