Anthony Bucco

At the Chamber of Commerce's pre-Walk to Washington breakfast today, Republican legislators were universal in their dismay that their host organization had endorsed Gov. Jon Corzine's monetization plan. But that didn't stop them from hobnobbing with top business leaders and boarding the famous train down to DC.

Despite putting out a press release that said the Chamber of Commerce "has sold out the people of New Jersey and the businesses they claim to represent," State Sen. Anthony Bucco went along for the ride.   But Bucco said there was nothing hypocritical about him participating. 

"I was scheduled to go on it and I'm going on it anyway," said Bucco, who owns a manufacturing company but is not a member of the state Chamber of Commerce.  "I have the opportunity to talk to the chamber members who are on here and tell them how wrong this monetization plan is for business."

New Jersey had a political realignment of sorts yesterday when the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce took Republican legislative leaders by surprise and endorsed Democratic Governor Jon Corzine’s Financial Restructuring and Debt Reduction Plan.  As in most places, organized labor has long been allied with the Democrats, while the GOP has enjoyed an alliance with the business community.  

State Senator Anthony Bucco is asking New Jersey businesses to drop their chamber membership and join other business groups, and conservative activist Steve Lonegan has called on Republican officials to boycott the Chamber of Commerce train trip to Washington tomorrow. 

Fifteen State Senators who were elected in the 2003 election did not seek re-election in 2007 – a record number of voluntary retirements in a chamber where Senators are more likely to die in office than to walk away. The next Senate election is in 2011 -- in newly-drawn districts that will reflect the next census.

Three Senators on the possible retirement list are Republicans Gerald Cardinale, who will be 77, and Anthony Bucco, who will be 73, and Democrat Loretta Weinberg, who will be 76 in 2011.

Getty Images Photo
It’s another day in Trenton, that substitute city for Sodom and Gomorrah in the storybooks Republicans read to their children.

There’s a kindly-looking, self-deprecating man presiding in the upper house. Senate President Richard Codey tells a boy entrusted as the day’s gavel pounder that they’ll get out of the Senate chamber earlier than the boy’s schoolmates, who are still stranded in a classroom somewhere. Later, he’s posing for pictures with what look to be the female, senior citizen contents of a bus that was bound for Atlantic City, since detoured to Trenton to see the former governor.

When Frank X. Herbert was asked to run for the 25th district state Senate seat, he knew it was just to fill the Democratic slot on the ticket. Still, the former state Senator from Bergen County said he was excited at the prospect of running for office again.

But three weeks after being asked, Herbert, 76, was diagnosed with benign hypertrophy in his prostate.

“I spent the whole month of April with hoses up my yinyang,” said Herbert. Then his wife started having health problems, and then he fell in his garage, injuring his right thumb. Just today he went to the dentist for a root amputation of one of his teeth, coming back with a mouthful of sponges.

Democrats Seek to Force Higher Tolls on New Jersey Through Intimidation

Senator Anthony R. Bucco (R-Morris) called upon New Jersey’s mayors to ignore a letter from the State Treasurer that seeks to prevent municipalities from adopting resolutions in opposition to the Democrat Majority’s plan to sell the State’s toll roads.

At 76-years-old, and thirty years since he last won a general election, Frank X. Herbert is seeking a political comeback in a race for the State Senate, where he served from 1978 to 1982. The former Bergen County Democrat, now a resident of Rockaway, filed today to run against Republican State Senator Anthony Bucco in the 25th district.

Herbert, a retired teacher, first won public office in 1969 when he was elected Waldwick Councilman. He won a race for Bergen County Freeholder in 1973 -- the Watergate landslide year -- defeating future Congressman Harold Hollenbeck. (Hollenbeck, elected to the State Senate in 1971, opted to run for Freeholder instead of re-election.)

CONVENE LEGISLATIVE SERVICES COMMISSION IMMEDIATELY
Decision To Challenge U.S. Attorneys Subpoenas Must Be Explained

Senator Anthony Bucco, (R-Morris), a member of the Legislative Services Commission, (LSC), issued the following statement calling on his colleagues on the LSC to immediately convene to obtain information surrounding the decision to challenge subpoenas delivered by United States Attorney Christopher Christie to the Office of Legislative Services.

ABBOTT SPENDING OUT OF CONTROL
School Aid Frozen While Democrats Permit $1,795 Jukebox Purchase

Senator Anthony Bucco (R-Morris) reacted with dismay to media reports that four Abbott school districts spent monies with little in-house oversight and controls according to audits released by the Department of Education.

Make Sure The Credit Is Legal Before It s Enacted
All Questions Should Be Answered Before the Senate Votes

Senator Anthony Bucco, R-25, today called upon Senate Democrat Leaders to delay a vote on their proposed property tax plan until Attorney General Stuart Rabner issues a formal legal opinion that the plan does not violate the New Jersey Constitution s Uniformity Clause. The Uniformity Clause requires that all property of a certain class be taxed equally without regard to the status of the owner of the property.
There are legitimate doubts about the constitutionality of this proposal, Bucco said. These doubts should be put to rest before we pass legislation that can t withstand a legal challenge. We need to get this right. Waiting a week or two for the Attorney General s opinion would not delay a single person getting their credit on time.
I m suspicious of the chorus of Democrats offering assurances that their plan passes constitutional muster. This same group hasn t shown much respect for our constitution in the past. They bonded for operating expenses, had the Supreme Court ruled that was unconstitutional, and then did it again.
Bucco said the questions about the constitutionality of the proposal could have been resolved sooner if the Democrats had permitted a committee hearing on the proposal.
The special session has been a fiasco, Bucco said. Only 24 of the session s 98 recommendations have been approved by the Senate and many of them, like the comptroller bill, are watered-down gimmicks that reform in name only. Nothing has been done that would reduce the cost of government in any meaningful way.
Meanwhile the centerpiece of their property tax relief plan is being rushed through without even a hearing. It s pretty clear the Democrats want this over as soon as possible, before anyone starts asking questions.
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