Da Bomb

I love saying “pension bomb.” Not only does it take a somewhat wonky issue and make it sound cool, but it’s also a pretty accurate way to sum up what’s happening.

Here is the very un-sexy fact about solving this problem: none of the current leaders will likely be in power to reap the rewards if bold action is taken now. It took years for the problem to balloon into a full fledged crisis and it could take a generation for the ship to right itself.

Which is why you gotta give Senate President Stephen Sweeney some credit. This is the sacred cow of working folks and it’s tough to take them on publicly even if many people are on your side.

The climate has actually gotten so murky that I am told the NJEA is considering running ads to pre-empt the upcoming budget season which could conceivably place teachers in the cross-hairs.

But some have also chimed in that the reforms don’t go far enough. In other words if we are going to choose this point in time to diffuse the bomb, we might as well really take the shrapnel out of it.

One of the proposals is to extend the retirement calculation from three years to five. That will produce savings, no doubt. But the real savings would come from taking on local police and fire unions that only use their last year of service to calculate their pension. Very often, that final year can be loaded up with OT. So, big savings would accumulate if that was extended from one to three. But somehow, I can’t really see top Dems taking on first responders in the post-9/11 environment which we were reminded over Christmas – still very much exists.

Will He, Or Won’t He?

I gotta give the Christie Administration a little credit here. They have been awfully tight-lipped about which way the guv is leaning when it comes to gaming.

That is perhaps because he has not yet made up his mind. And as we know, it’s a very tricky issue to wade into…even for a Governor who has vowed to take on the state’s most vexing problems. Here is what I have been able to piece together through several conversations with various interest holders.

Let me begin by saying that having spent 10 years in the Newark bureau for NJN News,  I have probably done more stories on the Sports and Exposition Authority than anyone in the history of television news. Naturally, the guys up there favor the introduction of VLT’s and slots to compliment and possibly even subsidize horse racing. One doesn’t need a PHD in the obvious to conclude – like the transition reports do – that the “model for horse racing is broken.”

The state subsidizes the purses because they are legislatively required to do so…but that amounts to a multi-million loss for the NJSEA each year.

With news that Related Companies may be interested in rescuing Xanadu I was trying to determine if a new developer’s agreement would include provisions for scooping up gambling proceeds at the Meadowlands. Turns out, it doesn’t have to. Under the terms of the previous agreement between NJSEA and Colony there is a right of first refusal for the investors when it comes to opening a “racino.” In other words, if slots or even table games were ever greenlit at the Meadowlands, whoever runs Xanadu gets first crack at building the hotel that would house them. That language would stay in any new agreement signed by Related.

So would that make sense for NJ? Well, the folks I talked to who represent AC don’t think so. In fact, they are going to go ballistic of Christie signs off on racinos. One person even claims the guv signed a pledge that he would never approve gambling outside AC.

But someone also described it this way, “the moat around AC has not worked.” The popular money is on Christie using the threat of opening up racinos in East Rutherford and Monmouth Park to force major reforms in Atlantic City. Someone from AC described their city as “too many separate fiefdoms” that don’t work together for the greater good. Having a government plagued with legal problems certainly has not helped. And the streets away from the boardwalk can still sometimes be a tad scary.

So, by appointing an advisory commission Christie has bought himself a few months to consider the competing options. Hopefully this isn’t just another excuse to punt as the previous regime’s commission on horse racing sometimes appeared to be doing.

Irreconcilable Differences?

Actually it is more of a separation than a divorce, but the top two environmentalists at the State House seem to be slightly at odds lately.

I am talking of course about Jeff Tittel and David Pringle. Normally these two can be seen standing together ( often literally ) on most environmental issues. But lately, a chilly wind blows between them.

It began back during the campaign when Pringle of the Environmental Federation endorsed Christie, and Tittel of the Sierra club endorsed Chris Daggett. Both had been quite vocal about opposing Corzine on the environment.

Well, as we know the spoils go to the victors. And while the Governor would deny that he has an enemies list, I think it is fair to say that he is more likely to work with and listen to you if you are in his favor. On day one, Christie signed eight executive orders. Tittel opposed numbers one through four claiming they gut core environmental and health protections. Pringle was silent.

