The Tale of Two Mayors

On Wednesday October 16, 2013, a special election for the United States Senator from New Jersey will be held.  The election pits conservative Republican Mayor Steve Lonegan, the former Mayor of Bogota, against ultra-liberal Mayor Cory Booker of Newark.  Mayor Booker has been Mayor of Newark from July 1, 2006 to the present.  He inherited a bad situation after 20 years of Sharpe James, and, as we shall see, made it worse.  During his first six months in office while the economy was still strong, the unemployment rate in Newark varied but trended down from 9.4% in July to 7.4% in December 2006, while New Jersey’s unemployment rate also dropped from 5.3% to 3.9%.  Newark’s unemployment rate climbed to 14.2% at the bottom of the recession in June of 2009.  However, while the Nations’ economy slowly improved, under Cory Booker’s policies Newark’s unemployment rate continued to climb, hitting 16.2% in January 2010, 16.4% in July 2011, 16.4% in July 2012, as well as hitting 15% or above for 24 months during the Nations’ economic recovery, before coming down to 14.4% in June of 2013. (1)  The number of persons unemployed in Newark increased during Booker’s stewardship from 8,892 to 15,744 - an atrocious 77% increase! (2)  Booker’s economic policies were clearly a failure for the people of Newark, New Jersey, and now Cory Booker wants to take these failed policies to the whole country.

 

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stated in a speech at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education that students entering the ninth grade in the Newark School System in 2011 have only a 29% chance of graduating from high school in four years, and that the taxpayers are spending on average $24,500 per student. (3)  While the calculation of the cost per student in the Newark Schools, under Booker, may vary between $23,000 and $24,500 depending on what is included in calculating the cost, the facts remain that Newark is spending almost twice as much per student as the suburban schools in New Jersey.  Newark may try to reduce the appearance of the dropout rate by only calculating from those who enter twelfth grade, but by any measure the dropout rates in Newark Schools are among the highest in the State and the nation.  In addition, the reading levels of those who do graduate from high school in Newark are, on average, at about the eighth grade level.

In September 2010, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, agreed to donate $100 million in a matching grant to establish a foundation to help the failed Newark schools.   However, a survey of parents of Newark school children indicated that there has been no noticeable improvement at the classroom level almost three years later. (4)  The Washington Post reported that among the emails that the Booker administration was forced to disclose, due to an OPRA request by the ACLU-New Jersey, was one sent by Booker aide Sharon Macklin on September 19, 2010 that said, “MZ’s money is not going to the classroom.” (5)  What happened to the $100 million, Cory?  While some of the money is apparently earmarked for teachers’ merit pay, which should help out in the classroom, and some is earmarked for expansion of charter schools, which might relieve some of the pressure in the classroom, at least two million dollars was spent on polling, focus groups, mailing and consultants. (6)  Was that two million dollars of Zuckerberg’s money for polling, focus groups, mailing and consultants really to help you get elected to the Senate, Cory?  In any case, the public school classrooms do not seem to be improving.

Recently, under Cory Booker, the crime rate in Newark has soared and is running at about twice the national average.  Cory Booker should be held responsible for the surge in crime, since in November 2010, Cory Booker laid off 167 police officers. (7)  These layoffs have been blamed for the 24% jump in violent crime from 2009 to 2012. (8)  Booker laid off those police officers even after he increased taxes by 20% over the past three years, and he also laid off some 930 other city workers. (9)  Finally, starting on August 26, 2013 there were ten murders in ten days in Newark.  Booker’s rival for the U.S. Senate, Steve Lonegan, criticized Booker for campaigning while the crime wave was going on. (10)  Lonegan said, “While Cory Booker is traveling the state and taking in money from Hollywood celebrities, the people of Newark are besieged.  Newark needs leadership, not a mayor who is looking to be promoted to the U.S. Senate for his failed policies.” Lonegan also said, “Cory Booker should be setting up a command center to combat the unconscionable amount of violence in his city. (11)  Cory Booker now wants to take his failed policies in Newark and spread them to the whole country.

Cory Booker claims credit for bringing large corporations to Newark, but he usually leaves out that he did it at taxpayers’ expense by granting huge tax incentives.  For example, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority has announced that it will grant $250.8 million from the state’s taxpayers to help Prudential Financial move 2,000 of its employees, who now work in the Gateway Center in Newark, because the lease is expiring.  The move will be just a few blocks to a new headquarters that, according to its amended application to the EDA, Prudential proposes to build between Broad Street and Halsey Street in Newark.  To qualify for the grant Prudential does have to agree to add 400 workers, for about $627,000 in taxpayer-funded subsidy per new employee. (12)  Then there is the controversy that in addition to tax abatements, Panasonic received a $102.4 million grant from the EDA for Panasonic to move its headquarters and 800 employees from Secaucus ten miles to Newark without creating any new jobs.  The Panasonic taxpayer-funded incentives have been called a zero sum game.  Newark gains, while Secaucus and the taxpayers of New Jersey lose. (13)  In addition, Pitney-Bowes will receive “Business Relocation and Economic Assistance” as well as “Business Employment Incentive Program” grants to move 180 jobs to Newark and a promise to add 25 more jobs.  The controversy stems from the fact that Pitney-Bowes is moving an international mail sorting operation that had to be near an international airport, such as Newark Liberty International Airport, and didn’t need all of the taxpayer grants to pick a location near that airport. (14)   When Cory Booker brags about “economic development,” he is really talking about “corporate welfare” and “crony capitalism.”

