Chris Christie won the Governor election with less than 50% of the vote. That means more than half of the voters wanted someone other than him to govern.
He has consistently abused his power. He pulled rank as a US Attorney to get out of a ticket when he went the wrong way down a one way street, and also pulled rank when he got a speeding ticket in an unregistered car to avoid being towed. He failed to disclose his close financial relationship with top assistant Michele Brown, a conflict of interest. He gave huge no bid contracts to his boss (John Ashcroft) and the man who didn't prosecute his brother for securities fraud, while 19 others were prosecuted. He governs with a personal vendetta to the detriment of New Jerseyans.
Those are just off the top of my head. And they aren't "partisan policy disagreements". They are basic character traits of a man with a short temper who is set in his ways, come hell or high water. We already had a nightmare of a similar "leader" that just left the White House. And Christie is a disciple of that regime.
And this current situation with the $400 million in education funding that NJ students now lose out on after he took over the application process - accusations and documented support from Bret Schundler that Christie again is playing fast and loose with the facts all while lashing out at anyone who dares to point out the truth.
Understanding that many in the corporate media are overwhelmed and overworked, it would be nice to see some more reporting on this very disturbing pattern of reckless behavior and how these ethical issues on Christie's part are a danger to the state and its future. Christie has shown that he does not negotiate in good faith - if he even negotiates at all. He is not one to be trusted, and his word has been proven over and over to conflict with his actions and reality.
Chris Christie said many many a time that he would not raise taxes. And yes, this was a transparent promise that very few (outside of some of the hardcore conservatives) took seriously in any way. But when he first was sworn into office and raised "fees" or increased charges for the same services, cut property tax rebates and did a slew of other things that would result in tax increases - the cat was out of the bag.
It wasn't "raising taxes". It was "raising CERTAIN taxes" that was the issue. On others who were out of favor in Christie's class warfare, it didn't matter if you were paying more for less (like public transportation, for example) or if you were getting less in tax rebates - it was part of the not-quite-so-shared sacrifice. And when the millionnaire's tax was introduced and promptly vetoed, Christie said the following:
"Now is not the time for more of the same. Ultimately, another tax increase will punish the state's struggling small businesses and set our economy further back from recovery."
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, and there is the rub. It isn't JUST another tax increase - it is a tax increase that Christie knows will hit him and his cronies, so therefore, it must be vetoed. Now fast forward to this draconian budget and even his fellow Republicans have called this budget full of tax hikes.
So now we know that Christie was pushing his fellow Republicans to vote for his tax hikes. It was just a matter of which tax hikes he wants - on everyone who isn't super duper rich. And when he tries to say how "fees" aren't taxes and how he won't raise taxes, he is either lying or leaving out the words "on the super wealthy" after the words "I won't raise taxes".
Either way, Christie's true colors of a bully and a liar are showing through, yet again.
I promised myself that I would refrain from writing Christie-bashing posts, and was able to write a number of posts that were more constructive than destructive. But once again, Christie's pigheadedness and arrogance shone through at the expense of women's rights. Just like in the campaign, when "mammography-gate" exposed him for the callous arrogant prick that he is.
A group of female legislators continues to push to have 7 and a half million dollars added to the state budget for family planning - but Governor Christie insists it won't happen.
During an appearance on Millennium Radio's Ask the Governor program, Christie said "I just don't believe it's an appropriate expenditure of money, in the context of all the other difficult decisions that we need to make...I believe that women have the opportunity to access healthcare all across New Jersey, through a number of different programs. This is merely one of them, and no woman is not going to get healthcare because of this."
When pressed on why he feels so strongly about the issue, the Governor replied " I don't believe that this is a priority in a budget where you have to cut 11 billion dollars...that's my opinion - and it's the opinion obviously of the majority of the people who deliberated on this, or it would have changed."
No woman is not going to get healthcare because of this? Maybe not, but certainly it will be a lot more costly and difficult to get proper healthcare because of this. I'd be willing to bet that he'd be just A-ok with coverage for "Viagra on demand", but I digress.
Fact is, not just is this arrogant and shows a lack of basic empathy for women (not to mention an understanding of what happens when a woman gets pregnant from a rape or from being molested by a family member), but he falsely moves the bar in his claim of this being a popular decision. "The opinion obviously of the majority of the people who deliberated on this" is, quite frankly, irrelevant and a false choice. For starters, this budget is far from something that will be passed - there is very little Democratic support for this budget, and Christie is strongarming Republicans to vote for his tax increases. Additionally, this has been an issue for months now - even going back to the campaign, so this was on Christie's chopping block for a while now.
