Here’s our Brilliant Gov: NJ struggling- $33B debt, can’t pay transport. projects, struggling to keep state parks open, cut municipal aid, BUT… lets give $589K to Stemcyte to hire 7 more employees. Can we please just fire him NOW??

Also… did you know that New Jersey lawmakers and Corzine approved $270 million to build five stem cell research facilities in the state – money that they were somehow able to borrow without voter permission.

Very enlightening article by our friends at inthelobby.net

May 2, 2008

Our governor is a man who is committed to his causes.

He gave Democrats some $652,000 last year –nearly $563,000 to state Democrats and $89,000 to Democratic congressional candidates. In 2006, Corzine gave $869,000 to Democrats and party organizations. Since entering politics in 2000, he has donated more than $8 million to state and federal candidates.

He is a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. (Except when he’s describing the scenarios by which he thinks she should drop out of the race.)

He gave $500,000 to Save Our State NJ, which is his public relations front group that was created to help him sell his 800 percent toll hike plan.

He sent $200,000 to a group that was promoting last year’s ill-fated bond issue to borrow $450 million to hire staff and fund research at the five stem cell research centers the governor hopes to build around the state.

All of these were done with his own money, which is fine. He can spend his money however he wishes, on whatever causes he wishes.

What’s not so fine is when state money somehow winds up funding his pet causes.

So there Corzine was Thursday, hailing the decision by StemCyte Inc., a California-based stem cell research firm to open a New Jersey office with five people, which they say may someday grow to 12 employees.

To help spur this job growth, the governor touted the fact that this firm would receive some $589,000 in state grants, through the Business Employment Incentive Program, which basically is a program that rewards companies that create jobs.

In other words, we’ll be paying this company about $80,000 a person every time they hire one of the seven new employees.

Probably a good chunk of the salaries the company will be paying these folks.

“It does seem questionable to be writing checks to companies that are going to hire 12 people when you’re cutting higher education and can’t pay for transportation,” said Jon Shure, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective.

Seriously.

Listen, this company may be a great investment. But when the state is struggling to find money to keep parks open, and is cutting homestead rebates, that $589,000 sure seems like an awful lot of money to be sending to one firm that is creating just 7 new jobs.

Especially when the state has lost about 10,000 jobs so far this year.

But we have another question.

We all know that our governor can be a bit, well, shall we say tone-deaf politically about causes and people he believes in. (Read Javier Inclan and 800 percent toll hikes.) That if he says something is on the up and up, then he thinks no one should doubt otherwise. That he doesn’t see conflicts of interest involving himself, because, in his mind, he apparently thinks he has no conflicts.

So, is it too cynical to ask whether the governor’s enthusiasm for stem cell research was one of the deciding factors in giving this company a grant?

Voters resoundingly rejected the stem cell research bond issue. From all accounts, the governor was severely disappointed in the defeat. And, apparently, in this case, he counting on the fact that he doesn’t think “No” really means “No.”

“I intend to revisit this issue,” Corzine said at Thursday’s press conference.

“We haven’t crossed that bridge yet. It is in an overall context that we have to look at where we are with regard to revenue growth and the comfort with which we can address additional debt. I don’t think that’s going to be so long.”

Hello?

Did we read that right?

Here he is, trying to soak us all for an 800 percent toll hike over 14 years because he said our debt is strangling us.

And yet, he can’t wait to go out and bond for another $450 million for stem cell research?

“…We have to look at where we are with regard to revenue growth and the comfort with which we can address additional debt. I don’t think that’s going to be so long.”

He doesn’t think that will be that long? But aren’t we supposedly more than $30 billion in debt? And isn’t the only debt reduction plan out there his 800 percent toll hike plan, which is supposed to be politically dead?

Read the rest RIGHT HERE

More Corzine Cosa Nostra: $2 million contract to NYU… Jon Boy sits on the Board, and how dare we question his motives..

From our friends at inthelobby.net

NYU AND CORZINE, PERFECT TOGETHER

You have to give this to the governor.  He is stubborn. He also must keep a ready supply of blinders on hand.

He apparently sees nothing wrong with a New York organization – on whose board he sits, and to whom he contributed $5.7 million – getting a state contract.

