Supreme Court Decision Changes New Jersey’s Political Landscape

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 is a game changer nationally and particularly in New Jersey where teachers and government workers pay checks are dinged significantly for union dues that ends up paying seven figure salaries to union executives and for political campaigns supporting politicians who do not deliver. (More on those lying politicians next week when the NJ School Funding Formula is finalized)

SCOTUS decided, 5-4, that public sector employees cannot be forced to pay union dues or fees that support union activity.
Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

N.J. Must Ask More of Our Leaders in Trenton

Governor Christie and the New Jersey Legislature are about to increase the gas tax by 23¢ per gallon taking effect for Thursday morning and overnight becoming the seventh highest gas tax in the country. Unfortunately, hiking the gas tax treats only a symptom of the broken Transportation Trust Fund. We commend legislative leadership for the serious… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Americans for Prospertity Opposes Christie’s Supreme Court Picks

Steve Lonegan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Chapter of Americans for Prosperity and Governor Chris Christie’s opponent in the 2009 GOP gubernatorial primary, has come out in opposition to Christie’s nominees for the State Supreme Court.

Chatham Mayor Bruce Harris and First Assistant Attorney General Phillip Kwon were nominated by Christie in January.  The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on their nominations on March 22.

In a press release issue last night, Americans for Prosperity said that they expected to testify against the nominations and that it ” will be mobilizing its army of more than 60,000 citizen activists as part of its efforts to have impartial, originalist justices confirmed to the state’s highest court.”

“After careful review and consideration of these nominees, Americans for Prosperity cannot endorse their confirmation to the state’s highest court and will work to see that they are not confirmed by the state Senate,” Lonegan said.

 “The governor was elected on the promise to change the makeup of the court by replacing activist justices with originalists who will interpret the law, not make law from the bench,” continued Lonegan, “and Americans for Prosperity was fully prepared to support him in achieving this goal.

“However, there is nothing in the backgrounds of either of these nominees to assure us that Mayor Harris or Mr. Kwon will practice judicial restraint and put a stop to this court’s endless usurpations of the powers of the other branches of government if seated on the Supreme Court.”

• Tweet