While Booker was arranging taxpayer-funded grants and tax abatements for big corporations, he was imposing huge tax increases on small businesses in Newark, because tax abatements for the likes of Panasonic amount to tax increases for small business owners.  For example, Ivo Fernandes had the tax appraised value on his mechanic’s shop more than double to $1.1 million.   Pedro Nogueira’s restaurant, Taste of Portugal, had its value raised from $400,000 to $1.3 million.  Mr. Breda, who had his six-unit apartment’s appraisal more than double, said, “They are robbing the people.”  (15)  Cory Booker’s policies are not good for the people of Newark, and they certainly would not be good for the people of America.

Steve Lonegan served as Mayor of Bogota, New Jersey from 1995 to 2007.  Upon taking office, he immediately cut municipal spending, by prioritizing, downsizing, and eliminating wasteful and duplicative spending.  He privatized some functions and instituted a more cost-efficient, user-friendly government.  As a result, Bogota's municipal spending remained below the rate of inflation for the entire 12 years that Steve served as the Mayor of Bogota. He also froze the town’s debt and kept tax increases far below inflation, despite massive state mandates and aid reductions to suburban towns like Bogota.  Under Steve, the City Council pushed back when each branch of the town government naturally claimed they needed more money.  However, Steve, a former businessman, had them submit three budgets showing various levels of savings.  Then he used his skill as a businessman and those budgets to find ways to save the taxpayers’ money.  Although he was constantly challenged by his municipal employees and their unions, who, as usual, wanted bigger government and more spending of taxpayers’ money on themselves, Steve was re-elected twice by double-digit margins in a town that is two-to-one Democrat.  Steve Lonegan obtained these results at the polls by spending a substantial amount of time communicating with voters of both parties about his proposals and the reasons for his proposals.  He was therefore able to build a consensus. (16)

Steve Lonegan has always put the taxpayer first.  Steve even wrote a book entitled “Putting Taxpayers First.”  But Steve doesn’t just talk and write about putting the taxpayers first, he has practiced it.  Steve Lonegan led the fight to stop Gov. Jon Corzine from selling off New Jersey’s toll roads to a public benefit corporation that would then sell bonds backed by the toll revenue, along with substantial rights to increase tolls to protect the corporation’s Wall Street investors, but hurt New Jersey residents paying the tolls.   Corzine’s Wall Street friends would have been able to profit by selling the bonds. (17)

Steve also led the fight to take New Jersey out of Jon Corzine’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) that really amounted to a tax on the use of carbon fuels by requiring electric and industrial companies to buy carbon credits at secret auctions.  Then, the companies passed the cost of the carbon credits on to customers buried in the cost of electricity and industrial products without the customer even knowing it. (18)  Some companies were even considering leaving New Jersey, and among reasons cited were the higher utility costs caused by RGGI.  For example, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. announced that it was moving its Bordentown, New Jersey cranberry concentrate processing plant to Pennsylvania, stating that Pennsylvania had lower utility costs as one of the reasons.  You see, Pennsylvania did not join RGGI and was keeping its utility costs down. (19)  Assemblywoman Alison McHose (R, LD 24) introduced the first legislation to take New Jersey out of RGGI.  Steve Lonegan worked statewide to obtain support for the legislation from both parties.  Finally, as momentum built to get New Jersey out of this carbon tax scheme, Governor Chris Christie took New Jersey out of RGGI. (20)

Steve fought for taxpayers again when New Jersey passed the Offshore Wind Development Act, which would amount to a $100 million taxpayer-subsidized offshore wind scheme for just the first phase.  It was rated as one of the most expensive wind projects in the nation.  The project would produce electricity at the highest rate by far of any method of producing electricity. (21)  This offshore wind project would have substantially increased the cost of electricity to New Jersey residents and businesses.  Once again, Steve Lonegan put the taxpayers and rate payers of New Jersey first and fought the offshore wind project.  His efforts included holding a rally on the beach in Asbury Park New Jersey to oppose the $100 million cost just to start the project. (22)  The highly expensive project appears to be stalled out at this time and may not be completed. (23)   

When New Jersey started the practice of issuing bonds without the voter approval required by the New Jersey State Constitution, Steve brought various lawsuits against the State to stop the State from committing such violations of the State Constitution.  Mayor Steve Lonegan was a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit of Lance, et al. v. McGreevey et al., in which the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the State could not issue bonds to fund general expenses in order to balance an annual budget.

Steve Lonegan is running on the positive messages of Liberty, the Free Market System, The Constitution and the Rule of Law.  He has always put the taxpayer first over special interest groups, high taxes and big government.  He has led multiple statewide campaigns on behalf of all New Jersey taxpayers and had twelve highly successful years as Mayor of Bogota, keeping the tax burden on the residents of Bogota under control, so that businesses and the town could prosper.  One could say that the twelve years that Steve Lonegan was the Mayor of Bogota were among the best of times for Bogota.

