Showing posts with label Chris Christie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Christie. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Chris Christie’s teacher-tenure coup
From: NYPOST.com
Here’s a sign that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is fundamentally reshaping the Garden State: He’s got teacher-union leaders sounding like, well . . . Chris Christie.
The gov is just days away from enacting a sweeping reform of teacher-tenure laws, which currently guarantee lifelong jobs to even the worst educators.
And Christie has managed to twist the union into quite a pretzel: Its leaders now say they support making it easier to lay off the lemons among them.
“This legislation moves us in the right direction by making it harder to earn tenure, and less expensive and time-consuming to remove teachers who are not performing well,” said union boss Barbara Keshishian.
Yes, that’s the sound of Hell freezing over.
More precisely, it’s a labor leader explaining why she’s backing a bill that zaps the system that grants 98 percent of Newark’s new teachers near-automatic tenure — and jobs for life — every year without fail.
It’s a real testament to Christie’s skill. He called out the unions last year for running a system “where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure.”
And the Senate answered, passing a bill this week that requires four years of high ratings to win tenure, and lets schools revoke tenure and possibly fire teachers who get back-to-back negative reviews.
A watered-down version awaits passage in the Assembly, and a compromise bill should reach Christie’s desk soon.
This legislation is far from perfect: It fails to fix the “last in, first out” seniority rules that require the state to fire the newest teachers first whenever there are layoffs.
And, truth is, we’d rather see tenure abolished wholesale in Jersey and New York.
But the reform is a major achievement that should help dig public-school kids out of a failing school system.
Again, kudos to Christie.
Andrew Cuomo, please take note.
Here’s a sign that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is fundamentally reshaping the Garden State: He’s got teacher-union leaders sounding like, well . . . Chris Christie.
The gov is just days away from enacting a sweeping reform of teacher-tenure laws, which currently guarantee lifelong jobs to even the worst educators.
And Christie has managed to twist the union into quite a pretzel: Its leaders now say they support making it easier to lay off the lemons among them.
“This legislation moves us in the right direction by making it harder to earn tenure, and less expensive and time-consuming to remove teachers who are not performing well,” said union boss Barbara Keshishian.
More precisely, it’s a labor leader explaining why she’s backing a bill that zaps the system that grants 98 percent of Newark’s new teachers near-automatic tenure — and jobs for life — every year without fail.
It’s a real testament to Christie’s skill. He called out the unions last year for running a system “where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure.”
And the Senate answered, passing a bill this week that requires four years of high ratings to win tenure, and lets schools revoke tenure and possibly fire teachers who get back-to-back negative reviews.
A watered-down version awaits passage in the Assembly, and a compromise bill should reach Christie’s desk soon.
This legislation is far from perfect: It fails to fix the “last in, first out” seniority rules that require the state to fire the newest teachers first whenever there are layoffs.
And, truth is, we’d rather see tenure abolished wholesale in Jersey and New York.
But the reform is a major achievement that should help dig public-school kids out of a failing school system.
Again, kudos to Christie.
Andrew Cuomo, please take note.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
FOX NEWS:Chris Christie To Endorse Mitt Romney
FROM: FOX NEWS
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, just one week after definitively announcing he will not run for president in the 2012 race, plans to endorse Mitt Romney for the job Tuesday afternoon, Fox News has learned.
The event is set to take place in Hanover, N.H., the site of the Republican presidential debate being held Tuesday night. The endorsement will be made in advance of the debate.
Marking a fast turnaround for Romney, the endorsement comes one week to the day since Christie called a press conference in Trenton to end once and for all the speculation that he would make a late entrance into the race.
Christie for months had said he would not run, but acknowledged that encouragement from others had him rethinking the decision in recent weeks. But he said he never changed his mind, and determined he had too much unfinished business to take care of in his home state.
