GOP lays out a comprehensive plan for economic revival and long-term growth
Old Bridge, NJ: Recognizing that the residents of Old Bridge are tired of the Democrats one-shot revenue raising schemes, Township land-sales and raiding OBMUA surpluses to plug self-inflicted budget gaps, the 2011 Republican team of Owen Henry, Brian Cahill, Eleanor “Debbie” Walker and Dr. Jim Anderson have assembled the following comprehensive 6-point plan to revitalize Old Bridge’s stagnant economy and restore integrity to the Township Council. Members of the public and press can find and download a copy of this plan at http://www.oldbridgerepublicans.com/framework-for-change/.
A Framework for Change – Putting Old Bridge Back on the Right Track
Old Bridge is Open for Business
Demonstrate to the Business community that Old Bridge is a Business Friendly town
Create sustainable additional Revenue – Create jobs
Partner with State of New Jersey’s Economic Development Team
Complete Review of all Vendor Contract
Review and re-bidding of all contracts to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Additional review process to ensure fairness and least-cost
Township Administrative Efficiency
Complete review of Township Departments to eliminate redundancy and improve costs
Top to bottom analysis of Expenses
Complete Review of HR Policies and procedures
Fiscal Responsibility
Produce structurally balanced budgets
No more one shot Revenue Schemes
No more land sales to balance budgets
No more raiding the OBMUA’s reserve
Due Diligence
Immediately Repeal the newly enacted Lifetime Healthcare ordinance
Ensure Township employees have the tools they need to meet the needs of the Residents
Explore and invest in technology
Energy Audit to improve costs
Shared Service agreements with neighboring towns
Resident/Employee Outreach
Quarterly Resident Forums
Improved communication via Website, Social Media & in Emergencies
Mayor will be completely accessible to residents
Town Hall & employee forums with the Mayor
Open government – Restructure of Town Council meetings – Two Meetings per month
Republican Candidates Craig Marshall, Christopher Dean, and Marianne Longobardi respond to contest set forth by the Democrat incumbents
With just over a month to go until the election, Democrat incumbents Jon Hornik, Frank LaRocca, and Randi Marder have shown that they will do anything it takes to get elected; even if it means to buy a vote.
In the recent article published on Patch.com, Jon Hornik and the rest of his team are now trying to earn votes by offering a $250 reward for this so called “game” they have initiated. “I find it distasteful and certainly not what an election decision should be about.” Craig Marshall, candidate for Mayor, said “it is interesting that instead of talking about the issues that matter most to the citizens of Marlboro like taxes, jobs, spending, Mayor Hornik along with his running mates are trying to divert attention from their out of control spending and actions.”
Craig Marshall is referring to the sky rocket legal and engineering fees the town has endured over the last four years, as well as, Randi Marder’s husband doing business with the town while she is serving as a member of the council.
“The use of the car as a campaign gimmick only illustrates their failure to grasp the concerns of the taxpayers” said Marianne Longobardi, candidate for Town Council, “Instead of a one time $250 contest, the taxpayers of Marlboro would be better suited by leadership that will reduce their property taxes.”
Marshall, Dean, & Longobardi have pledged that if elected they will put to an end to the reckless spending and always put taxpayers first!
By Caroline Casagrande, also published in the October 6, 2011 edition of the triCityNews
Elections are about choices. And this year you have a clear choice: do you want to continue the new path of fiscal responsibility that started in 2009 with the election of Chris Christie, or go back to the bad old days?
My name is Caroline Casagrande and I’m running for the Assembly in the 11th Legislative District, along with my friends Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini. I’ve served parts of Monmouth County in the Legislature since 2008.
I believe we are the best candidates to represent you and keep us on the path to fiscal responsibility. Making New Jersey affordable for families and businesses, creating jobs, and restoring faith in a government which had become a punchline for late-night comedians is something that affects everyone, regardless of your gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
Those are the things I’ve been focused on since being elected four years ago and those are things I will focus on if I am re-elected.
Dan has given me this space to introduce myself to you. I thought I’d use the opportunity to set the record straight, then tell you a little about myself in my own words, rather than you hearing about me from someone who’s constantly hyperventilating.
