ObamaCare protesters strongly voiced disappointment with Chris Christie campaign energy on key issues. The protest rally held at Leonard Lance’s office to push the US House Representative to broaden opposition to the health care legislation, drew interest from a RNC worker assigned to solicit Christie volunteers. Protesters were quick to point out issues that are underplayed by the campaign.

Billy Baer Holds Blank Sign Summing Up 2009 NJ Governor's Race

School Vouchers Not Just Inner City Issue
One protester got feedback from Christie representative that he was promoting school vouchers with inner city efforts. This limited approach was unacceptable as school problems in inner cities impacts all New Jersey residents in the form of taxes.

The Citizens for NJ Assembly candidates have school choice as one of the 10 points on their Common Sense Pledge. Many are running in districts that do not have the destroyed NJ inner city schools yet back school choice ideas like vouchers.

Morristown Tea Party recently ran an educational program on school choice in a part of New Jersey with generally good schools.

Cavuto Reveals Strong Christie Tax Solutions Supporters See Underplayed In Campaign
Linda Gerisi pointed out she was excited about Christie’s tax ideas but would not have know about them if it were not for the Neil Cavuto interview on Fox.

“He was terrific. … He actually said what he was going to do in order to cut property taxes”

Corzine who made his fortune on Wall Street at Goldman Sach’s actually declined to appear on the Neil Cavuto show with Christie. Cavuto asked Christie if he would raise taxes. Christie said flatly no.

“I will not raise taxes on the citizens of this State [New Jersey] which is already the highest tax burden State in America worst than New York, worst than California. … John Corzine is going to raise taxes.”

Cavuto questioned Christie on the over duplication in New Jersey municipality services. Christie pointed to successes in maintaining municipal independence though service sharing.

“We got to get them to share services. We have so many redundancies in municiple goverment across the State and its happening already in New Jersey in certain isolated places. In Brick and Toms River down in Ocean County you have them sharing services and literally saving millions of dollars  for their taxpayers”

Christie goes on to explain how to replicate these successes if he is elected.

“One we are going to give grants out to towns to encourage them to study shared services in their communites and here is the accountability piece .. if you get that study and you can show that you can save money and deliver those services you have two choices. You implement the plan or give me my money [grant] back.”

You can listen to the vocal thrashing of protesters over the weakness in getting these points across.

News 12 New Jersey Strong Bias Towards Corzine
On a related campaign topic, protester John Wycoff, reported his experience viewing News 12 New Jersey.

“The next time they talk to Steele, tell him to get himself back up here … watch News 12 New Jersey for a couple of hours and then file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission ..  they [News 12 New Jersey] are actively compaigning for Corzine.”

[Author's note: Quite honestly I cannot stomach watching any local news channels or their programming, so I will have to take John's word for it. I strongly recommend to delete those channels and you will not miss anything important or enteraining while maintaining a much happier life.]

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New Jersey State Assembly 2009 candidates have adopted a Common Sense Pledge that outlines a citizen friendly contract for NJ.

Citizens For Assembly In NJ Common Sense Pledge

Announced at the NJ State House on September 30, 2009, the Common Sense Pledge has the trappings of the 1994 Contract for America. Both were announced only a few weeks before the election. The 1994 Contract for America only 6 weeks and the Common Sense pledge just about 5 weeks.

Both also represent the unusual coalition of campaign platform points. The Contract for America was the first time since 1918 a US Congressional election was run on a national level. The Common Sense Pledge unites NJ Assembly candidates at a statewide level. Common Sense Pledge candidates are running under the banner Citizens for Assembly. The Common Sense Pledge elevates state wide government issues above local issues. Local issues have dominated the NJ legislature and resulted in corruption and mismanagement of State funds to the point of fiscal bankruptcy for a decade.

Different from the Contract for America, candidates pledging support for the Common Sense pledge do not need to have a particular allegiance to a political party. Although most candidates are Republican, independents have joined as well. This calls into question the impact on the NJ Gubernatorial candidates. The planks for the Common Sense pledge are grounded in grass roots sentiments that emerged in 2009 at tea party rallies, town hall meetings and other citizen activism events. The appeal ranges from conservatives through to moderates and independents. The latter often voting for such ideas only to find they do not see them implemented. The elected governor will need to contend with citizens and the Common Sense Pledge legislation.

The Common Sense Pledge

The Common Sense Pledge does not apply any particular NJ Assembly District.

Barry Funt Outlines the Common Sense Pledge

The points are targeted at issues cutting across NJ State districts.

1. True property tax reform: End unfunded state mandates and reform the system that causes excessive reliance on property taxes.
2. Cut taxes and red tape: Promote private sector job growth by changing the climate that has forced citizens and businesses to flee our state.
3. Eliminate undue influence: Expand and enforce pay-to-play rules and conflicts of interest law to include special interest groups that take taxpayer dollars.
4. Zero tolerance for abuse of power: End the culture of corruption by stiffening penalties for violators of the public trust.
5. Free choice for affordable healthcare: Reduce state mandates and promote individual choice and competition.
6. Pension reform: New Jersey’s public pension system has been abused and is broken. Make the system simple and fair for workers and taxpayers alike.
7. Citizen Checks and Balances: Require voter approval for future state and agency debt issuances.
8. Election competition: Restore competitive elections by ending campaign laundering (“wheeling”) to encourage regular citizens to run for office.
9. Choice in education: Improve quality and reduce costs by introducing competition.
10. Stop the violence: Government’s primary responsibility is to protect the public. We pledge to devote the necessary resources to end violence in our communities.