In the editorial page of October 12 Paul Mulshine, correctly, continued to question the ARC rail tunnel. Inadvertently, the Star Ledger business section supported Mr. Mulshine’s position.The business section (page 7) stated that there is almost 40M square feet of office space available in NJ. 40M square feet of space will support 200,000 employees, at an average of 200 square feet per employee. The ARC supporters refuse to consider that NJ residents would actually prefer to work near their homes in NJ, rather than commute to NYC. Even if they had to take a pay cut to work near home, it would be worth it. As a former commuter I can make this statement.
Governor Christie was correct to cancel the tunnel. It will be New Jersey’s version of Boston’s “Big Dig”. One major difference between the two projects is that Massachusetts was forced to pay the lion’s share of the cost as the cost spiked from $8B to $24B. But, in this case the benefit accrued to Massachusetts and the Mass. construction unions. In the case of the ARC tunnel all of the benefits accrue to NYC, with NJ getting the cost overrun tab. If you do not think that there will be cost overruns, then you know nothing about construction-related activities in NYC.
New Jersey needs to get out of this 1960s mindset that states that anything that the public sector proposes has merit and must be done. A great first step in this direction would be to stand by the decision to cancel the tunnel and to implement tax and economic policies designed to fill up these 4M square feet of empty space.
Harold V. Kane is the GOP candidate for Middlesex County Clerk
Team Sipprelle is Surging! A recent Monmouth University poll has us within the margin of error.
This same poll had Gov. Christie down by 3 points three days before his 4 point electoral victory. I won’t tell you where the polls had us back in April, but let’s just say we’re “tied” now with exactly two weeks to go. It comes down to a challenge that will be decided by which campaign has the most energy, passion, and commitment. My faith is squarely centered on Team Sipprelle. Let’s roll!
Mr. Holt Hits a New Low
A glaring confirmation of our momentum is the increasingly desperate tone of Mr. Holt’s campaign slurs. When his fabrications about my position on Social Security and Equal Pay for Women failed to gain traction, he turned to even more odious innuendoes. He is now filling the airwaves with two new charges: first, that my former investment firm set up an “offshore corporation” to manage capital for foreigners. But Mr. Holt doesn’t elaborate on this scary half-truth sound bite. Since foreigners and U.S. institutions are not subject to backup U.S. withholding taxes, they prefer to invest their money with U.S.-based money-managers through foreign-based funds, while all U.S. taxpayers (including myself and my former clients) invest through U.S.-based funds. It is a good thing for American jobs and prosperity that foreigners send their money to U.S. money-managers for investment in the American economy, but Mr. Holt does not really care about smart economic policy.
His second personal smear is truly bizarre: that I somehow colluded with the Democrat machine that controls my town, and with the independent appraisal firm that conducted a state-mandated, town-wide property revaluation, and fixed my own property tax assessment. In other words, I supposedly committed a crime to save myself a few thousand dollars in taxes. Does he even realize how ludicrous this sounds?
The Miracle in Chile
The miraculous rescue of the trapped miners in Chile presents a powerful statement in support of the miracle of our free-enterprise system and of the willingness of private sector entrepreneurs to step up and deliver in a time of crisis. The product which saved those trapped miners was a drill bit produced by a small Pennsylvania company called Center Rock. While Mr. Holt persists in vilifying corporate profits and business success at every turn, this profitable private sector innovation demonstrated that – any time, any place – a thriving business sector is often the difference between life and death.
More Double-Talk by Mr. Holt on Israel
At our debate last night in East Brunswick, Mr. Holt claimed that he was an “early sponsor” of the Iran Sanctions Act. Fact checking is an amazing thing: Mr. Holt was the absolute last of the 343 House members to sign on in support of this bill as a co-sponsor, adding his name on Dec. 9, 2009 – nearly 8 ½ months after the bill was introduced.