Cory Booker has had about seven years as Mayor of Newark during which his policies increased taxes, increased unemployment, increased the crime rate, increased the failure rate of the schools and hurt local businesses and the local economy, while the rest of the State and the country have continued to slowly recover from the last recession.  It appears that Cory Booker always puts special interest groups and the Liberal policies of the Democrat Party and of President Obama first, even though these special interests and policies hurt the residents of Newark.  Aside from the riots of 1967, one could say that the seven years that Cory Booker has been the Mayor of Newark were among the worst of times for Newark.
 _____________________________________________________________________

(1)    Homefacts.com/unemployment/New-Jersey, years 2008-2013.

(2)    Phil Kerpen, “Cory Booker’s Record of Economic Failure,” Townhall.com, 8/8/13.

(3)    “Newark High Schools Have a 29% Graduation Rate—Gov. Christie,” By GardenStateGossip, gardenstategossip.wordpress.com, 6/15/11.

(4)    Video, “Cory Booker: A Record 0f Failure,” posted by Phil Kerpen, 8/17/13.

(5)    Valerie Strauss, “The secret e-mails about Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark schools,” The Washington Post, 1/6/13.

(6)    Lisa Fleisher, “Booker, Facebook Emails About $100 Million School Gift Released,” The Wall Street Journal, blogs.wsj.com/metropolis, 12/25/12.

(7)    “Newark to Lay Off 167 Police Officers November 30,” by WNYC News, wnyc.org, 11/23/10.

(8)    Phil Kerpen, “Cory Booker’s Record of Economic Failure,” Id.

(9)    Kate Zernike, “Promise vs. Reality in Newark on Mayor’s Watch,” The New York Times, 12/13/12.

(10) James Queally and David Giambusso, “Ten days, 10 dead: Shooting deaths plague Newark,” The Star-Ledger, 9/5/13.

(11)  Steve Lonegan, “Lonegan Responds to Newark Murder Spree,” LONEGAN FOR SENATE NEWS, loneganforsenate.com, 9/4/13.

(12)  Sarah Portlock, “Prudential plans to build new, $444M skyscraper in downtown Newark,” nj.com, 3/16/12, update 3/20/13.

(13)  Naomi Bressler, “Panasonic’s move to Newark would be a zero sum game,” New Jersey Policy Perspective, njpp.org, 2/17/11.

(14)  David Jones, “Booker to announce move of Pitney Bowes international mail center to Newark,” The Real Deal, therealdeal.com, 2/9/10.

(15)  Nate Schweber, “Jump in Land Assessments Shocks Newark Business Owners,” The New York Times, 3/25/13, nytimes.com, 3/26/13.

(16)  “Steve Lonegan,” Wikipedia, Last modified 9/13/13; “About Steve Lonegan,” Loneganforsenate.com .

(17)  Id.

(18)  Press Release:  Americans For Prosperity:  “RGGI, The $1 Billion Failure,” 12/9/11.

(19)  Joseph N. DiStefano, “Ocean Spray moving to PA, says NJ too expensive.” Philly.com, 5/5/11.

(20)  Steven Reilly, “Christie dumps ‘green’ program,” New Jersey Herald, 5/27/11.

(21)  Mike Proto, “End subsidies for green energy boondoggles,” nj.com, 9/18/12.

(22)  “Windmills: is Chris Christie kidding?” conservativenewsandviews.com, 6/15/12.

(23)  Tom Johnson, “STATE LETS $100M TAX CREDIT FOR OFFSHORE WIND EXPIRE,” NJSPOTLIGHT, njspotlight.com, 3/17/13.

Part-Time Jobs Were 185% of the New Jobs Created in June

By Rich Miner

That’s right.  Of the 195,000 new jobs created in June, 360,000 were part-time.  Full-time jobs actually shrank.  These numbers were abysmal.  However, the White House, the media and Wall Street pundits extolled the jobs numbers as being solid, a very good report and a sign that the economy was improving to the point that the Federal Reserve would be able to begin to taper its monthly purchase of $85 billion in bonds and treasuries.   But a more careful look at the jobs numbers would show that the total payroll number was 135.9 million jobs, or still 1.6% below where they were 5-1/2 years ago before the recession started.  To make matters worse, the labor force has been increasing by about 120,000 a month during all those years.  So far in 2013 only 130,000 new full-time jobs have been added.  The remaining 557,000 of the alleged ‘solid’ jobs increase have been part time.  “Great Jobs News For Part-Timers,” Investor’s Business Daily, 7/8/13, p. A18.

According to Ray Stone, Managing Director of Stone & McCarthy Research, in the first quarter many of the new jobs were in manufacturing and construction, but in the second quarter most of the new jobs have been in retail, leisure and entertainment and have been largely part time.  He said the composition of the jobs growth was very disappointing.

There are many reasons for the number of full-time jobs being replaced by part-time jobs, such as uncertainty about the economy, new Government regulations, bureaucratic overreaching, Obama’s endless Executive Orders, but the biggest reason is ObamaCare.   Employers can avoid the penalty of not providing ObamaCare to part-time workers if they keep their hours at less than 30 a week.  In addition, many employers, who may very well be providing health insurance under current law, may not want to incur the higher cost of providing ObamaCare and can avoid doing so by cutting their employees to part time.   Providing shifts of part-time workers is less difficult for low-skill jobs, such as in the fast food industry.

For example, Charles Payne reported on “Fox and Friends” on 7/5/13, that Clarence Otis, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants, which operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden and other restaurants, said that ObamaCare would cause him to redefine work and move people from 40 hours to 29 hours.  These are people with minimum skills, who are trying to work their way into the work force and gain skills as they go, and ObamaCare will force them to take a big hit.

