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Hey, Massachusetts, New Jersey Is Passing on the Left
Mel Evans/Associated Press

By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: February 10, 2008
NEW JERSEY’S political hue is not just blue these days. It’s cobalt.

In the last two months, the state has become the first in a generation to abolish the death penalty, the first north of the Mason-Dixon line to apologize for slavery and the second, after Maryland, to pledge its Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote.

A family-leave measure to give employees paid time off to care for a newborn or sick relative appears headed toward approval by the State Legislature. A state commission is urging lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $8.25 an hour, which would be the highest in the nation.

And voters recently approved borrowing an additional $200 million to save open space in the nation’s most densely populated state — the latest in more than $1.5 billion in borrowing to protect farmland and open space since 1981.

It may not be a surprise that New Jersey, which ranks among the states spending the most on education per student and is one of only four states to recognize gay civil unions, is pursuing a course that analysts say is in keeping with the Progressive Era ideals espoused by its former governor, Woodrow Wilson. He described his state as “a sort of laboratory in which the best blood is prepared for other communities to thrive on.”

But public policy experts say what is a surprise is how swiftly New Jersey — better known for its seemingly endemic corruption and reputation as a onetime welcome mat for industrial waste — has moved in this direction.

“They’re a new leader,” said Joel Rogers, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and the director of the Center for State Innovation, which describes itself as a progressive public-policy research institute.

“It’s not just California anymore, it’s New Jersey,” Mr. Rogers said. A New Jersey native, he added, with a touch of hyperbole, “The much-maligned New Jersey, that malarial swamp south of New York, is rising from the ashes as a leader of progressive government.”

Not everybody sees the state’s tilt as a badge of honor. “I think it’s way out of the mainstream, way farther left than most people want to be,” said Joseph Pennacchio, a Republican state senator from Morris County, a Republican bastion.

The liberal legacy in New Jersey won’t be abolishing the death penalty and apologizing for slavery, he said. It will be high taxes and deep deficits. “What we’re not doing is talking about reducing property taxes or reducing the flight of people from New Jersey,” he said.

Why the rush of legislation? And why now?

The underlying reason, political scientists and public policy experts said, is that Democrats in Trenton, the capital, have occupied the Holy Trinity of state government since 2004: both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office. Their advantage is now considerable — 48-32 in the General Assembly and 23-17 in the State Senate.

And then there is Gov. Jon S. Corzine. The son of an Illinois farmer, he made a name for himself in the United States Senate as one of its most liberal members. He once lambasted the centrist Democratic Leadership Council for practicing “timid progressivism.”

Joel Barkin, the executive director of the Progressive States Network, said, “They are in a political environment that is not going to put up a lot of opposition to these areas of reform.”

New Jersey lawmakers have managed to enact measures that have failed in California and Massachusetts, for instance, states with their own distinctively dark-blue hues.

California enacted the nation’s first paid family leave law in 2000, but a bill that would have placed a moratorium on executions stalled. Massachusetts and California both have an $8-an-hour minimum wage, the nation’s second highest, behind Washington State. A paid family leave bill in Massachusetts stalled in the face of opposition from the business lobby. Both failed to pass a law to award their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote in presidential races.

Then again, they have had bigger hurdles to overcome. In California, the Democratic-controlled Legislature has to contend with a Republican governor. While both houses are solidly Democratic in Massachusetts, the governor — the first Democrat in 16 years — has been in office only a year.

Another factor that may explain why New Jersey has been so active lately is that its Legislature was a lame duck when it approved these recent measures. Legislators who were retiring — more than one-third of the General Assembly and two-fifths of the Senate — didn’t have to worry about constituent reaction.

Will lawmakers who do have to worry about re-election continue down the path of their one-time colleagues? The answer awaits.

But academics who study New Jersey say its increasingly leftward lean also reflects the political evolution of the state’s 8.7 million residents.