The endorsement of Romney should leave no doubt that Christie is out as a potential candidate, but in as a potential high-profile surrogate for the former Massachusetts governor.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Man, I Like That Guy: Chris Christie's Dude Factor
From: HUMAN EVENTS
The Tea Party, which created this unexpected boom time for the conservative cause, has yet to find its ideal principled, politically incorrect and assertive candidate for the Republican nomination. While the conservative movement searches for someone with the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the liberal bullies and their nauseating coalition of assorted unions, community organizers and cynically brainwashed “minority constituencies,” the expected front-runner, Rick Perry, is dropping in the polls as he apologizes for calling many GOP voters “heartless.”
In order to win the nomination in 2012, the Republican Party cannot afford to nominate someone like President George W. Bush, who turned the other cheek for half of his presidency, or Sen. John McCain, who wrongly calculated that his friends in the press were his political allies. This election cycle—and the prospective four to eight year cleanup job of the liberal “era of rage”—will not focus on stem cells, abortion, evolution or other business-as-usual election-year litmus tests. This election is about standing up to the bullies.
I’ve heard the arguments that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is not conservative enough, but try telling that to the people in the room at the Reagan Library last Tuesday. At the podium that night was a man who in less than two short years has exhibited strength and leadership skills conspicuously absent in the wake of a generation of pervasive political correctness. Big Labor bosses Richard Trumka and Jimmy Hoffa Jr., who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Obama, are the bullies on this playground. More than anyone in the country, Gov. Christie has stood his ground in the face of their thuggery and refused to hand over his lunch money.
I didn’t get the sense that he was playing games when he said he was not intending to run for the presidency, and I take him at his word, but I’m glad that I got to see in person the temperament and resolve that the actual GOP nominee must have if President Obama is to be defeated. After the bullies have been restrained, there is still the matter of restoring order in the school yard. The rank-and-file union members, who have been used and abused by a corrupt leadership, must be brought back into the fold. Reagan’s big tent was defined largely by its appeal to union members, but today’s GOP has lost its nerve to reach out to this critical constituency.
Except for Chris Christie. He’s told union members that their brass has conned them, negotiating contracts that could never be fulfilled. He’s gone to union conferences, telling members to their faces that governors of the past—of both parties—have lied to them, promising to increase their publicly funded benefits knowing full-well that New Jersey was broke.
At the Reagan Library, Christie told a story that captured the fighting spirit and tough love Republicans must embody. Shortly after announcing his pension-reform proposal, Christie attended the annual firefighters convention. It was no warm welcome. He was booed by the audience prior to taking the stage and even more loudly when he finally got to the podium. Christie told the crowd that he understood their anxieties about the future, but asked them this question: “Why are you booing the first guy who came into the room and actually told you the truth?”
The next Republican presidential candidate must speak that bluntly and truthfully to this group of people, and call on them to denounce their self-serving, violent and un-American leaders, who have driven them to a point of near-economic ruin. In this regard, the Republican candidate must mimic Chris Christie’s bravery and straight-talk.
One woman in the audience spoke for many in the room, myself included, when she pleaded with the self-effacing governor to rethink his decision. We are a nation that desperately needs someone like Christie, someone ready, willing and able to roll up his sleeves, man up and go after the bullies on the playground.
The Tea Party, which created this unexpected boom time for the conservative cause, has yet to find its ideal principled, politically incorrect and assertive candidate for the Republican nomination. While the conservative movement searches for someone with the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the liberal bullies and their nauseating coalition of assorted unions, community organizers and cynically brainwashed “minority constituencies,” the expected front-runner, Rick Perry, is dropping in the polls as he apologizes for calling many GOP voters “heartless.”
In order to win the nomination in 2012, the Republican Party cannot afford to nominate someone like President George W. Bush, who turned the other cheek for half of his presidency, or Sen. John McCain, who wrongly calculated that his friends in the press were his political allies. This election cycle—and the prospective four to eight year cleanup job of the liberal “era of rage”—will not focus on stem cells, abortion, evolution or other business-as-usual election-year litmus tests. This election is about standing up to the bullies.