Furthermore, according to “Fox and Friends Saturday,” 7/6/13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the real unemployment rate known as U6 actually increased from 13.8% in May to 14.3% in June.  U6 takes into consideration part-timers who want full-time work, employees who are overqualified for the job and discouraged workers who have quit looking for work.  In addition, according to Tucker Carlson only 47% of Americans have full-time jobs.  Id.  That means that approximately 12% of the civilian population is working part time.  See, BLS Employment Summary Table A., 7/5/13.

McKinsey & Co. reported that 45% of college graduates today have jobs that don’t require college degrees.  “Great Job News For Part-Timers,” Id.  Often the first full-time job can set the pace for the person’s entire career, and now their educations are being wasted waiting tables.  Young people are being hit very hard with an unemployment rate of 16.1% among 18- to 29-year-olds, plus 1.7 million who have dropped out of the work force.  Id.

It is clear that Obama’s policies of trillions of dollars in pork-laden spending and the Fed’s policies of endless “Quantitative Easing” have not been much help to the employment picture and the economy.  Besides, these policies have had negative effects, such as unsustainable debt and a Fed balance sheet that has ballooned out of control.  That balance sheet must be unwound and may burst in the process.  In addition, Obama’s higher taxes, his constant demands for more taxes on job creators, his excessive regulations, his unconstitutional executive orders, his class warfare and his attacks on the free market system have all made employers afraid to hire new employees.  But the greatest cause of this horrible jobs report is ObamaCare.  This 2,700 page incomprehensible legislation, with countless pages of regulation that are constantly growing at the dictates of Kathleen Sebelius, encouraged employers to hire primarily part-time workers and to cut full-time workers back to 29 hours a week.

More Unions Speak Out Against ObamaCare

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is now the latest union to come out against the dangers of ObamaCare threatening certain current employee health care plans.  The IBEW ran ads on Roll Call and The Hill, in which they quote Obama’s July 16, 2009 statement in which he said, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor.  Period.  If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your current health care plan.  Period.  No one will take it away.”

The ad says the Affordable Care Act threatens multiemployer health care plans.  The ad continues, “For over 65 years, multiemployer plans have provided affordable, quality coverage to more than 26 million Americans and their families….  Because it does not recognize the unique nature of multiemployer plans, the Affordable Care Act contains provisions that could undermine this American success story and reduce the number of working families covered and lower the quality of their care.”  The ad also contains this catchy phrase in all caps, “KEEP YOUR PROMISE, LET US KEEP OUR PLANS.”

According to IBEW’s president Edwin D. Hill, “[Our] members and allied employers have worked hard for the healthcare they have, and President Obama must move now to guarantee that his signature law will not cost them their coverage.”  In addition to the IBEW, in recent months unions like the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UNITE HERE have all been looking for alterations to the law.  Caroline May, “Another union decries Obamacare’s impact on members’ healthcare coverage,” The Daily Caller, 7/11/13.

Joseph Hansen, President of UFCW called on Obama to help his members keep their coverage by extending subsidies to their current plans.  Hansen said, “The ACA offers a subsidy to lower-income individuals and families so they can afford to purchase this insurance.  As many of our members fall into this category, we believe the subsidy can and should apply to their plans.”  Id.   Mr. Hansen also said, “It makes an untruth out of what the president said, that if you like your insurance, you could keep it.  That is not going to be true for millions of workers now.”  Billy Hallowell, “Why Are Some Labor Unions Turning Against Obamacare and Calling for ‘Repeal’?” The Blaze.com, 4/24/13.

United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers have called for “repeal or complete reform of the Affordable Care Act” in order to protect their plans.  Kinsey Robinson, President of the UURWAW said in a statement, “For decades, our multi-employer health and welfare plans have provided the necessary medical coverage for our members and their families to protect them in times of illness and medical needs. This collaboration between labor and management has been a model of success that should be emulated rather than ignored. I refuse to remain silent, or idly watch as the ACA destroys those protections.”  “Another union decries Obamacare’s impact on members healthcare,” Id.

Multiemployer health plans, known as Taft-Hartley plans, cover certain union workers in such industries as retail and construction with seasonal or temporary employment.  In these plans unions and small businesses pool their resources and offer workers continuous coverage, even during temporary unemployment periods.  The AC A has added costs to these already costly plans.  “We’re concerned that employers will be increasingly tempted to drop coverage through our plans and let our members fend for themselves on the health exchanges,” said David Treanor, director of health care initiatives at the International Operating Engineers Union.  “Why Are Some Labor Unions Turning Against Obamacare and Calling for ‘Repeal’?” Id.  “Harold Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Firefighters, said unions have been forceful in seeking solutions from the Obama administration, but none have been forthcoming.”  Id.

The Unions tried and failed in behind the scenes efforts to get Obama to unilaterally change the law, which Congress feels Obama cannot Constitutionally do.  So, as the Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com, 7/12/13, reported on July 11, 2013, James P. Hoffa, General President of The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Joseph Hansen, Internal President of the UFCW and D. Taylor, President of Unite-Here sent a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi stating:

“When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.  * * *

 “Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios:

“First, the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week.   ***

“Second, millions of Americans are covered by non-profit health insurance plans…. Under the ACA…our employees will…not be eligible for subsidies afforded other citizens. ***

 “On behalf of the millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support, we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans….”