In fact, Pringle served on the transition committee which urged a suspension of DEP regulations. And while he did not write the report, since Marcia Karrow did, he did not write any kind of dissent either.

Pringle counters that he can accomplish more by working with the Administration. For example, he was able to have language on some of those regs changed from “rescind” to “review” which sounds a lot less final.

So, will there be reconciliation? Probably. Families fight, and then they get over it and move on. Tittel seemed a bit miffed for example that Pringle wouldn’t immediately return his phone calls after the EO’s were issued.

And as a final note  in case you were wondering…yes, the title of the post comes from the Drew Barrymore vehicle from the 1980’s ( she was so cute it ET let’s build a whole movie around her! ). And even with a 2010 sensibility “Irreconcilable Differences” actually holds up…unlike say,  “Firestarter.”

Nobody Beats The Wiz

“When a Democrat gets elected President, local communities tend to become more conservative.”

These words were spoken to me by a Police Officer in Saratoga Springs New York in 1993 when the Clinton presidency was in its infancy and he ( Clinton, not the cop ) was fighting over gays in the military. He said it to me in the context of getting into bars, and how as an underage person that might prove more difficult for me than I had hoped during my sophomore year ( I was living up there while attending college at Skidmore ). But It always stuck with me because as I watched over the next few years his prognostication turned out to be spot-on.

A year later Republican George Pataki swept into office, and bruiser Joe Bruno of neighboring Rensselaer County took over as Senate Majority Leader. Upstate voters had finally revolted against policies that they viewed as sucking money and resources into that liberal vortex of New York City. A new era had dawned in Albany and upstate Repubs were in control.

There might be a parallel to help explain the Christie victory here, and it might portend trouble for Democrats going forward. The NJ Senate and Assembly races are still about a year and three quarters away, but Democrats may find themselves playing defense. This time the Democrat is Obama, and some might see him as overreaching, just as the good people of the early 1990’s thought Clinton was doing.

That means now that John Wisniewski ( aka “The Wiz” ) has taken over as DSC Chair he will need to outline a strategic vision and strategy.

A coupla things to note here…after the 2010 census the legislative map will be redrawn so that is a bit of a wild card which is hard to predict. But, The Dems already have a bit of “structural deficit” themselves. As Blue Jersey and others have noted, the Democratic party is losing Jon Corzine’s money as the glue that holds the various interest groups together. Disappointments on the left over failure to push hard on gay marriage only makes that potential gap in fundraising and showing up at the polls a larger possibility.

Democrats need to be prepared to articulate why they are still the safer choice. Because with Obama in the White House, voters may think enough is already getting done to protect the most vulnerable and its time to elect some local folks who will look after them. That could spell an advantage for the opposition party.

Alison Littell-McHose

As first reported by Richard LaRossa on Politickernj.com, Assemblywoman Alison Littell-McHose has been pushed off the prestigious Assembly Budget Committee.

There are a handful of reasons for this, but like most things these days many roads lead back Chris Christie who insiders say was mad at her for staying neutral during the Republican primary this past Spring. The animosity was heightened when she attempted to stop gay marriage by calling out Republicans who were leaning towards supporting the bill. Christie did not want the conservative/Steve Lonegan wing of the Republican party calling the shots. And he wanted the party to speak with one voice.

But it wasn’t just Christie who technically does not decide who sits on what committee.  It was Minority Leader Alex DeCroce who replaced Littell-McHose with Assemblyman John Bramnick on Budget.

Apparently the Assemblywoman and the Minority leader had a few run-ins which did not end well.  First, she opposed him on the clean election experiment. In 2007 the taxpayers funded elections for a handful of districts where the candidates agreed to participate in the program. Second, she challenged DeCroce on the Party Democracy Act. Littell-McHose was a co-sponsor of this legislation that would have required county committees to post bylaws and members as a matter of public record and require them to hold secret ballots. Sources say DeCroce came under fire from county chairs who opposed these changes, and he made an effort to weaken the bill – particularly the secret ballot provision. The Republicans held a caucus and party chairs were invited to attend. As it was told to me, Littell-McHose “raised hell” about gutting the law which proceeded to fail on the floor of the Assembly. Finally, she opposed the Minority Leader on a COAH bill that would have allowed developers to change age-restricted housing to open development. She accused DeCroce of having a conflict.