Cliff Zukin, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, said polling data suggested that the influx of immigrants in the last decade — 20 percent of the state’s residents are now foreign born — has made New Jersey residents more socially tolerant. “A lot of people just mouth arguments for diversity and say, ‘It’s good. It’s good,’ ” he said. “But people really see here that the quality of life is better because of it.”

Joseph Marbach, acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seton Hall University, said New Jersey was also skewing left because it is wealthier and better educated than it was a decade ago. “Those are the demographics that tend to lean more liberal,” he said.

Of course, there are those who say that the state has betrayed liberal ideals. Mr. Corzine’s new school funding plan, approved by the Legislature last month, was criticized by some school advocates as giving short shrift to inner-city schools.

And some liberal activists said they an odd symmetry in New Jersey’s recent progressive streak, pointing out that if it weren’t for poor regulation in the past, especially on environmental issues, it wouldn’t need such an activist approach.

“We’re the yin and the yang,” said Jeffrey Tittle, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We have the strongest laws and the biggest problems.”

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[ 02-12-2008: Message edited by: Jamaica Jeff ]

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Originally posted by Jamaica Jeff:
Desirod, did you ever notice how people from NY and Pa,{Philly} make jokes about New Jersey all week but where are they on the weekends in summer? The jersey Shore! Overcrowding our roads and beaches. As far as the death penalty goes , how about the guy in Georgia who grabbed the hiker and beat and decapatated her? Why is he still breathing? How can anyone stand up for scum like him and others like him?

[ 02-12-2008: Message edited by: Jamaica Jeff ]

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Jeff, In my New York days it was the beaches of Fire Island. Since in Philly I go to Rehoboth Beach.
Summer weekends in the city are nice since all are away and will go to the beach midweek.

Delaware and Hudson: You gotta pay to leave the state.

Tim

IF YOU'RE THINKING OF LIVING IN: FRANKLIN LAKES
By ANTHONY DEPALMA
Published: July 8, 1984

SPREAD gracefully over 10 square

miles of wooded hills, lush lowlands

and nearly two dozen lakes and ponds, Franklin Lakes in the northwestern corner of Bergen County has the look and feel of a community awash in new wealth.

Unlike the brick-and-shingle colonial- style homes of many other popular suburbs in this area of New Jersey, Franklin Lakes has huge homes of angular, modern lines that are nestled on lavishly landscaped hillside sites. Often worth more than $500,000, many of the new homes being built throughout the borough have two, three or more acres.

The new construction throughout Franklin Lakes is giving this bedroom community a distinctive ambiance, one that combines the sophisticated appeal of Bergen County with the buying power of northern New Jersey's new role as home to many major corporations.

Although Franklin Lakes is an old community by any standard - it was first settled in the 17th century by Dutch farmers and was incorporated in 1772 - it is only in the last 25 years that Franklin Lakes has experienced a development boom. The most substantial started only 12 years ago with the completion of State Route 208 through town.

Before 1960, much of Franklin Lakes was just countryside. According to local historians, in 1954 only 20 percent of the community's 6,000 acres was developed. Twenty years later, only 20 percent remained undeveloped.

MUCH of the building came about as a result of a single, huge project known as Urban Farms. Spread over a quarter of Franklin Lakes, including mile-long Franklin Lake itself, Urban Farms was started in the late 1950's by the McBride Company of Paterson, which assembled the huge tract of land to build a planned community.

W. Peter McBride, president of Urban Farms, said the original idea was to include single-family homes on one-acre lots in Urban Farms, but also less-expensive units on smaller lots, as well as offices, stores and other commercial spaces. The centerpiece of the community was to be Franklin Lake.

However, according to Mr. McBride, town officials did not want the higher density nor the commercial development. So Urban Farms has become a successful residential community of large houses on a minimum of one acre, with a 100,000-square-foot shopping center.

So far, about 800 custom homes have been built, mostly by private builders. The McBride Company originally built a few but later concentrated on selling the land. It does retain architectural control over what is built in Urban Farms. Every proposed house design is reviewed by an internal committee. At first, the predominant style was colonial, but lately, Mr. McBride said, many more contemporary homes have been put up.

