McGreevey recalls Senate (wants MORE tax hikes; will send POLICE to get legislators who don't show)

Star-Ledger ^ | Tuesday, July 02, 2002 | DAVID KINNEY AND JOE DONOHUE

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Facing revolt from within his own party, Gov. James E. McGreevey yesterday summoned lawmakers back to Trenton for a rare emergency meeting today aimed at balancing a $23.4 billion state budget left in limbo by days of political infighting.

The call for a special Senate session followed a grueling, 11-hour legislative marathon that ended around 2 a.m. yesterday when exhausted lawmakers left the Statehouse gridlocked over one bill to revamp the state's corporate business tax and another to build a new sports arena in Newark.

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"If you want our vote, we want to eat, too."
- - NJ State Legislator and Newark Mayor, Sharpe James

New Jersey politics in a nutshell

[Phantom Lord]

Didnt McGreevey promise to not raise taxes?

[Black Agnes]

Ping for Trenton idiocy...

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Didnt McGreevey promise to not raise taxes?

Everyday of the campaign.

[Black Agnes]

He's a Dim...he LIED!. What else is new? Great thinking too...in the middle of a recession when businesses are laying off people left and right, let's tax them MORE...morons...

[WindMinstrel]

States keep raising taxes, and then the liberals in congress want to raise taxes. How long 'till Atlas shrugs?

[Jhensy]

The approved budget is $23.4 billion. The deficit is $1 billion. So in other words they would shut the government down instead of finding a way to cut 1/23 of the government's spending? 1/23? They'd rather raise business taxes than cut 1/23? Is anyone in the GOP pointing this out?

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Is anyone in the GOP pointing this out?

Of course not.

The NJ GOP is as free-spending and corrupt as the NJ Dems.

(give or take a billion)

[Sub-Driver]

Well, living in the southern part of the state, I say we should split the sate into two. The northern part gets all the tax dollars..........

[TheBattman]

I can't believe no-one has pointed out that part of the debate is a proposed new sports arena in Newark - at what cost? I'm certain a new sports arena is a good reason to screw up the budget and raise taxes.

[mware]

South jersey here. Amazing he is going to send the State Troopers to the doors of the senators if they do not return to Trenton to finish what he demands to be done.

[Skooz]

How long 'till Atlas shrugs?

I don't think he ever will. He will just continue to carry a heavier and heavier burden until he collapses under the weight of the load. I have been hoping for an all-out tax revolt for years (non-violent, of course) and instead I see a parade of morons proclaiming their love of taxation and how they would be happy to pay higher taxes "for the greater good." The government needs that money, you understand, too help people.

[Tanniker Smith]

Boost the business taxes. That should be a good economic shot in the arm to lower Manhattan.

[Skooz]

Yep. Remember when Florio raised taxes on the trucking industry? If I remember correctly, the New Jersey trucking industry vanished overnight and moved to Pennsylvania. NJ was then plunged into recession. Anyone in NJ remember exactly how that went down? I am reciting from memory.

[FatherFig1o155]

Notice -- not one utterance from either party about cutting the size and/or cost of government. The bastards.

[Linda Liberty]

Until the last election, the republicans had both
houses and the governor in NJ. And what happened to
spending? Up up up. Why is McGreevey in a hole?
Because the Republicans were fiscally irresponsible.
A plague on both their houses.

[balrog666]

He's a Dim...he LIED!.

Interesting that they didn't once tell what party McGreevy is from.

[Linda Liberty]

Oh, and by the way: the Republicans refused to
cut spending when they had power because they figured if
they spent money like water, the recipients would vote
them back in. Didn't happen that way, did it?
The Republican A-holes in congress who are spending
money like water are going to find the same thing.
The stupid party will never learn.

[TomT in NJ]

Rich Marino, an analyst with Standard & Poor's credit rating agency, said New Jersey's budget problem is tolerable as long as it doesn't drag on. But "if the state fails to pass the corporate business tax within a relatively short period of time, I think Standard & Poor's would have serious concerns," Marino added. "The state would have to go forward with a budget that's knowingly out of balance by $1 billion."

How can Standard & Poors dictate that (my) New Jersey taxes should be increased??? Why not demand that spending be reduced by $1 billion?

I work across the street from their downtown New York city building and I feel like going over there to knock some sense into these guys.

[genefromjersey]

Saw a bit of this on TV: Sharpe James was seething because his (personally lucrative ?) stadium deal was put on hold.

There is big money in this stadium deal: the sports franchises ( Yankees and Devils ) get a new stadium at taxpayer expense; real estate speculators, lawyers, and builders -all of whom expect a big piece of the stadium pie, and most of whom contributed hefty sums to McGreevey and Sharpe James - stand to make multi-millions out of the deal; a big bonding agency, controlled by McGreevey/James supporters,is looking to make millions; construction unions are looking for 2-3 years worth of jobs;mobsters are looking at potential "skim", lucrative concessions, etc.

If McGreevey can't produce the big paydays, he'll be out of office for good at the end of his term; and the media smells blood in the water already. Newspapers that virtually fawned over his candidacy have been almost uniformly critical; so it's not surprising he's trying to resort to "Royal Governor" tactics !