Stuart Varney, the host of Varney & Co., said on “America’s Newsroom” Fox News Channel, 7/16/13, that when you have lost the Unions you have lost the original supporters of the ObamaCare bill.  Stuart can’t think of anyone who is left to support ObamaCare.

Obamacare’s Federal Exchanges Do Not Provide Security Or Verification

Breaking news: the Federal Health Care Exchanges that are supposed to be operational on October 1, 2013 have failed their security protection tests.  Friday August 2, a Health and Human Services inspector general report disclosed that the HHS is months behind schedule in making sure that there is security for the new data hub for the Obamacare Exchanges.  This report indicates HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee last April to the effect that the ACA’s data hub was “basically complete” was at variance with the truth.  Furthermore, HHS has not obtained most of the required service-level agreements from seven other government agencies that will be receiving the public’s information.  “ObamaCare’s Risk To Your Privacy,” Investor’s Business Daily, 8/8/13, p. A12.  According to Larry Kudlow, this new report “admits there is no security firewall protecting your data from hackers, identity thieves and many other federal agencies.”  Larry continued, “The whole security system has not been tested.”  Larry’s guest Dr. Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute said the hub will be working on the honor system and the portal where the public enters their personal information to enroll in insurance plans will be at even greater risk.  That means that people who try to buy health insurance on the Exchange will expose their social security numbers, finances, age, health records and various other information to anyone who wants to steal it.  It will be an open invitation to identity theft.   The Kudlow Report, CNBC, 8/7/13.  IBD stated, “If the hub isn’t sufficiently secure when the exchanges open up, it will create a huge opening for identity thieves and other such criminals.”  Representative Patrick Meehan (Pa.-R) described the exchange situation as, “A honey pot for hackers.”  “ObamaCare’s Risk To Your Privacy,” Id.

Twenty-six states, all with Republican Governors, have refused to set up state Obamacare exchanges, forcing the Federal Government to set up exchanges for those states.  Approximately seven other states have opted for federal-state partnership exchanges.  In New Jersey, Republican Governor Christie vetoed legislation by the Democrat controlled legislature establishing a state-run health care insurance exchange.  Christie stated that he was committed to comply with Obamacare “only in a manner that is the most effective and efficient for the residents of New Jersey, and the businesses that will carry the costs of this new program.”  Christie also said that the Federal Government is best equipped to operate the exchange.  “GOP governors reject ObamaCare health exchange partnerships,” Fox News.com, 2/17/13.  In rejecting both a state-run Obamacare Exchange and a federal-state partnership, Republican Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of HHS, stating the partnership exchange model doesn’t answer his concerns over “aggressive federal timelines, a lack of true flexibility for states, and misguided federal policies.”  Id.  Florida passed the deadline for running its own exchange and Republican Governor Rick Scott also rejected partnering with the federal government stating, “We continue to be concerned about the many unknowns impacting the cost of operating an exchange, and simply do not have enough information to make a decision about running one at this time.”  Id.

However, there are a couple of problems with the Federal Government running Obamacare Exchanges.  For one, the federal government was caught flatfooted, because the Obama Administration had assumed that the states would all set up their own exchanges.  Second, Obamacare did not provide for funding of health care subsidies under Federal Exchanges.  Furthermore, under Obamacare the employer penalty is not imposed on the employer until one of its employees applies for the Obamacare subsidy.  Oklahoma’s Attorney General Scott Pruitt was quick to pick up on this quirk in the Obamacare legislation and brought a lawsuit to stop the IRS from issuing the subsidies/tax credits and collecting the penalties/taxes that Congress had not legislated into law.  Oklahoma’s lawsuit challenging the IRS’s authority to spend tax dollars and levy penalties without authorization from Congress is raising a legitimate Constitutional principle.  Simply put, the executive branch cannot Constitutionally collect a tax that Congress has not created through legislation, just because it suits the president’s and his party’s left-wing agenda to do so.  The Federal Government’s creating its own exchanges within states would appear to violate the 10^th Amendment.  However, even if the Federal Government can set up its own exchanges within the states, it has no authority under the ACA to use them to offer subsidies and inflict the accompanying punitive taxes.  “On Obamacare, Oklahoma Leads,” National Review Online, 6/4/13.

All told some 33 states have refused to create their own separate exchanges, including Oklahoma.  Therefore, the residents of those states are not eligible for exchange subsidies, and its employers are not subject to the associated punitive tax.  The law was intentionally written to deny subsidies to states that refuse to create exchanges, in order to pressure the states into setting up their own exchanges.  The Democrats simply failed to anticipate that the majority of states would refuse to create exchanges, despite the taxpayer funded subsidies.  However, the Obama administration, which has demonstrated a habit of disregarding the rule of law, is proceeding as though it has the legal right to offer subsidies and impose penalties in states that have refused to create exchanges.  Id.  In Halbig v. Sebelius, four individual taxpayers and three employers are also challenging the IRS’ authority to issue subsidies and collect punitive taxes under the same theory as the Oklahoma case.  “Halbig v. Sebelius: ‘All of Obamacare Hangs on the Outcome,’” Cato Institute Forum, 6/17/13; Gabrielle Karol, “New Lawsuit Filed Against ObamaCare,” foxbusiness.com, published 5/3/13.

