New Jersey’s Difficult Choices

Governor Chris Christie can no longer claim that New Jersey is a model for bi-partisan governance that Washington should emulate.

Yesterday, Senate President Steve Sweeney, playing the role of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) before The Star Ledger’s Editorial Board, threatened to shut down New Jersey’s goverment if Governor Chris Christie doesn’t support a budget for the next fiscal year that makes the state’s payment into the pension system required by the “landmark” legislation that Sweeney and Christie hammered out in 2011, and that Christie has touted as one of his major accomplishments.

Sweeney is reacting to what Christie said about the pension system during his State of the State Address two weeks ago.

Here’s what Christie actually said:

Lastly, let me share with you one more, hard truth that makes this new attitude of choice necessary for New Jersey’s future.

We have discussed many exciting opportunities for investment in our state. K-12 education. Higher education. Crime prevention. Drug rehabilitation and job training. Health care. Infrastructure investment. Lower taxes. Job growth. All exciting, all of which, done responsibly, could make New Jersey an even greater place. But here is the simple truth. We cannot afford to do it right now.

Why?

Because of our pension and debt service costs. For the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget, the increase in pension and debt service costs could amount to as much as nearly $1 billion.

That’s nearly $1 billion we can’t spend on education. That we can’t invest in infrastructure improvement. That we can’t use to put more cops on the street. That won’t be available to improve access to health care. And for those who would advocate for higher income taxes like the ones I have vetoed before, remember that the amount raised would not even cover the increase in our scheduled pension payment and would undoubtedly make us less competitive in the job market nationwide.

These are the consequences of failing to engage in an attitude of choice. If we continue in an era where we believe we can choose everything, we are really choosing nothing. We need to have the conversation now about further changes to our pension system and to adding further to the state’s debt load. But the time to avoid this conversation and these choices is nearly over.

If we do not choose to reduce our soaring pension and debt service costs, we will miss the opportunity to improve the lives of every New Jersey citizen, not just a select few.

I am ready to engage in those conversations and help, with you, to truly create an attitude of choice. The result will be a better, smarter, stronger New Jersey. The results from our refusal to choose – a weaker New Jersey with a middle class burdened by even higher taxes. That is an abandonment of our duty.

Centuries ago, a philosopher wrote that “choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”  And this remains true for New Jersey today.

Our destiny is not set – it is the product of the choices we make. Our future is not set – it, too, is the product of the choices we make from this day forward.

So let us choose wisely.  And let us not fail to act.  Let us create an attitude of choice.

 

Christie concluded that we should choose to fund better schools, safer streets and creating opportunity “for every citizen, through an excellent education, a productive job, and a thriving community.”

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2014 Predictions

Happy New Year MMM readers!  2014 has been a great year so far!

Here’s what we expect in the year ahead.

Senator Cory Booker will narrowly defeat Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick in the U.S. Senate election.  Bramnick will be the instant front runner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the 2016 special election.

Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik will be a speaker at numerous Democratic Clubs throughout New Jersey and will establish himself as a major fundraiser for Democratic candidates on the municipal and county levels.  Hornik will proclaim that the only thing he is running for is reelection as Marlboro’s mayor in 2015.

The 11 incumbent New Jersey Congressmen running for reelection will win. The Republican nominee in the third congressional district seat currently held by Congressman Jon Runyon, who is not seeking a third term, will be elected.  Tommy DeSeno will write a column complaining about gerrymandered districts.

Senate President Steve Sweeney will keep picking on Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. 

Governor Chris Christie will have more public appearances in Iowa, South Carolina, Texas and Florida, combined, than he will have Town Hall Meetings in New Jersey.

Anna Little will seek the Republican nomination for Congress in the 6th district, hoping for a third shot at Congressman Frank Pallone.  Little will lose at the Monmouth and Middlesex nominating conventions and wage a primary. The Bayshore Tea Party Group will sit out the 6th district primary, citing their commitment to Dr. Alieta Eck’s campaign in the 12th district.  Eck will be unopposed for the 12th district nomination to take on Congressman Rush Holt.

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Tom Kean Jr. in a fight he just can’t win: Moran

Tom Kean Jr. in a fight he just can’t win: Moran (via NJ.com)

It was Christmas season, a light snow covered the ground, and all across New Jersey children were mailing letters to Santa Claus swearing they had been good. But in the state Senate, a political brawl was breaking out, one that guarantees the New Year…

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Opinion: Sweeney Starts to Gather Strength for Possible Governor Bid

Opinion: Sweeney Starts to Gather Strength for Possible Governor Bid (via NJSpotlight)

When Senate President Steve Sweeney took a victory lap in celebration of the Democrats’ maintaining their legislative majorities, it served also as the start of an effort to cast himself as a credible candidate for his party’s gubernatorial nomination…

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Hornik For Governor?

Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik. Photo via facebook.

When the news broke that Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik was eyeing a run for governor,  he asked for MoreMonmouthMusings’ endorsement.

So here goes: MoreMonmouthMusings hereby endorses Mayor Jonathan Hornik for the Democratic nomination for governor in the next gubernatorial election, whenever that is.

Much of the political news out of the League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City last week centered around the developing race between State Senate President Steve Sweeney and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop. Almost as an afterthought, PolitickerNJ reported, yesterday, that Hornik wanted his name added to the gubernatorial mix.

PolitickerNJ.com spied veteran Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik at the cocktail  parties and meet-and-greets in Atlantic City last week and as Democrats prepare  for Senate President Steve Sweeney versus Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Hornik  said he wanted to add his own name to the gubernatorial sweepstakes.

“I would definitely not rule out running in 2017 or before,” said Hornik. “I  love being mayor of Marlboro, and I am running again in two years, but I think  we have a story to tell.”

Hornik won re-election in 2011 with nearly 70% of the vote.

This year, Incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Christie won 75% of the vote in  Marlboro while Hornik’s Democrats went 3-0 in local contests.

Just weeks from Governor Chris Christie’s reelection, the race for the next Democratic gubernatorial nomination has already started because Christie’s presidential prospects could result in a Special Election for Governor in 2015 or 2016.  Should Christie resign as governor to become a full-time presidential candidate, Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno would become governor. There would be a special gubernatorial election for the remainder of Christie’s term as part of the next general election, unless the resignation happens within 60 days of the next election.

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Kean-Christie Wounds Are Festering

While Trenton Democrats are planning their aggressive “lame -duck” agenda with an eye on making Governor Chris Christie’s 2016 prospects more difficult, New Jersey’s two most popular Republicans, Christie and former Governor Tom Kean, are letting hurt feelings over the attempted ouster of Tom Kean, JR as Senate Minority Leader dominate the news on the Republican side of the aisle.

In case you missed it or didn’t care, on the heels of his landslide reelection with no coattails, Christie made it known that he wanted Senator Kevin O’Toole to replace Kean, JR as the Republican leader in the upper house of the legislature.  Junior got wind of the coup attempt and rallied the majority of the caucus to stick with him.  The day after the election, Christie publicly expressed his commitment to continue working with Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney and declined to comment on who the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate should be.  Junior released a letter signed by 11 of the 16 Republican Senators that expressed their support of him.  The following morning, prior to the Republican caucus meeting to elect their leader, Christie summoned Junior and Republican Senators to his Statehouse office, in view of the press corps, to lobby for O’Toole taking over the minority leadership.

Junior fought back and 9 other Republican Senators stuck with him, giving him a 10-6 victory over O’Toole and giving Christie the first act of defiance from Republicans in four years.

Why did Christie want to oust Junior?  He’s not saying.  Speculation centers on two reasons; 1) Christie was doing Sweeney’s bidding in the Senate President’s ongoing feud with Junior for having the gall to try and win his seat in the Senate and 2) Christie wanted Junior to take the fall for Republicans not picking up any seats in the legislature.

After Junior retained his leadership post, he and O’Toole emerged together from the caucus meeting and put on happy faces to the press, pledging unity and to get to work on the people’s business.  That should have been the end of it.

But then Kean, SR started talking to reporters, expressing his frustration and disappointment with his mentee, Christie.  Kean SR’s comments were “tinged with bitterness” toward Christie, The Record’s Charles Stile wrote on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Kean, SR kept his disappointment with Christie in the news by granting an interview to The Star Ledger’s Matt Friedman wherein he placed the blame for the Democrats retaining the legislature squarely with the Governor.

“You assume that if the governor wins by 20 points or more you’d have coattails,” Kean said. “No governor I know in any state has won by 20 points and not had coattails.”

By Friday, the Kean-Christie story had seemed to blow over. But it had not.

Yesterday, The Associated Press’s Angela Delli Santi posted a story quoting Kean SR as being “as surprised as I’ve ever been in my life in politics,” and how disappointed he is that Christie has yet to call him or Junior, to mend fences.

None of this reflects well on Christie, the Keans or the NJ GOP.

And none of it will help Republicans, Christie and members of the legislature, continue to “turn Trenton upside down.”

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Has Christie hitched his wagon to Democrats? Will the bi-partisanship continue?

Governor Chris Christie and HUD Sec Shaun Donovan in Highlands, April 29, 2013

Now that Governor Chris Christie has completed his victory lap with appearances on all four network Sunday morning talk shows, the whole world thinks he’s running for president.

