All, Further to my note the other day, yesterday Bloomberg had an interesting article on bond downgrades in New Jersey.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aq.K4roDA_wg&pos=11
We are caught in a perfect storm with falling property values, reduced state aid and increased costs. With more than 50% of our budget tied to union contracts, WE NEED TO FOCUS ON OVERHAULING THE PENSIONS SYSTEM, to end waste and abuse in local government employee compensation and benefits. Time is of the essence as Corzine expects to make 180 appointments by year end with confirmation by the Senate as early as Jan 4th. Of those 180, 4 appointments will be made to the Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) for the next 3 years. PERC ( http://www.state.nj.us/perc/) opines on what is a reasonable burden of proof to change the pattern of union contracts and ridiculous and excessive compensation and benefits.
We must have new direction at PERC, and I have attached a form letter urging Cozine to rescind these appointments, candidates to withdrawal and State Senators to block the appointments. Please send to Gov. Corzine with copies to nominees and Gov elect, and re-tailor the letter to State Senators with copies again to nominees and Gov elect.
Here is the attached form letter:
http://issuu.com/hobokenjournal/docs/perc_letter_to_corzine
My apologies for the last minute request, but we need immediate call for action to press for pension reform. The goal is to deliver at least 1,000 letters from Hoboken alone to make any kind of impact. And to keep track of this effort and it's success, please let me know if you will participate.
govelect@govelect.state.nj.us,Senstack@njleg.org, senbsmith@njleg.org, sensarlo@njleg.org , senbuono@njleg.org
(these folks can block the nominations)
Copy the nominees:
aeeaton@rci.rutgers.edu (Adrienne Eaton) 216 Lawrence Ave, Highland Park, NJ 08904
skrengel@edlawcenter.org (Sharon Krengel)
Local108yttw@msn.com (Ira Stern - Nominated for the Chair position)
pbvoos@rci.rutgers.edu (Paula Voos)
Please pass this on and let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Special thanks to Donna Antonucci for spearheading this effort on behalf of Hoboken and all residents of New Jersey.
- Peter Cunningham
Hoboken 5th Ward Councilman
My comment: I had featured this request from Donna Antonucci in an earlier post and now 5th Ward councilman Peter Cunningham has decided to add his support to this effort. ◦