In fact, he almost sounds a bit testy that any one would have the audacity to raise any questions about it, telling the Star Ledger that “New Jersey residents should not be ‘prejudiced’ and lose the services of groups simply because of his personal ties.

Don’t you love that? An out-of-state group that he sits on the board with two of his closest friends, and that he donated millions of dollars to gets a $2 million state contract, and somehow we’re “prejudiced” for questioning if there’s conflict of interest.

He also said this to the Ledger: “History and general recognition would say this is a good organization,” he said. He was quick to add,  “some in New Jersey are good organizations.”

Only “some” in New Jersey are good organizations? Hey, thanks for the shout out to the home state governor.

But, to make all of us worrywarts feel better, the gov has promised that his counsel will take a look at the process and make sure it was “transparent and fair play.”

Sure, like a counsel who is appointed by the governor and reports to the governor is going to find anything but.

Did you know that he thinks so much of this New York University Child Study Center that he gave it $2 million to endow a “Corzine family professorship” at the university.

But, no, there’s no conflict of interest here.

His two good friends on the board – Dan and Brooke Garber Neidich (she’s the board chairwoman, by the way) – also gave a total of  $40,000 to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, according to information dug up by Eric Sedler over at redjersey.net, who found that the Neidichs each gave the Democratic State Committee a total of $10,000 in 2005 and 2007, for a total of $40,000, as well as $2,000 each in 1999 and 2001 to Corzine, for a total of $8,000.

So maybe the governor is right. Maybe it is just pure coincidence that:

1)       The governor sits on the board;
2)       Was a founding member of the center;
3)       Gave the center $5.7 million;
4)       Endowed a $2 million Corzine family professorship;
5)       His two very close friends are also on the board, with one being the chairwoman;
6)       His two very close friends are contributors to Democratic causes, and to the New Jersey State Committee and the governor himself;
7)       That the center had to supply the state with a list of board members when they applied for the grant, so the governor’s name and relationship would be well known to those who awarded the contract; and
8)       The center was the only one of 18 applicants not from New Jersey, yet New Jersey state employees decided to bypass 17 in-state organizations and pick the lone applicant from New York.

The governor insists that he had no idea that the center was going for the contract. “Didn’t know it was taking place,” he told the Ledger.

His good friends, we are to assume, didn’t either? Are we also to assume it never came up in conversation? (These friends, by the way, are so close that they were the only people outside family who were permitted to visit the governor in the hospital while he was recuperating, according to the Ledger.)

Are we also to assume none of these board members knew that the center had applied to the state for a $2 million grant? Grants that, by the way, centers like this need in order to stay in business?

Why can’t the governor see that this looks bad? Sometimes, we wonder if he thinks everything he says is so, and therefore, no other explanation is needed.

Except that he doesn’t get to decide what is a conflict and what isn’t.

In a state where corruption and politics too often are linked, the governor needs to be like Caesar’s wife, above reproach.  There may be nothing wrong with giving a New York outfit a $2 million state contract, even as New Jersey is hurting for jobs. Maybe the governor doesn’t have a vested interest in making sure that an organization with a Corzine family professorship succeeds.  Maybe the fact that he sits on their board, and has donated millions to the center, is just a coincidence.

But it sure doesn’t look good. And Corzine, or at least his people, ought to understand that.

Corzine Cosa Nostra hard at work: DEP Deputy Commissioner (who?) ponders corporate support for parks

The Corzine Cosa Nostra is hard at work.. remember the toll hike fiasco and the Save the State toy organization Corzine funded to help push the deal? Do you remember who the spokesperson was? That’s right – Jennifer Godoski.. Here‘s that article

So how does one go from chief of staff for Commissioner of Transportation to Spokesperson for Save our State to Deputy Commissioner of DEP? Well – if you’re a Corzine insider – anything is possible.

Oh – and here‘s the DEP article about the parks…

Corzine Cosa Nostra: Direct appointees – some don’t even live in NJ

18 different commissions, Councils, Board of Trustees,task (FREE CUBA TASK FORCE – HUH?) forces and Board of Directors – a total of 52 individuals were directly appointed by the Gov. last week…

Welcome to The Corzine Cosa Nostra

From our friends at In the Lobby.net

JERSEY MAY LIBERATE CUBA!

