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Exactly my point. I'm being forced to choose between not funding something (making me the bad & evil anti environment person) or continuing to give the ridiculous state government more money. The option being presented on the ballot is a logical fallacy in that it is a FALSE CHOICE, there is another choice which is sound fiscal management. I have to do it personally and so should the NJ state government. Yes I want to have a bigger house and go to europe and buy a new car. But I have to prioritize. So should NJ.

+ 1 Ian!

However, there is so much room for improvement within the spending current structure - Question: How much (in percentage terms) do you think taxes could be reduced in NJ if consolidation of municipalities and school districts were enforced to their practical limits? 30%? 50? More? What if an independent statewide review of education forced dramatic changes such as gutting the administrative ranks of useless functionaries and reform of the teacher's union? How much additional tax savings could be achieved (not to mention the vastly improved return on the educational dollar.)

OMG I PAY TOO MUCH TAXES!

OMG Why doesn't government give me the services I want when I want it?

Perhaps a stupid question, but is this increasing our state debt in the form of delayed taxes?

Why can't the ballot question be: "should this be: a) funded by prioritizing within the existing budget, b) funded in addition to the existing budget, c) not funded"

The way it is now I only have a choice between b and c and between those two I lean torward c, but I would have chosen a.

Counting down till Corzine is finally out of office!
Can't wait.....

Passing on this information regarding Ballot Question #1 in the Tuesday, Nov. 3rd election.


Dear Friends of Liberty State Park & all supporters,

Please vote YES on Tuesday, Nov. 3 for Ballot Question
# 1 - the proposed Green Acres Bond Issue for open space, clean water and farm preservation. If approved, the sale of $400 million dollars of bonds will replenish the Garden State Preservation Trust, a very important source of needed open space, wildlife habitat and watershed funding. Ideally, there would be a stable source of funding but for now, Green Acres bonds continue to be needed.

The Friends will work with state leaders,Greg Remaud, Deputy Director of NY/NJ Baykeeper and long time park champion, and also Tom Gilmore, Executive Director of NJ Audubon Society, and with other urban advocacy groups to ensure that urban open space gets more of a share of these funds in the future.

The Friends are part of the KEEP IT GREEN CAMPAIGN which works to secure funding to protect our parks, clean water, natural areas, farmland, and historic sites for our benefit and for future generations.

with a few stumbles, constructive steps to improve state and local government (JC notably). includes best way to address double dipping and multiple public jobs via the state's strict conflict of interest law. as "conflicted" as it sounds, I believe our best choice on Tuesday for sustained local government reform is to re-elect Gov Corzine.

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Corzine Announces Sweeping Ethics Reform Package

http://www.state.nj.us/governor/news/ ... 8/approved/20080924a.html

http://blog.nj.com/njv_tom_moran/2009 ... f_gov_jon_corzine_re.html

Analysis of Gov. Jon Corzine reveals more complex picture than partisans present

By Tom Moran

November 01, 2009, 7:00AM

For the 80 percent of New Jerseyans who have made a firm decision on their vote Tuesday, here is an irritating fact of life: The outcome now hinges largely on the other 20 percent. These are the people who tell pollsters they haven’t decided, or may change their minds.

Why so much indecision? One reason is that many people have powerfully mixed feelings about Gov. Jon Corzine, the man at the center of this fight.

Alexandra Pais/For The Star-LedgerGovernor Corzine talks about education during a ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly expanded and renovated Park Avenue Elementary School in Orange in September

Look at him through one lens and you see an honest man who is a sturdy friend to working class families, a guy who expanded crucial health and education programs even as he reduced the overall size of state government, a grown-up who put a halt to some of Trenton’s worst excesses.

Look through another and you see a clumsy politician who bought his way to power, a captive of the unions and a sugar daddy to the corrupt party establishment, a man who is hopelessly ill-equipped to lead the reform movement the state really needs.

Partisans on both sides push one view or the other, the black or the white. But to honestly evaluate Corzine, you have to look through both lenses because each picture contains some truth. Sorry, but this one is not simple. Let’s take a look, starting with the good stuff.

Those who paint Corzine as a wild-spending liberal have just not paid attention. He has reduced state spending two years in a row and put more money into the pension fund than his three predecessors combined. He cut the state workforce by 8,400, more than 10 percent, and negotiated a contract with state workers that raised the retirement age by 7 years and forced contributions to health care for the first time.

Yes, he could have done more. A depressing clue to the governor’s true feelings came when he attended a labor rally during his first year in office to cheer on the state workers. He also showed the judgment of a hormone-soaked high school kid when he romanced Carla Katz, the leader of the state’s largest union local.