All-Hands-on-Deck for Our Trenton Blitz
Please mark 11:00 am, Sunday, October 24 on your calendar for Team Sipprelle to bring our hopeful message of economic empowerment to Trenton. After a short rally, we will break into teams in order to launch town-wide canvassing. We need as many volunteers as possible, so plan your road trip. Stand tall with us for these final critical weekend days. Stand by for the rally meeting location.
We Want Your Feedback on the Debates
If you were able to attend or view the recent Sipprelle-Holt debates, please give us your feedback on the highlight moments: http://www.allourideas.org/scottsipprelle
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…In these last few critical weeks to help us counter Mr. Holt’s full-throttle media volley of distortions and deceptions, please click here:
I have a fantasy this election season. No, my fantasy does not involve Michelle Bachmann, Nikki Haley and Sarah Palin in negligees.
In my fantasy this election is not decided by whether a candidate once had trouble paying their bills or got behind on their mortgage.
It is not decided by the fact that they grow Christmas trees or raise donkeys on their seven acre farm.
It is not decided by whether they dabbled in witchcraft while in college or by whether or not they inhaled 25 years ago.
It is not decided by whether Chuck Norris or Oprah or even Bruce Springsteen endorsed a candidate.
In my fantasy this election is about choosing between two competing views of the purpose of government. We can argue about which is better. Reasonable minds can differ vehemently about which is better. I know which one I subscribe to.
In my fantasy everybody who thinks bigger government is better, who wants government to provide for their (or someone else’s) retirement and healthcare and their housing, who wants more regulation and more taxes on anybody votes Democrat.
Everybody who wants to provide for themselves thinks that governments role in our life should be as limited as possible and wants less spending, less regulation and less taxes for all, those people vote Republican.
In short just this once, on Election Day we cut through the crap and decide which vision of America is the one we are going with.
Posted: October 19th, 2010 | Author:Art Gallagher | Filed under:Uncategorized | Comments Off on DISPATCHES FROM SAN JUAN
Due to overwhelming public interest the Monmouth County Medical Society has moved the venue of the NJ-6 candidates forum from Riverview Medical Center to the Oyster Point Hotel. The time remains 7PM on Thursday, October 21.
Catherine Johnson, Executive Director of the MCMS, emphasized that the event is not a debate. She said that each candidate would be given 10-15 minutes to speak, followed by a Q & A session.
Frank Pallone has not confirmed his attendance. Johnson said that his staff told her that they are working on his schedule.
Call Frank Pallone and tell him to attend the Monmouth County Medical Society’s candidates forum. His campaign office phone number is 732-571-4141. His congressional office phone number is 731-571-1140.
In case you missed it, last night’s debate between NJ-12 Congressional Candidates Scott Sipprelle and Rush Holt can be heard in six segments at statehousesteps.com
NJ-6 Congressional Candidates Anna Little and Frank Pallone will face off in their second debate on Thursday evening October 21 at the Riverview Medical Center’s Blasisdal Auditorium in Red Bank. The debate, sponsored by the Monmouth County Medical Society is open to the public, however registration is required. RSVP to Cathy: [email protected]
Little has made the repeal of ObamaCare, she calls is PalloneCare, the cornerstone of her campaign to unseat her 11 term incumbent opponent. Pallone boasts that the health care reform bill passed by the 111th Congress was his bill, not Nancy Pelosi’s and not President Obama’s.
A National Research poll by pollster extraordinaire Adam Geller has the candidates in a dead heat 44%-43% with a 5.66% margin of error. Little leads Pallone 58%-32% among voters who are aware of both candidates.
(HIGHLANDS, October 19) – Republican Congressional challenger Anna Little – responding to news reports indicating that Boeing has joined a growing list of major American corporations that have decided to curtail their employees’ health benefits in the wake of the government takeover of healthcare – today reiterated her determination to repeal Obamacare when she gets to Congress in January.”We said from the beginning,” said Little, “that if this monstrosity passed, companies would be forced to make a hard choice between dropping coverage for their employees or raising their employees’ contributions to their benefits. Yesterday, Boeing announced that it is joining the long and growing list of companies that is already beginning to curtail benefits for its employees – in this case, for their 90,000 non-union employees.
