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Posts Tagged ‘Democrats’
Governor Christie Talks Pension Reform with PBA Leader
March 3rd, 2011 | Added to Money, Jobs, & Finances, The State of New Jersey | 2 Comments »
For my friends over in Wisconsin, I thought that I would post this YouTube video from a recent town hall meeting where New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie had a reasoned discussion with someone who asked questions about upcoming cuts. I’m also posting this video for my friends who work in the public sector (police and firemen) and are annoyed that there are likely going to be job cuts in the coming weeks and months. Watch the video and then I have one or two more comments below it.
For me, this is a simple situation and one that really doesn’t require any protesting or arguing or petty “left vs. right” political comparisons. In short, there’s no money. No money = no jobs. Take the private sector over the last three years – people have been losing their jobs left and right. Why? Because their companies couldn’t afford to staff the position. It might suck, but New Jersey can’t afford to pay some of its policemen and firefighters, among other public workers.
And it’s silly to blame Governor Christie when Jon “Money Bags” Corzine, Jim McGreevey, and Christine Todd Whitman (among many other previous political leaders in this state) are the ones who raped our state’s finances. For my friends who aren’t from New Jersey – for decades it hasn’t mattered whether a Republican or a Democrat has been in office because both parties fleeced the state.
Yet, I understand that people need someone to lash out at and Governor Christie is the head of the state so they’re going to lash out at him. In fact, there’s a protest of public workers going on up the street from my office in Trenton today. And while I think contemporary protesting is so fabricated and false that in 2011 it typically gets Americans nowhere, I don’t mind the folks up the street protesting. I do mind that they added 45 minutes on to my commute this morning (because I wanted to spend nearly 2 hours in the car). But at least the folks protesting today are from New Jersey versus the idiots who protested in Trenton last week who were primarily bussed in from Pennsylvania and New York.
At the end of the day, though, there’s no money and cuts have to come from somewhere so jobs are going to be lost. For anyone to be surprised at that simple economic math means that they either had their head buried in the sand as the private sector was rocked over the last 3 years or they just don’t understand that no money = no jobs.
Proof that Chris Christie Turned the New Jersey Legislature Upside Down
December 20th, 2010 | Added to The State of New Jersey | No Comments »
Every once in a while I get an e-mail from the folks in the Governor’s Office regarding some of Governor Chris Christie’s latest speeches or comments. One of the latest e-mails struck my eye in light of the national debate around tax cuts and tax cut extensions and so on and so on and so on…
The video below puts it pretty plainly – Governor Christie has turned New Jersey upside down in a good way! If there were any doubts left in anyone’s mind about whether times are changing in Trenton, watch the video below. During a press conference a few weeks ago, Governor Christie noted a proposal presented by Democrats for business tax cuts as an example of his Administration being transformational. He said:
“Here’s another manifestation of turning Trenton upside down. Democrats are talking about business tax cuts in New Jersey. Ok? So if you don’t think that this administration has been transformational in a year, then I point you to that example.”
What this man has accomplished in New Jersey is nothing short of phenomenal. He is saving this state and improving our near death-bed fiscal health at the same time. Absolutely remarkable.
Please note that portions of the text above were taken from an e-mail prepared by the Governor’s Office.
Meet South Carolina’s Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate – Mr. Alvin Greene
June 12th, 2010 | Added to United States Politics | No Comments »
For those of you who aren’t in the southern portion of the Mid-Atlantic/northern portion of the Southeast United States, you may have missed out on one of the best stories coming out of this past Tuesday’s primary races. In fact, while I love the fact that strong women are winning primaries and elections all over the country (studies show that when voters want common sense in government, they vote for women), I have to suggest that the biggest story coming out this past Tuesday is the nomination of Mr. Alvin Greene in South Carolina.