It’s the little things in government that start to add up and turn into big dollar items. It’s the commissions, boards and councils that government creates – many times for good purposes – too often for pure political base feeding. Each of theses entities needs to be staffed and stationary printed and all the other things that go with the care and feeding of them.

Just last week, the Office of the Governor sent out a release announcing his direct appointments to some of these entities. Direct appointment means no oversight by the Senate. The list consisted of 18 different commissions, councils, Board of Trustees, task forces and Board of Directors. In total he appointed 52 individuals. As has been this Governor’s practice, not all are from New Jersey. Madelyn Geisser Rumowicz was appointed to the Financial Policy Review Board – whatever that is? Sounds at least impressive. Ms. Rumowicz is from Wakefield, Rhode Island. Has anyone looked at Rhode Island’s financial condition? Proportioned to its’ size and population, its’ in worse shape than we are. Lucky for Ms. Rumowicz, that the Governor’s 800% toll hike didn’t go through, or she would have had to review her own financial situation. Can you believe that she has some special talent, skill or knowledge that no one in New Jersey possesses?

The entity we found most interesting was the Free Cuba Task Force. Now we believe that a free democratic Cuba is a worthy goal. However, what the heck business does a state have talking about, and taking action, with respect to a serious and delicate international problem? We know we have the Battleship New Jersey, itching to get back onto the high seas. But come on, what are this task force’s goals? Even its name sounds war like – “Free Cuba”. Who was the genius who decided to call it a “Task Force”? Sounds like a naval group. Couldn’t they have called it something less militant, like – Cuba Review and Analysis Committee – It would still beg the question of what it is supposed to accomplish, but at least it sounds less threatening.

Seriously, what is this task force about? Could it simply be, that outside of the Miami area, New Jersey has the largest Cuban population in the country, and they are a core component of the Democratic Party? Nah! The task force must have been established for loftier ideals.

We will know that we are in deep doo-doo, when we hear Corzine referred to as El Commandantè.

DOHERTY: NEW SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA ALLOWING STATE TO INFRINGE ON VOTER RIGHTS

DESPITE VOTER’S REJECTION OF HAMILTON SCHOOL BUDGET,

STATE SAYS TOWN MUST ACCEPT BUDGET

Assemblyman Michael Doherty said a report in which the state is forcing Hamilton Township residents to accept a school budget they rejected Tuesday, because they felt township officials could provide a budget with more of a property tax cut, is alarming and underscores the need to revise Governor Jon Corzine’s new school funding formula.

“We are definitely seeing an alarming pattern emerging in which the state is forcing its will on township officials and residents in regards to their school budgets and property taxes because of this obviously flawed new funding formula,” stated Doherty. “Hamilton Township is yet another town that wanted to lower property taxes but was told by the state ‘sorry, no can do.’ That is absolutely absurd especially in a state where residents are leaving in record numbers due to the unbearably high cost of living.

“Here we have another municipality where its public officials are working hard to keep spending down in order to keep property taxes in check and the state, which was supposed to reform the system, has instead become the major obstacle,” he continued. “Essentially, Governor Corzine is telling towns they have no right to control their costs. They are free to vote for budgets that call for an increase in spending, but are prohibited to vote for a decrease.”

According to an article in the Trentonian, Hamilton Township voters rejected the township’s school budget on Tuesday. Even though the budget called for a two-cent decrease in the school tax rate, taxpayers apparently believe the budget could be cut further. The state Department of Education (DOE), however, told township council members the $170 million budget provides for the minimum amount of spending that is permitted under law as per the new state school funding formula to operate the school district.

Doherty, R-Warren and Hunterdon, noted similar situations in Hunterdon County and Cape May where the school districts there wanted to reduce expenditures but were also told by the state it could not because the Corzine Administration’s new school funding formula creates a figure, based on property values and income levels of residents of what each municipality can supposedly pay for education.

Doherty pointed out that the DOE ruling in Hamilton sets a dangerous precedent as it completely ignores the will of the people.

“What happened to government by the people and for the people?” asked Doherty. “Voting is a basic American right and this week the state of New Jersey told Hamilton citizens ‘sure you can vote, but it means nothing.’ That’s a heck of a message to send to your residents.

