Sweeney again stands at the center of budget politics
By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter
Sen. Stephen Sweeney heads for the budget committee.
TRENTON - Five 11th hour bills dropped by Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-Salem) have set up a horse trading situation here in the Statehouse during the budget session.
The Assembly Budget Committee passed the $32.8 billion budget by a vote of 7-4, with one abstention by Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Salem). In their majority caucus, rank and file Democrats didn’t want to touch Sweeney’s controversial bills targeting state workers, according to sources.
Now the Assemblyman Louis Greenwald-chaired budget committee pounds through a number of other bills to be included in time for Monday’s full Assembly budget vote.
Sweeney, meanwhile, over on the Senate end of the Statehouse, sent out signals that he won’t support the budget unless the substance of his thorny labor bills are included in the final product.
"It’s going to be a long night," the labor leader/senator told reporters as he threaded past to occupy his chair on the Senate Budget Committee.
At first, one of Sweeney’s most contentious proposals would have changed the state workers’ pension formula from sixty times the highest salary average of three rather than five years, which is what it is now.
Then that was off the table.
Later in the evening, sources said Sweeney proposed to limit holidays and time for sick leave.
Red and purple armies of state workers walked through the halls of government all day, worried about any reduction in their pension plans.
"It reminds me of two years ago," said Assemblywoman Alison McHose (R-Newton), who voted "no" on the budget in committee along with fellow Republicans Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblyman Joseph Malone, and Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow.
Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) voted to move the budget out of committee, but said he couldn’t vote for it on the floor in its current form, saying the budget’s cuts to hospitals in his legislative district are too severe at present.
McHose referenced Sweeney’s similar past efforts to reduce state workers’ costs, an ultimately unsuccessful move that provoked union ire but didn’t prevent the state AFL-CIO from giving Sweeney its organizational support when he ran for re-election last year.
Critics say their understanding of another of Sweeney’s measures means part-time cafeteria workers, school bus drivers and others would be cut out of the state pension system.
"These are people who are not making a lot of making a lot of money," said retired state employee Katherine Danatos. "We want them to only target the patronage people, the people who are making money off the government while holding two and three jobs."
Now Assembly people continue to meet with party leadership behind closed doors as part of a determination to see who will yield to Sweeney’s pension cuts in exchange for securing key support for measures they want in this budget.
Chief among the bargaining items seems to be a $3.9 billion new schools construction allocation, but there are others.
Before calling for a motion to move the budget out of committee, Greenwald hailed the document as $600 million less than last year’s budget, and $100 million less than what the governor proposed this year.
It retains the Department of Agriculture while putting greater productivity demands on the department, eliminates the Department of Personnel, and contains no monetization or toll hike plans, Greenwald said.
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Sweeney budget politics
Senator Sweeney Todd: "The Demon Ironhead of State Street"
Can’t even show up to vote on his own bill in committee today and sent his vote in, great representation for the MORONS who elected him in the Landfill capitol of New Jersey, Gloucester County.
In this crucial time for New Jersey and it's citizens he was to busy trashing state workers and trying to pick their pockets for his USELESS and THOUGHTLESS bills.
Watch what you ask for
The unions are demanding that the pension reform bills be eliminated. The reform bills only pertain to future employees. If the Unions win and those bills are not passed then Sweeney and others like Buono will not back the budget bill if it contains the early retirement package. That package is worth $91 million in savings. If Corzine can't get 2,000 workers to leave through early retirement then he might just have to ask for layoffs. The Unions might win a battle and lose the war. Pension reform is needed. These bills will not hurt a single current worker. However a layoff will hurt thousands of workers. The Unions better think before they act. Sweeney lost big in 2006, if he loses this time it will be atthe expense of the budget agreement.
Irony
The truth is that the average state worker, the rank and file person who just does his/her job could care less about these pension reform bills. The reason is simple. Those Bills do not pertain to them and it is known that pension reform actually helps current workers because it shores up the pension fund itself. Union leaders have tried to have the public believe that this is an important issue to their members. It is not. It is an important issue only to the Leaders! Don't be fooled by the " show of strength" which is nothing more than a staged show performed by the unions. There are 55,000 state workers in New Jersey. Maybe 75 were in Trenton. The average state worker wnatsthe budget passed, wants a secure pension fund, and wants to be left alone. This "show" is not even on their radar screen.
firstamend07
All do respect to your thoughts but "The average state worker (Spelling Repaired) wants the budget passed, wants a secure pension fund"..........