Urban Farms was never designed to be as exclusive as other club communities such as Tuxedo Park, N.Y., or Smoke Rise in Kinnelon, N.J. Its own club, the Indian Trail Club, has an open membership - about 60 percent of the 600 families who belong to it live in Urban Farms. The $1,000 annual family membership covers swimming and boating, use of the 13 tennis courts, 7 paddle-tennis courts and the clubhouse itself, a converted barn on the lake shore.

Franklin Lakes has another club community, built around Shadow Lake and known as Shadow Lake Estates. But all the property there is developed.

When Urban Farms opened in the late 1950's, houses on one acre were selling for around $60,000. Prices have appreciated substantially. Mr. McBride said the average one-acre lot today costs $125,000, with most new homes costing an additional $400,000 to $700,000. Resales in Urban Farms start at around $250,000.

Development at Urban Farms has been relatively slow but steady over 25 years because each house is custom built. Mr. McBride said there was room for about 200 more houses.

Outside Urban Farms, construction is surging in several areas. Some of the most expensive homes are going up on the mountainside below the Bergen County Riding Academy.

Diane M. Carroll, a sales agent for the Schlott Company Realtors office in Franklin Lakes, said houses in this area were selling for a ''bottom line'' of $480,000, with some going as high as $3 million.

In a county of wealthy communities, Franklin Lakes ranks near the top with a median income of $43,000 a year. Many of its 8,700 residents are conservative Republicans, who have elected only one Democratic councilman in 60 years.

Mayor William J. Vichiconti said many residents commuted to Manhattan, about 50 miles away. A 40-trip commuter pass on the Leisure Line Tours bus into the Port Authority terminal costs $116.

But he also said that a growing number of residents work in the new corporate headquarters springing up in the area. In Franklin Lakes itself, I.B.M. Engineering Services will have 1,400 employees and the Becton-Dickinson Company is working on a million-square-foot corporate headquarters fronting Route 208.

Other than those two businesses, however, Franklin Lakes has very little commercial development. There is just one small shopping area in addition to the one at Urban Farms. But that is enough to help keep the borough tax rate at $2.22 per $100 of assessed value, one of the lowest rates in the county. Taxes on a $200,000 home are about $3,100 a year.

Another reason for the low tax rate is the minimum level of services provided by local government. Franklin Lakes does not have curbside leaf pickup in the fall. It has no indoor recreation center. Its ambulance unit and fire departments are staffed by volunteers, and many homes have their own wells for drinking water. The road department is small and most roads are new. There are only a few street lights.

Mayor Vichiconti recalls that in 1972, when he was a councilman, he pushed to build a municipal pool. ''No one was interested,'' he said, ''but if you drive around, you'll see a lot of pools in back yards.''

THERE are few public places - no bowling alleys or movie theaters and only two small restaurants, one in each of the borough's two shopping areas. There are no rental apartments or condominiums.

For outdoor recreation there are the lakes, and just over the border in Mahwah is the Campgaw Mountain Ski Area. The New Jersey Audubon Society's Lorrimer Nature Center is also in the town.

Franklin Lakes has its own elementary school district and is a partner with Oakland and Wyckoff in a regional high school district. John A. Manz, superintendent of the three elementary schools and one seventh- and eighth-grade middle school, described the district's educational approach as traditional, with emphasis on the basics but also keeping up with current trends.

The schools have a computer in each classroom, including kindergartens, and advanced students are allowed to take high school courses in the eighth grade. The two high schools, one in Franklin Lakes and the other in nearby Oakland, are both relatively new buildings. At least 74 percent of graduates go on to higher education. The combined average Scholastic Aptitude Test scores for both schools are 465 verbal and 500 mathematics out of a possible 800 on each.

While its newness distinguishes Franklin Lakes from many other suburbs, the community is not without a legacy.

