There's Still Work To Be Done On NJ Marriage Equality Bill

As we know from my last post, the state Senate Judiciary Committee last night narrowly approved historic legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey by a 7-6 margin.

It was a bold move on their part but the fight for marriage equality does not end there, there is still work to be done. The Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act now moves to the Senate floor for a full vote on Thursday.

It has been pointed out to me that one of the main reasons why New York's marriage equality bill was defeated recently was because New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo, Jr. who is usually a gay rights supporter voted no on the the NY state gay marriage bill. He stated the reason for his "No" was over 70% of the email, calls and letters on the subject were against the bill.

The roll call vote was made it was carried out in alphabetical order, so his early no vote was an excuse for others to vote no and defeat the bill.

We can't allow this type of situation to happen again here in New Jersey, it's time to contact your NJ State Senate representatives and let them know that marriage equality for same sex couples is not a religious issue but a civil rights issue that is morally right.

Alphabetically Monmouth County's represntative Sen. Jennifer Beck(R-12th), would vote 5th and there for could sway others vote for or against this legislation. Call or email her office and tell her to vote in favor of marraige equality on Thursday unlike her vote Monday night against it.

Then do the same for each of Monmouth County's other State Senators Joe Kyrillos (R-13th) and Sean T. Kean (R-11th). Let them know that the rights that all opposite sexed couples share should be passed on equally to all couples that love each other irregardless of their sexual preferences.

If you don't live in Monmouth County but wish to contact one of your State Senators to express your support for the Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act, here is the contact list for all of New Jersey's legislative members

After grueling hearing, state Senate committee approves New Jersey gay marriage bill 7-6

NewJerseyNewsroom.com/Tom Hester Sr.

After nearly nine hours of testimony and debate the state Senate Judiciary Committee Monday night narrowly approved legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey.

The panel voted 7 to 6 in support of the measure, the Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act, at 10:07 p.m. and sent to the full Senate for a floor vote on Thursday.

The vote was met with loud applause and cheers by most of the people in the hearing room.

Voting in favor of the proposal were Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), a co-sponsor of the measure, Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), Sen. Bob Smith, (D-Middlesex), Sen. Brian Stack (D-Hudson), and Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), the other co-sponsor. Voting in opposition were Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), Sen. John Girgenti (D-Passaic), Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Somerset), Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen), and Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth).
The hearing at the Statehouse Annex in Trenton grew testy at times as committee members and proponents and opponents of the legislation snapped at each other. At one point, Cardinale called a lawyer who was testifying a liar and moments later Gill, an attorney, apologized on behalf of the panel.

Proponents and opponents of the bill on the committee agreed to end public testimony at 9:10 p.m. Testimony began at 2:28 p.m.

Read More >>>Here

It's Payback Time In Middletown: So Far Township Facing $4 Million Budget Shortfall For 2010 - Layoffs Pending

I attended the Middletown Township Committee Workshop meeting last night to hear what would be said about the Emergency Appropriation Resolution 09-277.

This resolution was for the purpose of borrowing ~ $1.5 million from next years budget to pay for worker's compensation claims and other employee medical benefits that the township did not budget for this year.

There was a lively discussion on the subject that lasted nearly an hour. Committeemen Sean Byrnes and Patrick Short questioned the Township Administrator about how and why, with less than 30 day left in the calendar year, did the township find that it needed to borrow such a large amount of money against next years budget when the projected budget for next year was already a few million dollars short.

The simple answer was the Township did not foresee that worker's compensation claims and other employee health benefit claims would be at such a level as to need more money than budgeted for in the previous year's (2008) budget. And after all, the bills needed to be paid.

The money that was set aside this year for health benefits and claims was ~ $2 million less than last year. The reason being was because recent trends over the past several years showed that health claims rose and fell from one year to next. With this in mind, the powers that be who shaped the 2009 budget decided to gamble on the trends downward slope and under funded the Township's health care plan.

In the 2008 budget ~ $6 million was appropriated for benefits but at the end of the year, much like this year, an emergency appropriation 0f $500,000 was needed as opposed to an ~ $1.5 million. I would say that their gamble did not pay off.

Committeeman Byrnes was relentless in his questioning and would not support the resolution as written without assurances from the rest of the committee that further review of township finances would be made before the end of the year. To get these assurances Byrnes only agreed to support a resolution for $800,000 of the $1.5 million emergency appropriation at last nights meeting. The other $700,000 will be appropriated through a new resolution at the December 21st committee meeting if Byrnes receives proper answers to his questions about how next years budget will be addressed.

The reason why Sean Byrnes is being such a stickler over the 2010 budget is because at this present time it is being projected by the Township Committee, that there will be a minimum of a $4 million shortfall in revenues next year with this resolution and by the time January or February comes around it could be a couple of million more dollars short.

