It is now the time of year when mailboxes start getting stuffed with slick, glossy campaign fliers trumpeting the achievements of candidates for office. “As a member of your Legislature, I fought to end corruption,” you might read, or “I worked to get guns off the streets.” In political spin, there’s always some kernel of truth to such boasts. Just don’t believe that these claims translate into the actual passage of laws.
With every seat in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly up for election this year, Greater Media Newspapers staff members compiled statistics on the number of bills local representatives drafted in the 2006-07 session and tracked how far each of them progressed.
We scoured the records of officials who represent districts with any towns in our coverage area, from Ocean to Monmouth to Middlesex County, and as far west as Mercer and Somerset counties.
What we found generally surprised us: members of the Legislature typically proposed anywhere from 50 to 200 bills in that two-year span, but only the smallest number of bills went anywhere. Less surprising was the fact that officials in the majority party, the Democrats, had far better statistical success than their Republican counterparts.
For those who believe in a “less is more” style of government, all of this is probably welcome news. But in one sense, it must be irritating to all who pay taxes in New Jersey.
Over the past few years, residents have been shouting at the top of their lungs for property tax relief. This state is in far worse shape fiscally than almost any of the other 49 states, and it is difficult for taxpayers to understand why.
There have been calls for reforms and constitutional conventions, there have been protests and even a government shutdown. Yet nothing ever changes. New Jersey can no longer afford such legislative futility on the property tax issue.
Too often our representatives have instead wasted time on vanity legislation they know will go nowhere. In fact, it seems there are some who practically govern via the press release, writing bills in reaction to the morning headlines and never fighting to see them through.
And when people hear about these heroic bills in news reports in the media, that legislator has already accomplished his or her true goal. Many people assume those bills will soon become laws, or already are law, and the politician can then boast that he or she is “tough on crime,” or whatever the case might be.
That’s public service the New Jersey way.