Because there has always been plenty of open space, old houses, barns and mills were not torn down to make room for new buildings. Amid all the new construction there are striking examples of Dutch houses, many more than 200 years old, that form a beautiful link to the area's past and serve as a reminder of how much it has changed.

Year Debate on 20 Miles of Road

For two decades, there has been an interminable round of quarreling over whether a section of Interstate 287 should go through Franklin Lakes or around it - or whether the link ought to be built at all.

Mayor William J. Vichiconti of Franklin Lakes calls the highway unnecessary and thinks its construction would be ''a disaster for the community.'' The 20-mile uncompleted stretch of Interstate 287 is expected to cost $400 million. Under state plans, it would slice through Franklin Lakes roughly along the New York Susquehanna & Western freight line right-of-way before continuing through Bergen County to link with the Gov. Thomas E. Dewey Thruway in New York.

Bruce R. Brumfield, project manager for the New Jersey Department of Transportation, expects construction to begin in two years, with the link opening to traffic in 1991.

Mayor Vichiconti, who has been fighting the road for 17 years, said the impending work had not kept anyone from building in Franklin Lakes.

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Originally posted by desirod7:

The article is complimentary of New Jersey. New Jersey has more PhD's per capita than any other state. Just gotta get over the Bergen County Niuw Joisy twang

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David,

the "niuw Joisy twang" is most DEFINITELY Essex and Passaic County-centric, NOT Bergen County.

Think "Sopranos"; Nutley, Bloomfield, Newark, Plainfield and the Oranges.

Bruce Springsteen still lives in 'Jersey and Richard Nixon nixed California to spend the last dozen or so years of his life in the foothills of Bergen County. We used to go trick or treating at his house when I was a teenager. He was extremely greagarious, cordial and a wonderful neighbor.

I was thinking the town of North Bergen near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. My friends from Millburn would differ from you on whose responsible for the Joisy twang

Jersey Boys: Eddie Van Halen, John Bon Jove, Frank Sinatra, Southside Johnny, and the Boss himself.

I worked in Secaucus for 4 years

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Originally posted by Tim in 'Lauderdale:

David,

the "niuw Joisy twang" is most DEFINITELY Essex and Passaic County-centric, NOT Bergen County.

Tim <--will always be a 'Jersey boy!

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Tim,

Jersey Boys: Eddie Van Halen,

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:

They grew up in Pasadena, CA where they began their musical career.

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Originally posted by Jamaica Jeff:
Why is he still breathing? How can anyone stand up for scum like him and others like him?

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Originally posted by Cunard Fan:
Because killing him would be going down to his level. I applaud NJ on abolishing the death penalty.

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Tim,

I was thinking the town of North Bergen near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. My friends from Millburn would differ from you on whose responsible for the Joisy twang

Jersey Boys: Eddie Van Halen, John Bon Jove, Frank Sinatra, Southside Johnny, and the Boss himself.

I worked in Secaucus for 4 years

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And afcorse fore 75 years the US home of Holland America Line.

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
Then make his life as miserable as possible. Forced labor is a good start plus we all benefit while he pays his debt to society.

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Originally posted by desirod7:

He should be forced to live in Elizabeth near the gas tanks.

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
I agree. Refusing to kill him is not "standing up for him". Rather, it's demonstrating that we are better than him, and reminding him every day that he is scum. Just like he had no right to take someone else's life, we do not have that right either. Only we can show him that we can actually live by our principles, and that we are not animals out for kicks or base revenge.

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
I agree. Refusing to kill him is not "standing up for him". Rather, it's demonstrating that we are better than him, and reminding him every day that he is scum. Just like he had no right to take someone else's life, we do not have that right either. Only we can show him that we can actually live by our principles, and that we are not animals out for kicks or base revenge.

