The new Gov. Christie is the wrong person for New Jersey at this time.. First, he did not have a mandate from New Jersey residents because he won by such a small margin. The other side of the coin is the people of Essex; Hudson and Camden counties alone did not cast a vote.
I believe many people did not go to the poll because they did not like the democratic choice or they felt they did not have a stake in how the state would be run. For me, a black woman in America it was a choice between the lesser of two evils as it has been for most of my voting years.
Gov. Christie’s agenda is to utterly destroy the inner cities by cutting the services to poor people. Remember, he did not want to fund food pantries when he was governor-elect.
Every cut to the budget affects the poorest in the state, while reducing income tax on those who can afford it.
Show me the “shared sacrifice”.
Let’s go through it:
Reduce earned income credit***affects the working poor and their children
Cut Family Care***working poor and children
Cut prescription drug subsides and property tax programs***hurts the seniors
Education across the board
Cut to Breakfast & lunch programs
Drop childless adults from Welfare***making another class of homeless people.
Then let’s eliminate the Public Advocate office which is the voice on behalf of the people of NJ. He does not want to be accountable to you, the people.
He proposes to cut the maximum weekly unemployment benefit for future recipients from $600 to $550 and to institute a week waiting period for the recent laid off.
Exactly who does this hurt? His reforming Affordable housing means dismantling the COAH.
Christie used the scare tactics of the Republican Party – one example is teachers taking a pay freeze or your property taxes go up. Even if that is not how it was said, it was implied, many voters thought it and it was his ultimatum. The Governor told you to vote "no" on any board election that did not have a teacher wage freeze in it (and most of you did) but when asked how he voted in his town election, he could vote his conscience. The sad thing about this wage freeze for one (1) year will do very little and next year your property taxes will go up. Your rebate check as already turned into a tax rebate.
It appears to me our new governor has a personal vendetta with the NJEA and Unions as a whole.
He has demonized state/public workers and divided the state by tapping into the fears of people who are trying to keep their homes, the real middle class and the wealthy.
As I read the news on nj.com and reviewed the long lists of cabinet members, transition teams, board reviewers, task forces, reviewers to review reviewers, I wondered were all these people working for free. Does not sound like smaller government to me. I read the report on his payroll is about 2 million more – the 11 billion budget gap has to include his new government, he has appointed his "old mentor" and four (4) others to look into merging NJ colleges again....paying them to do something that was done already – so much for out of hand spending.
The thing that bothers me is the logic in layoffs of 1300+ state workers to save money, all there will be is 1300+ families in New Jersey with no health insurance with a need for food stamps. How do closing Motor Vehicle stations help? How does closing the parks and beaches help?
I need to take an economic class because I do not understand how laying people off helps the economy. I believe that the country as a whole has financial problems but I also believe people who run these companies and the people who run the states are taking advantage of the situation and taking it a step further. Using this to get ahead, not hire when they could and need too, all to save money.
The last straw for me is the dismissal of Supreme Justice Wallace. The only black person on the Supreme Court in New Jersey is an open and blatant display of racism and dirty politics. Justice Wallace (Democrat) is being replaced by a white woman (Republican), how often have I seen that happen in my lifetime.
Brace yourself although there will be quite a few wealthy residents that make out well, for the majority of us……..we are in trouble. THERE IS NO SHARED SACRIFICE. NEXT ELECTION, GET OUT AND VOTE OR JUST BEND OVER.
