So now tell me why I should believe that DEMS are for the little guy again? Corzine has sold the very people down the tubes that helped him get elected. The only culture of abuses I see is how blatantly the DEMS have help themselves at the expense of direct services to the public. It's disgusting.

What the DEMS are doing to NJ is what will happen to the rest of the nation if they take control. Maybe that won't be such a bad thing. When people get a taste of this carnage we can finally get rid of these DEMS en masse.

As far as I'm concerned, if congress doesn't flip you might as well keep OBAMA...because it will be business as usual & McCain won't get anything done with this do nothing bunch.

BTW...just to be fair it states bi=partisan support...in other words, when it comes to bread & butter issues for the working class we really don't have support of either party. THAT INCLUDES DEMS!!!!

Pension reforms are signed into law

Retirement age to increase to 62Tuesday, September 30, 2008 BY CLAIRE HEININGERStar-Ledger Staff

Lincoln's Birthday will no longer count as a paid holiday, retirement will come at age 62 instead of 60 and the minimum salary to qualify for a pension will increase for new state employees under a series of reforms signed into law yesterday.

Gov. Jon Corzine signed the act -- which aims to save the state $150 million through 2022 -- three months after it cleared the Legislature. It passed despite the objections of powerful labor unions and caused tension between Corzine and his fellow Democrats during budget season.

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That was not quite forgotten yesterday, when bill sponsors from both parties joined Corzine in his Statehouse office to hail the measure as chipping away at a "culture of abuses" in the state pension system. The governor said the reforms come on top of changes he negotiated during collective bargaining in 2007 that will save $6.4 billion through 2022.

"The reforms we've made over the last two years strike the right balance of being fair to hardworking public employees and at the same time lightening the burden on our taxpayers," Corzine said.

The legislation signed yesterday will raise the retirement age for new public employees from 60 to 62, bar pensions for new workers earning less than $7,500 and eliminate one state holiday, Lincoln's Birthday, after contracts expire in 2011. It will also bar public employees from using time worked in other states to reach the 25 years of employment needed to qualify for lifetime health benefits from New Jersey.

Corzine and lawmakers were quick to say that more steps must be taken to get the underfunded pension system on track. The fund's liabilities were $28 billion more than its assets as of the spring, said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), chairwoman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

"We have a system in trouble," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union). "It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the pension system could collapse."

Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said public employees should be required to contribute 8.5 percent of their salary to their pensions -- matching what police and firefighters pay -- rather than the current 5.5 percent. But he said he agrees with Corzine that future reforms should come through collective bargaining.

"We should collectively bargain benefits, but a lot of this stuff wasn't collectively bargained," Sweeney said, referring to votes to enhance pensions taken in the 1990s and in 2001. "These irresponsible decisions placed the state's pension system in a financial crisis, and it would be absolutely unfair to ask taxpayers to shoulder the additional costs."

Corzine took heat for delaying the bill signing, thereby allowing some new teachers to take advantage of the old benefits. He has said the wait was because the New Jersey Education Association asked for more time to notify teachers about the changes. Yesterday he defended the moves as "the right balance."

A spokesman for the largest state workers union, Bob Master of the Communications Workers of America, said the legislation "undermines the retirement security of some of the state's lowest-income workers -- all to save less than one-twentieth of one percent of the state's annual budget."

The governor also used yesterday's ceremony to foreshadow what is shaping up to be another contentious legislative battle. Last week, Corzine introduced a sweeping series of ethics and campaign finance reforms, but key lawmakers have yet to fully embrace them.

Buono said yesterday she would back the measures as presented, but Sweeney said he still needs to review them.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1222748931129450.xml&coll=1

*sighs*

Yawn.

It's pretty pathetic what the DEMS have become...so much for trying to get rid of the tax & spend label when we all know it still exists...

Adding spending...the lib way...

I can't believe that I just read such B.S.

It's the truth... and it ain't pretty. I agree!

I was talking about the prejudiced Dem. talk.

Maybe Democrats will start taxing Obese people next ...what do you think?????

10 miles a bad road......

LOL..So now the truth is prejudiced?

I think you need a dictionary.

Hey sister where you been...Your my SOUL SISTER .....YA know that right!!!!

Hey sister soul sister ...go sister yeah!!!!

Careful she might say you are offending her and report you...hey got any Twinkie’s maybe she will go away????

LOL...now now....

it just goes to show that you can no longer tell the difference between democrats or republicans..so much for the "two" party system...you people are so screwed....

Again QS cant make a post without bashing..People are sick of it. Some people want to have an intelligent back and forth conversation without the partisanship and its done on here everyday!!!..And you wonder why people bark back. I agree the two party system is the problem but if Americans cant have a civil debate, how can we expect the politicians to..We are a part of the problem..

I am a Registered Independent. That means that I will kill any communist that gets in the United States of America’s way. Weather it be economically, socially, mentally or physically ...what ever it takes to defeat communism at any price and at any personal cost...PERIOD!!!!!!!

I am NOT Joking here.

pleeeze...thats so "john waynish" its pathetic...Im sure the Independents are just thrilled to tears to have you on their side....

Im an Independent!! So you want to blame the commies for everything???? They are the least of our worries..The hatred that you show and is spreading is a big part of it..Most of our problems are from within...

LOL...lock n' Load!!!!!

1. People who do not live in our Great Nation should shut their mouths about it's internal politics.

2. I told you that I am Dead Serious about what I said. I am not playing with you. I hate scum that worships a system of government that has only murdered and enslaved its people through the centuries. A person would have to be mentally ill to embrace such a culture of hate and death as communism.

3. I have served in my countries military. I am not John Wayne, this is not a movie.. And I am not worried about doing something that I have done before.

Yes well what most people forget is the outcome is always the same. Govt. Tryanny.

you should take a closer look at your country's history before you start pointing fingers...I will comment on any country's internal politics as I like..this is a public forum open to everyone, if you dont like it, go find a private one where you can comment comfortably segregated from the rest of the world..people like you are the reason why your country gets attacked and you cant walk safely on foreign soil unless you say your Canadian....