The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders are scheduled to approve five union contracts at their Regular Meeting on Thursday June 23, 7 PM at the Neptune City Municipal Building, 106 W. Sylvania Ave, Neptune City.
MMM attempted to learn the terms of the contracts today, to no avail. We’ll follow up tomorrow.
What an informative show we had yesterday! Having just listened to a recording of the show, I am really impressed with the breadth of knowledge of our two guests, former Colorado Senate President John Andrews and New Jersey Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, and with their ability to share so much with our audience so concisely.
In the first half hour of the show, Andrews discusses the many reforms that have been enacted in Colorado over the last twenty year that have made government smaller and more affordable.
Colorado has had term limits for elected officials for twenty years. Andrews gave us a candid view of how they are working.
Colorado has a Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), a constitutional provision that requires that all tax increases and all government spending that exceeds a formula of inflation and population growth at all levels of government be approved by the voters. Andrews discusses this in depth. His segment of the show should be required listening for all New Jersey policy makers and advisers.
During the second half hour of the show we were privledged to have Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, the Republican Budget Officer and Policy Co-Chair join us.
O’Scanlon got into the nitty gritty of the pension and benefits bill passed this week in Trenton. O’Scanlon made the case that the bill is not Reform In Name Only and discussed how it will impact the budget that will be crafted over the next week.
I hope you enjoy the show and that you tune in next week to the live show on Tuesday from 5PM-6PM on WIFI AM 1460.
B4K Calls for Bipartisan Common Sense Changes to New Jersey’s Public School System
New Brunswick (June 22, 2011) – Better Education for Kids (B4K), a 501(c)(4) organization, launched a new statewide radio ad this morning.
The ad, which begins the second campaign launched by the organization this month, calls for bipartisan common sense changes to New Jersey’s public education system.
“We need a new way forward in New Jersey. It’s time to end politics as usual and give parents, students and concerned citizens a real voice in this debate. Every child deserves to receive a first-rate education and an opportunity to succeed in the 21st century. We need to act now and make New Jersey’s public school system a national model for student achievement. It’s time to end special interest domination of our public education system and put our children’s interests first,” said Derrell Bradford, Executive Director of Better Education for Kids.
B4K believes student achievement should be the first priority of the New Jersey school system. Every student should have the opportunity to learn from a great teacher and every school should have a great principal. We need to elevate the teaching profession so that great teachers and principals are rewarded with merit pay and tenure becomes a significant professional milestone!
Yesterday afternoon on the LaRossa and Gallagher radio show I asked Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon how the $790 million dollar hole in Governor Christie’s proposed budget would be filled. Christie’s budget assumed $300 million in savings during the coming fiscal year from healtcare reform. The legislation likely to be passed in the Assembly only yields a savings of $10 million this year. Last month the State Supreme Court ruled that the state must spend $500 million more than Christie budgeted on Abbott district school spending.
O’Scanlon pointed to increased revenue projections and to yet to be determined savings from the new healthcare deal, but acknowledged that he and the other legislators crafting the budget have tough choices to make between now and June 30 when the budget must be passed.
June 30 is the deadline for the state budget to be enacted. June 30th is also the expiration date of the current union contracts for 48,000 state workers. Once the pension and benefits reforms are passed by the Assembly tomorrow, there will be an intense sprint to meet those deadlines in one week.
Mark Magyar, a former deputy policy chief in the Whitman administration and the policy director for the 2009 Daggett for Governor campaign,writing at NJ Spotlight, raises the possibility that Governor Christie could impose a new contract on the state workers.
The 1968 public employee collective bargaining law gives the governor and mayors the power to impose contracts on non-uniformed employees. Christie would be the first governor to use that power.
Magyar says that negotiations with the unions started late and have been on hold while Christie and the legislature worked on the pension and health carereforms. Christie has proposed a 3.5% pay cut.