Still, despite being in bed with the unions, literally and figuratively, Corzine made more progress than his predecessors did at the bargaining table.

More good stuff: He revamped a school funding formula to end the profound injustice done for many years to working-class districts — places too wealthy to get the generous aid the Supreme Court ordered for poor districts, but not wealthy enough to compete with richer suburbs. So families in these towns paid higher taxes while their kids got short-changed in school. Fixing that was a big win for the governor.

None of this makes the governor’s personal list, though. Asked to name his signature achievement, he said: "Protecting children."

He includes New Jersey’s preschool programs, now arguably the nation’s best, with small classes and trained teachers. The state Supreme Court ordered it done, but Corzine did it well. And he began expanding it far beyond the court’s order before this Great Recession stalled him. He also includes growing enrollment in health insurance plans for children and solid gains in the state’s ability to protect abused children and arrange for their foster care and adoptions.

"Gov. Corzine has been a leader on this," says Ceil Zalkind, head of the Association for Children of New Jersey.

Finally, add the governor’s willingness to sign a gay marriage bill, his enactment of paid family leave and the abolition of the state’s death penalty on his watch.

Okay, now let’s look through the other lens, the darker one that may stay the hand of many voters once they are in the booth, with the curtain closed.

It has to start with his money. He bought his way into the Senate in 2000 and his gaudy use of money has tainted every election since.

Worse, he has given generously to the worst characters in the party, several of whom are now in jail. He is complicit in the state’s corruption plague because these bosses used his money to tighten their grip on power.

Corzine’s close ties to public employee unions are a concern as well. Because while he did win concessions with state workers, the real money is at the local level, paid to teachers, cops and firefighters. They all love Corzine because he hasn’t lifted a finger to change the negotiating rules that protect their high salaries and generous benefits. Thousands of public employees will be out volunteering for Corzine on Election Day. They know the score.

Here’s the problem for taxpayers: There is no way to reduce local spending without doing battle without these unions. So with Corzine in charge, we are likely to continue paying crushing property taxes.

And when the economy turns around, the smart money bets Corzine will use most of the windfall to expand programs, not cut taxes. This is the man who went to Washington to establish universal health care, universal care for the elderly, universal day care and universal access to college education. Events have forced him to scale back but in his heart, he would be politically at home in a country like Sweden.

And he doesn’t hide those colors. Last week, he visited a preschool in Pennsauken, a working class town near Camden where 60 percent of the kids are poor enough to qualify for free lunches.

In the brightly decorated classrooms, trained teachers used puppets and picture books to teach the basics of reading, always in small classes where each kid gets plenty of attention.

"Frankly, I believe we can’t afford not to be investing in this," the governor said. "My only regret is that given the recession, we haven’t been able to take forward our plans to expand even further."

So where does all this leave us? You’ll have to consult your own priorities to answer that one.

But one thing seems clear: We should all have some sympathy for the 20 percent who can’t decide.

Haven't fully decided yet myself. However, I am sick of the corruption with our politicians.

Also, our property taxes are OUT OF WHACK... and I'm not sure where the money is going.

Between the corruption and increased taxes, I can tell you I am not voting for our current TAX AND SPEND Governor CORZINE.

I think NJ needs a good kick in the pants. I'm just not sure if I should give my vote to Christie, or go Independent. I don't want to vote independent to only see Corzine get re-elected.

WE DON"T NEED ANOTHER TERM OF INEFFECTIVE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT in NJ.

And where are the jobs? I think the goose who laid the golden egg was killed awhile ago.. and now they are killing us all with ALL THE TAXES

TAXES FOLKS. TIME TO CUT SPENDING... KILL THE PORK and stop the CORRUPTION.

FG

A governor cannot overturn Roe v. Wade, but he sure can send some nuisance legislation that can make the exercies of legal rights very difficult and/or expensive.

A few points:

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1) Thank god someone finally said this!

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2) Eugene Debs famously said "I would rather vote for someone I wanted, and have him lose than vote for someone I didn't want and have him win"

3) In the 1980 presidential race there was an exit poll which asked: "If you thought he could have won, would you have voted for (Independent candidate) Anderson rather than Reagan or Carter?"

Over 50% said yes.

Perhaps, I am naive to think Chris Daggett will win on Tuesday;
but, I want him to win and feel that he is the best candidate. In my 6 weeks of campaigning for him, I have come across many people who may be voting for Corzine or Christie but their support for them is tepid at best. Many people are afraid to vote for Daggett because they feel he may not win. If these people will vote for him, he stands a chance.