“When Governor Corzine revealed the details of this new funding formula Assembly Republicans repeatedly warned it was inequitable and constitutionally flawed. How much more evidence does he need? This governor and his ruling party owe it to the good taxpayers of this state to go back to the drawing board and return with an equitable formula that gives back to residents the power of the vote and doesn’t punish municipalities for efficient operation of their governments.”

WSJ: Corzine Hits a Speed Bump

New Jersey isn’t usually considered exciting news. But it wouldn’t have hurt the national media to pay a bit more attention to what happened recently when Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine tried to sell the public on the largest borrowing scheme in American history.

Mr. Corzine’s motive was the looming disaster in the state’s public-employee retirement costs. As in other states, New Jersey politicians for years have promised government employees lavish retirement packages but failed to put aside money to fund them. The unfunded liabilities are far in excess of a trillion dollars nationally.

New Jersey faces one of the worst crises. The state pension plans cover not just state employees, but also teachers and law-enforcement personnel at the county and local levels. When the former CEO of Goldman Sachs was elected governor in 2005, he seemed uniquely qualified to address the problem, thanks to his grasp of finance.

Unfortunately, he also had a grasp of politics. And the politics of the Democratic Party require that benefits for public employees be expanded, not reduced. Ever since the New Deal, Democrats have embraced a trickle-down theory on public-employee benefits. The public employees get gold-plated benefits first, and this creates pressure on private employers to eventually match those benefits for their workers. As union leader Carla Katz told me, the Democrats embrace “the progressive theory that unless you create a substantial wage and benefits package that reflects good jobs and the ability to have a middle-class life style, there will be a perpetual race to the bottom.”

Ms. Katz is the New Jersey state president of Communications Workers of America, which represents thousands of state employees. She’s also the ex-girlfriend of the governor. Eyebrows were raised when her ex-squeeze addressed a Trenton, N.J., rally of about 10,000 public workers in 2006 and yelled, “We will fight for a fair contract!”

We? Apparently, no one told the governor he was in management. And at the time, management was being pressed to make the sort of changes that could have cut the pension burden, such as raising the retirement age and putting new hires into the public version of 401(k) plans.

Mr. Corzine rejected those reforms. That left him looking for money to make up unfunded liabilities of an estimated $25 billion for the pension fund and $58 billion for post-retirement medical benefits. Politicians in other states had sold their toll roads and gotten billions. And as toll roads go, New Jersey’s are among the busiest in the country. Mr. Corzine put up the idea of a sale as a trial balloon. The unions shot it down. But the governor came back with another trial balloon, this one based on a bond sale the size of the Hindenburg.

CLICK HERE to read the entire Wall Street Journal article

 

Corzine (Cosa Nostra) Toll Panel Is Rich with Special Interests

The Record – By Elisa Young

A 54-member panel chosen to “educate the public” about Governor Corzine’s financial restructuring plan contains a mix of administration loyalists and veteran Trenton insiders positioned for a piece of multibillion-dollar highway spending. (Here’s a link to the “Who’s Who” on the panel

Three of the members — including the chairman — are principals or affiliates of New Jersey’s top three lobbying firms. They represent engineers, raw-material industries, financial companies, resorts and utilities — all with potentially something to gain from a proposed $11 billion in road projects.

Ten of the appointees have some connection to Alliance for Action, a construction advocacy group that promises its 600 members “excellent opportunities to network with New Jersey’s public and private leaders.” Three other appointees — top executives with Verizon, Trump Entertainment and Public Service Electric and Gas Co. — have seen their businesses benefit from legislation Corzine has signed or initiatives he has endorsed.

READ THE REST HERE

CLICK HERE to our friends at Liberty and Prosperity to see what the gang of 54 look like

Asselta’s qualifications … or lack thereof … received scant attention.

What about his resume?

The Corzine Cosa Nostra at work… 

The Senate Judiciary Committee did nothing to enhance public trust in government by holding a mere 14-minute hearing last week before unanimously advancing former Republican Sen. Nicholas Asselta’s nomination to the state Board of Public Utilities. Most of the time was spent questioning Asselta about a crucial vote he cast in favor of Gov. Corzine’s school funding proposal … one day before Corzine nominated him for the $125,301-a-year post.

