Party Leaders Outline Aggressive Populist Reform Agenda

TRENTON, NJ - Republican Senate Leader Leonard Lance and Assembly Leader Alex DeCroce were joined Wednesday afternoon by Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson in unveiling the “Choice for Change,” a multi-pronged reform and public empowerment agenda that they will take to the voters in this fall’s legislative elections.

“This is the most aggressive reform agenda ever offered during a legislative campaign in New Jersey,” said Wilson. “Government is broken and it has become unresponsive to the concerns of New Jersey taxpayers. This agenda takes money and power away from politicians and puts it back in the hands of our citizens.”

The reform agenda focuses on the Republican Party’s core principles of providing tax relief, restoring fiscal responsibility and putting a stop to the pervasive government corruption that has festered under Democrat rule.

The nine-point plan is backed by a pledge to give the public the power to hold politicians accountable through initiative and referendum (I&R) and easier recall procedures for officials who violate the public trust.

“Trenton has become dysfunctional,” said Lance, R-Hunterdon and Warren. “New leadership is needed to enact the structural reforms necessary to make government responsive to the needs of all New Jersey residents.”

“If given the opportunity to govern, Republicans in the Legislature will fight to restore political power to the people so they can hold their elected officials accountable,” said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. “The people should be in control of their government, and Republicans will be the agents for change that will empower our taxpayers.”

The Republican “Choice for Change” agenda includes the following points to be approved by the Legislature by July 4, 2008:

• Send to the voters an initiative and referendum proposal that empowers them to enact or change laws. Our proposal will include a safeguard that protects the regional interests of all New Jerseyans.
  
• Cut at least $1 billion in waste and unnecessary spending from the state budget and let the people decide whether the savings should be used to permanently lower property taxes by 30 percent for seniors and households earning $200,000 or less, and by 20 percent for all other homeowners.
  
• Oppose any effort to raise taxes.
  
• Let the people decide whether the growth of state spending should be capped at the rate of inflation.
  
• Enact the Republican Blueprint for a Corrupt-Free New Jersey that stops pay-to-play, bans wheeling and suspends indicted public officials without pay.
  
• Let the people decide whether it should be harder for the Legislature to raise their taxes by requiring at least a two-thirds super-majority vote to impose a new tax or increase an existing one.
  
• Let the people decide whether voters should approve all future state debt.
  
• Let the people vote on a new school aid formula that provides a sustainable level of state aid that is fair and equitable for all.
  
• Make it easier for the people to recall elected officials.

“This is what we stand for as Republicans,” DeCroce said. “Government reform, fiscal reform, and ethics reform. We will give people a reason to believe change is possible and the power to hold us accountable.”

“It has become fashionable to say that control doesn’t matter, that there is little difference between the parties,” Lance said. “Recent history shows that it matters greatly which party controls the legislative houses and thus the agenda regarding ethics, fiscal responsibility and property tax reform.”