I’ve heard the arguments that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is not conservative enough, but try telling that to the people in the room at the Reagan Library last Tuesday. At the podium that night was a man who in less than two short years has exhibited strength and leadership skills conspicuously absent in the wake of a generation of pervasive political correctness. Big Labor bosses Richard Trumka and Jimmy Hoffa Jr., who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Obama, are the bullies on this playground. More than anyone in the country, Gov. Christie has stood his ground in the face of their thuggery and refused to hand over his lunch money.
I didn’t get the sense that he was playing games when he said he was not intending to run for the presidency, and I take him at his word, but I’m glad that I got to see in person the temperament and resolve that the actual GOP nominee must have if President Obama is to be defeated. After the bullies have been restrained, there is still the matter of restoring order in the school yard. The rank-and-file union members, who have been used and abused by a corrupt leadership, must be brought back into the fold. Reagan’s big tent was defined largely by its appeal to union members, but today’s GOP has lost its nerve to reach out to this critical constituency.
Except for Chris Christie. He’s told union members that their brass has conned them, negotiating contracts that could never be fulfilled. He’s gone to union conferences, telling members to their faces that governors of the past—of both parties—have lied to them, promising to increase their publicly funded benefits knowing full-well that New Jersey was broke.
At the Reagan Library, Christie told a story that captured the fighting spirit and tough love Republicans must embody. Shortly after announcing his pension-reform proposal, Christie attended the annual firefighters convention. It was no warm welcome. He was booed by the audience prior to taking the stage and even more loudly when he finally got to the podium. Christie told the crowd that he understood their anxieties about the future, but asked them this question: “Why are you booing the first guy who came into the room and actually told you the truth?”
The next Republican presidential candidate must speak that bluntly and truthfully to this group of people, and call on them to denounce their self-serving, violent and un-American leaders, who have driven them to a point of near-economic ruin. In this regard, the Republican candidate must mimic Chris Christie’s bravery and straight-talk.
One woman in the audience spoke for many in the room, myself included, when she pleaded with the self-effacing governor to rethink his decision. We are a nation that desperately needs someone like Christie, someone ready, willing and able to roll up his sleeves, man up and go after the bullies on the playground.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
NEWSMAX: Chris Christie Reconsidering 2012 Run, Will Decide in Days
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is reconsidering his decision not to enter the 2012 presidential race — and he says he will let top Republican donors know within days about his plans, Newsmax has learned.
During the past few weeks, several leading Republican donors and fundraisers have been urging the popular Republican governor to reconsider his decision not to run and to enter the GOP primary.
During the past few weeks, several leading Republican donors and fundraisers have been urging the popular Republican governor to reconsider his decision not to run and to enter the GOP primary.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Chris Christie Mulling a 2012 Run
I really enjoyed this posting regarding Chris Christie. I thought I'd share.
From: NICE DEB.com
Republicans are still concerned that the current field is weak, and both Rick Perry and Romney leaves them with doubts; Romney, because he’s a technocrat who doesn’t have firm convictions, and Perry, because people are not sure of his ability to articulate his views.
See Breitbart T.V. for a serious discussion of a possible Christie Run on Fox News Sunday, where Wall Street Journal editor, Paul Gigot shares some insider info on the situation.
From: NICE DEB.com
Republicans are still concerned that the current field is weak, and both Rick Perry and Romney leaves them with doubts; Romney, because he’s a technocrat who doesn’t have firm convictions, and Perry, because people are not sure of his ability to articulate his views.
See Breitbart T.V. for a serious discussion of a possible Christie Run on Fox News Sunday, where Wall Street Journal editor, Paul Gigot shares some insider info on the situation.
Friday, August 05, 2011
NJ Muslim: From 9/11 detainee lawyer to judge
From: ABC 33/40
As the rubble of ground zero smoldered in the months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the investigation was just as hot across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
More than 1,100 Arabs and Muslims - most of them from New York and northern New Jersey - were rounded up and detained as the FBI feverishly searched for additional terrorists.