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I agree with this to a point. there are some people though, who have done horrible things and yet I don't think they should be hated but forgiven. Thats not saying what they did isn't horrible, because it is, nor am I saying that they shouldn't be in jail. One person who comes to mind is a man named Luke Woodham. As a child and young adult he was badly abused and un-loved at home and at school he was bullied very very badly. Finally he couldn't take it any more and went crazy killing his mom and fellow students at school. He's sorry for what he did and now has to live with the guilt of what he did for the rest of his life in jail. Obviously many people hate him, in fact he constantly get hate mail. I feel sorry for him even though he did a horrible horrible thing. How sad for someone so young to have his whole life ruined forever and to have to live with that kind of guilt and people hating him. Before hating or punhishing someone, people people need to look at the big picture and see what got that person to that point of doing something horrible, and then work to stop it for ever happening to someone else.

[ 02-14-2008: Message edited by: Cunard Fan ]

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Originally posted by LaLa:

i personally think sitting in a jail cell for the rest of your life is worse than being put to death!

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Originally posted by LaLa:
i personally think sitting in a jail cell for the rest of your life is worse than being put to death!

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'Life in New Jersey' to Replace Death Penalty

TRENTON - New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is outlawing the death penalty in the Garden State. "We are replacing capital punishment with 'Life in New Jersey' without the possibility of parole. Capital punishment is a piece of cake compared to having to spend the rest of your life here in New Jersey," said Corzine.

Until recently, death row inmates here were spared the indignity of spending the rest of their life in hell-hole New Jersey breathing noxious fumes and drinking polluted water.

"I'd rather get a lethal injection -- or even the electric chair -- than get 'Life in New Jersey' without the possibility of parole, you know what I'm saying?" said one rapist-murderer on New Jersey's death row.

"Even if they gave me HBO, the Pleasure Channel, weekly conjugal visits, and extra mashed potatoes for the rest of my life, I'd rather be hanged than stay here in New Jersey. This state really sucks!"

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is a cute metaphor. My favorite line is "Our excitement for the week is the Metuchen Steak and Brew on Route 46"

The series, which arrived a month ago on MTV, seemed on paper as if it would be just another make-strangers-share-a-house reality show: eight young people of dubious intelligence and accomplishment were thrown together in a lavishly appointed residence in Seaside Heights, about an 80-mile drive from Manhattan, for a hormonally charged, alcohol-fueled summer.

But these insufferable eight were billed as Italian-Americans (though who really knows?), and their display of debauchery and self-absorption was so over the top that it quickly drew complaints of ethnic stereotyping. The cast’s numbingly frequent use of a term for Italian-Americans that many consider offensive hasn’t helped. Just before Christmas the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus called for the show’s cancellation.

But surely “Jersey Shore,” which is broadcast on Thursday nights, must have some redeeming value, mustn’t it? Yes, it must. Herewith, five reasons to like “Jersey Shore”:

1. THE ACTUAL JERSEY SHORE HASN’T BEEN THIS INTERESTING IN YEARS. Sorry to be blunt, but no one has found summer on the New Jersey coast exciting since the shark attacks of 1916.

On the boardwalks you can buy fried dough and fried Oreos, as well as taffy that will undo any dental work you’ve had done in the last 40 years. You can buy overpriced tickets for amusement park rides so timid they’d be laughed out of the kiddie area of a Six Flags. And that’s about it.

You can also venture onto the actual beach, though you might not want to after reading the reports from Clean Ocean Action’s annual New Jersey beach cleanups, in which volunteers collect and catalog trash. Figures from 2008 included 17,957 straws and stirrers, 3,319 tampon applicators, 656 condoms and 165 syringes.

Not that Seaside Heights doesn’t try to do something about the litter problem: the summer before the “Jersey Shore” eight showed up, one of the high points, as trumpeted in a YouTube video by the town’s public relations department, was the purchase of a new beach-cleaning machine, a lime-green Barber Surf Rake. The news has not exactly set the world on fire: in the almost two years since its posting, the video has had only about 650 views. MTV’s “Jersey Shore” YouTube promo, in contrast, has had more than 733,000.

So though Seaside Heights has issued a statement distancing itself from the show, and a state tourism official has expressed concern, everyone involved knows there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Will there be billboards on the highways next summer reading, “If you’re coming here because of ‘Jersey Shore,’ please turn around and take your tourist dollars to some other state”? No, there won’t.