There are at least twenty unconstitutional provisions in Obamacare, and the regulations being issued to enforce Obamacare are raising additional serious concerns and in some cases lawsuits or Congressional action.  For example, the Independent Advisory Board (IPAB), as known as Death Panels, violates Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution, which vests all legislative authority in the Congress.  Thus, IPAB constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to fifteen unelected cronies of the president.   For now, Kathleen Sebelius is acting as a one person self-appointed Death Panel, as we saw in the Sarah Murnaghan case of a ten year old girl being denied a lung transplant by Sebelius.  There is no right of appeal to an administrative denial of health care, which constitutes an unconstitutional violation of administrative “due process.”  Some twelve lawsuits have been filed by colleges, universities, hospitals and other institutions alleging that regulations issued by Sebelius under Obamacare violate the First Amendment’s Freedom of Religion.  Furthermore, Obama’s defining what constitutes a religious entity is an additional violation of the First Amendment.  Obamacare’s allowing the IRS warrantless searches of personal financial records violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches.     Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution provides that, “All bills raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”  Obamacare provides some twenty new taxes or increases in existing taxes and, therefore, was constitutionally required to originate in the House.  However, the Democrats rammed through the Senate bill in clear violation of the Constitution.  The Supreme Court has only reviewed about three of the many constitutional issues raised by Obamacare.  Therefore, the battle to end Obamacare will go on unless or until, to paraphrase the words of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, (Ky.-R) at CPAC, “Obamacare [is] repealed root and branch.”

Part-Time Jobs Were 185% of the New Jobs Created in June

By Rich Miner

That’s right.  Of the 195,000 new jobs created in June, 360,000 were part-time.  Full-time jobs actually shrank by 240,000.  These numbers were abysmal.  However, the White House, the media and Wall Street pundits extolled the jobs numbers as being solid, a very good report and a sign that the economy was improving to the point that the Federal Reserve would be able to begin to taper its monthly purchase of $85 billion in bonds and treasuries.   But a more careful look at the jobs numbers would show that the total payroll number was 135.9 million jobs, or still 1.6% below where they were 5-1/2 years ago before the recession started.  To make matters worse, the labor force has been increasing by about 120,000 a month during all those years.  So far in 2013 only 130,000 new full-time jobs have been added.  The remaining 557,000 of the alleged ‘solid’ jobs increase have been part time.  “Great Jobs News For Part-Timers,” Investor’s Business Daily, 7/8/13, p. A18.

According to Ray Stone, Managing Director of Stone & McCarthy Research, in the first quarter many of the new jobs were in manufacturing and construction, but in the second quarter most of the new jobs have been in retail, leisure and entertainment and have been largely part time.  He said the composition of the jobs growth was very disappointing.

There are many reasons for the number of full-time jobs being replaced by part-time jobs, such as uncertainty about the economy, new Government regulations, bureaucratic overreaching, Obama’s endless Executive Orders, but the biggest reason is ObamaCare.   Employers can avoid the penalty of not providing ObamaCare to part-time workers if they keep their hours at less than 30 a week.  In addition, many employers, who may very well be providing health insurance under current law, may not want to incur the higher cost of providing ObamaCare and can avoid doing so by cutting their employees to part time.   Providing shifts of part-time workers is less difficult for low-skill jobs, such as in the fast food industry.

For example, Charles Payne reported on “Fox and Friends” on 7/5/13, that Clarence Otis, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants, which operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden and other restaurants, said that ObamaCare would cause him to redefine work and move people from 40 hours to 29 hours.  These are people with minimum skills, who are trying to work their way into the work force and gain skills as they go, and ObamaCare will force them to take a big hit.

Furthermore, according to “Fox and Friends Saturday,” 7/6/13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the real unemployment rate known as U6 actually increased from 13.8% in May to 14.3% in June.  U6 takes into consideration part-timers who want full-time work, employees who are overqualified for the job and discouraged workers who have quit looking for work.  In addition, according to Tucker Carlson only 47% of Americans have full-time jobs.  Id.  That means that approximately 12% of the civilian population is working part time.  See, BLS Employment Summary Table A., 7/5/13.

McKinsey & Co. reported that 45% of college graduates today have jobs that don’t require college degrees.  “Great Job News For Part-Timers,” Id.  Often the first full-time job can set the pace for the person’s entire career, and now their educations are being wasted waiting tables.  Young people are being hit very hard with an unemployment rate of 16.1% among 18- to 29-year-olds, plus 1.7 million who have dropped out of the work force.  Id.

It is clear that Obama’s policies of trillions of dollars in pork-laden spending and the Fed’s policies of endless “Quantitative Easing” have not been much help to the employment picture and the economy.  Besides, these policies have had negative effects, such as unsustainable debt and a Fed balance sheet that has ballooned out of control.  That balance sheet must be unwound and may burst in the process.  In addition, Obama’s higher taxes, his constant demands for more taxes on job creators, his excessive regulations, his unconstitutional executive orders, his class warfare and his attacks on the free market system have all made employers afraid to hire new employees.  But the greatest cause of this horrible jobs report is ObamaCare.  This 2,700 page incomprehensible legislation, with countless pages of regulation that are constantly growing at the dictates of Kathleen Sebelius, encouraged employers to hire primarily part-time workers and to cut full-time workers back to 29 hours a week.