Anyway, the fix was in and Littell-McHose is now out. We shall see if there are any further ramifications from this. Because just as Democrats often need their left, the Republicans often need their right.

Michele Brown Update

Been meaning to chime in on this.

On Friday, January 15 before he had taken the oath of office Chris Christie announced via press release that Michele Brown would be his appointments counsel.

Brown was thrust into the spotlight at the height of the campaign when NJN News revealed that Christie had provided her with a $46,000 home mortgage  loan. Subsequent reports revealed that Christie had failed to disclose the interest payments of that loan on his financial disclosure forms. Anyway, the issue dragged out over a longer period of time that perhaps it would have because Christie maintained that it was a completely appropriate arrangement despite what critics saw as a conflict of interest. Christie was the Republican candidate for Governor and Brown was a high ranking official in the USA office for NJ. She eventually resigned from that office. ( see earlier posts )

Well, it turns out that on September 29, 2009 about a month after the loan story broke Brown took out a home equity line of credit for $40,000. As far as I can gather, this money was used to pay Christie back and get the loan off his books.

Then on December 21, Brown and her husband took out a new $370,000 first mortgage. Shortly thereafter the Home equity Line of Credit for $40,000 was canceled as of record.

So, the long and short of it is this ( in case you were wondering ): Michele Brown has officially joined the Administration but is no longer indebted to the Governor personally.

Day 1

Here is my prediction: sometimes Christie will overshadow his own accomplishments. For example, on his first day in office Christie signed eight Executive Orders aimed ( mostly ) at improving the state’s business climate.

But on the same day in a press conference he took some shots at Corzine and his Treasurer for failing to provide the Christie transition team with revenue projections through June. Yes, Christie asked for them many times. And yes, Rousseau stonewalled. and yes, that is really annoying. But let’s not forget that they are merely projections from a guy who is no longer the state Treasurer. The now infamous spreadsheet predicts a $1.2 billion shortfall. OK, we’ll see what happens but remember that’s not the same as an actual hole. We have no idea what revenues will look like next month, let alone in May. Meantime, Christie makes substantive governmental changes with the EO’s which wind up not being the headline because conflict always trumps substance in the news game.

So, lemme be the exception here and draw attention specifically to one of these orders. It’s number six which makes the Casino Control Commission employees “essential.” That means if there is ever a government shutdown, Atlantic City casinos do not have to close their doors as they did in 2006.

I remember this well. When Corzine and his fellow Dems in the Assembly went to war over how to spend a 1 cent tax hike, the casinos were forced to shut down because Control Commission workers were furloughed. I literally interviewed people on the boardwalk over that six day period who had planned their yearly family vacations around a visit to AC. Then, they get there ( over July 4 weekend ! ) and the casinos are closed because politicians in Trenton can’t agree on some issues. It’s kinda like the Griswolds driving all the way to Wallyworld only to learn from a  talking moose that the park is closed. That is an outrage, and Christie changed it on his first full day in office after promising Assemblymen Amodeo and Polistina he would during the campaign. OK, so he promised them it would be EO number two and it wound up being number six, but he still followed through by signing it on day one.

The End Of Civil Service?

Shortly after winning the election Chris Christie floated the idea of an emergency declaration to get the state’s fiscal house in order.

A declaration would give the Governor broad new powers. However, it’s reserved for things like hurricanes and other force majeures that are unaticipated and deliver chaos. i suppose we could argue over whether New Jersey is in that bad a fiscal shape, but what if Christie uses the declaration to overturn New Jersey civil service laws which govern public employees?

I am told that the transition team has an army of lawyers looking into this. But when I asked the Governor-elect about it Friday, he didn’t show his hand. He acknowledged that many things are being considered and looked at. He went on to say that he disagrees with having civil service and collective bargaining because it gives workers the right to grieve to both places until they get the desired outcome.

New Jersey’s civil service laws were established to protect workers from being ( hehe ) politicized. The idea was to keep hiring merit based. Labor leaders are predictably concerned if Christie were to do away with them.  It’ll be curious to see if he tries.