In few places was the spotlight as white-hot as in Paterson, where as many as six of the 9/11 hijackers lived or spent time in the weeks before the attacks. As agents went knocking on doors, asking questions about religious practices, finances and acquaintances, many Muslims were cowering on the other side, terrified of being thrown in jail for crimes they knew nothing about.
A young, soft-spoken Muslim immigration attorney named Sohail Mohammed represented many people rounded up in New Jersey in the post-9/11 dragnet. Along the way, he gained the respect and friendship of many top law enforcement officials for his efforts to build bridges between the Muslim community and law enforcement and to help defuse tensions in those incredibly tense days. He won over one official whose favor would prove crucial nearly a decade later: the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie.
Christie, now the state's governor and a darling of the Republican party, nominated Mohammed to a Superior Court judgeship. Mohammed was sworn into office last week, becoming New Jersey's second Muslim judge.
Mohammed, 47, says his religion has nothing to do with how he'll perform his new job.
"My faith, my ethnicity: that means nothing here," he said. "It's not an issue."
Not everyone agreed.
After Christie nominated Mohammed in January for the judgeship, the tough-talking, crime-busting former federal prosecutor found himself accused of cozying up to Islamic radicals. "Governor Christie's Dirty Islamist Ties," one of the kinder Internet headlines read.
Christie, whom GOP loyalists are now begging to run for president, stuck with Mohammed despite a vicious campaign by conservative bloggers who denounced Christie and raised fears that Mohammed would introduce Islamic Sharia law into the courts.
"Sohail Mohammed is an extraordinary American who is an outstanding lawyer who played an integral role post-9/11 in building bridges between the Muslim community and law enforcement," Christie said. "I was there; I saw it.
"Sharia law has nothing to do with this. It's crazy," Christie said. "This Sharia law business is crap; it's crazy and I'm tired of dealing with crazies. I'm happy he's willing to serve after all this baloney."
The fallout from the terror attacks was quick and extreme in Paterson, home to the nation's second-largest Arab-American community after Dearborn, Mich. Carloads of people descended on the city's Arab quarter, screaming obscenities and throwing things at veiled women on the sidewalk. Some radio hosts broadcast - falsely - that Arabs were dancing in the streets and on rooftops when the World Trade Center's towers fell.
Robert Passero, Passaic County's Superior Court assignment judge at the time, was feeling the pressure as well.
"They were recommending I close the courthouse because tempers were high," he said. "There were people from out of town riding through south Paterson making threats. It was very tense."
Passero had known Mohammed for years, taking an interest in him after the young man sat through one of his cases as a juror, then implausibly called the judge's office the following week to say he loved jury duty so much he wanted to do it again. Seeing the makings of a future lawyer, the judge encouraged Mohammed to go to law school, then mentored him along the way, even as Mohammed started a solo practice concentrating on immigration law.
Mohammed would get numerous calls each week from worried Muslims saying FBI agents had knocked on their doors and asked for personal information, including where they worshipped, the names of others who attended the mosque and whether they had ever declared bankruptcy.
"After 9/11 we wanted to forge a better relationship with the Muslim community, we wanted to understand them better, we wanted them to understand us better, explain our job, and that we are there to protect them, too," said Charles McKenna, an assistant U.S. attorney at the time and now head of New Jersey's Office of Homeland Security. "But we didn't have many entrees into that community. Through Sohail, we were able to go in and meet with a lot of the elders of the community. I think that community was a little afraid of the government at that time. A person with his gravitas gave us a foot in the door."
Mohammed undertook several initiatives that eased the mistrust and increased understanding between both sides.
He and other leaders of New Jersey's Muslim community met with FBI and other law enforcement agencies to educate them on Islam and Muslim culture. He helped arrange a job fair at a mosque in which the agencies recruited Muslims for law enforcement jobs. At the time, none of the more than 300 FBI agents assigned to New Jersey spoke Arabic.