Teacher wrote that he/ she is voting for Christie because he is pro-life and not a baby murderer. Sadly, both parties have used abortion as a lightening rod to scare voters into voting for their candidate. Corzine supporters have attempted to scare people into supporting him. Christie supporters refer to Corzine as a baby murderer. Well here's a news flash for both parties, the governor of the state of New Jersey does not rule on the right of a woman to choose. Roe vs. Wade was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. Abortion should not be the defining issue in this election.

The defining issues should be who do you feel is best to govern the state of New Jersey. In my humble opinion, Chris Daggett is best and here's why. Chris Daggett is a socially liberal candidate with a strong conservationist backround who is willing to make the tough choices to lead the state. For the record, though it shouldn't matter, he is pro-choice. He is also a strong supporter of gay marriage, property tax reduction, and revamping the pension system to prevent our state from going bankrupt. Daggett is not in bed with the unions, in particularly the teacher's unions. Daggett has a doctorate in education, he sees the benefit of charter schools especially in inner cities.

I don't feel Corzine can run on his record, though he may not be corrupt he has said and done little to prevent the corruption in Jersey City. Christie has offered little in ideas or plans for the future of our state.

Vote for who you feel is the best candidate. I feel that choice is Chris Daggett.

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You are the foolish one who advocates voting for a lesser of two evils.
Who are you to chastise someone for voting for someone they truly support....

There's some advocacy for the public question here if you want to know more about it... http://njkeepitgreen.org/

On Public Question No.1:

PUBLIC QUESTION #1
GREEN ACRES, WATER SUPPLY AND FLOODPLAIN PROTECTION, AND FARMLAND AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOND ACT OF 2009
Shall the “Green Acres, Water Supply and Floodplain Protection, and Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 2009,” which authorizes the State to issue bonds in the amount of $400 million to provide moneys for (1) the acquisition
and development of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, including lands that protect water supplies, (2) the preservation of farmland for agricultural or horticultural use and production, (3) the acquisition, for recreation and
conservation purposes, of properties that are prone to or have incurred flood or storm damage, and (4) funding historic preservation projects; and providing the ways and means to pay the interest on the debt and also to pay and
discharge the principal thereof, with full public disclosure of all spending, be approved?

INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT
Approval of this act would authorize $400 million in funding for Green Acres, water supply and floodplain protection, and farmland and historic preservation projects through the sale of State general obligation bonds. The Green Acres program acquires land
that protects water supplies and preserves open space, including parks, fish and wildlife habitat, and flood prone or affected areas. It also funds park improvements and facilities. Of the total sum authorized: (1) $218 million will be used for Green Acres; (2)
$146 million will be used for farmland preservation purposes; (3) $24 million will be used for the “Blue Acres” program by which the State may purchase from willing sellers, for open space preservation purposes, properties that are prone to or have incurred
flood or storm damage; and (4) $12 million will be used for historic preservation purposes. All spending of the authorized bond proceeds will be subject to full public disclosure

That's a GOOD thing right?
Would that help the Embankment and LSP?

This remark of mine seems the have been censured before...MND, many Catholics think 90% of abortions are murder. I am a Catholic conservative obvisouly in a area that despises such.
We should leave politics to taxes, jobs, police, liberal spending and and taxes. In most instances, a condom and common scence should prevent...

you are really naive to think Dagget will win..wasted vote.

for Chris Daggett
http://www.daggettforgovernor.com

Anyone know any good sites to review the candidates side by side?

I know this is not a jersey city issue but it does affect NJ and that is why I posted here.

A vote for Daggett is a vote for Daggett .
Corzine is trying to scare Daggett supporters that a vote for Daggett will help Christie.(who will restrict a womans right to choose.)

Chrisitie is trying to scare Daggett supporters that a vote for Daggett is a vote for Corzine. (who will continue the atmosphere of corruption in the state)

Daggett is polling at 20% ... if he pulls support both sides he can win...it is not a wasted vote!

http://www.daggettforgovernor.com

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We view our professions a bit differently. I don't know of any "clock watchers" at my school because we are lucky to have 1 prep per day. Surely, you must be talking about government employees in other sectors. Or maybe that's how teachers operate in urban districts, but you couldn't pay me enough to sit and watch the clock at one of these schools.

Bloomberg Staying Out of New Jersey Slugfest

New York Times
By David W. Chen

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has not been afraid to throw his weight behind candidates running for office across the river in New Jersey.

Just not this year.

After an appearance on Sunday in Red Hook for a green jobs event with arguably his most avid New Jersey supporter, Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, Mr. Bloomberg said that he would not endorse anyone in the governor’s race — which has turned into one of the state’s most competitive and nastiest contests in recent years.

