| slugger27nj |
04-14-2007 08:32 AM |
Where do I start? First of all he's a liar. He went back on virtually every campaign promise he made.
Then there was the budget fiasco last July when the state shut down. The state wasn't allowed to legally operate without a budget in place according the state constitution. He shot down every budget proposal the legistators came up with that didn't include his demands for concessions for state union workers and a $.01 sales tax increase. The entire time the state was shut down, he was more concerned with getting the union workers back to work and the casinos up and running than he was providing services to everyone else....the services that we pay out the wazoo for. He touted the $.01 as being essential for property tax relief (more on this later), but only 1/2 the $ generated from this went to property taxes. The other $ went to pork funds (aka Christmas Tree funds) which are last minute budget add-ons to private interest groups that lobby the legislators for the loot. Most of these pork funds went to his cronies in the democratic party. This practice is currently being investgated by US Attorney Chris Christie.
Back to property tax relief....the 20% reduction we're all supposed to get is a joke and is nothing more than smoke and mirrors in an attempt to make the elected officials look good in an election year. NOBODY is going to get 20%. Sure, we'll get bigger refund checks, but when you figure in how much taxes will go up this year, inflation and other factors, the actual reduction will be far less than 20%. This proposal is not sustainable long term either, and is likely not to make it past this year.
Then he has the brilliant idea to sell off state assets such as the Turnpike and Parkway to raise $$ to lower the budget gap. This is another short term fix that will initially raise billions, but they're guaranteed to blow through it like everything else. All the yearly revenue that's generated from these would be lost, and the residents/commuters will be the ones ultimately screwed in the end. Whatever private entity that would buy these roads is guaranteed to raise tolls, and there won't be a damn thing we could do about it.
Now to union contract negotiations. You probably know that his ex-GF is Carla Katz....yes the leader of the state's largest workers union. The same union leader that he has contract negotiations with behind closed doors. The same union leader that he paid almost $500,000 for a house for in Hunterdon County (plus the $170,000 gift tax for it). The same union leader who's kids he's paying for to go to private school in PA. The same union leader who's going to Seton Hall Law School on a full scholarship after a certain Gov of ours made a very large financial contribution to the same institution. The same union leader who makes $102,000/yr, but yet had enough $$ to buy a $1.1 million condo with CASH in Hoboken (that just happens to be in the same building where Corzio lives). The same union leader who's now doing $500,000 in renovations to the first house (with non-union labor I should add). Plus, this same union leader is also renting another house so she can be closer to her classes at SH. Now where in the world is someone that makes $102,000/yr getting all this $$$ from. Yep, you guessed it. Yet he sees nothing ethically wrong with this. The legislators came up with a contract proposal that could've saved taxpayers $2 billion, but after he personally took them over, he came up with a savings of $44 million.....quite a difference. On the other hand, these negotiations could be just as unfair to the union rank and file because she could be conceding things that wouldnt' happen under normal circumstances. Neither one of them see anything ethically wrong with any of this. Just recently he finally conceded to have the 2 person ethics panel review the matter, but guess who appointed this ethics panel. So what's gonna come out of it? Uhh....nothing.
I could go on and on, but I'd like to enjoy my weekend now and not get myself anymore aggravated :lol:
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