There was a long think piece in The New York Times on July 3 that tried to explain why — in the face of the total meltdown of civility and cooperation between Republicans and Democrats in Washington — some new governors around the country are starting such devastating and divisive political wars, and others seem to be getting controversial and painful changes made, while maintaining deep support bases.
The op-ed mentioned Wisconsin, Florida and Minnesota, where Republican governors Scott Walker and Rick Scott, and Democrat Mark Dayton, have bulled reform measures through that caused rifts that may never heal, and in Minnesota’s case, shut down state government entirely.
Those, apparently, are the bad guys who took the wrong approach and may be one-term governors as a consequence.
On the other hand, regarding the governors who are doing it right, or righter, the pundit pointed to Democrat and new New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and new New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. Both have cobbled together enough bipartisan support to pass controversial and hotly contested legislation. In New York, Cuomo is basking in the recent passage of the same-sex marriage law, and both governors have put together deals that would remake contract negotiations between the state and labor unions and reduce spending in many other areas.
They have been successful — so far — in making law, and maintaining broad-base public approval — because politicians on opposite sides of the aisle realized that unless they got on board, the train would leave without them, or they might be steamrolled under the wheels. If they failed to cooperate in the passage of what looked like popular mandates, the voters might be angry enough to kick them out in the next elections.
That’s a correct statement, and while I can’t speak for the people in NewYork, I think I can safely say that we in New Jersey didn’t need The New York Times to tell us what we already knew.
In our state, with the highest property taxes in the nation, a 6-percent income tax on most middle-class earners, and increasing taxes on everything folks in Trenton can think of, things were so mismanaged that we still faced budget deficits approaching $10 billion every year in recent history, and a projected $10.5 billion deficit in 2011.
Leading up to the last gubernatorial election, almost everyone agreed that something drastic had to be done to prevent this state from declaring bankruptcy, and that wouldn’t happen under milquetoast, go-along-to-get-along governors like Jon. S. Corzine. We gave Republican Christie a resounding victory, and have been generally supportive as he began to follow through on his promises. We’re in waitand seemode these days, and if Christie doesn’t do enough to trim those deficits — there’s absolutely nobody talking about reducing taxes — Christie will have to run for president, because he’ll have been a one-term governor who got tossed out by disgruntled voters. That’s a long way from happening, but it’s my prediction nevertheless. And you don’t have to subscribe to The NewYork Times to read it.
I’ve been writing about criminals long enough to knowthatmost of them are a tad deficient in the brainpower department, and get caught because of dumb blunders. But still, while he got nabbed, I find myself admiring the chutzpah of Jerry Julian, who was recently charged by U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman with obtaining false income tax refunds for prisoners, while he was a state prisoner himself.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Julian told fellow inmates that the federal government withheld employment taxes from the money they were paid for labor while incarcerated, and that they
were entitled to claim a refund. In reality, “prisoners were paid no more than $5 per day fromwhich no taxes were withheld.” But even so, Julian prepared and filed 110 fraudulent returns for fellow inmates that garnered nearly $215,000 in refunds. Which the IRS paid.
Maybe he figured he had nothing to lose, even though he’s slated to be sentenced to additional time on Oct. 14, and a $250,000 fine, which I’m guessing he doesn’t have. The press release I read didn’t note what Julian has been studying while he’s been in prison, but wouldn’t it just be perfect if he’s been learning accounting and tax preparation?
I’ll make a couple of calls and see if I can find out. I’ll keep you posted.
I’ve written several times about local municipal efforts to improve traffic enforcement, like the speed traps in Milltown (speed trap capital of New Jersey) and the red light camera in East Brunswick, but I saw a story on CNN last week out of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, that might be adaptable here.
Anew traffic enforcement program, called “Mimes for Traffic Education,” puts several costumed and heavily made-up mimes in selected downtown areas of the capital, who shame drivers and pedestrians with mimistry (is that even a word?) when they see them breaking the law. They apparently come from the “In Your Face” school of mime, and they “sometimes have to run for their lives,” but authorities say they are making a positive difference by wagging their fingers and making exaggerated no-no-no gestures at scofflaws. Humor, they say, might be part of the answer to a problem that’s no joke.
In New Jersey, we’ve tried lots of creative ways of solving our geese problem, so why not think out of the box when it comes to traffic as well? Instead of more revenue-enhancing schemes like speed traps and red light cameras, which don’t seem to be particularly effective at anything but fattening the municipal coffers, why don’t we put a few mimes out there and see what happens?
The question for the day is: Which intersection would you nominate for the pilot program? Once we pick one of those by popular demand, I plan to bring my lawn chair.
Gregory Bean is the former executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at [email protected].