I suppose it should be no surprise that unions are sending their members to the Port Authority toll hike hearings to make emotional appeals to raise the tolls on non-union commuters.
Nor is it a surprise that the few commuters who can attend the hearings are objecting to having to bear the burden of the cost of infrastructure and cost overruns at the World Trade Center.
InTheLobby reports that fear of a credit downgrade might be what is really behind the push for the toll and fare hikes.
If you’re not attending the online hearing this afternoon between 5 and 6, tune into the LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show with special guest Bob Ingle, on WIFI 1460 AM or here.
Yesterday there were four real Jersey guys on the radio from 5PM-6PM for what might have been the last LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show on WIFIAM1460.
I’m not knocking THE Jersey Guys, Casey, Rossi and Bob Ingle on Fridays, formerly of 101.5 FM. I enjoyed their show and listened to it whenever I was on the road in the afternoon. My favorite all time show was Casey screaming, “YOU’RE LOSING VOTES RIGHT NOW” at gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie during the 2009 primary campaign while Christie was trying to finesse an answer to a particularly blunt question.
I think 101.5 was nuts to cancel the show that they themselves promoted as the most successful afternoon radio show in the country. I doubt the petition to get the show back on the air will make any difference, but if you want to be part of it, you can do so here.
As good as the show was, my friend Tommy DeSeno is right. As talented as they are, Casey, Rossi and Ingle are not really Jersey guys. Casey’s from California, Rossi from Brooklyn and Ingle from Georgia. They’re not Jersey guys like the four natives who were on the radio yesterday afternoon, my partner Senator Dick LaRossa born in Trenton on July 1 (Happy Birthday Dick!), Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre, and yours truly.
Straight Talk On The Pension and Health Care Reforms
While our show was not nearly as funny as THE Jersey Guys, it was the most informative and honest report of the pension and benefits reform package anywhere to date, if I do say so myself.
My hat is off to Declan O’Scanlon for coming back on the show for second week in a row knowing that I was not buying the hype of the “landmark” nature of the reforms and for answering our questions frankly.
O’Scanlon is high on the impact the reforms are making compared to what would have happened if the status quo continued. However, with only a little dancing, he did acknowledge that without significant economic growth, New Jersey will be in deep doo doo as the taxpayers increase their state pension contributions by $500 million each year over the next seven years. That doesn’t include the municipal pension contributions that come from property taxes.
Botton line…there is a very real possibility that the pension reforms in particular will lead to large tax increases on the state and local levels and/or draconian spending cuts. O’Scanlon did not dispute that. He argued things would be much worse had the administration and legislature done nothing.
During the second half hour Halfacre was upbeat about 1) the fact that the deal could have been done at all given the historical nature of things in Trenton, and 2) the savings Fair Haven taxpayers will realize from the health care end of the reforms.
The highlight of the show was Halfacre’s explanation of how he and the Fair Haven Council have been able to lower property taxes three years in a row and counting: 1) Saying no, 2) Pissing people off, 3) Standing firm when the pissed off people are yelling at you, 4) Doing all of that and getting reelected.
Why was Tuesday’s show perhaps the last LaRossa and Gallagher Show? Dick and I are thinking of changing the name of the show to The Jersey Guys or The Real Jersey Guys. We’re hoping Millennium Radio will issue and cease and desist letter or maybe even sue us so we can get lots of free publicity and beat out Deminski and Doyle on Tuesday afternoons.
Assembly Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon returns to the LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show this afternoon at 5 PM. O’Scanlon will continue the conversation we started last week on the impact of the new pension and health care system for government employees and fill us in on the moving and shaking happening this week in Trenton with budget negotiations. The State must have a new budget by Thursday night at midnight.
During the second 1/2 hour of the show we will be joined by Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre. Halfacre will be discussing the impact of the pension and health care reforms on municipalities.
The LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show, sponsored by Repatriot Radio, features former State Senator Richard LaRossa and your favorite blogger. It is broadcast every Tuesday afternoon from 5PM to 6PM on WIFI AM 1460 and on the world wide web here.
Listeners are encouraged to call into the show with questions and comments. The call in number is 609-447-0236.
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.
