With his poll numbers dropping and editorial pages across the state calling him out on his backward priorities, Governor Christie's administration is doing everything it can to distract New Jersey voters from the middle class crunching cuts and property tax increases he has proposed. No one is disputing that we are in a tough budget situation and action is needed. But the Governor continually tells us his budget imposes shared sacrifice on everyone in New Jersey, yet approximately 42,000 people who make over $400,000 will pay thousands of dollars less in taxes than they did last year. The rest of us are left with crippling property tax increases as a result of the cuts to our local schools and towns. As many as 134,000 low income seniors will have to pay an additional $310 for their prescription drug plans in addition to a doubling of their co-pay.
After a week of legislative hearings where many of these budget fallacies were exposed Christie and his treasurer had a new talking point, that Democrats were trying to make a 'political issue' out of the tax increase. If Chris Christie thinks priorities like protecting poor and disabled seniors, supporting families struggling to pay their property taxes and keeping our class sizes at rational levels is a 'political issue' he couldn't be more wrong.
To make matters worse, at the same time he is taking money out of our pockets, he wants to send tens of millions of dollars back to Washington by refusing federal matching funds for after-school programs, homeland security and library funding amongst others.
This video from my colleague Assemblyman John Burzichelli does a great job of summing up our priorities vs. those of Governor Christie's budget.
Direct link: http://vimeo.com/10876532
Jefferson Jackson Dinner
On April 29th we will be hosting our first Jefferson Jackson dinner in almost twenty years at the Trenton Marriott and I hope you can join us. At our last Jefferson Jackson dinner, we had an up and coming Governor from Arkansas come and address the crowd. A few years later we were all proud to call him President William Jefferson Clinton. Maybe this year's keynote will have as distinguished a career. Please help me make this an unforgettable evening and support the Jefferson Jackson Dinner so we can celebrate our victories in November. We will be honoring all the past chairs of the Democratic State Committee including: Richard Coffee, Raymond Durkin, Raymond Lesniak, Tom Byrne, Thomas Giblin, Joseph Roberts, Bonnie Watson Coleman & Joe Cryan.
You can buy your tickets online by clicking here or by calling 609-392-DEMS.
See the Impact
After decades of struggle and a year of debate, health reform is now law in America.
What does it mean for you? It means an end to the worst insurance company abuses, new rules that treat everyone fairly, and more choices and affordable health insurance for millions of Americans.
Watch this video to see the impact on New Jersey
Direct link: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/benefitsofreform?state=NJ
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