Dan had been attacking me lately for, in his view, not taking a position on gay marriage. What I’ve said is I’m not going to speculate on hypothetical legislation. On issues like this, it’s easy to be for or against something in theory, but the details are the difference. That’s the approach I take on every bill I vote on- show me the details. Unfortunately, in the black and white, Keith Olbermann- Sean Hannity world we live in, this approach is now seen as a moral failing.
Of course, being lectured on political cowardice by Dan is the ultimate irony. This is the same person who was voted out of office after only one term after voting for the massive $2.8 billion Florio tax hikes in 1990, because he caved when pressure was put on him by the Trenton Democrats. It’s easy to understand why Dan would want to talk about other issues with that hanging around his neck.
In this difficult economic environment, people want leaders with the courage to cut spending, reduce the size of government, and get out of the pockets of businesses and families who can’t afford to pay any more. On those issues, the differences between us are clear: I’ve been a fierce advocate for them, and Dan voted for the largest tax increase in state history.
Let me explain a little about myself and why I’m so concerned about the direction of our state. I was born and raised in Monmouth County and I am currently raising my own family here with my husband Steve and our two young sons, Harrison and Teddy. I graduated from Red Bank Catholic, Penn State University and received my law degree from Rutgers. I am on the Board of Trustees of the Girl Scouts of Monmouth County and the Visiting Nurses Association.
In 2007, I decided to run for the General Assembly because runaway property tax increases (and tax increases of every other kind) were making New Jersey unaffordable for many families and businesses.
I come from a close-knit family. I want my parents to stay in New Jersey. I want my brothers and sisters to be able to afford to live here so my kids can hang out with their cousins. Government shouldn’t be taxing and spending to the point of breaking up families, but that’s what was happening. New Jersey was on the brink of financial disaster and no one seemed to care.
For example, in 2007 the Democrat controlled Legislature passed a $33.5 billion budget, capping a five year span where they raised the budget, $10 BILLION. That’s 50%! In just 5 years! Rather than do something crazy, like maybe spend less money, Governor Corzine was considering selling the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike.
Since 2009 with the election of Governor Christie, we have been able to start to undo the bad economic policies of the past that lead to tens of thousands of people and jobs fleeing our state. We have begun to restore fiscal sanity to our state and create private-sector jobs.
Last spring I voted for bi-partisan reform of the state’s pension and benefits system that will save taxpayers $120 billion over the next 30 years, and preserved the retirements for thousands of workers.
I voted to enact the 2% municipal cap legislation that forces local governments to live within its means and helps stabilize property taxes.
I have made it a point to root out arrogant and wasteful spending of your tax dollars. I’m leading the fight to forbid public employees from cashing in any unused sick and vacation time. I changed the law this year to increase penalties on people committing Medicaid fraud.
I created a web site www.stopgovernmentwastenj.com, for public workers to report waste, such as the fact the state used to waste $3.2 million per year on unused phone lines.
I will continue to fight for taxpayers and look for more ways to reduce the size and cost of government. Unlike my opponents, I will never support job-killing tax increases and will work to find bi-partisan solutions to the challenges facing our state. I hope I have earned your support on the issues that matter most to working families.
I would like to address a question recently presented to me by supporters of my opposition concerning my campaign for town council and the fact that my wife is a member of the Board of Education. I was advised that I shouldn’t have let my wife run for the Board of Education and just run my own campaign.
How ridiculous. This is not 1920 and no one tells her what to do. Both my wife and I are committed to public service. We are both veterans of the Navy, having honorably served our country. At that time, no one said that only one family member should serve, the Navy was happy to have us both serve, and they knew we were dedicated service persons.
My wife serves on the School Board with no salary or benefits and I pledge, if elected, to serve the town of Marlboro and not take one dime in salary or benefits. Which is more than I can say for all the incumbents up for election this year.
The only possible time that there could be a concern is if the school budget fails and the council is asked to vote on a budget. At that time, I will have no choice but to recuse myself from that vote. But since that circumstance has only happened once in the last ten years at the k-8 level, I don’t see the concern. In fact, under those odds, I still would have a better voting record than a current councilman who has only voted on the township budget twice in the last 6 years.