Not long afterward, Mohammed and others offered to speak to law enforcement to explain Islam and Muslim culture. By all accounts, the sessions went well. They eventually were expanded beyond the FBI to other agencies, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
"It was a tough crowd, but you have to have understanding," Mohammed recalled. "When you are ignorant about something or someone, that brings fear. If you get to know someone and more about them, you remove that fear and we can see people for who they are."
Mohammed began noticing a trend in federal immigration court after Sept. 11: The FBI was clearing suspects - or at least admitting it had lost interest in them as terror suspects - long before the courts dealt with their cases. As a result, many were languishing in county jails for months because the court system was overwhelmed.
One was a 19-year-old gas station attendant in Ocean County who shared the same name as Taliban leader Mohamed Omar. He came to the FBI's attention when customers recalled a co-worker at the station who bore a resemblance to 9/11 hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi and told the agency they remembered someone pumping gas who might have been one of the terrorists.
He wasn't, but the resulting attention led to Omar's detention on charges he had violated his tourist visa by working in the U.S. In less than a week, an immigration judge ordered him deported to his native Egypt. But he remained in custody for nearly four months, with Sohail Mohammed appearing in court repeatedly and inquiring about the delay.
As the rubble of ground zero smoldered in the months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the investigation was just as hot across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
More than 1,100 Arabs and Muslims - most of them from New York and northern New Jersey - were rounded up and detained as the FBI feverishly searched for additional terrorists.
In few places was the spotlight as white-hot as in Paterson, where as many as six of the 9/11 hijackers lived or spent time in the weeks before the attacks. As agents went knocking on doors, asking questions about religious practices, finances and acquaintances, many Muslims were cowering on the other side, terrified of being thrown in jail for crimes they knew nothing about.
A young, soft-spoken Muslim immigration attorney named Sohail Mohammed represented many people rounded up in New Jersey in the post-9/11 dragnet. Along the way, he gained the respect and friendship of many top law enforcement officials for his efforts to build bridges between the Muslim community and law enforcement and to help defuse tensions in those incredibly tense days. He won over one official whose favor would prove crucial nearly a decade later: the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie.
Christie, now the state's governor and a darling of the Republican party, nominated Mohammed to a Superior Court judgeship. Mohammed was sworn into office last week, becoming New Jersey's second Muslim judge.
Mohammed, 47, says his religion has nothing to do with how he'll perform his new job.
"My faith, my ethnicity: that means nothing here," he said. "It's not an issue."
Not everyone agreed.
After Christie nominated Mohammed in January for the judgeship, the tough-talking, crime-busting former federal prosecutor found himself accused of cozying up to Islamic radicals. "Governor Christie's Dirty Islamist Ties," one of the kinder Internet headlines read.
Christie, whom GOP loyalists are now begging to run for president, stuck with Mohammed despite a vicious campaign by conservative bloggers who denounced Christie and raised fears that Mohammed would introduce Islamic Sharia law into the courts.
"Sohail Mohammed is an extraordinary American who is an outstanding lawyer who played an integral role post-9/11 in building bridges between the Muslim community and law enforcement," Christie said. "I was there; I saw it.
"Sharia law has nothing to do with this. It's crazy," Christie said. "This Sharia law business is crap; it's crazy and I'm tired of dealing with crazies. I'm happy he's willing to serve after all this baloney."
The fallout from the terror attacks was quick and extreme in Paterson, home to the nation's second-largest Arab-American community after Dearborn, Mich. Carloads of people descended on the city's Arab quarter, screaming obscenities and throwing things at veiled women on the sidewalk. Some radio hosts broadcast - falsely - that Arabs were dancing in the streets and on rooftops when the World Trade Center's towers fell.
Robert Passero, Passaic County's Superior Court assignment judge at the time, was feeling the pressure as well.
