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Three Ring Circus
July 2, 2009 PISTOL-PACKIN MAMA Which First Lady carried a gun and was a sharpshooter?
June 30, 2009
QUOTABLE QUOTES
" When a politician decides to make a living of politics, that's the day he becomes corrupt."
-Jerry Springer June 29, 2009 SWITCHAROO IN THE 19th?
Despite South Amboy Mayor John T. O'Leary's statement that he was still planning to run for Assembly in the 19th District, we hear otherwise. Influential Democrats have decided they can't afford to keep O'Leary on the ticket, with subpoenas having been sent to city offices asking about his insurance business and his disclosure of the business. In his interview with the Home News on Thursday, O'Leary acknowledged that "All cards are on the table ... I can't go forward until this is vetted,'' referring to his candidacy for the Assembly, and charges in a nine-page letter that has been circulated around town. O'Leary has denounced the letter, which accuses him of corruption, and insists he has done nothing wrong. But we hear the decision has already been made to replace O'Leary -- the only question remaining is who will take his place. With a U.S. attorney who made his reputation sending politicians to jail heading up the GOP ticket, now is not the time for candidates with subpoenas to be running for office. (6/29/09)
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Three Ring Circus Archive
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Daily Muse: CALLING PLAN B
July 2, 2009
So here comes President Obama, riding in on the federal stimulus bus, to rescue Jon Corzine.
For a governor who clearly feels that his only path to re-election is to Krazy Glue himself to Obama’s coattails, the visit couldn’t come at a better time.
Not when the latest Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind Poll polls show that 20 percent of Democrats prefer Republican Chris Christie to Obama; Public Policy Polling found 16 percent of Democrats prefer Christie. (Those same polls have Christie up by 6 and 10 points, respectively.)
Corzine’s glee over “his friend” Obama’s visit was evident. For Corzine to win, those Democrats have to come home. And with Obama’s popularity averaging about 59 percent, could Corzine ask for a better salesman?
But we have a question.
Today, the national unemployment rate hit 9.5%, a 26-year high. Many economists predict the rate could hit 10% by the end of the year.
What happens to Corzine’s re-election prospects if the unemployment rate continues to rise, and the public begins to blame Obama?
What’s Corzine’s Plan B then?
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Guest Column: POLITICAL ALLIES DON’T ALWAYS SING IN TUNE
July 2, 2009
By RICHARD A. LEE
In a symphony orchestra, each musician has a specific role, but as a group they work in unison toward a common goal – to make beautiful music. If just one member of the orchestra decides to do things differently, the results can be disastrous.
The dynamics of symphony orchestras come to mind because of two recent events in which political allies appear to be singing from different song sheets.
The first of these took place on Thursday at a Congressional hearing on deferred prosecution agreements. For New Jersey Democrats, the session conducted by the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law provided an opportunity to score political points because the star witness was GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie and the agenda included questions regarding deferred prosecution agreements that took place while he was the state’s U.S. Attorney.
Not surprisingly, Republicans charged that the hearing was politically motivated (Christie labeled the session a political circus after he finished his testimony). Meanwhile, Democrats argued that the hearing was needed to determine whether deferred prosecution agreements require additional oversight, as proposed in legislation co-authored by two Democratic New Jersey congressmen. That’s not a bad argument – unless someone from your own party starts singing from a different song sheet.
And that’s more or less what happened when a member of the Obama Administration testified that deferred prosecution agreements – in their current form -- have been an effective part of the federal government’s efforts to combat corporate fraud. He also warned that the proposed legislation would weaken those efforts.
For more on Rich Lee's view on how political allies can sometimes hurt a campaign, read his guest column here.)
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Daily Muse: HEALTH INSURANCE, YES; REBATES, NO
July 1, 2009
So you ask yourself, why is New Jersey in so much trouble financially?
When will our lawmakers realize that they cannot continue to spend money that its taxpayers do not have?
Now, you’d have thought with the state facing a multibillion dollar deficit in this fiscal year, that they’d have figured out that now is not the time to be adding to or expanding programs, however good intentioned.
Ah, but you’d be wrong.
This is, after all, New Jersey.
Did you know that as part of the new state budget, we expanded eligibility in FamilyCare, which is the state’s free or low-cost health insurance program for low-income families?