It is sad that instead of joining like minded families in commitment of service to others, the opposition would rather tear us down and find fault with our service. Of course, these alleged concerns don’t apply to them, after all there is no cause for concern with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council Member are all named partners in a local law firm or the Council President’s husband is receiving no-bid contracts from the town.
Governor Chris Christie is not the only Jersey Guy who announced yesterday that he is not running for president. On the Real Jersey Guys Radio Show with former Senator Dick LaRossa and Art Gallagher yesterday afternoon, Scott Sipprelle, last years GOP nominee for Congress in the 12th Congressional District, said he’s not running either.
Following suit, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin told Mark Levin that she’s also not running.
If you missed the show with Sipprelle, here’s a recording:
Ferraina: “I got $600,000? That’s not much,” he said. “There, you want a headline? ‘That’s not much.’
Casagrande: “Those are dollars that would be better served in the classroom”
Retired Long Branch School Superintendent Joseph Ferraina collected $616,123 in unused sick and vacation pay, not all at once in a lump sum at retirement, but over the course of course of his last ten years on the job, according to a report published at LongBranchPatch.
Go read the article. It is an outstanding piece of journalism by reporter Joe Malinconico who discovered the payments via an Open Public Records Act request and conducted a 57 minute phone interview with Ferraina.
According to LongBranchPatch, the records and Ferraina indicate that the educator only took off time from work if a close family member died; a half day for his father in 2004, a four hours when his brother died in 2005 and a partial day when his son died in 2008. On the day of his son’s funeral he went to work first thing in the mornin, left at 8:45 am, fifteen minutes before the services started, and was back at his desk by 2 pm.
Ferriana’s salary was $244,999 when he retired in June. His annual pension is $154,710.
Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande said Ferraina’s $600K was essentially taken from school children by legislative leaders who have refused to outlaw the practice of paying public employees for unused sick and vacation time.
“This is another example of a system that allows dollars to come out of the classroom and into the pockets of administrators,” Casagrande said. “We had a bipartisan compromise bill that addressed part of the problem and Governor Christie recommended a way to fix the problem, which I support.
“Legislators who agreed this practice is wrong should work with me to enact Governor Christie’s changes so we can end the payout of unused time before there is another example of wasted tax dollars,” Casagrande added.
Casagrande, R-Monmouth, sponsors a bill, A-4193, that incorporates the Governor’s recommendations to ban public employees from cashing in unused sick and vacation days. It incorporates recommendations made by Governor Christie to strengthen a legislative proposal that was approved by the Legislature last year. But Trenton Democratic legislative leaders have refused to advance an outright ban, just a cap on the amount public employees can cash in.
“Those are dollars that would be better served in the classroom,” Casagrande said. “As long as this practice is legal, public employees will continue to use it and every day legislative leaders delay, is another day accrued for public employees, which adds up to many dollars taken from taxpayers and school children.
“These golden parachutes are especially egregious in these trying economic times,” Casagrande added.
Trenton, NJ – Governor Chris Christie today announced that the historic, bipartisan pension reforms he signed into law on June 28, 2011 will save New Jersey’s property taxpayers and local governments $267 million in Fiscal Year 2012. Today’s announcement includes $224 million in local taxpayer savings in the Police and Fireman’s Retirement Systems (PFRS), in addition to previously released savings estimates of $43 million in the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS), for a total savings of $267 million across municipalities, school districts and counties this year.
“This $267 million in savings is the direct result of our bipartisan efforts to take on the biggest challenges facing our state and deliver sustainable, long-term property tax relief to New Jersey’s families and job creators. Because we took action, New Jersey taxpayers are now seeing that real results will ease strained local budgets and bring costs under control at the local level,” said Governor Christie. “These savings are critical to getting our economy moving again and creating jobs, while also protecting the core local government services New Jerseyans expect and deserve.”
This historic pension and benefits reform law provides more than $120 billion of savings on state and local government pension payments over the next 30 years. Due to the Governor’s commitment to reverse two decades of irresponsible neglect of the pension system, New Jersey’s taxpayers will now realize substantial savings over the next three decades.
The Governor’s comprehensive set of reforms means critical savings for state and local governments and real property tax relief for New Jerseyans.
·$79 Billion in State Contribution Savings: Over the next 30 years, the state pension contribution will be $148 billion, a projected savings of nearly $80 billion. Without reform, the state was projected to contribute $227 billion over the same period.