Read the rest of this APP article RIGHT HERE

The NJ Cosa Nostra: NJ Senator Joseph Coniglio Indicted for Fraud and Extortion by Feds

ONE DOWN….

A federal grand jury on Friday indicted State Senator Joseph Coniglio of New Jersey on nine counts of mail fraud and extortion in connection with an influence-peddling scheme connected to a $66,000-a-year consulting arrangement with Hackensack University Medical Center, according to the US Justice Department

Coniglio is said to be one of the more powerful members of the New Jersey Democratic Machine that includes Governor Jon Corzine.

Coniglio, 65, of Paramus, NJ, a plumber by trade, allegedly set up the consulting arrangement with Hackensack University Medical Center  to perform “hospital relations,” a field in which he had no prior experience. In fact, according to the Indictment, the arrangement was a way for him to receive $5,000 monthly from the hospital in exchange for his official support for funding requests for so-called “Christmas Tree” budget items from the state Legislature and funding from other state agencies.

As a direct result of his corrupt consulting arrangement and influence as a state Senator, the hospital received millions of dollars from the State of New Jersey.

“Trading personally on a position of public trust continues as an epidemic in New Jersey,” said Chris Christie, a US Attorney.

“The allegations against Senator Coniglio in this indictment paint a disgraceful picture of exchanging public tax dollars for personal gain. The public has had more than enough of this type of conduct,”  he said.

The investigation by the FBI and US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey is continuing and more indictments may be forthcoming..

The Indictment also alleges that he concealed this arrangement with the hospital in several ways: by failing to completely disclose it on his publicly filed financial disclosure statement; by misleading the news media when specifically questioned about the arrangement; and by failing to disclose material information regarding the arrangement to a state legislative ethics committee, which subsequently dismissed its own investigation regarding Coniglio’s services to the hospital, for insufficient evidence of an ethics violation.

After the Indictment was returned today, Coniglio turned himself in to the FBI in Newark and then made an initial court appearance before US Magistrate Judge Michael A. Shipp. Bail was set at $250,000, to be secured by equity in Coniglio’s home.

Arraignment on the Indictment is scheduled for February 20 before US District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh, to whom the case has been assigned. Coniglio was first elected to the Senate in November 2001, after serving as a local official in various capacities in Paramus, including as a Paramus Borough Councilman.

Coniglio is charged in Counts One through Eight of the Indictment with a scheme to defraud the public of his honest services by use of the mails, and in Count Nine with affecting commerce by extortion under color of official right. Each count carries a statutory maximum prison sentence of 20 years and maximum fine of $250,000 per count.

According to the Indictment, Coniglio began negotiating the consulting arrangement with the hospital in early 2004, soon after his appointment to the influential Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

In May of 2004, after meeting with the HUMC Chief Executive Officer (HUMC CEO) and other hospital personnel, Coniglio entered a written agreement with the fund-raising arm of the hospital under the guise of a company, VJC Consulting, LLC, which was misleadingly represented to be “engaged in the business of hospital relations.”

VJC had been established less than a month before, had no clients other than HUMC and neither of its two purported principals—Coniglio, a plumber by trade, and his wife, clerk to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders—possessed any experience in the business of “hospital relations.” According to the Indictment, accepting HUMC payments through VJC permitted Coniglio to mask the true source of his income on public annual financial disclosure statements, in which he disclosed only his firm but not the hopsital.

The charges allege that at the very outset of the corrupt arrangement, which continued through February 2006, Coniglio conveyed his true value to HUMC by providing the hospital with assurances of his official support for any HUMC State funding requests. The Indictment charges that in exchange for accepting the $5,000 monthly from HUMC, Coniglio entertained and endorsed before the Senate and various state agencies HUMC’s requests for increased funding, resulting in the hospital receiving millions of dollars from the state.

According to the charges, in or about February 2005—and within a short time of Coniglio assisting in securing for HUMC two grants totaling approximately $1.15 million in Property Tax Assistance and Community Development Grant (PTACDG) funds (colloquially referred to as “Christmas Tree Money” and “Earmarks”)—Coniglio received a raise of $500 per month, increasing his annual payment to $66,000.

