Christie’s Initiatives

Politicians campaign on promises of delivering all manner of changes, most of which are promptly forgotten after the elections are over. Not this governor.

That is refreshing. But Governor Christie, as tough and resolute as he is, will be facing an uphill battle as he seeks to implement his reforms on economic development; education; pension & benefits; as well as ethics reform & government transparency.

A solidly Democrat legislature has already stonewalled Christie’s first new nomination to the New Jersey Supreme Court; and, the public unions are working statewide to prevent even the smallest of reforms.

Locally, the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association has already scheduled a meeting with its members at which a representative of the New Jersey Education Association will be present.

You can expect solidarity to be the theme coming from the Education Associations’ leadership. This school year is the last of a three-year wage package. In upcoming negotiations, the will of the Bridgewater-Raritan School Board will be severely tested to see whether or not it has the resolve to push back hard on the type of demands made in the past.

What’s about to happen in this school district is only one small example of the walls that are going up throughout New Jersey between the governor and his foes. Chris Christie still retains, on the whole, the support of the majority of New Jerseyans. But he is facing well-funded opponents as tough as himself.

Good Intentions, Bad Bill

At first glance, the bill for Paid Family Leave which State Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) shepherded through the Senate, and which Governor Corzine says he will sign into law looks like a winner. But start unpacking its provisions and, what you find is a fractured law which needs fundamental change, before it even hits the street.

This new legislation applies only to companies with fewer than 50 employees. Larger companies are already required to provide paid family leave and to hold the job until the employee returns – not so for smaller companies.

The new proposal is for firms with fewer than 50 employees. It will provide up to six weeks for a parent to care for a newborn or adopted child, or to care for a sick parent, spouse, or child. The benefit, to be funded by an employee payroll tax of $33, will replace up to two-thirds of a person’s pay, with a $524 weekly limit.

But there is at least one major, built-in problem-in-the-making. It’s the hardly trivial possibility that, under this legislation, a worker effectively can be fired for going on family leave. Here’s how that would happen: If an employee is replaced while he or she is on paid family leave, that person could be virtually out of luck. Under this law, the employee has no right to sue or to take any other action against his/her employer. That worker is now out in the cold, out of a job!

Senator Lance and Governor Corzine are about to implement a law which will have a discriminatory impact upon small companies and their workers, while providing a glaring loophole which could tempt owners of small companies to persuade employees into not taking family leave, under the subtle threat of losing their job. If you own a small firm and cannot afford to keep a critical position unmanned, how would you handle the situation? Neither the small company owner, nor the employee should be put into this untenable position.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I wonder if Lance went along with the inane provisions of this bill simply to get something – anything – through the New Jersey Senate.

Tamping Down N. J. School Costs

Sometimes, it takes a little perspective coming from a different place to get a better view of how things are in your own neck of the woods.

"The News-Press," a Fort Myers, Florida newspaper which covers Lee County, had a front-page story on March 26, about the financial condition of that county-wide school district. The county includes Cape Coral and tony places such as Sanibel Island. For its 2008-2009 school year, the county is proposing a $1.5 billion budget, of which $700 million is for operating expenses.

Because of economic conditions in Florida, Lee County School District faces a cut of $30 million in state aid. Therefore, the district is considering cuts of $3.76M in personnel and $3.83M in other reductions. Even the Collier County School District, which includes poshy Naples, Florida, is facing a proposed $8 million cut, according to The Naples Daily News. The newspaper indicates that the causal factor is a predicted "general revenue shortfall of more than $2 billion" at the state level.

So, while states like Florida are cutting back on school subsidies because of reduced state tax revenues, New Jersey continues to dole out cash which it doesn't have, while proposing to sell off a large chunk of New Jersey's asset base to give out even more Monopoly money. Simultaneously, New Jersey places no serious limits on the extent to which its school districts can continue to increase real estate taxes.

I'm not arguing for downgrading education in New Jersey -- but, when is enough, enough? How long, if ever, will it take for New Jersey, which has the highest education costs in the nation, to get serious about addressing the high expense of its school districts, and to place permanent, real, and enforceable limits on school tax increases?

Affordable Housing in Bridgewater

Bridgewater has not only fulfilled state-mandated requirements for affordable housing but, according to Township Administrator, James Naples, it has out-performed all of its objectives by building 333 units more than required, and by getting them online long before the deadline of 2014.

Now, according to new regulations proposed by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the state is seeking to impose an additional requirement for another 1100 units to be built in Bridgewater by the year 2018. Complex rules explaining this imposition are outlined in a December 24, 2007, memo to the Township by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). Both the DCA and COAH fall under the jurisdiction of Commissioner Joseph V. Doria, Jr.

Affordable housing is not merely a worthwhile goal but, indeed, is an obligation of the state and all of its communities towards its less fortunate citizens -- but not when it is being implemented according to what COAH calls its newly proposed “third round rules.” If allowed to stand without modification, these new regulations will become law and will go into effect in June, imposing an insuperable burden on Bridgewater.