They would have it if they hadn’t stood buy and let Donnie D and the rest that followed him, as Governor, not put money back into the fund like they were suppose to by the LAW that had allowed it the pension would not be in the mess it is today and don't bring up who started it because it was working then and it was the losers above that I mentioned who are at fault.
Water Under the Dam
Rehashing past mistakes will not make the pension fund secure. Remember, everyone , including the CWA Union, allowed that to happen. But there is a need to do something now.These Bills do not effect a single one of the 55,000 current state workers. Believe me or not but I can honestly say that no one going to work tomorrow for the State cares about these bills.
Thick as a Brick !!
Is this clown really that clueless or does he just listen too closely to his team of bad advisors ? How can he portray himself as a "union man" when he constantly attacks the unions ? He just never seems to get it. Maybe when he gets defeated in his next election try the light will finally go on inside his pea brained head. If the unions contribute one more dime to this yo-yo's campaign fund, then they need their heads examined, too. Wake up, Steve. You really can't be this dense. Or can you ???
Pension Reform is not Anti-Union
How can shoring up the pension fund be anti-union? Not one current union member will be effected by the Sweeney pension reform bills. The Bills pertain to future workers. If the short sighted union leaders had fought years ago when the pesnion was not being funded then the rank and file state workers would not be in the position of having to worry about their pension fund today. Sweeney is actually helping the current Union workers with these bills.
firstamend07
You have to be kidding me:
First - NJ Wizard - This guy is that STUPID.
Second - firstamend07 - So under you thoughts "Damn the Future Full speed Ahead".
Sweeney has guts
Most of the insiders and hacks who post here are probably doing it on the government dime (Democrats & Republcians alike)!
I'm tired of paying pension benefits for the virtually unemployable hack as well as the unqualified teaching force in this state that is bankrupting New Jersey and sending another generation of graduates unprepared to make a living in a global economy.
The teachers in the state, sepcifically the NJEA are nothing but extortionists that should be banned from the statehouse.
Memo to Chris Christie, this is where the real corruption lies and the people are tired of being handed this annual bill under the guise of the children.
The NJEA is the single reason why New Jersey is going broke!
Vote Column - All the way!
The Irony of the Irownworkers
Senator Steve Sweeney is a piece of crap. He knocks down three salaries and three pension credits and then devises plots to take away from hard-working people who actually must work three jobs in his so-called real world.... Some labor leader what a hypocrit and you should see that playboy bunny he has working in his office at six figures also knocking down a hefty pension...Steve Sweeney is the firstin his family to graduate highs school (Pemberton) Nice going steve,
The failure of his public sector union to negotiate pension and vacation benefits for his private sector workers reveals the scoundrel that he really is... What a piece of garbage
The failure of the private sector unions of the AFl-CIO to legislatively mandate benefits as in the rest of the western industrial nations is the nod and the wink that has placed US private sector workers on the bottom of the real world heap and continues to exploit the blood and sweat of the working class while hot shots like Sweeney reap the benefits at their expense.They want public sector workers to share their misery at the bottom. Our public unions negotiated salary and benefits increases and now the lines on the graph have crossed and our private sector workers for whom we walked on the picket lines many times bemoan the success of our sacrifices. We gave up much for what we gained.
His members will live and die in ignorance while hanging a picture of that a-hole next to picture of Jesus on their living room wall.
They are all over the map with this one with labor sellouts like Steve Sweeney. What a piece of crap
Pensions
When these pinhead legislators give up their pensions is the day I will believe they are on the road to real pension reform! Pensions were intended for full time public employees, not for part time politicians. And yes, Sweeney is part of the problem!
The Rugged Cross
Three salaries and three pensions. Does the word hypocrite come to mind ? Enjoy your brief time in the limelight, Steve. Ignorant, self-serving guys like you don't last long. Next election you're going to the cross and the people of New Jersey will finally be rid of you !
ARROGANCE AS VIRTUE....
Steve Sweeney is an idiot...His arrogance underlies his success...
So don't be surprise if he becomes Lt. Governor and the Governor unless the electorate unmasks him for what he really is an opportunist that is driven only by his own self-serving ambition.
NJEA Runs NJ - Sweeney is Right
Don't worry this is still NJ, and Sweeney's reasonable, but hardly meaningful, reforms will never see the light of day.....NJEA runs this state and everyone one of these politcal hacks will fall in under the jack boot of their will, while the state continues to go in debt and fed-up taxpayers flee the state.
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