Jon Corzine's last hurrah

As a New Jerseyan, I'm glad to say that after eight years of Democrat rule and 16 years of being ruled by liberals, New Jersey will have a conservative Republican governor who has already proven through his appointments, especially school choice champion Bret Schundler as education commissioner, that he will champion the key social issues that are dear to me.

Until Tuesday, however, we remain under Democrat control.

And how appropriate that the irresponsible spending administration of Gov. Jon Corzine, whose precious gay marriage bill was dead upon arrival on the Senate floor, should end with irresponsible pork spending (though one wonders if it's really pork spending if there's no bill to attach the lard to). In one final stand, Gov. Corzine has awarded $121 million to five cities that are Democrat strongholds (one of which is nearby Camden, go figure).

From the Associated Press via Asbury Park Press:

5 NJ cities awarded $121M in aid; Christie objects
ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 13, 2010

TRENTON — Five of New Jersey's distressed cities were awarded $121 million in special aid on Wednesday, despite loud objections from Republicans, some of whom characterized the distribution as a parting gift to Democratic strongholds by the outgoing administration.

Appropriations to Camden, Paterson, Jersey City, Union City and Bridgeton were approved by the Local Finance Board, a body within the Department of Community Affairs that advises on the financial condition of municipalities.

The allocations were made possible by legislative action Monday that transferred $44 million into the Special Municipal Aid account.

The board approved $67 million for Camden, $27 million for Paterson, $14 million for Jersey City, $11.3 million for Union City, and $2.25 million for Bridgeton.

Republican Gov.-elect Chris Christie, who has been calling out the administration of Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, about the aid packages all week, said he has not ruled out trying to rescind some of the grants after he's sworn into office Jan. 19.

"I'm not going to foreclose any options of what I may do with the distribution of that aid come the 19th of January," Christie said Wednesday. "We're going to look at each particular city's circumstance and see whether or not certain adjustments can or should be made."

Earlier, Republican Sen. Steve Oroho, who sits on the Senate's budget committee, asked the Local Finance Board to put off voting on the grants until Christie's staff could review the applications.

"What's the rush to spend money we don't have," asked Oroho, of Sparta. "Clearly, the Corzine administration is afraid that this process would not survive the scrutiny of a new governor, who demands people play by the rules when handing out taxpayer money."

Corzine is vacationing out of the country. The Department of Community Affairs said in a statement that the state funding allows the municipalities to continue to provide essential services to residents without significantly hiking property taxes or cutting services. The department said the state aid is accompanied by strict oversight, particularly regarding new hires and spending practices.

Sen. Brian Stack, who is also the mayor of Union City, told the board that his hard-pressed municipality of about 85,000 mostly poor immigrants was "doing everything we possibly can" to save money, including using volunteers to shovel show and leaving police positions vacant.

He said the loss of the special state aid would be "a catastrophe."

"I couldn't lay off enough employees to make this up," said Stack. "There would be a shut down of services in Union City. There would be a state of emergency."

The Republicans also noted that Jersey City ended the past two years with budget surpluses of $11 million to $13 million, according to the paperwork that accompanied their application, raising questions as to why the aid was needed.

Jersey City officials said any end-of-year surpluses were figured into the next year's budget. They said without the help from the state, residents would face drastic tax increases.

The aid application also requires cities to disclose their 2010 budgets, but three of the cities that got grants … Camden, Union and Jersey City … listed their expenditures only as "pending." The Republicans claim the applications fell outside the rules.

Jon Corzine has proven time and time again that he is nothing more than just another liberal New Jersey hack who sought only the better good of himself and his cronies than the quality of life of the people. Unlike the other clowns like Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, however, the people saw that enough was enough and booted out Jon Corzine faster than Shane Victorino can run to second base.

New Jersey is in the red, and it took the people to turn the state red in hopes of getting it back to the green. Let's hope and pray that Governor-elect Chris Christie is the guy that will get New Jersey back on track.