It’s also unclear what that buys him. But no doubt it would eliminate protections for workers that have been established over many decades.

Episode 214: A New Hope

There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole, and there shouldn’t really be any such thing as a partisan ready to tear out the throat of his opponent on swearing-in day. Or so goes the imperfect metaphor.

Yes, the spirit of bi-partisanship was in the air as the 213th legislature became the 214th. In just about every interview I did members of both parties pledged to “work together” and help solve the state’s most vexing problems.

Those problems include the much talked about $9.5 billion anticipated structural debt. “tough choices” will need to made, I am told. And that is where the trouble begins. Underneath the veneer of cooperation were hidden little phrases and code words from The Democrats such as “we must maintain our core Democratic values.” In other words, we’ll agree to cuts as long as those cuts don’t hurt the people we were sent here to protect.

But while everyone was holding hands and singing about world peace, there was a stark reminder that “not everyone plays nice” in the Assembly chamber shortly after the Governor’s state of the state speech. Democrats moved to hold a vote on the ( relatively ) new state auditor who must be confirmed by a joint session of the legislature. Since joint sessions are rare, there was an attempt to do it on Tuesday – one of the more ceremonial days of the entire legislative session.

But here was the problem…Republicans in the Senate said they were not notified. And ample notification to confirm the auditor must be given to all the lawmakers who intend to vote, as well as the general public. Democrats say privately that the constitution is not that clear about notification when it comes to joint sessions, but Republicans say just the opposite. Senator Bill Baroni said no one in his caucus knew…and you can’t just “blind-side us on a  day like today.” He added that this was “not the way to start the year.”

So what happened? Well a coupla theories here. The first is that the new Senate President Stephen Sweeney simply failed to notify the Republicans which would either be an honest mistake, or an attempt to stick it to them.

Another theory holds that the previous Senate President withheld the information from the new guy who ousted him in a party leadership coup. An attempt to make Sweeney look like a novice. In which case it’s not a question of bi-partisanship, but whether the Democrats are willing to work together in order to preserve and protect those “core values.”

In the end, Democrats agreed to redo the confirmation vote at the next joint session – likely after the ( new ) Governor’s budget message in March. And this time the proper notification will be given.

Codey & Napolitano

“The system worked.”

Those words by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano raised more than a few eyebrows shortly after a Nigerian man tried to take down an airplane over Detroit on Christmas day.

Dick Codey took it upon himself to call for the Secretary’s resignation. He did so with a letter that he signed “Acting Governor, Dick Codey” since he was serving in that capacity last week while Governor Corzine was away.

Let me begin by saying he may very well be right. “The system worked,” is not exactly what a frightened public wanted to hear from the President’s Cabinet Officer charged with our safety so soon after an incident. But when Codey said what he said as Acting Governor it rubbed some people the wrong way.

Governor Corzine was said to be “appalled.” He was trying to contact Napolitano by phone ( although I hear she is a tad busy ), so now the office of the actual Governor is drafting a letter of apology. Napolitano’s staff was blindsided by the letter, and immediately reached out to their contacts in New Jersey to ask about it.

Another person who was reportedly “livid” was Richard Canas who heads the NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. He too knew nothing about Codey’s letter, described as a “breach”, until he heard from the Secretary’s office.

Canas and Napolitano go back 20 years. He was the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge for Arizona while The Secretary served as Attorney General there and then Governor. So a letter like that on behalf of the Governor of New Jersey which by extension represents the cabinet level offices and the people of New Jersey, probably didn’t sit well with the local leaders here.  Especially someone like Canas who goes way back with the Secretary.

Morever, critics say there are practical considerations. New Jersey shared in nearly $80 million worth of federal homeland security grants this year. Money that is very much needed ( because as we saw on Christmas day…the threat is still out there ). Why offend the Secretary? She is certainly not going to step down because the Acting Governor of New Jersey told her to.

Finally, should New Jersey’s Acting Governor be piling on a Democratic President’s Administration? Most people I spoke with said no. Sure, Obama took a black eye on this one…but he doesn’t need an additional  kick in the face from a state that voted overwhelmingly for him in 2008. And the same logic applies here: NJ is going to need the Federal Government these next few years when it comes time to dole out resources.

Hence the letter.