For example, Mr. Naples points out that COAH assumptions for numbers projecting future growth in the Township (these data are largely the basis for the newly assigned burden of 1100 housing units) “make no sense in reality.” He underscores that the assumptions used by COAH “are 10 years old.” In effect, the Department of Community Affairs is assigning Bridgewater a new allocation based upon growth which has already occurred.

Naples underscores that the Township does not oppose affordable housing, but merely that Bridgewater “has met its obligation,” and “we clearly don’t have a place to put all of those units, unless we start to build up.”

Is it too much to expect that the state will give us a break?

Note: For more information, see the DCA website at http://www.nj.gov/dca/, http://www.state.nj.us/dca/coah/dec07proposal.shtml, and http://www.state.nj.us/dca/coah/dec07proposal/muniletter.pdf

Trenton Bureaucrats Dictate Housing in Bridgewater

New Jersey government is so overstuffed with state jobs, it seems, that every time you turn around, a new requirement in the form of an unfunded burden is being placed on local municipalities. Often, when that happens, it’s promoted under the guise of a good cause. Take for example, affordable housing.

Just when many communities, like Bridgewater Township, are meeting their obligations under the law, poof! Down comes another directive from the state bureaucracy. Joe Doria, Commissioner of the State Department of Community Affairs has OK’d the proposal of his Council on Affordable Housing to arbitrarily increase the number of homes currently scheduled to be built by 2018.

He says that developers will pick up the bill for this. Even if they did, it doesn’t come close to paying the full tab for such housing. Every time that a new housing unit is forced down the throat of a municipality by state mandate, it increases all of the public service, social and educational costs of the municipality and of the school district on a permanently recurring basis. And none of these costs – none – are covered by the rules proposed by Mr. Doria’s Trenton bureaucracy.

Communities in Somerset County have been planning in good faith and meeting requirements for previously established regulations for fair housing established by the state of New Jersey. Out of the blue, with no apparent regard for the already ballooning real estate tax problems of Bridgewater and other similar communities, Commissioner Doria comes up with further prohibitive requirements.

Clinton Township Mayor Nick Corcodilos, who represents a coalition of towns, has said that the DCA will be sued if it continues on this path. Good! In a recent newspaper article, both Bridgewater Township Planner Scarlett Doyle and Mayor Patricia Flannery have clearly made known the unfairness and imbalance of the State’s proposal.

Bridgewater Township should join other like-minded municipalities and execute a full-court press to stop this insane proposal.

Note: See the article on this topic by Bev McCarron at http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-3/120236320211890.xml&coll=1

A Man of Integrity

Every once in a while you come across a story so honestly persuasive, that you just can’t ignore it. Walter J. Kavanaugh of Somerville is just such a story.

I never knew the man and I never had the honor to cross his path either personally or professionally. But when he died recently, it was clear from press accounts about his life that this was not an ordinary politician. There was a flavor to the news narratives about him that had a ring of genuine sincerity. My gosh, I thought, those stories are actually true. Senator Kavanaugh was a good man and a good public servant.

He belonged, in many respects, to the same class as another much-admired politician, the late Congressman, “Tip” O’Neil of Massachusetts – they both were imbued with that indefinable quality called integrity. They also appear to have had the same old Irish wit and charm which can be so compelling to people of all ethnic backgrounds.

Senator Kavanaugh leaves a legacy and an example for all elected and appointed public officials which are not easy to replicate. I only wish that more would try.

The New Motor Vehicle Agency

I couldn’t believe the transformation when my wife and I walked into the offices of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Agency on Roosevelt Place, in Somerville. I still remember the look and service of the old place, and that’s not a good memory.

This, however, is completely different. The Agency has remodeled the entire building. There is new, bright lighting, and the office environment is much more conducive for its employees to do good job. Half-an-hour after we walked in, we had our new digital licenses in hand and were good to go!

If you haven’t been there yet, you will notice a much-improved, very efficient system for moving people along and for processing licenses. You even get a bonus: The persons who operate the high-tech computers that take your picture even ask you if you like the photo. If you don’t, they will gladly snap another head shot. There is a flat screen monitor in front of you, so it’s easy. Nice touch.

Of course, you should still plan your visits not to coincide with peak people traffic. That means avoid the end of the month, if you possibly can.

Black Friday

During the past ten days, there’s been a tempest in a teapot brewing about the fact that New Jersey state workers lost the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday. Although it’s never been an officially negotiated day-off, it was regularly granted to state workers by gubernatorial proclamation, since around 1962.

I can understand the disappointment with Governor Corzine in that he did not continue that tradition; but let’s get realistic – it’s simply not a big deal. Things change, and this is one of them. State employees have known for a year that this was coming down the pike, so last minute protestations by some of them are falling largely on deaf ears. Corzine has not said that state employees can’t take the day off; he’s just saying that it will be charged to them. Thirteen paid holidays is not a chintzy benefit.

I don’t believe that those who are making the most noise represent the thinking of all state employees. Other state workers who have paused to consider how their job security, medical benefits, and defined pension plan compares quite favorably with those in private industry must be blushing over their colleagues’ weak claims of entitlement.

Note: For a more thorough discussion of this issue see the following AP story which appeared in the Courier News on November 18, 2007, http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071118/NEWS03/711180454/1007