·$43 Billion in Local Government Contribution Savings: Over the next 30 years, local government pension contributions will be $70 billion, a projected savings of nearly $43 billion. Without reform, local governments were projected to contribute $113 billion over the same period.
“These initial savings are just a first installment of benefits that taxpayers will realize under the Governor’s landmark pension and benefit reform law,” said Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff. “New Jersey communities, from the biggest to the smallest, will see savings as result of these reforms.”
The $267 million represents local government savings from the projected costs of pension contributions in PFRS and PERS had Governor Christie’s pension reforms not become law. The statewide, year over year savings in pension costs experienced by local governments between fiscal year 2011 and fiscal year 2012 is approximately $84 million.
In seven five weeks New Jersey voters will have the opportunity to elect an entirely new state legislature.
Patrick Murray’s Monmouth University/Neptune Nudniks poll conducted in August indicates that New Jersey voters disapprove of their legislature by a 48%-35% margin. Democrats disapprove by 45%-38%. Independents, the majority, disapprove by a whopping 50%-28%. Surprisingly, Republicans approve of the legislature by a 45%-41% margin. Public workers disapprove by 55%-26%.
Based solely on those poll results, one might expect that we’d be in the middle of a spirited campaign with Democrats and public workers rallying to throw the Republicans out of office. Obviously that is not the case. Democrats control the legislature that their base and Independents disapprove of strongly.
Due to Dr. Alan Rosenthal’s decision that New Jersey voters are better off being continuously represented by legislators they don’t know, there are only a handful of competitive legislative races. The Democrats will continue to control the legislature for the next two years. Probably the next ten years.
Part 3
Now that Governor Christie has put an end to the presidential speculation and passionately reitierated his commitment to fixing our broken state, one might think that an election with every seat in the legislature up for grabs coming up in five weeks would be an opportunity for Christie to foward his fixes by picking up support in the legislature. Christie’s poll numbers are surging in New Jersey. An FDU poll last week indicated that 54% of New Jersey voters approve of the job he is doing. FDU also indicated that 47% of New Jersey voters disapprove of President Obama’s performance, down from dramatically from a May poll after Bin Laden was killed that indicated 56% of New Jerseyans approved of Obama.
Yet Christie apparently doesn’t see an opportunity. During the Q&A of his press conference yesterday the Governor said that he doesn’t see the upcoming legislative election as a referendum on his performance “given the map.” Once again the conventional wisdom is that the only vote that really mattered in this legislative election, and the next four, was the vote that Dr. Alan Rosenthal cast as the tie breaking member of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission adapting the Democratic gerrymandered map that assured “continuity of representation.”
Now that Christie is focused only on New Jersey maybe he will launched an unexpected campaign to defy conventional wisdom and the Rosenthal/Democratic map. During his fund raising trip last week the New Jersey GOP was one of the beneficiaries of his efforts. Christie has moved the electorate in unexpected ways previously. During the 2010 school board elections he called for New Jersey to defeat school budgets in towns where teachers would not agree to contribute to their healthcare. Could that be done in a legislative general election against a gerrymandered map? Its wishful thinking on my part. I would love to see him try it but would be more surprised if he did than if he didn’t.
12th Legislative District
Like the 11th and 13th districts, the 12th has more registered Democratic voters than Republicans, according to Labels and Lists. The district is compromised of the northern part of Burlington County (6,448 registered voters), Old Bridge in MiddlesexCounty (34,626 registered voters) Western Monmouth County (43,861 registered voters) and the Ocean County towns of Jackson and Plumsted (36,656 registered voters).
Despite a voter registration edge for the Democrats, 29,702 to 27,482 Republicans and 64,407 Independents, the district is considered among the safest of Republican districts. On the September 14 Real Jersey Guys Radio Show political strategist Chris Kniesler called the district “deep red.”
The Republicans expected to cruise to victory on November 8th are Assemblyman Sam Thompson, Old Bridge in the old 13th district ,who is running for Senate, Assemblyman Rondal Dancer, Plumsted of the old 30th district, and Monmouth County Freeholder Director Rob Clifton, Matawan, running for Assembly.