"They were recommending I close the courthouse because tempers were high," he said. "There were people from out of town riding through south Paterson making threats. It was very tense."
Passero had known Mohammed for years, taking an interest in him after the young man sat through one of his cases as a juror, then implausibly called the judge's office the following week to say he loved jury duty so much he wanted to do it again. Seeing the makings of a future lawyer, the judge encouraged Mohammed to go to law school, then mentored him along the way, even as Mohammed started a solo practice concentrating on immigration law.
Mohammed would get numerous calls each week from worried Muslims saying FBI agents had knocked on their doors and asked for personal information, including where they worshipped, the names of others who attended the mosque and whether they had ever declared bankruptcy.
"After 9/11 we wanted to forge a better relationship with the Muslim community, we wanted to understand them better, we wanted them to understand us better, explain our job, and that we are there to protect them, too," said Charles McKenna, an assistant U.S. attorney at the time and now head of New Jersey's Office of Homeland Security. "But we didn't have many entrees into that community. Through Sohail, we were able to go in and meet with a lot of the elders of the community. I think that community was a little afraid of the government at that time. A person with his gravitas gave us a foot in the door."
Mohammed undertook several initiatives that eased the mistrust and increased understanding between both sides.
He and other leaders of New Jersey's Muslim community met with FBI and other law enforcement agencies to educate them on Islam and Muslim culture. He helped arrange a job fair at a mosque in which the agencies recruited Muslims for law enforcement jobs. At the time, none of the more than 300 FBI agents assigned to New Jersey spoke Arabic.
Not long afterward, Mohammed and others offered to speak to law enforcement to explain Islam and Muslim culture. By all accounts, the sessions went well. They eventually were expanded beyond the FBI to other agencies, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
"It was a tough crowd, but you have to have understanding," Mohammed recalled. "When you are ignorant about something or someone, that brings fear. If you get to know someone and more about them, you remove that fear and we can see people for who they are."
Mohammed began noticing a trend in federal immigration court after Sept. 11: The FBI was clearing suspects - or at least admitting it had lost interest in them as terror suspects - long before the courts dealt with their cases. As a result, many were languishing in county jails for months because the court system was overwhelmed.
One was a 19-year-old gas station attendant in Ocean County who shared the same name as Taliban leader Mohamed Omar. He came to the FBI's attention when customers recalled a co-worker at the station who bore a resemblance to 9/11 hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi and told the agency they remembered someone pumping gas who might have been one of the terrorists.
He wasn't, but the resulting attention led to Omar's detention on charges he had violated his tourist visa by working in the U.S. In less than a week, an immigration judge ordered him deported to his native Egypt. But he remained in custody for nearly four months, with Sohail Mohammed appearing in court repeatedly and inquiring about the delay.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Christie to pull N.J. Out of Cap and Trade
Chris Christie gets it right again.
From: North Jersey.com
From: North Jersey.com
Governor Christie said this morning that he will pull New Jersey out of a regional cap-and-trade energy program.
The move drew strong criticism from environmental advocates who argued it was a rollback of clean energy efforts. But it was supported by business groups who said the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was a burdensome energy tax.
“We will withdraw from RGGI in an orderly fashion by year’s end,” Christie said.
RGGI is a cooperative effort by Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 10 percent by 2018. To do so, power plant operators such as PSE&G must purchase allowances from their host states to cover each ton of carbon dioxide emissions they are likely to produce. The companies can then buy, sell or trade their permits. Companies that reduce their emissions and don’t need all their allowances might sell them to a company whose emissions exceed their allowances.
The proceeds are to be invested by the states in energy-efficiency projects and developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.
“It’s a failure,” Christie said. “RGGI has not changed behavior and it does not reduce emissions.”
Opponents say power companies have passed along the costs to comply with RGGI by raising electric bills.
The Sierra Club says the increase is less than half of 1 percent of the average household bill.
“Christie is taking the side of corporate polluters and the coal industry over the environment and health of the people of New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel, director of New Jersey Sierra Club.
