Asbury Park Press

The Asbury Park Press today endorsed Republican Christopher Christie, the former United States Attorney, for Governor. 

"We we believe he will work diligently to contain government spending at all levels of government. We believe he will work aggressively to bring public employee salaries and benefits under control. We believe he will take the steps necessary to make New Jersey attractive to businesses again and set the stage for the creation of private-sector jobs. And we are confident he will continue to fight political corruption as vigorously as governor as he did as U.S. Attorney," the editorial said.

The APP says that Gov. Jon "Corzine has done nothing to warrant re-election. In many areas he has left the state in worse shape than when he found it." 

"Independent Chris Daggett, who has become the darling of the disaffected, is not a viable alternative," the APP wrote.  "Despite his delusional claims, he has no chance of winning. A vote for him is, in essence, a vote for Corzine."

Playing off Thursday’s Philadelphia Inquirer headline, New Jersey’s newspapers can’t exactly wash their hands of the “business as usual” culture that allowed the so-called ‘MAC account’ to flourish for two years.

If you look at past news stories about the MAC accounts, a.k.a. Property Tax Assistance and Community Development Fund, the coverage did not exactly live up to Woodward and Bernstein standards.

Case in point.  Daily reporting coming out of Wayne Bryant’s federal corruption trial would now leave readers to believe that nobody in state government had final responsibility for overseeing the distribution of more than $120 million in ad hoc budget funds. That’s contrary to how it was once reported.

At times over the last two weeks, the testimony offered by one witness even contradicted what he had previously told reporters.

So it raises the question, how was the slush fund characterized by the press in past reporting?

Someone from South Carolina once told me Jersey style politics reminded her of the deep South – that is, about 80 years ago when political bosses used to run the roost.

Murray Sabrin, who has anointed himself the “front runner” in the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, issued a press release today announcing “Gannett endorses Sabrin for U.S. Senate.”  Sabrin doesn’t mean the Gannett that operates seven dailies in New Jersey – instead, he argues that the late Frank Gannett (1876-1957), who founded the newspaper chain, would have supported his candidacy.  Sabrin says there is a “striking similarity between Frank Gannett's political philosophy” and his campaign to Legalize Freedom.  Gannett sought the Republican nomination for President in 1940.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Bullet points miss the mark
Asbury Park Press, Editorial, February 23, 2007

Gov. Corzine outlined a $33 billion budget Thursday that will provide Democratic legislators with some badly needed bullet points for the glossy mailings and TV campaign ads in their re-election campaigns this fall.

Among the boasts we can count on hearing: Democrats passed the first budget in six years with no new taxes or tax increases. Democrats passed a budget that provided the largest increase in direct property tax relief in state history. Democrats passed a budget that provided the first real increase in state aid to every school district in the state in years. Democrats passed a budget that provided an increase in municipal aid for the first time in three years.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, the Democrats' opponents will have far more bullet points relating to the budget to use against them in November, when all 120 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs.

Among them: The Democrats approved a budget that increased overall state spending 7.2 percent - three times the rate of inflation. The year before, Corzine's first as governor, state spending increased 9 percent. During the six years since Trenton has been under Democratic control, the state budget has increased 48 percent. During the six years Trenton has been under Democratic control, state debt has doubled.

Other bullet points we hope to hear: Most of the $2.1 billion property tax credit program was funded by recycled tax dollars - money that came from an increase in the sales tax and the elimination of the old rebate program. The state's structural deficit is expected to be worse next year than it is this year. The "fair contract" negotiated with the state unions will yield an estimated $40 million in savings next year - an amount equal to .001 percent of the state budget.

Corzine spoke Thursday about the need for the Legislature to address long-term fiscal troubles, about New Jersey having the third-highest level of debt in the nation and about the burgeoning increases in unfunded liabilities for government workers' pensions and health care.

Bullet point: We know. We've been hearing about it for five years, including from Corzine last year. Too bad for taxpayers that no one - including Corzine - has done what is needed to provide meaningful, long-term relief.

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For more information, contact:
Assembly Republican Press Office / 609-292-5339

Republican Anna Little will not seek party support in her bid for re-election to the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, and could run against the organization in the June primary, or even as a Democrat, according to an e-mail to party leaders from GOP County Chairman Adam Puharic:

Tonight, I received word from the Asbury Park Press that Anna Little has decided not to seek our great Republican Party endorsement, and instead is considering to run off the line in a primary or has even hinted at switching parties. Switching parties? This is an outrage to every good Republican -- over 550 of us who attended Lincoln Day last night -- that she would betray our hard work, use the election victory we all worked towards together, and throw all of it away for her personal glory.

As a result, I will honor her request and I remove her for consideration as a Freeholder candidate in 2007. Despite her attempts to undermine her running mates, Monmouth County Republicans like Claire French, Joe Kyrillos, Sean Kean, and Jennifer Beck will prevail in the fall.