Yes, now parents in a family of four who earn up to $44,100 – up from the current $33,075 – will now qualify for insurance in FamilyCare. The state anticipates that an estimated 17,000 uninsured working parents would qualify for FamilyCare under the expansion.
Now, Gov. Jon S. Corzine will tell you it’s proof that New Jersey is living up to its progressive values.
We would counter that it shows New Jersey’s being made to live up to Corzine’s progressive values, whatever the cost.
For FamilyCare doesn’t only cover the poor. In New Jersey, children in families of four whose annual household income is $77,175 – or 359% of the federal poverty limit -- qualify for low-cost coverage under FamilyCare. Children in a 7-person household earning $116,445 also qualify.
You get the irony in that, don’t you?
In New Jersey, we the taxpayer get to help pay for health insurance for families of four who earn up to $77,175 because they can’t afford it and it’s the right thing to do.
But that same family of four won’t be getting a property tax rebate check, because the governor and Legislature set the cap on rebates at $75,000.
So taxpayers will pay for part of that family’s health coverage, but Corzine and the Democrats won’t send that same family a property tax rebate check.
And we wonder why New Jerseyans are cynical when it comes to their government.
But the real issue is this. Republicans are projecting a budget deficit of $10 billion or so in next year’s state budget. Even Democrats acknowledge it will be a multibillion-dollar number.
Is now the time to be expanding any government program, when we can’t afford the ones we have now?
Even Corzine had originally planned to postpone the expansion – a move that made state Sen. Joseph Vitale threaten to withhold his support.
But then Corzine said, the state got additional federal help for FamilyCare, so the program could be expanded.
"It is not because we appropriated money in the budget, it is because we're getting the support from our partner in Washington to do what it is that we have committed to do," Corzine said. "There was no deal, no compromise.
Right.
But what happens to that commitment if the federal money dries up? Do you take away that expansion?
You know, like you took away those property tax rebates?
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Daily Muse: TOUGH CHOICES
June 29, 2009
Have you checked out Gov. Corzine's website lately?
There's a video on it that talks about the new FY2010 budget, whose message is "Tough times demanded tough choices, and this budget made the right choices."
Which, frankly, seems more like a campaign video than a gubernatorial video.
So, what's it doing on his official governor's office website, instead of his campaign site?
Was this really the best use of tax dollars?
Or just more evidence how the governor doesn't get it.
You learn alot about Corzine's view of the budget on his official website.
Why he even has a list touting "10 Good Things About the Budget."
Bet you didn't know that this budget provides significant property tax relief to all New Jerseyans?
We didn't either. Especially considering that 1.2 million fewer New Jerseyans will be receiving property tax rebates this year versus last year.
But Gov. Corzine says he does.
By the way, he leaves a few other things off his budget list.
But no worries, New Jersey.
We made a list, too.
We'll call it, "10 Things Gov. Corzine Hopes You Forget About the 2010 Budget"
1) More than 1.2 million fewer New Jerseyans will receive rebate checks.
2) Taxes are increased by $1.2 billion.
3) Income tax rates will rise from 6.37 percent to 8 percent on household income between $400,000 and $500,000; from 8.97 percent to 10.25 percent for income between $500,000 and $1 million, as first proposed in March; and from 8.97 percent to 10.75 percent on income over $1 million.
4) Cigarette taxes are going up 12.5 cents per pack to $2.70.
5) Taxes are going up by 3.5 cents on a typical 0.75 liter bottle of wine and 22 cents on a 0.75 liter bottle of liquor.
6) Businesses will continue to pay a 4 percent surcharge on their corporate taxes that has been charged for three years but was supposed to expire.
7) Taxes on group accident and health insurance premiums will go up for one year. Taxes on high-risk insurance policies, such as beachfront homes, will jump permanently from 3 percent to 5 percent.
8) Taxes are increased on lottery winnings of more than $10,000.
9) The budget skips some $2.2 billion in pension payments.
10) The budget relies on more than $2.2 billion in federal stimulus money that won't be available next year, leaving a hole to fill next year.
You get the idea.
Tough choices, huh?
For the taxpayer, yes. For the bureaucracy? Eh, not so much.
