Op-Ed: Pensions, Politics, and the New Jersey Education Association

By Michael Lilley

New Jersey’s public pension and health-benefit system is a looming disaster that threatens the future of the state. According to my research and a recent report by WNYC – under new, more realistic accounting standards, the total amount of the state’s unfunded public-pension and retiree healthcare liabilities is $253 billion. The state budget is… Read the rest of this entry »

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What the number one item in the Murphy-Guadagno debate should be tonight

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

Abbott Districts. This was a hairbrained idea created in 1985 by the New Jersey Supreme Court and defined in 1997 that determined that the Constitution required that each and every student in New Jersey must have an absolutely equal education. This wasn’t an issue of race or any other means by which we generally define the need for equal education. It was a determination that poorer school districts have less money to pay for education and therefore the State was required to assure that the poorer districts received state funding to equal the amount paid for education by local wealthier districts. Read the rest of this entry »

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Opinion: Vote Yes to fund library construction

By Don Burden

While it is imperative for voters to cast their ballots for all candidates they feel will continue to bring outstanding government to Monmouth County and its municipalities, careful attention should also be paid to the New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act, the first question on the ballot.   A yes vote here will provide $125,000,000 for construction and renovation projects throughout the state on a matching basis with the library itself.

The goals of the bond issue are to continue to upgrade of public library facilities, a goal that has been paramount to the Monmouth County Library Commission since its inception. Routine upkeep and continued improvements to keep up with the newest technology are necessary to meet community needs and strengthen the state’s economy through the creation of opportunities for New Jersey businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

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Opinion: Vote “No” on the Ballot Questions

By Shelly Kennedy

Shelly Kennedy

MONMOUTH COUNTY VOTERS: VOTE NO & NO on the public questions. One disallows income from legal settlements to be used to service general debt… the other INCREASES debt by allowing yet another bond issue for the “cause of the week”.

Here are the two state questions.

New Jersey 2017 ballot measures – Ballotpedia

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Remove the Statue of Asbury’s James Bradley, the Jim Crow of the North

By Tom DeSeno

James A Bradley statue in Asbury Park, NJ

Let me solve America’s current war on statues.  Not just weigh in – solve it.

Whether or not to remove a statue should be governed by the “doctrine of subsidiarity.”  What is subsidiarity?   The doctrine holds, “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need.”

In other words, problems are best solved by those closest to the problem. Read the rest of this entry »

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Guadagno: Murphy silence on arbitration cap telling

By Kim Guadagno

Kim Guadagno

Without a doubt, the number one problem facing Garden State families today is the ever-increasing burden of high property taxes.

To begin to address the problem and assist local governments in keeping costs under control, a 2 percent cap on interest arbitration awards was unanimously approved by our state Legislature and enacted by the governor in December 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

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Phil Murphy Stars in “Murphy’s Millions”, How to Spend $30 Million Without Telling Anyone About His Plan

by Phil Stilton TRENTON-In 1985, the actors were Richard Pryor and John Candy. Pryor was tasked to spend $30 million in 30 days so he could inherit $300,000,000. Running out of options, he turned to the one solid plan to throw money out the window, running for political office. Brewster’s Millions was a quirky and mildly… Read the rest of this entry »

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The ‘internet of things’ is sending us back to the Middle Ages

By Joshua A.T. Fairfield, Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University. Is this our relationship to tech companies now? Queen Mary Master Internet-enabled devices are so common, and so vulnerable, that hackers recently broke into a casino through its fish tank. The tank had internet-connected sensors measuring its temperature and cleanliness. The hackers got into the… Read the rest of this entry »

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While we’re taking down statues, let’s take Murphy off the ballot and give his house to Black Lives Matter

Photo credit, U.S. Embassy Berlin

Former Goldman Sachs Banker Phil Murphy took his campaign for governor into the gutter yesterday when he accused this Republican opponent, Kim Guadagno, of condoning racism and antisemitism.

“We are now seeing a disturbing trend emerge with Kim Guadagno and her campaign,” Murphy said in a statement, according to Politico. “Yesterday, she refused to criticize a sitting Assemblyman for posing with the Confederate flag, a symbol of bigotry and divisiveness. Today, we’ve learned that her choice for Lieutenant Governor, Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo, has been accused of systematic harassment and discrimination by the Chabad community in Woodcliff Lake. Yet, both times Lieutenant Governor Guadagno refused to criticize racist and anti-semitic speech despite the clear evidence.”

If Murphy believes that accusations in a lawsuit are “clear evidence” and that country singer Hank Williams Jr. and Assemblyman Parker Space are racists, maybe he is dumb enough to not have known that he was in charge of a $55 million investment in a Chinese shoe manufacturer that used slave labor while he was president of Goldman Sachs Asia. Read the rest of this entry »

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Let’s erase all the mistakes of the past

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

Statues are coming down everywhere because they represent people who fought for the confederacy, owned slaves or some other historical abomination. Names of buildings on campus are being changed, and one university, Stockton, has removed the bust of its namesake, Richard Stockton and is considering changing the name of the school because this signer of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves.

Since we are going down this road, we need to be consistent and I propose the following changes:

1. Gettysburg needs to be renamed. After all, James Gettys, the founder owned a slave. Henceforth, the Gettysburg Address should be known as the Adams County address, since John Adams didn’t own slaves. Read the rest of this entry »

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