In her comments, she will claim that the candidate agreement our party asked candidates to sign is the sole reason she is leaving our party -- but nothing could be further from the truth. She did not have to sign it, and I told her this. From the beginning, Anna Little and her supporters have attempted to divide our party by embarrassing fellow Republicans in the Asbury Park Press. Only Anna Little and the renegade candidate attempting to undermine Jennifer Beck's run at Ellen Karcher have made an issue of the candidate selection process. For them, it was an excuse to embarrass our party, and to undermine our leadership. They have failed, and in their failure they are now joined as a campaign ticket against all Monmouth County Republicans.

Truth be told, Anna Little was not living up to her promises when she ran for office. She has proven ineffective in reforming county government, and instead attacks her fellow Republican Freeholders. She has not lived up to her responsibility as a party leader. Instead of being an active part of the 2006 campaign, Anna's supporters organized into a counter-organization known as "Anna's Army." They met independently of the true campaign, making decisions counter-productive to her great running mates Andrew Lucas and Rosemarie Peters. They made independent campaign expenditures without consulting their running mates.

And last night, Anna's supporters attempted a quiet boycott of Lincoln Day in a poor attempt at protest. Instead this backfired, with over 500 Republicans of good cheer replacing them without much effort. This party is moving on. We have moved past the angry scowls and negative spin of an agenda-driven cabal.

On March 3, our screening committee will convene to select two Freeholder candidates among a qualified pool of four great Republicans, including Freeholder Robert Clifton, Ocean Twp. Councilman David Hiers, Marlboro Council President Jeff Kantor, and Spring Lake Councilman Brian Reilly. Freeholder Clifton has publicly supported this process, along with all of the Assembly and Senate candidates. They deserve our support and our unity.

The voices of dissention have made their voices heard. It is time for the voices of party unity to speak. I am writing to ask for your support to work together, and stand strong in the face of shrill voices that would destroy our party. I need your help.

Litte's letter to Republicans:

It is with heartfelt regret that I am writing to inform you that I will not be participating in Chairman Adam Puharic's screening process and that I will not be seeking the regular Republican nomination for the office of Freeholder in the upcoming election.

I deeply appreciate all the support that I have received from rank and file Republicans and County Committee members over the last year. You are an inspiring and dedicated group, and it has been my honor to work with you and to serve you as your Monmouth County Freeholder. I have recently come to a roadblock in dealing with the current leadership of the Monmouth County Republican Organization, and I have serious reservations about continuing to work under the conditions imposed by this regime.

Contrary to Mr. Puharic's comments in the press, I am not the only candidate who has objected to the screening process as designed by the Chairman.

My problem with the process is not the background check that has garnered so much attention. I am willing to submit to a background check, if for no other reason than to prove I have nothing to hide. In fact, my modest but sufficient means reflect that of the average voter, and that should lead no one to question my honesty.

Despite the Chairman's statements in the press, he is requiring me to sign a contract that deprives me and you of some of our rights as United States citizens, and that could compromise my security and that of my family. Mr. Puharic has stated in the press that the background checks will be private and confidential. His contract states just the opposite and releases the Monmouth County Republican Organization from any liability for the misuse of my private information. As a wife and mother, and elected public servant, I can not sign that contract. As an attorney, I would advise any client not to sign that contract.

Many of you are no doubt aware of the smear campaign that has been waged against me and my family since our victory on November 7, 2006. Since election night, I have made numerous attempts to communicate with Mr. Puharic to resolve our differences and to bring the Party together in preparation for another tough election this year. After being rebuffed by the Chairman numerous times, we finally met on February 6, 2007. Puharic, seated behind his desk with two muscle men standing on either side of him with arms folded, stared at me. Puharic then listed the reasons that he felt I should not run on the Republican ticket. He stated that the screening committee would make the decision because he was angry and didn't trust himself to decide fairly. He stated that I should tell the press I would be signing the agreement, even if it were not the truth. The result of this meeting was that that the Chairman and I will not be able to resolve our differences. I find it troubling that after being appointed to the Freeholder position, fairly selected by the entire Monmouth County Committee, and after winning a difficult race in the November General Election, my viability as a candidate is being questioned. The selection process in the past was fair to the candidates and to the entire Monmouth County Committee at the general convention.

I will continue to serve as a Monmouth County Freeholder for the remainder of this year, and I am in the process of evaluating other alternatives for my candidacy for re-election. I expect that many of you will not be happy with this turn of events, and neither am I. While I can appreciate that my leaving the Organization line will cost me the support of some of you, I expect and hope that many of you will want to continue to work with me for the betterment of Monmouth County government.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

After seven months, countless weeks of testimony and endless promises, the state Legislature has approved a bill that would give homeowners what they had four years ago: a not insignificant sum of money that feels less like tax reform than bribery... New Jersey actually went backward. Besides failing to reform the manner in which schools are funded, it actually failed even to reform the funding formula to provide greater help and more equity... It is an intolerable situation. The governor once promised if the Legislature was unable to achieve reform he would call for a constitutional convention. Legislators have failed. Corzine ought to call them on their charade and demand the convention. We, and our children, deserve that much.
- A tax-reform charade, Editorial
Home News Tribune, February 12, 2007