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Daily Muse: MR. CHRISTIE GOES TO WASHINGTON
June 26, 2009
Quick: How long will it take for Democrats to turn Chris Christie's appearance before a congressional panel Thursday into a campaign commercial?
We figure there will at least be a Web ad by Monday.
That's not to say that Christie didn't do a good job -- the New York Times says his appearance was "by turns triumphant and testy" -- but this never was about deferred prosedcution agreements. This was always about Democrats lookiing to help Gov. Jon S. Corzine in his re-election bid.
That's certainly how the national media played it, with Politico.com saying, "The New Jersey governor’s race decamped to Washington for the day Thursday, as Democrats and Republican Chris Christie sparred at a tense hearing that quickly degenerated into a partisan melee."
At the very least, Christie's appearance showed he was at least one Republican who isn't afraid to combat Democrats on their own turf, which is an anomaly in Washington these days.
Maybe that's why it gained so much interest.
But here's a sampling of the national coverage:
From Politico,com:
Christie’s decision to appear before the subcommittee was noteworthy in itself: He had previously expressed concern that the hearing would turn into political theater – which it promptly did.
“I look forward to the testimony of Mr. Christie,” said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), the subcommittee chair, in his opening statement. “There’s some information I have that Bristol-Meyers-Squibb, that U.S. Attorney Christie required them to endow a chair in business ethics at his alma mater, Seton Hall. I’m interested to hear about this because if a member of Congress required anybody to endow a chair at a school, there would be outrage.”
Cohen asked Christie if Zimmer, a manufacturer of medical devices, had turned down Christie’s recommendation of Ashcroft as a monitor. “No, in fact sir, the complete answer to that…” Christie began. “That’s the complete answer to that,” Cohen interrupted. “No, no it’s not, sir, it really isn’t,” replied Christie. The Indiana-based Zimmer company, Christie said, wanted to avoid a “big New York law firm.” Ashcroft, from Missouri, offered the “Midwestern sensibilities” the company was seeking, Christie said. Cohen pushed on. “You made an offer they couldn’t refuse,” he said. Christie objected, and the two ran over each others’ words until Cohen said loudly: “I’ve got the microphone.” “Sir, you said that I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse,” Christie said, earning a “That’s right” from Cohen. “First of all, it’s an ethnically insensitive comment by you, first of all, to an Italian-American and secondly…” Cohen interjected, “I had no idea were Italian-American…” Christie again cut him off. “And secondly, sir, you were not in the room when those negotiations took place, sir,” Christie said. “I was.” On and on it went. From TheHill.com:
Democrats sought to bring down New Jersey gubernatorial front-runner Chris Christie (R) Thursday at a hearing that he said devolved into a “political circus.”
The proceedings included bickering between Republican and Democratic members of the House Judiciary Commercial and Administrative Law subcommittee and Christie accusing panel Chairman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) of ethnic insensitivity.
Democrats have sought to use the issue of deferred prosecution agreements to tarnish Christie’s corruption-busting reputation. They point to the former U.S. attorney’s 2007 approval of a contract that could have paid as much as $52 million to his one-time boss, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, as an example of pay-to-play politics.
The fireworks began when Christie suggested that he sought companies’ approval for their own overseers under the agreements, which seek to avert damaging and costly trials in exchange for voluntary penalties and oversight.
...
Christie was resilient, but appeared to provide Democrats at least one sound bite when Cohen was pushing him on the appearance of impropriety.
“We in the public life have to be beyond Caesar’s wife,” Cohen said.
Christie responded: “I suggest to you that neither you nor I have cornered the market on that.”
Cohen labeled it “an admission.”
From the New York Times:
Mr. Christie’s testimony ended in politically charged bedlam. After two and a half hours, he told the panel chairman that, as he had previously informed the subcommittee, he had to leave to catch a train and attend to “pressing business” in New Jersey. When Democrats urged him to stay anyway and continued peppering him with questions, Mr. Christie and his entourage stood and marched out.
“It is very telling that Christie got up and walked out as he began to be questioned about the multimillion-dollar, no-bid contract given to the former U.S. attorney that refused to charge his brother,” said the New Jersey Democratic chairman, Joseph Cryan, said in a statement. “If Christie tried to answer for all the other multimillion-dollar, no-bid contracts he gave out to friends,” Mr. Cryan said, “he would have been testifying until Election Day, and none of his statements would have matched.” Mr. Christie said it was unfortunate that the hearing had been turned into “a political circus,” and added that his answers were thorough enough to put the matter to rest. “This should be the end of it, but it won’t be,” he said, as he and his aides hurried from the Capitol. “It’s all politics.”