When Byrnes pressed the Township Administrator over what plans he intends to present to the Committee to curtail costs next year the administrator, Tony Mercantante said that among other things, plans were in the works for employee layoffs starting in either January or February of 2010 but paper work must first be filed with the State before any layoffs could take effect.

With this in mind I have to ask once again, why not listen to Sean Byrnes and establish a nonpartisan Finance Committee that could identify problems like this in advance and work towards budget solutions before they become problems in the first place?

NJPP Monday Minute: 12/7/09 Accountability woes plague local governments

The state and local governments in New Jersey raised nearly $56 billion in tax revenue in 2008. Local property taxes contributed just over 40 percent to that; the other 60 percent came from the state--mainly from income, sales and corporate business tax collections.

While the state raises 60 percent of all of the public money spent in New Jersey, it spends considerably less than that because a certain amount of the money it raises is given to local governments to spend. In 2008, school districts, municipalities and counties collected just over $23 billion in property taxes. In addition to that, the state gave them $13.3 billion in state aid. In total they spent $36.5 billion, or more than 65 percent of all the public money available in the state.

If local governments spend the bulk of the state's public money, they should be accountable to taxpayers and to the state. But they really aren't. Not since 1995, when the Department of Community Affairs printed its last comparison of municipal budgets, have taxpayers been able to compare the spending in one municipality against another.

The State Commission of Investigation's most recent report of December 1, 2009, examined taxpayer-subsidized benefits received by public employees in 75 municipalities, counties and quasi-independent local authorities. For a dose of reality it compared these benefits to those received by state employees. About 80 percent of the 75 local governmental units audited were found to provide questionable benefits including:

• Lump-sum cash payouts to retiring employees for unused accumulated sick leave in amounts exceeding the $15,000 maximum authorized for employees at the State level. In numerous instances, such payouts are not restricted by any cap.
• Annual cash payouts for unused sick or other leave to active employees. In nearly two-thirds of these instances, this occurs even though the same governmental unit maintains some form of cap on sick leave redemption at retirement.
• Paid time off for personal events and other special purposes beyond holidays and vacation.
• Cash payouts pursuant to various forms of severance and bonus provisions for departing employees. A lack of standards and payout limits makes this practice open to abuse, even though the arrangements are sometimes fairly negotiated and aimed at achieving long-term savings. The specific terms of such arrangements, however, can be hidden from public disclosure by confidentiality clauses.

In one of the report's most egregious examples, the Commission found that Camden, one of the poorest cities in the nation with fiscal problems so severe that the city's administration is under State supervision, 20 retiring municipal employees shared in $2.3 million of unused sick days, vacation time and benefits.

Despite a recession that has sapped tax revenues and forced layoffs, "The gravy train continues to roll without impediment for select groups of employees on the public payroll," the report reads. "Startling amounts of taxpayer-funded booty continue to be dispensed across New Jersey without regard for the common good."

Among its recommendations, the Commission suggested payout caps for unused time off and contributions to health care coverage of at least 1.5 percent of an employee's salary. As New Jersey faces an increasing fiscal crisis, this is one area where significant amounts of taxpayer money can be saved.

It's Payback Time In Middletown: Emergency Appropriations Needed to Pay Bills - Part 2; Update, Resolution 09-277

At tonight's Middeltown Township Workshop meeting, the members of the Committee intend to introduce Emergency Appropriation Resolution 09-277 .

As I posted Thursday, the intention of this resolution is to borrow against next years budget $1.5 million, in order to pay worker's compensation claims and other employee medical benefits.

With just a few weeks left in the calendar year, this emergency appropriation is scandalous. How can it be possible, as the resolution states that "...no adequate provision was made in the 2009 budget for the aforesaid purpose..." ?

Why wasn't this caught earlier in the year when some other solution may have been possible? After all, the budget wasn't adopted until August for peete's sake. Some one must have known about this before now.

This is a prime example of why Sean Byrnes's proposed Finance Committee is needed! It shows that the individual Township Committee members do not have the time, experience or expertise to act as their own "individual finance committee" as stated by the GOP members who are opposed to Byrnes's idea.

2010 is already shaping up to be an ugly budget year, this resolution will only make it that much worse.

Tonight's meeting will be at Town Hall and will start at 8 pm, if you would like to express your concerns about this resolution I suggest that you get there early because sitting is limited.

Residents need to let the committee know that this type of appropriation of funds is unacceptable and could have been avoided if planned for properly.

A Finance Committee could have foreseen such a problem in advance and advised the powers that be of this type of potential problem.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Christmas Comes But Once a Year

It's Grampy to the rescue as he saves Christmas for a home full of orphans.

