Hey New Jersey..wanna see your future? Look at Florida...

[ddeclue]

Yeah we have "low taxes" down here but our public services SUCK because they are shamefully underfunded.

Enjoy your PATH trains and buses? Enjoy nice parks and libraries? Enjoy commuter rail? Enjoy having high quality schools?

That stuff costs money.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Instead of "having lunch" that costs you a little in taxes you're going to end up like us with no public services and crappy underfunded public schools.

Our whole theory of taxation is based on "soak the tourist" and "soak the new guy" instead of a reasonable system like NJ has had until now. It sounds great until the economy takes a down turn and people stop going on vacation and buying timeshares and moving to your state. Then whatever happens to other states - it happens x10 to your state.

Enjoy..

Signed,

Doug D.
Orlando,FL

[lonestarnot]

1. Oh and the terminator state, NJ, you may want to look there too.

And don't forget AZ.

[unhappycamper]

4. Don't forget Minnesota and

Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and any red state.

[raccoon]

12. Minnesota a red state? Who'da thunk it? nt

[glinda]

16. MN is a Blue State but has strongly divided areas of red and blue.

[Bitwit1234]

18. Minnesota has a saving grace

We have a more dems in our congress than republicans. Enough to block a lot of Phewlenty's insane ideas. And you are correct the red part is right there in Minneapolis and it seems that when ever the blue is winning the red holds out the vote count and red is given just enough to win.

One thing. They didn't give Coleman enough and when the votes were counted they found all the red ones thrown in that shouldn't have been counted.

[raccoon]

20. Minneapolis!!! I thought the Twin Cities were blue as...the Great Lakes. nt

[glinda]

22. Mpls. tends to vote blue. The red I speak about is in various counties that are clustered and they

are overwhelmingly rural, lower educated, have more poverty, etc.... with the exception of Bachmann's rich cluster of business areas. MN. like so many other States stupidly elects a Republican Gov. many times even thought there are lots of Dems in congress and they wonder why things are screwed up.

[Craftsman]

2. After last night I think the Blue Dogs will start to resist higher taxes

For anything including a public option.

[tabbycat31]

3. Christie will have a Democratic legislature

I moved to NJ two years ago from NY. I spend a lot of time on some state websites for my classes, and everything is run correctly. The government services (DMV, etc) are very efficient here. It's an example of how government is run correctly.

Fatty McChristie, please do not ruin this. Moving here was one of the best decisions I made for myself and I don't want to throw that away.

[soleft]

6. Please attack Christie for this policitics and not his body size

It's not right. It's not fair. And it's prejudice.

[BolivarianHero]

23. Mr. Christie, you make bad policies.

[Sebass1271]

11. Besides, you lose your point, which is very valid.. : )

i hope the state continues to run the way you say is running now. although, i highly doub it.

[FLAprogressive]

5. We've been ass-raped by our corrupt gov. and our corrupt legislature

and a GOP legislature is virtually assured unless fair districting laws are passed!

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. I don't think Joisey'ns care too much, they all seem to move to Floriduh anyway. nt

[thunder rising]

8. Florida Employment "Service" is nothing but of scams and cons. It's so bad they warn you.

[Sebass1271]

9. I am from wpb and our local public system is a shame!

I so much agree with your post. Florida is the "sunshine" state, however, as soon as you move down here you will see reality immmediately. The haves and have nots are visible. The pubblic school system is shamefully underfunded and we are surrounded by "private christian schools" where only the haves can afford to send their kids there.

public transpatortion? No thank you. we have none! There are some local buses that work only when "they" want to and at their own schedule. In florida you can see the Reagan trickling down clearly.

NJ is going down our path.

[ddeclue]

10. "In florida you can see the Reagan trickling down clearly." - can I use that PLEASE?

That's brilliant...

Do I owe you a nickel every time I repeat it?

[Sebass1271]

14. yes, you may. that phrase is consistently used here in DU

i stole it from another DUer..

[RockaFowler]

13. Public Transportation and Florida

What an oxymoron. I drive 60 miles each way to work. Why?? Because housing in Palm Beach County sucks. But that's where the jobs are. It stinks to live in South Florida!!!