I honestly didn’t know that names of the Democratic Assembly candidates before reading The Asbury ParkPress’s write up on the district. They are Catherine Tinney Rome and William Spedding. The Asbury Park Press didn’t say where they are from.
The Democratic Senate candidate is Robert Brown of Old Bridge. Politikernj describes Brown as a “veteran loser.” He ran against Thompson for Assembly in the old 13th in 2007 and in 2009. In 07 his running mate was Middletown’s Patricia Walsh. In 09 he ran with Middletown’s Jim Grenefage.
While Brown doesn’t stand a chance against Thompson, he is providing some comic entertainment to the campaign. He has forsaken his liberal Democratic bonafides and is attempting to run to the right of Thompson. He has a Republicans for Brown website and has attempted to use twitter to bait this website and Save Jersey into supporting his candidacy.
Brown wants the campaign to be about Thompson’s state pension. He contends Thompson, 76 years old, is “double-dipping” because he is collecting his legislative salary and the pension he receives as a result of working for state health department for 22 years and the NJ Turnpike Authority for 3 years. Brown says he will give up his $14K per year police disablity pension if elected to the Senate where he would earn a $49K salary. He says Thompson should give up his $49K pension. Thompson says he won’t.
Brown collects a disablity pension as the result of an 1981 incident where he was shot in his hand and shoulder. He killed the perp who shot him. Brown recovered from his wounds and went back to work with the Old Bridge Police Department for five years when he requested a disability pension due to lingering physical and psychological disabilities. He finally retired from the Old Bridge PD in 1988, seven years after the shooting, and litigated his pension for another 11 years before prevailing in the NJ Superior Court Appellate Division.
In response to Brown’s numerous tweets trying to bait me into his nonsense, I tweeted back that he must not have recovered from his psychological disablities because he is crazy if he thinks I am going to help him get elected. I have no doubt that if Brown were a Senator he would recover his Democratic roots and do whatever Steve Sweeney told him to do.
While Brown wants the election to be about Thompson’s pension and his own heroism which he has been trying to parlay into a political career for years, The Asbury Park Press decided the campaign is about the horse racing industry.
In reality, unless something very unexpected happens, the 12th district race is a campaign about nothing as the Republicans will win a low turnout election easily with no credible opposition.
For months, I’ve been adamant about the fact that I would not run for President. My language was clear, and direct, no matter how many times I was asked the question. For me, the answer was never anything but no. My job here in New Jersey is my passion. I’ve always meant it when I’ve said I felt like the luckiest guy in the world to have this job. I’m doing a job that I love in the state I grew up in on behalf of some of the toughest and greatest people in this country.
It wasn’t until recently that I paused to really reflect on my decision. When you have serious people from across the spectrum, not to mention from all across the country, passionately calling on you to do something as consequential as running for President of the United States, I felt an obligation to earnestly consider their advice. Together with Mary Pat and our children I believe I had an obligation to seriously consider what people were asking me to do. I will always be grateful for their confidence in me.
Over the last few weeks I’ve thought long and hard about this decision. I’ve explored the options. I’ve listened to so many people and considered whether this was something that I needed to take on. But in the end what I’ve always felt was the right decision remains the right decision today. Now is not my time. I have a commitment to New Jersey that I simply will not abandon. That’s the promise I made to the people of this state when I took office twenty months ago, to fix a broken New Jersey, and when I look at what we’ve accomplished so far, I’m proud, but I know we’re not nearly done.
I’ve made this commitment to my state first and foremost. The people sent me to Trenton to get a job done, and I’m just not prepared to walk away. I know not everyone agrees with my decision, but my loyalty to this state is what it is.
Abraham Lincoln said, “I’d like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives; I’d like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”
That’s how I feel in my heart about New Jersey. I’m proud of this state and its people, and I know there’s still much more we need to do together to insure the future we want for all of our children. So this is not the time to leave unfinished business for me. The stakes are too high and the consequences are too real. So New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.
Let me say this. I’m grateful, I’m grateful to the many people both in New Jersey and around the country who have spoken to me over these last weeks and months. I’m grateful for their confidence in me. I’m grateful for the faith that they place in me. It’s been unbelievably humbling and inspiring. I can only hope that I’m able to live up to this confidence and to make it count doing the job I need to do here at home.