The Legislature's six-month attempt to approve real, substantive, lasting tax reform remains, in the end, a disappointment. There's no guarantee that the 20 percent tax credit will last more than one year. There's been no major pension reform. And perhaps most disappointing of all: There will be no serious pressure on towns and schools to merge or share services - even though virtually all experts agree that there can be no real tax reform without the consolidation of New Jersey's more than 600 school districts and 500 municipalities.
- Disappointing property-tax 'reform': the blame is shared, Editorial
The Press of Atlantic City, February 11, 2007

Largely lost amid the smoke - and mirrors - of the property tax relief fiasco in Trenton was the decision this week to put off revising the school funding formula. It isn't easy keeping up with the myriad ways Gov. Corzine and state lawmakers have managed to gut property tax reforms. One of their worst failures, however, was deferring action on the gross spending inequities in New Jersey's public schools... I''s disgraceful how few of the property tax reforms recommended by four legislative committees last fall have been enacted. There is no greater disgrace than the failure of Corzine and the Legislature to rectify the unfair manner in which state aid is funded and dispensed.
- School aid fix deferred again, Editorial
Asbury Park Press, February 10, 2007

JEER: To the state Legislature, for its colossal failure on reforming property taxes.
- Cheers & jeers, Editorial
The Daily Record of Morris County, February 10, 2007

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For more information, contact:
Assembly Republican Press Office / 609-292-5339

Locricchio Calls for Abolishing "Puharic Plan"
Freeholder Anna Little Says Plan "Borderline Unconstitutional"

Date: For Immediate Release
Contact: Joe Locricchio
Patriot0328@aol.com

After a recent Asbury Park Press editorial rebuking the Monmouth County GOP plan to charge candidates $1,000 or more to have a background investigation conducted on themselves before a "vetting process" is conducted by hand-picked supporters of the County Chairman, State Senate candidate for the 12th District and Manalapan Township Committeeman Joe Locricchio confirms his plan to shun the biased and questionable plan, and says it must be abolished.

"From the start I have been against Mr. Puharic's hand-picked selection process. The Asbury Park Press compared the Puharic plan to a Communist concept used in the former Soviet Union. That is not what the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan stands for. The Constitution of the United States allows for representatives to be chosen by all the people, not by a back-room vetting process decided by a dozen of Puharic's loyalists. I call on Mr. Puharic to allow the people to make their own choices."

On Monday, Monmouth County Freeholder Anna Little announced her concerns for the Puharic Plan, calling it "questionable at best and borderline unconstitutional," and the plan to charge candidates at least $1,000 for a background check "unusual."

Locricchio says Mr. Puharic in one breath has called his plan "voluntary" and "recommended," however has stated "Only those approved by the screening committee may participate in a Republican county convention."

"Mr. Puharic calls this 'voluntary,' but if you don't submit to the Puharic plan or pay to be a part of it, you can't be a part of the election process. I call on Mr. Puharic to remove what has been called his 'Orwellian scheme' and place the election process back in the hands of the people."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

The way in which state lawmakers have eviscerated the 98 property tax reform recommendations made by four legislative committees last fall is beneath contempt. But it's too soon for taxpayers to give up the fight.

- Don't give up on the reforms, Editorial
Asbury Park Press, February 4, 2007

If you think for one minute that Gov. Corzine or that bunch under the gold dome cares one bit about you and your family, you are out of your mind. They are shameless and soulless.

- Corzine shows true colors, Editorial
Asbury Park Press, January 29, 2007

There was a time when earning $100,000 a year made one wealthy, just like there was a time when a $100,000 home was a large estate. That time is long gone. If the state is going to give tax credits by using income levels, it should raise the ceiling for maximum benefits to an income of, say, $200,000 a year.

- Ceiling is too low, Editorial
Daily Record of Morris County, February 4, 2007

Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, could have done a better job of standing up for the taxpayers. The Republican opposition is making that point clear.

- Do the math on tax cut proposal, Editorial
Ocean County Observer, February 2, 2007

The state Senate is slated to vote tomorrow on the final bills in the property tax "reform" package. We put that "reform" in quotes because Trenton's definition of reform differs from how the word is normally understood... No doubt when it's all done, legislators will tout what they've done as property tax "reform." Only they could see it that way.

- The fantasy of reform, Editorial
The Star-Ledger, February 04, 2007

On Monday, the tax relief proposals will be before the state Senate. At the very least, the Assembly package should be approved. At best it should be strengthened because taxpayers are being crushed by the tax burden.

- Tax relief plan now goes to the Senate, Editorial
The Herald News, January 31, 2007

Meet the new reform, same as the old reform: Election year property-tax rebates that may quickly vanish and a leaky cap on local spending... Unless the Senate tightens this cap bill, Corzine should conditionally veto it - as well as the comptroller - and refuse to approve this election-year rebate until the Legislature passes strong, effective bills. The governor called for bold action back in July, when this exercise began. He ought to take the lead.

- Property tax reform: this sounds familiar, Editorial
The Press of Atlantic City, February 1, 2007

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!!!

COMING TO A COURT NEAR YOU: ASSEMBLY GOP v. NJ TAXPAYERS