His presidential message of getting things done in a bi-partisan manner is compelling given the current national political environment.  If the presidential election was next November, I think he would beat Hillary Clinton or any Democrat.

But the presidential election is in 2016. Before running for president Christie has a year or two governing New Jersey and a year, 2014, as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

2014 will be a busy year for Christie.  In addition to the undefined “big things” he said he will accomplish in his second term, there are 36 gubernatorial seats (38 if you consider the U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) up in ’14. 19 (20 if you count Guam) of those seats are currently held by Republicans.

In New Jersey, much of Christie’s first term agenda remains undone.  Tax cuts, “the property tax toll kit,” civil service reform, education reform, reshaping the State Supreme Court, and gutting COAH are all incomplete.  Rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy is his mission. Much of New Jersey is still hurting one year out from the storm.

If Christie can cross off most of his New Jersey agenda from his to do list, get the remaining Sandy survivors back into their homes, and pick up some gubernatorial seats next year, the 2016 Republican presidential primaries will not be much of a challenge. No other GOP contender would be able to match Christie’s “I can get the job done and I know how to win” message.

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Breaking: Possible shake up in GOP Legislative Leadership

UPDATED: KEAN REELECTED MINORITY LEADER

The statehouse press corps is buzzing news on twitter about a possible change in the GOP leadership in the New Jersey State Senate.

Current Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean JR has been fighting to keep his leadership post since the election results…no pick ups in the Senate…on Tuesday.  Kean released a letter signed by 11 of the 16 Republican Senators pledging their support for his reelection as leader to the press yesterday.  Governor Christie declined to comment about the possible change in  the Republican leadership in the Senate, but said that the he is “committed to Steve Sweeney” being President of the Senate.

Within the last half hour, The Star Ledger’s Matt Friedman and PolitickerNJ’s Matt Arco both tweeted that Kean entered Christie’s office and left a few minutes later, looking unhappy.  Senator Joe Kyrillos entered Christie’s office 5 minutes after Kean left.

Neither Kean or Kyrillos would speak to reporters.

The Republican Senate Caucus is meeting to elect a their leader for the next legislative session this afternoon.

Kean’s relationship with Sweeney is not good, as Sweeney resented Kean targeting the Senate President seat.  Sweeney responded by keeping all Republican sponsored legislation off the calendar.  Since Tuesday’s election, Sweeney has been publicly taunting and teasing Kean for not gaining any ground for Republicans when the Governor was reelected by over 20%.

Christie needs Sweeney’s cooperation in order to get anything accomplished in a second term, whether Christie runs for president or not.  If Kean’s unworkable relationship with Sweeney is an obstacle, tapping his trusted friend, the ever congenial Kyrillos, as Minority Leader makes perfect sense.

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Sweeney Victory Tour Underscores Status as Gubernatorial Frontrunner (via NJSpotlight)

Fifteen hours after Gov. Chris Christie used his reelection victory rally to state his case for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) staged a four-county victory tour of his own that effectively…

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Gopal: When Dems Take Over Monmouth County, Republicans Will Never Win Statewide In New Jersey

There’s little hope for Republicans anyway if they don’t win a legislative chamber this year.

Vin Gopal’s ambitions are bigger than winning Democratic control of Monmouth’s county and municipal governments.  He wants to make sure New Jersey never again has another Republican governor or U.S. senator.

“Once we turn Monmouth County blue, a Republican will never win statewide,”  Gopal said last night at the annual Monmouth County Democrats Annual Chairman’s Ball, according to a report on PolitickerNJ.

State Senate President Steve Sweeney was on hand to boost Gopal’s plan of taking over Monmouth County from the bottom up.

“Build the party, bring as many people as you can to strengthen this  organization, … and then once you create it you can win, there’s no reason why not,” said Senate President Steve Sweeney, who was invited to speak at the  Monmouth County Democrats Annual Chairman Ball.

“It’s the effort that you put in and you’ve got to build from the foundation  up,” he said, explaining first it’s the councils and then the freeholder  boards.

“No Republican can win statewide if we can win this county,” Sweeney said.  “It’s just a matter of attitude, energy and focus, and that’s what I’m seeing  out of this county.”

Unless New Jersey Republicans win at least one chamber of the legislature on November 5, it is unlikely that a post Chris Christie Republican will be elected statewide for the foreseeable future anyway or that Republicans will ever control the legislature again.

If Republicans can’t pick up seats this year when they have a hugely popular governor cruising to a 30 point win on the top of the ticket, when will they?  Not until there is another Jim Florio or Jon Corzine in Drumthwacket, or a Democratic version of Richard Nixon or George W. Bush in the White House, if even then.

Christie is going to be reelected by huge margins.

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