Adding in NJ being a pretty progressive state, a popular progressive issue like women's rights and a Governor elected with less than 50% of the vote, this is far from something that the majority agrees with Christie on. Compounding the heaping pile of crap is this narrowing of the "population that matters" to those who were conferees on a budget compromise that will be unpopular to Democrats and conservatives alike.
But nobody would have thought that Christie would actually Govern like an arrogant asshole - after all, it isn't like he ever acted this way as US Attorney or during the campaign. And now the Democratic majority in the Legislature has put most New Jerseyans, state Democrats and themselves in a horrible position - them politically and the rest of us in countless other ways.
In typically "diplomatic" fashion, and to try and stem the tide of people calling his class warfare just what it is, the Governor sent out a "fact sheet" that was purported to "rebut the overheated rhetoric" and dispel the so-called "myths" about Chirstie's war-on-everyone-not-filthy-rich budget.
The problem, of course, is that the "myths" weren't really myths and the "facts" were cherrypicked pieces of data that, in some instances, even confirmed the so-called "myths".
You can read the whole thing at the link above, but I'll go quickly through the four "Myth/Facts" below:
"Fact" 1 - Christie will not accept a budget that increases taxes. Of course this cites the Tax Foundation rankings, which award winning economist Paul Krugman recently cited as "not a reliable source", and mentions that there will not be a tax increase on hospitals. However, as we recently pointed out, there are tax increases all over the state as a result of Christie's actions and proposals.
"Myth" 2 - There isn't real shared sacrifice in the budget when the rich are getting a tax break. Citing Forbes and the Small Business Entrepreneurship Council to point out how (SHOCKING...) raising taxes on small businesses will kill the economy. However, the very fact that the rich ARE getting a tax break while everyone else is getting tax hikes and service cuts is, by definition, a lack of shared sacrifice. It doesn't matter whether Christie is answering a different question - he is declaring that the super rich are more deserving of a tax break while everyone else is more deserving of a tax hike.
"Myth" 3 - This budget means the largest property tax increase in history. This is hardly a myth, despite any tinkering around the edges or proposed Constitutional amendment. If Christie didn't combat the claim that Corzine raised the sales tax by 16% with a one-cent increase, then Christie has to own up to the fact that eliminating the property tax rebates is precisely the largest property tax increase in history. There is no denying it - at least not with any basis in reality.
"Myth" 4 - This budget is an assault on the middle class and seniors. This is an undeniable fact, regardless of a few bullet points that Christie can point to. I have written about this on more than one occasion, repeatedly citing just how many ways this budget is a flat out assault on the middle class and seniors (of course, I am far from alone there).
I guess when Christie said during the campaign that he went to law school because he wasn't very good at math, he didn't realize that he also didn't know the difference between a fact and a "fact".
An article in yesterday's Bergen Record contained some unchallenged revisionist history buried at the end of the article that makes reporter John Reitmeyer look more like a stenographer than an actual reporter. Reitmeyer allowed the following statement by Christie to stand without even the most cursory use of "teh googul":
The "governorship was over right then," Christie said, because Corzine struck a deal with lawmakers to hike the state sales tax and dedicate millions in new revenue to property tax relief and legislative pork.
"The Legislature learned during those three or four days they could roll him," Christie said.
"They put the [budget] bill in front of him and said, 'to get the government reopened, it's going to cost you $300-plus million for our members,' " Christie said. "And you know, after that we sent all those subpoenas up there and that's why Joe Coniglio's in jail."
This entire statement is, pardon the language, complete and utter horseshit, and even if Reitmeyer wasn't a NJ resident during this budget fight, he could have found a large number of articles and polls from the summer of 2006 that make a mockery of Christie's outlandish comments by doing his job and conducting some basic research.
For starters, the typical Christie use of buzzwords instead of substance shows through with him flinging around terms like "legislative pork". Here is reality of Corzine's budget proposal (emphasis mine):
The most contentious aspect of the plan - which includes $2 billion in cuts and increases in taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and luxury cars - may be the governor's proposal to raise the state's sales tax to 7 percent from 6 percent.
---snip---
But whatever decisions are ultimately made, it is clear that the ambitious agenda Mr. Corzine articulated in the campaign has run up against reality.
He had hoped to make housing and higher education more affordable. Instead, he has proposed cutting aid to colleges and universities by $169 million, and property taxes are expected to rise because he has not proposed increasing municipal aid.