[Sebass1271]

15. it stinks to live anywhere in florida!, move to the north, you

will find youtself surrounded by fundies and tea baggers. Have kids? you better have four eyes instead of two, your kids are being kidnapped by the minute in north florida. it's constant worriedness!!

It's a shame!.

[Barack_America]

17. I hope Christie is as kind to you as Engler was to Michigan.

You deserve it!

[no_hypocrisy]

19. The worst thing you can expect from Christie is continuation of the status quo.

Both houses of the legislature are democratic. What it translates to is the massive debt run up by former governor Christine Todd Whitman and not addressed by former governors Florio and McGrievey doesn't get paid down, pensions don't get funded, and yes, property taxes still go up. Christie won't be able to strong arm the legislative branch no matter the bravado of turning the state "upside down". Of course, he'll blame the democrats for not allowing him to institute reform and in the meantime, the national republicans will try to recruit him for higher office.

[tabbycat31]

21. let the national GOP recruit him for higher office

just get him the HELL out of New Jersey

[DainBramaged]

24. You really think Christie has larger goals???

That fuck is going to get waylaid by the legislature and his tactics won't fly with State Senate president Richard Codey. He was our Governor November 2004-January 2006 after McGreevey resigned so he has MORE than a clue how the state runs. he refused to run for Governor and would have been elected handily.

[ramapo]

28. Codey is probably dead meat

Last I read, Codey won't be Senate president much longer. A deal has been cut to make the guy from South Jersey(his name escapes me right now) Senate president.

Codey didn't refuse to run, Corzine basically said he was going to and since he had all the money, the powerful ones gave Corzine the green light. A huge mistake in retrospect. Codey was very popular, even with Republicans.

[ramapo]

25. Not quite

The situation in NJ is a bit more complicated.

First off, nobody liked Jon Corzine. I mean nobody. The Sierra Club endorsed the independent candidate saying Corzine had the worst environmental record of any NJ governor in history. He came up with a few whopper bad ideas, selling the NJ Turnpike, raising tolls a couple hundred percent. He didn't even have enough sense to wear a seat belt.

He got the blame for high LOCAL property taxes, something he pledged to lower. Local taxes are attributable in large part to school costs. No state in the country is more inefficient than NJ.
We over more than 500 local districts, each with highly compensated administrators. Each little municipality has its own police, fire, DPW, etc. It is insane.

Corzine floated the idea of consolidation. Nothing gets people more upset than the thought of losing local control.

NJ has 21 counties. What would make a lot of sense is to move to a more centralized model with county government providing most services. Instead the thought is to get rid of county government. County taxes account for a fraction of the tax burden.

Basically Corzine lost because people want the same services (or more) for lower taxes. Corzine attempted to consolidate state agencies, for example getting rid of the Department of Agriculture. He got beat up pretty badly on that one.

There is no doubt that Christie will beat up on the unions. He will be kept in check by the legislature as Democrats kept control of both houses. This will prevent him from following his more radical social conservative dogma. It will be interesting to see if he can govern effectively. The state is deeply in debt. Tax revenues are down yet Christie says cut taxes. Everybody wants spending cut, as long as it doesn't affect their favorite program. As much as I don't like the guy, I wish him luck and wouldn't mind it if he is successful shaking things up.

[LynneSin]

27. Don't fuck with choice and don't fuck with the civil rights gained by the GLBT

Other than that if this idiot thinks tax cuts will solve NJ problem - well he'll be gone in 4 years. I think NJ has to do this every so many years in order to remind themselves that this isn't something that can be solved by anyone.

[LynneSin]

26. NJ Senate 23D-17R. NJAssembly 48D-32R

Have fun Christie

[Beetwasher]

29. Exactly, Thank You. Christie Will Be Gridlocked, Thankfully, For Four Years

That's what I'm hoping for. I'm pretty depressed this morning.

[philly_bob]

30. REC I've never understood Florida till now. Thanks Doug. n/t