I’ve been scratching by head trying to figure out why Christie and the Republicans in the legislature have been celebrating the health care reforms that only yield $10 million, rather than $300 million, in savings while the Democrats are waging a civil war over the deal.
O’Scanlon says the health care deal agreed to is not Reform In Name Only, that they will produce real savings over time. That might be true. But it seems like another kick the can down the road.
If Christie exercises his executive power to reduce the cost of government now by imposing union contracts that recover the savings given up the the health care deal we would know that we got real reform. Not delayed reform. That would be turning Trenton upside down.
Republican Governor Chris Christie proposed pension and benefit reforms that would have resulted in a $300 million budget savings in the coming fiscal year and that actuaries said would have corrected the system.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, Democrats, gave Christie a “compromise” that results in a $9 million budget savings in the coming year and that actuaries say doesn’t go far enough.
Christie and the Republicans in the legislature are celebrating. The media is calling the bill a landmark reform.
The Democrats and their union benefactors are having a civil war.
There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we callThe Twilight Zone.
Andrews served in the Colorado State Senate from 1998 through 2005. He was the minority leader and led the GOP back to majority control. As Senate President, he helped pass bills establishing education vouchers, expanding charter schools, extending tort reform, cutting the capital gains tax, reducing union control of state employees, requiring parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion, and restoring the Pledge of Allegiance in classrooms.
Andrews will be with us for the first half hour of the show, 5-5:30.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon will be joining us for the second half hour. O’Scanlon has represented the 12th legislative district since 2008. His hometown of Little Silver is part of the new 13th district which he will represent if reelected in November.
O’Scanlon is Republican Budget Officer and Policy Co-Chair. He will be giving us extremely timely insights into the State budget and the pension and benefits reform bill.
You are invited and encouraged to call into the show with your questions and comments. The call in number is 609-447-0236.
The show can be heard on WIFI AM 1460 or here on your computer or smart phone.
I am really getting tired of these “AARP Volunteers” and so-called “officials” who continuously spout drivel in their attacks on Republicans.
It was the AARP who supported Obamacare and the $500 BILLION cut in Medicare, which will negatively impact many seniors seeking medical treatment.
Of course, I am sure it had nothing to do with the sale of AARP sponsored health insurance plans (which, as a result of Obamacare, may reap a windfall in profits for AARP). Even AARP had to raise the health insurance premiums of their employees as a result of Obamacare. And quite a few “favored friends” received “waivers” from Obamacare.
Now, we read that the AARP is “open” to reforming Social Security, with the AARP legislative policy director David Certner saying that Social Security needs a “package of revenue and benefit adjustments … to make it solvent.” Of course, the solution they seem to favor is increasing the payroll taxes on every worker and employer.
The fact is, Social Security and Medicare are facing a fast approaching financial crisis. The simple truth is that with the increasing life expectancy, and the baby boom generation starting to retire, the growth of the population receiving these benefits is outpacing the growth of active employees – making the sustainability of outlays extremely dubious. Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund recently warned the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2036 and under current law, seniors would then face a 23 percent across-the-board cut in benefits.
In 1945, there were 46,390,000 covered workers. There were 1,106,000 receiving Social Security benefits. The ratio of worker to retiree was 41.9.
In 2010, there were 156,725,000 covered workers with 53,398,000 receiving benefits. That is a ratio of less than 3 to 1 (actually 2.9 workers for every retiree).
These facts are clear. The current trending has placed these programs on a fiscally unsustainable path. There can be no doubt as to the ultimate outcome.
Unless something can be done to expand job growth, to begin to address the imbalance of workers to retirees, Social Security (and Medicare) will collapse, leaving current seniors and those close to retiring out in the cold.
Whether you agree with the solution as proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan on the Medicare issue or not, Congressman Ryan must be congratulated for daring to touch the so-called third rail of American politics. It is critical that these issues be raised and addressed in a fashion to protect the future of America’s current seniors and those closing in on retirement age. Nonsense as spouted by so-called self appointed (or anointed) representatives of seniors does nothing to solve the problem.