“The government takeover of healthcare – ‘Pallonecare,’ in honor of his declaration that ‘This is not Obama’s bill. This isn’t Nancy Pelosi’s bill. It’s MY bill’ – was wrong on several fronts. It is bad medicine, and it is bad for business. And I cannot for the life of me understand why our Representative would think it was a good thing to raise the cost of doing business at a time when we’re trying to dig our way out of a jobless recovery.
“Washington just doesn’t get it,” continued Little. “Rather than take the right kind of actions – like voting to extend ALL the current tax rates for EVERY federal taxpayer, so that the entrepreneurs and job-creators in our economy know what will be the tax rates they face next year, and can make investment decisions accordingly – our leaders focus on growing the size of government and the reach of government, pushing it into areas it has no business being.
“Repealing Pallonecare will be the first step to restoring our nation’s economic growth,” said Little. “And the second step will be to extend the current tax rates for ALL of America’s taxpayers, so that NO ONE faces a tax hike in the middle of a jobless recovery.
“Remember, you cannot change Washington without changing the people we send to Washington!”
The book chronicled corruption in New Jersey from the days of the Byrne administration through its publication in 2008during the Corzine years. The movie traces New Jersey’s culture of corruption all the way back to the delegates of the Continental Congress who were absent from Philadelphia because they were collecting tolls from travelers trekking from New York to the City of Brotherly Love, and to Richard Stockton who was the only man to sign both the Declaration of Independence and a loyalty oath to the British Crown.
Darrow noted that we’re still collecting those tolls along the NJ Turnpike. He didn’t mention that we named a college after Stockton. But that point was made by Sharpe James’ hero’s welcome back to Newark after being released from prison.
Both funny and exasperating, the movie is extremely entertaining. Not “especially for a documentary.” Audiences elsewhere in the country might nominate it for Best Comedy, but for this Jersey Guy, it is a tragedy. New Jersey audiences are likely have their laughter tempered by anger, frustration and shock. That was my experience and my sense of the Jersey dominated crowd at the Ziegfield last evening. Like the book, the movie is very funny, except that it is about us. It is filled with unbelievable tales of schemes that actually happened, and that we are still paying for.
Ingle, McClure and Politifax’s Nick Acocella are featured prominently, as is Governor Chris Chrisite. Carla Katz has a couple of cameos in camisoles.
Tony Darrow and Carla Cefalo
There’s lots of footage of familiar faces. From Monmouth County, there’s Terrence Weldon, John Merla and Solomon Dwek. Former Senate President John Lynch, George “The King of South Jersey” Norcross, Jim McGreevey, Charles Kushner, and the 44 politicians and rabbis arrested in the summer of 2009 are all featured.
Towards the end of the film, Governor Chris Christie is asked, “How do you change New Jersey’s image?” “You change New Jersey’s image by changing New Jersey,” was his answer, “change the culture and the image will follow.”
Everybody who lives in New Jersey should see this movie. Especially U. S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
The Soprano State opens Friday, October 22 at Clearview Cinemas in Red Bank, Aberdeen, Hoboken, Montclair, Morristown, Ocean Township and Tenafly. There will be a New Jersey 101.5 Exclusive Screening and live broadcast with The Jersey Guys and Bob Ingle on Wednesday, October 20 at 7pm at the Clearview Middlebrook Galleria Cinema 10on Route 35 south in Ocean Township.
during the Corzine years. The movie traces New Jersey’s culture of corruption all the way back to the delegates of the Continental Congress who were absent from Philadelphia because they were collecting tolls from travelers trekking from New York to the City of Brotherly Love, and to Richard Stockton who was the only man to sign both the Declaration of Independence and a loyalty oath to the British Crown.