Growing up in New Jersey means being used to elected officials doing stupid things. Really stupid things like increasing sales taxes on things like toilet paper and then being surprised when people start holding political rallies where toilet paper rolls become a symbol of tax defiance. That particular piece idiocy came from James Florio more than fifteen years ago. Now, John Corzine looks poised to eclipse Florio on the list of stupid New Jersey Governors:
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — They’ve endured hurricanes and blizzards, labor strikes and a parking garage collapse. If there’s one sure thing in a city of uncertain ones, it was always this: Casinos find a way to keep the dice rolling.
Not this time, though. Barring a last-minute breakthrough, Atlantic City’s 12 casinos will evacuate their gambling areas for the first time ever at 8 a.m., their hand forced by stalemated talks over a state budget in Trenton.
The casino-hotels, which attract millions of gamblers and vacationers every year, will remain open, but gambling will be shut down along with state parks, horse racing tracks, beaches, campgrounds and historic sites that are also being closed.
And, why, pray tell is this happening ?
Gov. Jon S. Corzine has ordered all non-essential state government operations halted, including the New Jersey Lottery. State offices have been closed since Saturday, keeping 45,000 state workers at home and without pay.
Which, I suppose is better than being required to work without being paid:
Workers in the child welfare, state police, mental hospitals and other vital jobs _ about 36,000 _ remained on the job, but they were working without pay.
And, in a development that may just actually breathe life into the moribund New Jersey Republican Party, everyone at fault in this fiasco is a Democrat:
The dispute between the governor and his fellow Democrats who control the Legislature centers on his plan to increase the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent to help overcome a $4.5 billion budget deficit for his $31 billion spending plan. The proposal would cost the average New Jersey family $275 per year, according to experts.
Assembly Democrats opposed to Corzine’s proposal said they could be ready to introduce an alternate budget plan, even though it could be filled with proposals Corzine opposes.
For all the damage that its doing to the state, its likely doing more damage to the Democratic Party.Of course, Scrappleface has uncovered the rest of the story:
(2006-07-04) ? New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine inadvertently sent himself home today, along with the Democrat-dominated legislature, when he ordered non-essential elements of the government shut down during a budget impasse.
Without a new budget, the New Jersey constitution says the state lacks the authority to spend money, so government agencies like the lottery, motor vehicles bureau, parks and recreation department and the state gaming commission were all ordered to shut down, along with the executive and legislative branches of state government.
Heh. If only that were true.
Linked with Outside the Beltway