Additionally, it was not Corzine who "was rolled" here. Corzine stood tough, and a poll released right after the budget battle found that the Legislature was found to be at blame by a 3 to 1 margin. Corzine's approval rating rose as a result of the budget battle as well. The compromise legislation that included the sales tax increase, some of which was used for property tax relief was approved of by a 21 point margin, and Corzine was viewed as a leader, not a "bully", by a 49% - 42% margin.
As for that phantom $300 million that Christie made up out of thin air, it is interesting to note that the only time Christie gives definitive numbers, they are completely fabricated. It would be nice to see Christie talk about the $3 billion dollars that he would have to come up with in order to offset his tax reductions.
It would be nice if reporters like Reitmeyer would do some basic fact checking when it comes to outlandish statements by Christie - truthfully, I don't know who looks worse here - Christie or Reitmeyer. Maybe that is why the newspaper industry is doing so poorly - it takes a "lowly blogger" to actually do some real reporting and factchecking.
The latest fake outrage by NJ republicans is that many people will leave the state if the top income tax rate on families earning over $500,000 is an argument so ludicrous that it begs the obvious question of "where are they going to go and why haven't they already left?
On the facts related to the current economy, the argument doesn't hold up. Based on history, the argument doesn't hold up. And on the merits of this particular proposal, the argument doesn't hold up.
HousingPredictor.com is projecting a 19.4% decline in Manhattan home prices in 2009. And Moody's Economy.com is predicting that condo prices in New York City, Northern New Jersey, and Westchester County will fall 29% by the fourth quarter of next year.
"Nationally, we think this recession is going to be worse than anything we've seen in 40 years," said Marisa DiNatale, senior economist for Moody's Economy.com. "If the economy gets that bad, then you will start to see foreclosures in Manhattan as well."
This has already started in the Northeast as both the number of home sales and sale prices dropped dramatically - pretty much the worst region in the country:
The number of existing homes sold in January in the Northeast plummeted nearly 15 percent compared with the previous month, far outpacing the rest of the country, according to a report released today by the National Association of Realtors.
Year-over-year, existing-home sales fell 23.8 percent in the Northeast, while prices fell 14.7 percent, the report stated.
Anecdotally, I live close enough to or drive through some of these communities, and there are a LOT of for sale signs - many of which are for houses well in excess of $1,000,000 and many of which have been on the market for quite some time.
Quite simply, who would take a loss (or decline in value) on their homes of hundreds of thousands of dollars - voluntarily (since they are choosing to move due to a few thousand dollars of income tax)?
Nobody that isn't already planning on or needing to move to begin with, that's for sure.
New Jersey raised taxes on the wealthy in 2004, increasing by 2.6 percent the tax rate levied on those making more than $500,000 a year; and Gov. Jon S. Corzine this month proposed a new increase on high earners.
But a study by Professor Massey and two colleagues, published in September, estimated that the previous tax increase cost New Jersey only 50 to 350 existing "half-millionaire" households - a relatively small number against the total of 44,000 such households in the state.
While those departures cost the state about $38 million a year in revenue, the study estimates, the higher taxes levied on those who stayed have brought in an average of $895 million a year.
So let's see, not only does it not make people leave, it brought in close to $1 billion EACH year, net of the lost revenue from the people leaving. Seems like a no-brainer there.
And looking at the falling home prices, the costs of moving and the reality of historical data, it is crystal clear that this so-called threat is nothing more than empty rhetoric by those whose loyalties lie with the poor ones making more than $500,000 per year.
To steal a line from the past, the most dangerous place to be in New Jersey is between US Attorney Chris Christie and a microphone. This is a guy who is willing to make statements up and down the line, actually getting an award for talking to chambers of commerce in every county of the state. He loves doing interviews, attending editorial boards, sending press releases, holding press conferences, answering the phone, appearing on politician's television shows, etc.
In short, he just loves answering the call when it's the media on the phone.
Unless, of course, the questions are tough. Then he folds up and hides in his office.
Today Wally Edge of Politics NJ ran a piece where he questioned Chris Christie about his attendance at a Bruce Springsteen concert where Bruce blasted the hell out of George Bush both in song and in comment. George Bush is, of course, the guy who gave Christie his job after Christie and his brother donated about a million dollars to the Republican cause.
Christie refused to answer the question.
