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.
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(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.