Facts About The Common Core

·        The Common Core is a set of education standards and tests prepared by the Obama Administration currently for mathematics and English language arts; however, the  Obama Administration has plans to add science and technical subjects, social studies and history.  The science standards being developed are called the Next Generation Science Standards.

·         Common Core is part of Obama’s “Race to the Top.”

·         Common Core was funded by a $5 billion provision in Obama’s 2009 $787 billion stimulus package, of which $4.6 billion is intended to help the States implement Common Core.  However, it has been estimated that it will cost the States approximately $16.4 billion to fully implement the program.

·         Common Core was designed by Achieve Inc. with funding from the Gates Foundation and with the help of the George Soros funded Apollo Alliance and Tides Foundation.

·         The Gates Foundation has funded some $100 million to promote various portions of Common Core.  See, “Stop the Common Core,” video by NoToCommonCore, together with Concerned Women for America of Georgia and the American Principles Project, narrated by Jane Robins, www.stopcommoncore.com  (the “CWA Video”).

·         The General Electric Foundation has contributed $18 million to Student Achievement Partners to assist States nationwide in implementing Common Core.  Robert L. Corcoran, the President and Chairman of GE Foundation, said they were supporting the program to obtain real and lasting change.

·          David Coleman, a co-founder of Student Achievement Partners, is an architect of the Common Core.  Mr. Coleman has been described by The New York Times as barnstorming the nation to promote the Common Core Standards.  Coleman became President and CEO of the College Board on October 15, 2012 and announced that the College Board will use Common Core to write the SAT’s, which may disadvantage those States that do not adopt it.  See, Tamar Lewin, “Backer of Common Core School Curriculum Is Chosen to Lead College Board,” The New York Times, 5/16/12.

·         Despite evidence to the contrary, the Obama Administration claims Common Core was developed by the States.  The $4.6 billion of taxpayers’ money and Federally-paid-for facilitators have gotten 45 States, including New Jersey, to accept it and to pretend that it was generated by the States.  However, five States, led by Texas, have stayed out or opted out of the Common Core and opposition to it is growing rapidly.

·         Two consortia were created that give the appearance Common Core was developed by the States.  The State of Washington led one consortium called Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium or SBAC and Florida lead the other consortium called Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers or PARCC.

·         On June 16, 2010, the New Jersey Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution that made New Jersey the ninth State to adopt Common Core.  The adoption of Common Core was met with considerable debate over different aspects of the program. Rutgers math professor Joseph Rosenstein criticized the math portions of Common Core.  Professor Rosenstein was concerned that the national standards were weaker than New Jersey’s standards, and he said, “Simply, this will come down to dumbing down our math instruction.”  See, John Mooney, “NJ Board of Education Adopts Common Core Standards,” NJ Spotlight, 6/17/10.

·         The then NJ Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler tried to defend the BOE vote, but it appeared that he was rushing the vote through to gain points toward the pending application for $400 million of Obama’s Race to the Top money.  Id.  However, New Jersey wound up finishing in 11^th place, just 3 points behind 10^th place Ohio.  New Jersey had lost 4.8 points because it submitted financial information for the wrong years and just missed out on the RTTT money, which went to the top ten States in Obama’s RTTT scoring system.  Schundler also lost his job over the mishap.  See, Barbara Martinez, “After Christie Firing, Schundler Fires Back,” WSJ.com, 8/28/10.  Ultimately, the New Jersey education system and NJ school children will be the real losers with Common Core forced on them.

·         Because of Race to the Top’s short timetable, New Jersey and most other States that adopted Common Core did so without legislative approval.  The New Jersey State Constitution in Article VIII, Section IV, paragraph 1 provides that “The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all the children in the State between the ages of five and eighteen years.”  Some people have questioned whether this NJ Constitutional provision means that State legislative approval was necessary to adopt Common Core and to commit all of the State’s school districts to its requirements and expense.

·         The Common Core is the basis for a national curriculum and national tests, even though Federal law prohibits the US Department of Education from exercising control over the States’ academic curricula, their programs of instruction or their selection of instructional materials.  Obama violated (“circumvented”) that Federal law, by making “Race to the Top” Federal funds and “No Child Left Behind” waivers contingent upon accepting the Common Core.  This threat to withhold Federal funds might very well be considered  unconstitutional coercion of the States under the test laid down by Chief Justice Roberts in Florida v. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 567 U.S._____; 1325 S. Ct. 2566 (2012).

·         On September 2, 2010, U. S. Secretary of Education Duncan announced SBAC and PARCC were the winners of the DOE’S competition to develop tests to align with the Common Core standard.  SBAC and PARCC were awarded, respectively, $160 million and $170 million of Federal Race to the Top money.  See, “U. S. Secretary of Education Duncan Announces Winners of Competition to Improve Student Assessments,” U.S. Department of Education, ED.gov. 9/2/10.

·         Some say whoever controls the tests will control what must be taught in the classroom.  The Common Core appears to be a nationwide initiative designed to force the States into national K-12 standards and national tests.  Critics say that prodding the cash-strapped States into the program ultimately will lead to a national curriculum and prevent curriculum input from local educators, parents, and taxpayers.

·         Proponents insist that the Common Core initiative is “state-led” and “voluntary,” and that the national standards are “rigorous,” “internationally benchmarked,” and designed to make our students “college and career ready.” They insist that the States are not surrendering control over their standards and curriculum by adopting the Common Core, and that the Federal government is not behind this effort. In fact, NONE of these statements is TRUE. See, e.g. the CWA Video.