2. MAYBE ‘JERSEY SHORE’ WILL FINALLY KILL OFF THE KARDASHIANS. Anyone truly interested in identifying the most irritating reality show of 2009 need look no further than “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” on E!, now inexplicably in its fourth season.

Maybe people are still watching this show, about a vapid family that has done nothing to earn its fame, because they have been numbed into a sort of trance that creates the illusion of being entertained. “Jersey Shore” should slap them out of that; its brash, bawdy inhabitants make the indolent, overprivileged Kardashians look as exciting as an old “Father Knows Best” episode.

3. YOUNG PEOPLE NEED BAD EXAMPLES. Too many children today are reaching their teenage years armed only with a Disney definition of “bad person”: it’s someone who talks cattily about your wardrobe behind your back, maybe copies a few answers off your math quiz.

They have no idea how much ignorance, narcissism, predatory sexism and hair-gel abuse lurk out there in the real world. Unless they watch “Jersey Shore.” From that perspective the show is a sort of public service.

4. THE ENABLERS CAN NOW BE UNMASKED. Vileness and incompetence love the darkness; the light of day exposes them for what they are. Putting the spotlight on the “Jersey Shore” eight gives us the opportunity to root out all the influences that formed them.

The schools, if any, where they were educated can now be located and shut down. The teachers who so abysmally failed to impart to them the rudiments of civilized life can be fired. The gyms and style salons that seduced them with the lie that physical appearance is more important than personality can be picketed and boycotted. With vigilance we can ensure that no more of our young people turn out the way these ones did.

5. UM, LET’S SEE, THERE’S,

well ... All right, so maybe “five reasons to like ‘Jersey Shore’ ” was setting the bar too high. In truth it was hard enough coming up with four. And anyway “Jersey Shore” is already on the verge of becoming old news: MTV has a casting call up for “people who appear to be between the ages of 18-25” and have had bad experiences as a result of “sexting” nude pictures of themselves on their cellphones. Something to look forward to in 2010.

By JAMES BARRON
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Monday blocked a $420,000 tax credit that the state’s Economic Development Authority had approved last week.

Was the loser a high-tech startup? An alternative energy company, perhaps?

No. It was Snooki and the Situation.

The production company behind the reality series “Jersey Shore” had applied for the credit, intended to expand film and television shooting in the state, to help cover costs for its inaugural season in 2009.

Mr. Christie said he was “duty-bound” to see that taxpayers were “not footing a $420,000 bill for a project which does nothing more than perpetuate misconceptions about the state and its citizens.”

“In this difficult fiscal climate,” he wrote to Caren S. Franzini, the chief executive of the Economic Development Authority, “the taxpayers of New Jersey should not be forced to subsidize projects such as ‘Jersey Shore.’ ”

“Jersey Shore,” shown on MTV, is hardly the only reality program to get economic help from the state in which it sets up its cameras. One show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” generated a small tempest on blogs by claiming $1.2 million in Alaska tax credits under a plan that Ms. Palin had signed into law in 2008, when she was governor.

Mr. Christie told Ms. Franzini that he was not stopping other applications that had gotten the green light from the authority. Among them were tax credits totaling $9 million for a production company behind “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” the long-running television drama about detectives on the New York side of the Hudson River, and $176,900 for three films.

Jeannie Kedas, a spokeswoman for MTV, said Mr. Christie’s veto of the credit “does not affect the show.”

State Senator Joseph F. Vitale, a Democrat from Middlesex County who had opposed the tax credit for “Jersey Shore,” applauded Mr. Christie’s action.

“It’s about the words, and words matter,” Mr. Vitale, a Democrat from Middlesex County, said. “The words the cast members use to describe Italian-Americans, ‘Guido’ and others, are no different to me than words used to disparage other ethnic groups or races. It wouldn’t be an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars to support that kind of language. That’s my beef with the show.”