Free Republic

With no budget, New Jersey moves closer to government shutdown By TOM HESTER Jr., Associated Press Writer Published: Friday, June 30, 2006 Updated: Friday, June 30, 2006 TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey lawmakers neared the brink of a financial crisis Friday, just hours before the state's constitutional deadline to adopt a budget that has been stalled by a dispute over the governor's plan to increase the sales tax. The state constitution requires a balanced budget by midnight, but with budget legislation far from law, Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine and legislators were expected to miss that deadline for the...

TRENTON, N.J. (2006-06-28) Corzine's veto promise, made while taking calls on New Jersey 101-point-five F-M radio yesterday, came as Assembly Democrats opposed to the tax hike unveiled their own ideas. Corzine has proposed boosting the sales tax from six percent to seven percent to help close a projected four-point-five (b) billion budget deficit. He quickly rejected yesterday an alternate Assembly Democrats plan that features other tax increases. The governor said the Assembly Democrat plan includes proposals that "flat out are not going to work" and said he sees no alternative but a sales tax increase. The state Constitution requires a...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Three poll workers accused of casting ballots in the name of dead voters were among six people indicted on charges of violating election laws in a state Senate race, a prosecutor announced Wednesday. Prosecutor Bill Gibbons said his investigation found no evidence of a widespread conspiracy to throw the election to either candidate. Democrat Ophelia Ford was certified the winner over Republican Terry Roland by 13 votes last September. The state Senate overturned the election this year amid allegations of irregularities. "There was an effort on the part of certain individuals ... to cast some illegal votes...

For the first time in modern Michigan political history, a sitting governor is behind her challenger. The latest EPIC-MRA survey commissioned by WILX News 10 shows Republican DeVos with 48 percent and Democratic Incumbent Granholm trails with 40 percent. In addition, the exclusive poll results show that the number of voters willing to reelect the governor has fallen to 30 percent while the rest of the voters surveyed want somebody else. In fairness, this survey was completed before the first batch of pro-Granholm commercials hit the air waves and she is expected to pick up some points from that, but...

State GOP chairman Stephen Minarik yesterday blasted Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for preventing one of his top aides from testifying at a congressional hearing on pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures, calling him a "horrible hypocrite" on national-security issues. Minarik's attack came in response to a report in yesterday's Post that Spitzer personally intervened with the House Armed Services Committee to get Deputy Attorney General Dietrich Snell out of testifying. The panel is holding hearings on a Pentagon cyber-intelligence program code-named "Able Danger" that had information on 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta a year before the attacks. "Mr. Spitzer must have a feeble...

If nothing else, Sen. Ophelia Ford’s lawsuit against the state Senate alleging racism in that body’s vote to void her election will have profound and unwelcome repercussions for Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s run for the U.S. Senate. Ford sued the state Senate last week after a largely partisan vote to kick her out of office based on irregularities in the close election. Ford got to run that race because her brother, former Sen. John Ford, resigned in the wake of his indictment in the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz sting. Rep. Ford was already battling the perception that his uncle is crooked...

LINCOLN (AP) - A prayer made before the start of Tuesday's legislative session asking forgiveness for abortions and the teaching of evolution drew the ire of at least one senator and disapproving comments from others. Sen. Ernie Chambers Morning prayers typically are general in nature and do not touch on hot-button social, political or religious issues. Guidelines given to those who are asked to deliver the prayer, sent by the clerk of the Legislature's office, forbid talking about issues that are on that day's agenda for debate, or expressing any sentiment that could be considered political in nature. The prayer...

NEW ORLEANS -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco complained on Thursday that Louisiana is not getting its fair share of hurricane aid from the federal government. Blanco said that Louisiana suffered 70 percent of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina but that it is not getting an equivalent amount in aid. "We are all American citizens, we cannot allow ourselves to be treated like second-class citizens," the governor said during an update on rebuilding to the New Orleans city council. Sam Jones, Blanco's deputy director of community programs, pointed out that Louisiana got only $6.2 billion out of $11.5 billion in Community...