·      The Federally controlled, one-size-fits-all Common Core freezes in place an unacceptable status quo and prevents innovation to meet the challenges of the future.  It amounts to education without REPRESENTATION, in violation of the principles laid down by our founders in the Constitution.  These principles provide for individual freedom, personal responsibility, limited government, and for the powers, not specifically granted to the Federal government or prohibited to the States, to be left the States.  The founders intended that education be left to the States and local governments, and three federal laws confirm this principle. Id.

·      The Common Core Standards are insufficient to properly prepare students for four year colleges.  They do not meet the standards recommended by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel or those of our international competitors.  In particular, certain portions of the Algebra and Geometry required by four year colleges are omitted.  Algebra I is moved from 8^th grade to 9^th grade, making it very difficult and unlikely that the school will be able to move a student through Calculus by 12^th grade, as is required by selective colleges.  As a few other examples, the Common Core eliminates decimals, percents, conversions between fractions and least common denominators and de-emphasizes division and algebraic manipulations.  See, Jonathan Butcher, Emmett McGroarty and Liv Finne, “Why the Common Core is Bad for America,” May 2012.  Dr. James Milgram of Stanford University, who was the only mathematician on the Common Core Validation Committee referred to the math program “as almost a joke to think students [who took common core] would be ready for math at a university.”  See, “Quick Facts Sheet” www.StopCommonCore.com; see also, the CWA Video.  

·       The Common Core’s English Language Arts has been described as skill sets, not a coherent and demanding English curriculum that will prepare a student for a four year college.  Rather, the Common Core has been described as preparing a student for a non-selective community college.  Common Core has a requirement of 70% informational text to 30% literature, which English teachers say will not allow them to develop a proper college preparatory literature course.  Dr. Sandra Stotsky of the University of Arkansas, served on the Validation Committee, but refused to sign off on the ELA portion citing “poor quality, empty skill sets, the de-emphasis on literature, and low reading levels, such as 8^th grade levels for 12^th grade students.” Id.

·      The Common Core has been described by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce as raising the bar.  The Common Core has more accurately been described as raising the bar for the bottom students and lowering the bar for the top students.  Thus, none of the students will be prepared to meet the rigors of a four year college curriculum, nor to compete in today’s competitive world.  The Common Core does not meet the standards of today’s leading States.  They will be required to dumb down their curricula.

·         The Common Core provides for a massive database on all school children.  This part of the project is being partially funded by the Gates Foundation, and is considered by many outraged parents to be the most insidious part of Common Core.  The program calls for collecting 400 data points on children from pre-school to age 20.  The data will go beyond names, addresses, bus stops, grades, attendance and include hobbies, attitude toward school, eye color, hair color, skin color, blood tests, birth marks, premature birth and their family’s income, voting status, religion and politics.  See, The CWA Video.

·         The program also calls for FMRI’s which measure blood flow and heat in different parts of the brain, as well as digital wrist bands and eye movement sensors to monitor the children at all times.  Psychiatrist Harry Thompson, MD, felt that it would be very dangerous to have a data bank with information on students including the 400 data points and their brain waves.

·         The Obama Administration’s US Department of Education established a seven member board to oversee how SBAC and PARCC were implementing the Common Core.  This is just the latest move of the Obama Administration to assert Federal control over the alleged State standards of Common Core.  See, Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute, “Feds Assert More Control Over Common Core,” Choice Media. TV, 4/413.

·         When Governor Rick Perry found out about some of the details of Common Core he took Texas out of it.  Four other States including Virginia, Nebraska and Alaska have stayed out or have followed Texas out of Common Core.  However, there is a fear that they may adopt C-Scope, which is far worse.  South Carolina has a bill introduced to take that State out of the program, and Governor Nikki Haley has strongly endorsed the bill.  Minnesota refused to sign on to the math portion.  Utah is holding hearings to consider withdrawing.  Senator William Ligon (R, GA) introduced S. B. 167 to withdraw Georgia from Common Core.  The Indiana Senate passed an anti-Common Core Bill 38-11.

·         Concerned citizens groups across the country include:  Concerned Woman for America of Georgia (www.stopcommoncore.com),  Pennsylvanians Against Common Core (www.nopacommoncore.com) , Hoosiers Against Common Core (www.hoosiersagainstcommoncore.com) , Ohioans Against Common Core (www.ohioansagainstcommoncore.com ), and Utahns Against Common Core (www.uthansagainstcommoncore.com) and the list goes on for some 44 groups in at least 42 States now fighting The Common Core.  For more information go to www.stopcommoncore.com.

·         While the fight against the math and ELA are heating up, a consortium is already developing the Next Generation Science Standards.  This consortium involves 26 States and groups claiming to represent scientists and teachers.  The NGSS will include climate change being taught in the middle school.  And, “In high school, students would learn in more detail about the human role in generating emissions that are altering the planetary climate.”  See, Justin Gillis, “New Guidelines Call for Broad Changes in Science Education,” The New York Times, 4/9/13.  In some cases, traditional subjects such as “biology and chemistry may disappear entirely from high school, replaced by courses that use a case-study method to teach science in a more holistic way.”  Id.  Naturally, controversy has already developed over NGSS.