PoliticsNJ.com asked Christie what went through his mind when he heard "Last to Die," which is being criticized by some Bush supporters as decisively against the war in Iraq. And we asked him what he thought about "Living in the Future," where Springsteen told one crowd of concert-goers"that in addition to cheeseburgers, French fries and motorcycles, the United States was now known for voter suppression, illegal wiretapping and attacks on the Constitution."
Has "Magic" changed Christie's mind about Springsteen? We don't know: he didn't repsond to our questions.
Of course he didn't respond, because the question was tough and or embarrassing. It doesn't fit into the Chris Christie mystique, so he just pretends the question never happened.
It's sort of like yesterday when Christie sent out three press releases touting indictments or sentencings of corrupt Democrats (troll protection: yes, I am glad he nailed them) but for some reason didn't send out a press release about the corrupt Republican his team arrested.
Or it's like the time back in August when we caught three different stories in the newspaper telling how Christie found out he was on the list to be fired, then off the list. The stories were very specific in their detail -- 1) he heard in December he was on, then in January he was off; 2) he never said a thing about when he learned about the list; and 3) he learned both he was on and off the list on a Florida vacation in March -- and we just wanted to know on the record which one if any he told the paper.
When we asked Christie's spokeman Michael Drewniak for a statement clarifying which of these stories was the one he told the Record, Drewniak refused to provide it. All we asked for was a simple denial that Christie told a contradictory story in the editorial board with the Record, and suddenly the prosecutor named most likely to speak to the media got laryngitis and refused to speak.
It's a pattern with Christie. He likes to speak out when it is on his terms, at his time, and about the subject he chooses. When there is a conflict or any potential embarrassment he hides away until the subject is dropped.
That's fine when you are the US Attorney, because you serve at the pleasure of the President Bruce Springsteen is pillorying.
But it's not going to work out too well if Christie wants to run for office again. Frankly, the more I think about it the more I want this guy to try for Drumthwacket because the Republicans couldn't beat him back in a primary, and his mouth and temper will destroy him in a general.
On Monday, I received the latest issue of the Garrett Gazette, an e-mail newsletter aimed at misleading residents of New Jersey's Fifth District. Scott Garrett, of course, has to mislead his constituents so he can continue serving his masters at the Club for (Malignant) Growth, Americans (who want to drown their government in a bathtub) for Tax Reform, and the Republican National Calamity.
The claim:
Unless Congress acts to make the various tax relief provisions enacted between 2001 and 2005 permanent, in 2011... 115 million taxpayers will see their annual tax bill increase more than $1,700
(Update on Enlighten's further mendacity below. - promoted by huntsu)
Proving they don't have the intelligence to use a scroll bar, the right-wing site Enlighten NJ (enlightennj.blogspot.com/2006/03/linda-stender-retracts-politics-njcom.html) today accused PoliticsNJ.com of being in the pocket of Assemblywoman and Congressional candidate Linda Stender and the NJ Democrats.
You might remember the other day Politics NJ had an article by Bill Albers that began “Stender takes gloves off in race against Ferguson". What happened to the article?
...
The Albers piece quoting Stender has disappeared from the Politics NJ website and it’s obvious to us why this has happened. Politics NJ published the message Stender wanted to send to the Dump Mike and other extremist groups throughout New Jersey and the country. This “first thing I’ll do if elected message� is great for fund raising and whipping up support from those outside the congressional district. Two, now that the message has been received loud and clear by the target audience, Politics NJ has removed the article at Stender’s request. In other words, Politics NJ is helping Stender have it both ways.
...
Politics New Jersey.com is actively working to help Linda Stender and the Democrat Party in New Jersey.
In fact, the entire article is still there. Can you find it? Hint: It's located right in between the article published before it and the one published after it. I bet it was put in that order at the behest of the Stender campaign to throw everyone off.
We've known for a while that these smear-mongers have zero credibility and spread lies to suit their political purposes. Now we learn they're crazy conspiracy nuts who also make up their own lies to suit their political purposes. They also lack basic computer and fact-checking skills.
Either that, or they're desperate for a distraction.
UPDATE: The Enlighten folks have added an update to their story:
Update: The Politics NJ article by Bill Albers “Stender takes gloves off in race against Ferguson" is now on the website.
The Enlighten people are trying to hide the fact that they got the story wrong, and parsing language to get it done. The story is "now" on the website is true, but implies it was off at one point. The thing is, the story never left PoliticsNJ. It was always there.
Instead of just admitting they got it wrong and attacked for no reason other than their own inability to use a scroll-bar, they are pretending that their sluething forced Wally Edge to repost a story he was hiding.