The move drew strong criticism from environmental advocates who argued it was a rollback of clean energy efforts. But it was supported by business groups who said the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was a burdensome energy tax.
“We will withdraw from RGGI in an orderly fashion by year’s end,” Christie said.
RGGI is a cooperative effort by Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 10 percent by 2018. To do so, power plant operators such as PSE&G must purchase allowances from their host states to cover each ton of carbon dioxide emissions they are likely to produce. The companies can then buy, sell or trade their permits. Companies that reduce their emissions and don’t need all their allowances might sell them to a company whose emissions exceed their allowances.
The proceeds are to be invested by the states in energy-efficiency projects and developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.
“It’s a failure,” Christie said. “RGGI has not changed behavior and it does not reduce emissions.”
Opponents say power companies have passed along the costs to comply with RGGI by raising electric bills.
The Sierra Club says the increase is less than half of 1 percent of the average household bill.
“Christie is taking the side of corporate polluters and the coal industry over the environment and health of the people of New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel, director of New Jersey Sierra Club.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
New Jersey Gains $913 Million Additional In Tax Revenue (Unexpectedly?)
I guess that Chris Christie was on the right track after all.
NJ.com
New Jersey is projected to take in $913 million more than expected in tax revenue through June 2012, according to new projections by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.
The revised estimate will likely spark a partisan battle over how to spend the unexpected windfall as lawmakers consider Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed $29.4 billion budget.
OLS will be present the figures today to the Assembly Budget Committee, according to two sources familiar with the report who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. State Treasurer Andrew P. Sidamon-Eristoff is also expected to give the committee the administration’s revenue estimates. A Treasury spokesman declined to comment today.
The surge will come from an unexpected increase in income tax revenue, according to a section of the OLS report obtained by The Star-Ledger. All other taxes were below administration estimates for the 14-month period, according to the report.
The new numbers will be announced as the state Supreme Court is considering whether Gov. Chris Christie and lawmakers need to provide up to $1.7 billion more in school funding.
The news will likely change the tone of the budget debate underway in Trenton that has up to this point largely focused on modest restoration to cuts in programs.
NJ.com
New Jersey is projected to take in $913 million more than expected in tax revenue through June 2012, according to new projections by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.
The revised estimate will likely spark a partisan battle over how to spend the unexpected windfall as lawmakers consider Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed $29.4 billion budget.
OLS will be present the figures today to the Assembly Budget Committee, according to two sources familiar with the report who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. State Treasurer Andrew P. Sidamon-Eristoff is also expected to give the committee the administration’s revenue estimates. A Treasury spokesman declined to comment today.
The surge will come from an unexpected increase in income tax revenue, according to a section of the OLS report obtained by The Star-Ledger. All other taxes were below administration estimates for the 14-month period, according to the report.
The new numbers will be announced as the state Supreme Court is considering whether Gov. Chris Christie and lawmakers need to provide up to $1.7 billion more in school funding.
The news will likely change the tone of the budget debate underway in Trenton that has up to this point largely focused on modest restoration to cuts in programs.
Monday, May 09, 2011
Gov. Christie: Obamacare’s Medicaid Mandates Are ‘Drowning’ States
FRom: CNSnews.com
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) told CNSNews.com that the health care law’s Medicaid mandates are a financial burden for his state.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) told CNSNews.com that the health care law’s Medicaid mandates are a financial burden for his state.
CNSNews.com asked Christie if he supports the House Republicans FY2012 budget.
“Listen, I think that there’s got to be a credible plan that’s put forward that deals with entitlements in a serious way and you know, I think Congressman [Paul] Ryan’s got a good set of ideas there, whether it’s the only way to go, we’ll wait and see but I think as a Governor what I’m most concerned about is getting us some more flexibility in Medicaid,” he told CNSNews.com on the red carpet of MSNBC’s White House Correspondents’ dinner after party.
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