Who is Alvin Green, you ask? Well, he happens to be the gentleman who won this week’s primary in South Carolina for the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for the United States Senate. Oh, he also happens to have been discharged from the Air Force and the Army and he also has a pending sexual harassment charge (I think) against him. Oh, and he spent less than $2,000 on his “campaign” for this nomination. You know what? Just watch the video…
Truthfully, I don’t know whether I absolutely despise Mr. Greene or find him to be a breath of fresh air. Granted, it seems like he has a sordid past and he clearly doesn’t know a damn thing about the issues, but once upon a time the majority of our Senators and Representatives were very similar to Mr. Greene.
Do you have any thoughts on this guy? I’ll tell you what – he’s pretty entertaining!
Reviewing Mount Arlington’s 2009 Election Results
February 22nd, 2010 | Added to Local People & Politics, The State of New Jersey | No Comments »
 Looking at the Mt. Arlington Results Like I did in 2008, I spent some time the other day looking at the election results from my home voting district of Mount Arlington in Morris County. Mt. Arlington is such a small town that it can be interesting to dissect its election results…that is if I can make any type of compelling statement on politics by reviewing these results!
Last year I tended to look at the power of the third party candidates to see whether or not it would be worthwhile for a third party to centralize its efforts in a single town. I thought I’d do the same thing for the 2009 results.
In Mt. Arlington, Chris Christie drew 1,130 votes for Governor while the then-incumbent Jon Corzine drew 512 votes. In total, 154 ballots were cast for third party candidates which includes 136 votes for Chris Daggett. In truth, that’s not that bad for the third parties during an election cycle that was pretty well-publicized and emotionally-charged in New Jersey. It is clear, though, that Mt. Arlington remains a strong Republican district and that whatever crossover support Corzine enjoyed in this particular district prior to the election evaporated.
In total, 1,808 ballots were cast in Mt. Arlington. Of those ballots, 1,732 were cast in person at polling stations and 76 were cast via vote by mail ballots. Again, this isn’t a bad turnout for the vote by mail contingent (myself included) and it shows that the intent of the change in election law to allow more people to use vote by mail ballots is being realized by the people. And though the percentage of the vote that came through vote by mail ballots was only 2.07%, I still think that if a third party could find a way to energize a local base, then it could enjoy some degree of success at the local level and possibly build on that success regionally, then at the state level, and then possibly at higher levels of government.
With the recent showing of Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 congressional district special election, it would appear that there is a real desire on behalf of the people to see something new from their politicians. The people want more choices than simply “R” or “D” and I still think that the building a strong base at the local level is the best way for third parties to pop up and begin providing more choice to the voters.
Local Events – Post Gubernatorial Election Panel at Monmouth University
November 1st, 2009 | Added to The State of New Jersey | No Comments »
There are tons of interesting event invitations that cross pass by my desk each week. The other day I received an invite to a public panel that will be held at Monmouth University on the day after Election Day to talk about what happened in the Gubernatorial election. The information for the event is below.
You are invited to a
Post-Election Panel Discussion
What Happened in New Jersey?
Thursday November 5, 2009
1:00 – 2:15 PM
Jules L. Plangere Jr. Center for Communication (TV Studio)
Monmouth University, West Long Branch
Two nationally recognized campaign strategists and other keen observers of the Garden State’s political scene will break down the election results and look forward to 2010.
Moderators:
« Alan Steinberg, Former EPA Regional Director and Monmouth University Public Servant in Residence
« Michael Murphy, Former Gubernatorial Candidate and Democratic Lobbyist
Panelists:
« Bill Pascoe, Republican Campaign Communications Strategist
« Steve Ayscue, Democratic Campaign Communications Strategist
« Patrick Murray, Director, Monmouth University Polling Institute
Sponsors:
Polling Institute
Department of Political Science
Office of Academic Program Initiatives
This event is open to the Monmouth community, the general public, and the media.
For more information, or if you want to bring a class, call: (732) 263-5860 or polling@monmouth.edu
Sounds like it’s going to be a good event so if you’re in the area and you have an hour or so to spare, you might want to go check this out and see what this panel has to say. Lord knows that the entire state is going to be crowing after this year’s election. It’s interesting when you think about it. No candidate has a clear majority of the vote so you would assume that less than a majority of the people in New Jersey are going to be happy with the winner of this election no matter what the outcome. Pretty amazing, really.
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