You can see video of the exchange here.
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Daily Muse: SO. AMB0Y MAYOR ADMITS SUBPOENA, BUT SAYS IT WAS PROMPTED BY ANONYMOUS LETTER
June 26, 2009
So about those rumors that were everywhere Thursday ...
In what the Home News Tribune called an "emotional denunciation," South Amboy Mayor John T. O'Leary admitted the township has received a subpoena from the state attorney general's office about his insurance business and his disclosure of it to township officials. But he said the subpoenas were prompted by an anonymous letter, and he has offered a $5,000 reward for the letter-writer's identity if not disclosed by July 3.
O'Leary, who was tapped to run for Assembly on the Democratic ticket in place of the indicted Joe Vas, also said he wasn't withdrawing from the race.
The press conference appears quite extraordinary. From the Home News Tribune:
Fighting back tears Thursday, Mayor John T. O'Leary responded with anger to a nine-page anonymous letter sent to the media and distributed throughout the city, accusing him and his family of corruption.
The emotional denunciation follows rumors about federal and state investigations, arrests, and indictments that have swirled around the city and county for weeks. Those rumors are nothing more than attempts at character assassination amid political warfare, O'Leary said in an hour and 20 minute interview with reporters at the Home News Tribune's office.
But O'Leary did divulge that the city received a subpoena from the state Attorney General's Office about a week ago regarding his insurance business and his disclosure of it to city officials.
The rumors triggered the subpoena, not the other way around, O'Leary said.
At times his voice quivered, his eyes reddened and he slammed his fist on a table while condemning the author or authors of the letter. An unknown amount of letters were distributed throughout the city, placed on car windshields and at doorsteps.
"They crossed the line when they brought my father and my dead mother into this,'' said the longtime Democratic mayor.
The letter accused the mayor of accepting free favors from city businesses, making secret deals with developers and operating an insurance business without a license … charges O'Leary vehemently denied.
The subpoena arrived while he was vacationing with his wife in St. Maarten last week.
The business investigators were looking into is FHRM, according to O'Leary. He and his brother, Thomas O'Leary, executive director of the South Amboy Housing Authority, set up the business in February 2008 to sell life insurance products for American General, whose parent corporation is AIG, American International Group, O'Leary said.
The Attorney General's Office "wanted to know if the mayor had filed a financial disclosure statement about FHRM and whether it was doing business with the city of South Amboy, which it was not,'' O'Leary said. "I have always kept (the business) separate and apart.''
You can read the entire article here.
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Daily Muse: WHY CAN'T JIM MCGREEVEY STAY AWAY?
June 25, 2009
Seriously.
Is there no rock big enough that Jim McGreevey can stay under?
With the political world buzzing about the strange antics of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and his confessional tell-all press conference Wednesday, the Today Show thought of who else but our ex-Gov. Jim McGreevey.And so, there he was, on our television screens this morning, speaking of the power of forgiveness and redemption.
Oh yes, and himself.
And the need to be humble.
Matt Lauer wanted to talk about Sanford, and McGreevey just wanted to talk about the power of truthfulness and forgiveness.
Yes, that power of forgiveness was so on display during that whole custody battle, wasn’t it?
Oh please.
We found this quote from McGreevey particularly amusing. Was he talking about Sandford, or what he actually thinks about himself?
“We all sin, we all fail, it’s how we grapple with that failure, how we grapple with that sinful nature to be able to move to the next point of our lives. And this isn’t something to be ignored, this is something I believe, with integrity, if the governor embraces it with honesty, he can be that much more of a better governor because it's admitting his nature, understanding the wrong but being able to move past through it with integrity.”
Yes, the top two words we all think of when we think of McGreevey: integrity and honesty.
Unbelievable.
You can watch the entire interview here. But, fair warning. When you watch it, one thought will keep running through your head:
How did we ever elect this man governor?