In addition to assisting the hospital in securing the PTACDG money, Coniglio, as set forth in the Indictment, sent two letters on State Senate letterhead in September 2004 to the New Jersey Department of Human Services giving his official support to two separate HUMC grant applications, one of which resulted in HUMC receiving $70,000 in state funds. The hospital also called upon Coniglio to support a grant application before the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) in June 2005, which resulted in HUMC receiving an additional $64,000.

According to the Indictment, in June 2005, Coniglio met personally with the NJDHSS Commissioner, along with the HUMC CEO and other HUMC personnel, at the hospital to discuss state support for HUMC’s attempt to secure additional funding for the hospital’s new cancer center. Approximately three months later, NJDHSS issued a notification of award to HUMC for $9 million in new state funding.

In addition to the use of VJC to accept and mask the stream of payments from HUMC, the Indictment alleges that Coniglio intentionally undertook several measures to conceal the corrupt aspects of the arrangement, including intentionally failing to detail the nature of his “consulting services” on invoices, and falsely describing his role at the hospital as limited to building and construction issues.

The Indictment also charges that Coniglio’s Chief of Staff, responding to a newspaper’s inquiry into Coniglio’s arrangement with HUMC, falsely stated that “there is a complete split between Senator Coniglio’s personal, private business life and his legislative life. . . . People from the hospital know not to call our office.”

In fact, as stated in the Indictment, his Chief of Staff knew Coniglio was using his Senate office to assist HUMC, and HUMC personnel freely and frequently contacted Coniglio’s Senate Office and staff, particularly the Chief of Staff, with requests for official assistance, which Coniglio and his Chief of Staff routinely entertained while Coniglio was accepting the monthly payments from HUMC.

According to the Indictment, the concealment extended to Coniglio’s August 2006 written response to the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards (Ethics Committee)—the bipartisan committee that was investigating Coniglio’s services to HUMC and his involvement in appropriating State funds for the hospital.

Coniglio falsely represented that he “at no time . . . advocate[d] or promote[d] any grants, including the $250,000 or $900,000 grants for [HUMC],” and that he “had no discussions with any member fo the Executive Branch regarding these grants.”

Although specifically instructed to disclose his involvement in appropriating funds to HUMC and “provide all documentation relating thereto,” Coniglio omitted any mention to the Ethics Committee of the many instances in which he served HUMC using his official position as a State Senator, and failed to disclose any of the documents indicating the official assistance that he took on behalf of HUMC while accepting a total of approximately $103,900 in monthly payments from the hospital.

The Ethics Committee subsequently dismissed its investigation for insufficient evidence of an ethics violation, according to the charges.

Coniglio was first elected to the Senate in November 2001, after serving as a local official in various capacities in Paramus, including as a Paramus Borough Councilman. Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun, with the investigation leading to the Indictment.

The Corzine Cosa Nostra hard at work: Governor enlists wealth of lobbyists who could gain from toll-hike plans

The 54 people hand-picked by Gov. Corzine to promote his toll-hike plan include lobbyists whose clients could gain from the project and 10 people linked to a construction advocacy group promoting opportunities to network with state leaders.The panel’s chairman and two other members work for the state’s three top lobbying firms, The Record of Bergen County reported for Sunday. They represent engineers, financial companies, resorts, and utilities, all industries with the potential to benefit if the governor’s multi-billion-dollar financial restructuring plan is approved.

Ten of the appointees are connected to the construction advocacy group Alliance for Action. Three others are top executives with Verizon, Trump Entertainment and Public Service Electric and Gas Co., businesses that have benefited from prior laws.

“There’s not a common denominator beyond wanting New Jersey to be a better place,” said Corzine spokeswoman Lilo Stainton.

Corzine’s financial restructuring plan includes sharply higher tolls, the revenues from which will be used to pay down state debt and fund transportation projects. Tolls on the Turnpike, Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway would be affected.

Critics complain that Corzine’s panel lacks regular highway commuters.

Michael Riccards, executive director of the Hall Institute, a public policy group, suspects varying motives among committee members.

“There are people who are genuinely concerned and believe the governor has given them a plan to get out of the wilderness,” said Riccards. “There (also) are people who are looking to make a buck off this.”