We have raised retirement ages in the past; it seems clear that, with increasing life expectancy this will need to be addressed again. Perhaps Medicare age should also tie in with the Social Security age. Ultimately, we need to get our country’s economic house in order so that we may create job growth.
With a 9.1 % unemployment rate, it is clear that Obamanomics has now failed. Even the Democrat National Chairperson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz , now says about the Democrats, “We own the economy” (6/15/2011). Blaming Republican President Bush and the past Democrat Congress solves nothing.
It’s time to stop political games and begin to work together to turn this country around. The Democrats, who controlled Congress the past few years, and still control the Senate, failed to even propose a budget last year. Why? Where is the President in leading his party? He seems to be an absentee leader, preferring the golf links to resolving issues.
The problem is not that Americans are under-taxed, it is that our politicians are addicted to spending. Yes, taxes need to be addressed (the best solution would be to throw out the entire tax code and start with a simpler, fairer, income tax and perhaps even a consumption tax), but we do need to cut spending first. Perhaps then we can start to grow our economy out of the doldrums we find ourselves in.
Perhaps seniors should be made aware that there are other senior organizations they could join instead of the AARP. These include: Alliance for Retirement Prosperity Association, PO Box 3678 Warrenton, Virginia 20188 and 60 Plus Association, 515 King Street, Suite 315, Alexandria, Virginia 22314.
Note that A3242 may become more commonly known by its Senate Bill Number: S1696. Don’t let that confuse you. If you lose track of the numbers, refer to it simply as the Student Survey Bill. Please thank Asw. Angelini ([email protected]) for withdrawing her sponsorship and encourage her to vote NO when/if it comes before the Assembly. Keep calling Gov. Christie (609.292.6000) to ask him to veto this Student Survey Bill if it passes the Assembly. Reasons why: dishonors parental rights; it’s an invasion of student privacy; it will cost taxpayers – and possibly in added lawsuits; how will this help academics when the state educational system is already experiencing such unrest; the old bill was a good bill. Why fix what ain’t broke?!
Further, consider this Bill is being pushed by a powerful, influential lobby that wants more taxpayer funded “health” programs in schools. Think recent legislation about bullying for a clue…
These Surveys are a sneaky means for schools to get at the pot of gold in the taxpayer funded CDC to create more “health” programs. (Try and track the spending, though!) However, the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Act should still be honored. I don’t believe this new NJ bill meets that.
I’ve been told none are on the Assembly Board List yet for a vote. However, I’ve also been guided that that could change the calendar day before the Assembly votes. Further, Bill numbers have been known to change, and/or Speaker Oliver could force it during quorum on Monday – even without another Education Committee meeting. Such despicable maneuvers would add weight for Governor Christie to veto.
In case you missed it, the Student Survey Bill would give school districts the authority to administer surveys that ask students intimate personal information about themselves and their families, without parental consent. The information authorized includes sexual behavior and attitudes, mental health and psychological problems, political affiliation, the names of doctors, lawyers and ministers, income, and social security number.
Informed parental consent to these surveys was required by a law signed in 2002. The current bill would amend the law to allow the surveys to be administered if parents are notified and do not respond to the notification.
MMM first reported on this bill last Tuesday evening. Opposition to the bill spread through other blogs and social networking sites resulting in Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini withdrawing her sponsorship of the bill. The Assembly Education Committee pulled the bill from its scheduled hearing calendar last Thursday. MMMreceived a tip that proponents of the bill are working to circumvent the normal legislative process by persuading Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver to post the bill for a vote before the full Assembly without a committee hearing.
The full Assembly meets today for a Quorum call at 1PM. It meets again for a voting session on Thursday. The bills to be voted on have not been posted yet.
Opponents of the bill are encouraged to bombard their representatives with phone calls and emails urging them to vote no on the Student Survey bill should it come up for a vote. Urge your friends and families to do the same.
Contact information for all members of the Assembly can be found by clicking here.