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Guest Column: FOR N.J., NOTHING FINER THAN WHEN COMPARED TO CAROLINA
June 25, 2009
By RICHARD A. LEE
First it was New York, where bickering lawmakers have been unable to decide who is in charge of the State Senate. Now it’s South Carolina doing its part to make New Jersey look good in comparison to the other 49 states.
For this we can thank South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford whose whereabouts were a mystery for a few days. According to initial news reports:
· Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, who is second in command, did not know where Sanford was, and she was not put in charge of the state during his absence.
· The governor’s wife Jenny and their four children did not hear from him for several days, even on Father’s Day.
· Calls placed to Sanford’s cell phone went straight to voice mail, and he did not respond to text messages.
· The State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for the governor, was unable to reach Sanford.
· Several days after the governor disappeared from public view, his spokesperson, Joel Sawyer, said he had not spoken with Sanford nor was he aware of any other staff member who had. Sawyer did note that the governor told his staff where he was going planned to check in, but said little else about his whereabouts.
The mystery surrounding the governor came to an end on Wednesday when he returned to work and announced that he had been in Argentina and had been having an affair with a woman from the South American country. Earlier in the week, Sanford’s staff had told reporters that he was been hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
We’ve had our share of well-known missing persons in New Jersey – from former State Senator and Assemblyman David Friedland who faked his death and vanished in 1985 after his conviction on racketeering charges, to Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy who was missing for nearly two weeks in 2007 in the aftermath of allegations about false claims in his military records.
But to the best of my knowledge, New Jersey has never had a governor go AWOL.
(For more on Jersey pols, South Carolina, and going AWOL, please read the rest of Rich Lee's column here.)
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Daily Muse: BOYD SAYS NO TO LT. GOV.
June 24, 2009 He was at the top of Chris Daggett's very short list, but former labor commissioner Mark Boyd has removed himself from consideration to be Daggett's lieutenant governor on an independent ticket. "It was an honor to be considered," Boyd said. "But I have a commitment to Goodwill Industries, and I want to fulfill that commitment. So I have asked Chris Daggett to take my name out of consideration. "Chris is an outstanding individual who has and will continue to contribute a great deal to the state," Boyd said. Boyd, who was Gov. Whitman's labor commissioner, serves as president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. The nonprofit, community-based organization has helped thousands of local residents with special needs to find work. He had also championed a drive to get rid of county goverrnment as a way to reduce property taxes. Boyd's decision to drop out of contention means the race is back on to see which candidate -- Democrat Jon Corzine, Republican Chris Christie or independent Daggett -- will pick their lieutenant governor first.
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Daily Muse: THE COMING CRASH
June 23, 2009
Well, that didn’t take long.
CWA Local 1033 is urging its members in a radio spot and on its website to vote against Gov. Corzine’s deal with the union, especially in light of the $400 million in bonus tax amnesty money. Now, to be fair, 1033 had been opposed to the deal and urging its members to vote against it even before it was snowing tax amnesty money in Trenton.
But we wonder how many other CWA workers feel the same?
And what happens if union members vote against the deal? Does the governor have a contingency plan?
But for now, we have a budget deal – one that sailed through the budget committees on Monday, and gave Democrats a bounce in their step, as it restored rebates for more than 500,000 residents, and the property tax deductions for 200,000 more.
But while that’s good news, that doesn’t stop the bad news that’s buried within this budget.
Bad news like $1 billion in new taxes. Underfunded pensions. More than $2 billion in federal one-shot money that won’t be here next year. A 7% raise for state workers in 2011.
In other words, a budget that puts off problems this year to help Corzine and his fellow Democrats get elected, and will worry about next year, well, next year.
You know, for a man who says he saw the national recession coming, you think he would have delivered budgets that helped right New Jersey’s fiscal ship. Instead, he set New Jersey on a collision course with the recession by continuing to spend more than the state could afford.
And what’s worse, he did nothing to avert that collision next year.
Instead, by choosing to delay and defer, he made New Jersey’s crash more likely.
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Quote of the Day
"That shows the disconnect at the moment between Obama's popularity and Corzine's," said Fairleigh Dickinson political scientist Peter Woolley, noting his most recent poll, which found 56 percent of President Obama's supporters prefer Gov. Corzine and 27 percent are supporting Republican Chris Christie, with 15 percent undecided (7/02/09)
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