President Obama's Weekly Address: 12/5/09 Pushing Forward on Jobs

Following the best jobs numbers since 2007, the President recognizes that such trends are cold comfort to those who are struggling and pledges to continue pushing forward towards positive job growth. He looks back at the Jobs Forum he hosted days before and looks ahead to further action. He emphatically restates why he ran for President in the first place: to fight for a country where responsibility is still rewarded, and hard-working people can get ahead.

Football Friday: Princess Picks The Cowboys over The Giants

It's NFL week 13 and the Giants playoff hopes hang by a thread, a loss to Dallas Cowboys this week would all but seal the Giants fate.

So it is a bit disheartening to see that Princess the Prognosticating Camel of Popcorn Park Zoo, has chosen the Cowboys this week to all but end the Giants season.

As Princess explains "... things have changed, college teams tackle better than the Giants are now, so how are they supposed to stop the Cowboys running backs? And the Giant offense, they need somebody to wake them up! Hey, how about we plan a road trip, get me up to their practices and I'll shake them up. But unless I get up there before Sunday, Dallas is winning this one..."

It hurts to admit that she may be right but honestly, I don't know who is having a worse season the Giants or Princess.

Princess's record for this season is once again at .500, W7 - L7

Bob Brown To Make 12th Appearence on Strategy Room This Morning At 11:00

Bob Brown, former Democratic candidate for the 13th Legislative District will be making his 12th appearance on Fox News's online web program the Strategy Room.

For those of you who are not familiar with Bob Brown, he is a retired Old Bridge NJ police officer who was shot in the line of duty. He attended Seton Hall Law School during his time on the force and is now a practicing lawyer.

Brown will be joining the panel discussion during the 11:00 hour to discusst "COPS AND CASES" and will be joined by:

Bill Stanton-Former NYPD Officer
Keith Sullivan-Personal Injury Attorney
Dr. Dale Archer-Psychiatrist, DrDaleArcher.com
Joseph DiBenedetto-Criminal Defense Attorney

They will be discussing of cases, civil or criminal that have been in the news during the week.

If you would like to watch Bob on the Strategy Room, you can see it >>> Here at 11:00 am

Video: Same-sex marriage supporters march on statehouse in New Jersey

From tvjersey-

More than 600 people marched in Trenton calling on state lawmakers to pass a same-sex marriage bill in New Jersey. Supporters of the bill say the time is right to bring a marriage equality bill to a vote before Gov. Jon Corzine, who supports gay marriage, leaves office. But there is strong opposition to the bill and rival protesters at the statehouse -- though significantly outnumbered -- voiced their conviction that marriage should be restricted to one man and one woman. (Video by Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger)

It's Payback Time In Middletown: Emergency Appropriations Needed to Pay Bills - Part 2

Two weeks ago I posted about how Middletown was having a hard time paying its bills. The Township Committee needed to pass Resolution no. 09-263 authorizing an emergency appropriation of ~ $1.5 million to pay the interest on a tax anticipation note.

Today I have heard that another emergency appropriation of $1.5 million is needed before the end of the month to pay the benefits of Township employees. Where is this money coming from you ask? It will be borrowed and rolled into next years budget.

So even before the next calendar year starts, Middletown will find itself with a $3 million budget deficit before other budget shortfalls are even identified.

From what I have been told theplans for this second emergency appropriation will be introduced at the Township's workshop meeting this coming Monday night.

Stay tuned for more details next week.

ACORN Founder To Hold Q&A Event In Montclair

Wade Rathke, founder of ACORN will be holding a Q&A event in Montclair on Saturday afternoon from 3:30-5:30 pm. I received the following emailand thought was intriguing enough to send it along. If it weren't for the fact that I have to work on Saturday I just may have gone to learn for myself what ACORN is really all about !

We would like to pass along this invitation from BlueWaveNJ and Shelterforce. The event will be moderated by NJPP board member John Atlas.


Saturday, December 5, 2009
3:30-5:30 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Church, Peierls Room
67 Church Street, Montclair

Join BlueWaveNJ for a presentation by and conversation with Wade Rathke, founder of ACORN and its chief organizer for 38 years. Learn about the history of the organization and its massive voter registration drives and why the organization became the target of Fox News and other right-wing commentators. Participate in a frank discussion on the organization's recent scandals and possible lessons for other community organizations and concerned citizens that want to build a strong progressive movement.

Wade Rathke has been engaged in community organizing across the United States and Canada for over 42 years. He is the head of a local union in New Orleans and an international community-based group. He also chairs the Organizers' Forum. In his new book, Citizen Wealth, Wade has drawn lessons learned from his years of organizing low and moderate -income communities.

The discussion will be moderated by John Atlas. John's book about progressive politics and poverty, Seeds of Change, The Story of ACORN, America's Controversial Anti-Poverty Group, University of Vanderbilt Press, is due out next year.


Please RSVP to confirm your attendance and the size of your party: marciam@bluewavenj.org