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Posts Tagged ‘Republicans’
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.
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.
The Healthcare Debate Proves One Thing…
August 19th, 2009 | Added to United States Politics | No Comments »
Watching this healthcare debate going back and forth definitely proves one thing…our government is a mess. And it’s not the “form” of government that we have (a democratic republic) that is a mess, rather it’s the people who are currently in elected positions that don’t understand the nature of our country.
When I see both Republicans and Democrats casting off the concerns of their constituency, it makes me wonder how these people keep their offices. Why are there not more recall elections? Where is the political passion in America that we recently saw in the Iranian reformists, for example? Why are there not mass gatherings in Washington DC demanding that the Republicans in Congress and the Democrats both in the White House and the Congressional leadership begin listening to their constituents?
Look, I know that a minority in this country want both a public option for healthcare and a single payer system, but this country was not set up for the majority to be overwhelmed by the minority. In other words, while we listen to the minority voices and take their views into account, those views should not run this nation. Healthcare does need to be reformed so that more people can receive more coverage. But until our elected officials begin to listen to us, nothing will be accomplished.
Unless a third party rises up with a platform based off of the majority of the population’s concerns…
Corzine Not Doing Great in the Polls
May 3rd, 2009 | Added to The State of New Jersey | No Comments »
Thankfully, New Jerseyans seems to be coming to their senses and it would appear that they are preparing to kick Governor Money Bags (aka Governor Corzine) out of office come November. An article in today’s Daily Record cited how an overwhelming majority of New Jersey voters agreed that our state’s budget is in critical condition. This follows a recent poll showing that Corzine is trailing his likely Republican opponent Chris Christie. The Daily Record article states:
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