“No, I’m staying — I’m going to stay out of any other race,” he said. “I’ve got my own race, thank you very much.”

Mr. Bloomberg had been courted assiduously by all three candidates –Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat; Christopher J. Christie, a Republican; and Christopher J. Daggett, an independent.

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani — who stumped with Mr. Bloomberg on Sunday — was reportedly among those who pushed hard for Mr. Christie, according to two people close to Mr. Bloomberg.

Mr. Bloomberg, though far more moderate than Mr. Christie, is running on the Republican line, after all. And Mr. Bloomberg has had a tepid relationship with Mr. Corzine, a fellow former Wall Street executive, thanks to their differences over congestion pricing.

All three camps had hoped for a thumbs-up from Mr. Bloomberg, who is arguably more popular with New Jersey residents (especially those who commute to New York City) than any of the candidates for governor, thanks to their familiarity with his eight-year tenure and his non-stop barrage of campaign commercials.

And Mr. Bloomberg has occasionally dabbled in Jersey politics, holding a fund-raiser earlier this year for Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy of Jersey City (a Democrat) at his town house; attending a fund-raiser in 2006 for State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr. (a Republican) when Mr. Kean was running for the United States Senate; and recording a radio commercial in 2008 for the candidacy of Dennis Shulman (a Democrat) for the House of Representatives.

Oh, well. But at least there is always 2010, when Mr. Booker is up for re-election, or 2012, when Senator Robert Menendez, who defeated Mr. Kean, is also up for re-election, or 2013, when the next New Jersey governor will be elected or re-elected.

Wow...well I can't get to everything here, but I noticed that no-one disputed my claims. Most Jersey folks are pissed at Democrats...ie voting for Daggett or Christie, but Tax Raiser Goldman cronie Corzine has a great chance of winning.
Whoever said Christie is an insurance sap, really has no idea. Personally voting on a Gov, for their abortion view is moronic (as most instances can be avoided), as Taxes, and Job creation should be paramount, which can never be avoided.

Many Obama lovers are pissed at his rediculous spending, on bailing out banks, $4k to golf carts, putting more soldiers in danger, stupid 250 per senior citizen, waffling on tax rates for high earners, if there are any left. Hiring dozens of incompetant czars, Increasing the burden of government.
$139mm in tax rebate scams. Mortgage fix debacle, Healthcare mess.

on my profession..All government employees have it too easy...to many fat lazy, clock watchers, with gold plated benifits, redundant positions, inefficiency...I bet I could fire 10% of folks on NJ payrolls and services/satisfaction would go up.

Voting for Dagget will put Corzine IN. Think hard before you vote.

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Where do you get that? I voted for Obama, and no regrets. Most of the reason the economy is so bad in NJ, like the rest of the country, is Bushie not doing his job.

Corzine.

I voted for Obama, but wish I didn't have to. I would have preferred Hilary.

corzine sucks....

christie is a complete moron, on top of being a Bushy boy.

daggett...oh, only if he could win....but unfortunately i think he can't. as progressive jersey is, we're not THAT progressive to vote in an independent.


lesser of the two evils.....corzine.

i voted for obama and don't regret it.

I am a registered Democrat.
I do not regret voting for Obama.

I just voted for Daggett via mail-in Ballot.

It is a protest vote, but as a bonus, Daggett actually has a few good ideas especially regarding tax reform.

Republicans and Democrats unite! Vote for Daggett!

Fiscally one can't argue with Corzine. NJ Governors have an obligation to balance the budget and he has cut spending for two years in a row now.

Christie has no plan to address the budget and is just hoping that NJ voters can be bought over with a few cheap ads.

Chris Christie is a leading figure in our national party of "no". No ideas, no leaders, no future. Please join me in voting for Corzine on Nov. 3rd and let the Bush hack Chris Christie know that he has no future in New Jersey.

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Must be on Christie's payroll.

Please name a single person who regrets voting for Obama because I know I can't. Would you prefer President McCain and VP Palin? That would be great. Two out of touch lunatics. Guess it would be entertaining to see Tila Tequila at White House events with the First Daughter. Maybe some steamy child support battles between Levi and Bristol as well. Yes I wish that Brain Trust was running the country. Idiot.

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I don't regret voting for Obama.

I'll take no part in being the "progressive democratic majority" in this state, but I'm voting for Corzine. Teacher, if you are in fact employed as one, you may want to re-think your view. Christie will be hitting teachers and all government workers pretty hard as far as pensions and health benefits go.