Make ex-Hazlet mayor pay - literally

When the new Hazlet municipal building is completed later this summer, it isn't likely to be named after former Mayor Paul Coughlin.
Coughlin pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting a $3,000 bribe in exchange for helping someone he believed to be corrupt get the contract for demolishing the old town hall. The contractor was actually an undercover FBI agent. According to court papers, Coughlin sought to prevent the work from being competitively bid by declaring the work an emergency. The indictment says he also discussed other options for ensuring the contract went to his contractor of choice, including rigging the bid specifications and giving inside information about the competing bids to the contractor.
The prosecution has agreed to recommend Coughlin serve between 21 and 27 months in prison. He deserves the jail time, but he also should be heavily fined. If money is what motivated Coughlin to do the crime, it's only fitting that it play a prominent role in his punishment.

Hip-hop Gov. Corzine

Yo! If you need a good yuk and you haven't seen the Internet animation yet of Gov. ''The Tax Man'' Corzine, check it out at http://www.stopthetaxman.org. It will also allow you to judge whether it would have been a good career move for Corzine after he left Goldman Sachs to become a rap artist rather than a politician.
Behind the animation, created for the National Taxpayers Union, is a serious message: New Jersey is in terrible financial shape, and Corzine's proposed budget will simply make things worse. A serious analysis of the state's fiscal condition, which can be found on the same page as the animation, http://www.ntu.org/main/press_issuebriefs.php?PressID=840&org_name=NTUF, is certain to make you stop laughing.

Rejiggering Enron execs' balance sheet

Now that Enron chief executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling have been found guilty of multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy, it will be interesting to see how the appeals process plays out.
Most experts believe the 64-year-old Lay, who faces a maximum penalty of 165 years in prison, and the 52-year-old Skilling, who faces up to 185 years, will spend the rest of their days behind bars - after the appeals process plays itself out. They are free on bail until their scheduled Sept. 11 sentencing, and who knows how long their battery of lawyers will be able to keep them out of orange jumpsuits.
One thing's for sure: Whatever their ultimate punishment, it won't be equal to the crimes they committed against thousands of investors and former employees whose life savings evaporated.
"...We need to think of more creative punishment for these two men, like liquidating their assets and dividing that up among everyone who lost money from Enron," said one former employee of a company controlled by Enron.
Great idea, but denying them their freedom and stripping them of their assets isn't enough. We hope the sentencing judge will be as creative as Lay and Skilling were in perpetrating perhaps the greatest corporate fraud of all time.

While the Guv's away, the Speaker plays

Thanks to New Jersey's absurd gubernatorial succession rules, when the governor is out of state the Senate president becomes acting governor. And when both the governor and Senate president are out of state, the Assembly Speaker fills in.
Well, Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. finally got his chance to play governor this week, with Gov. Corzine in Asia and Senate President Richard Codey in Pennsylvania for two days. Roberts, sworn in as acting governor at 4 p.m. yesterday, turns into a pumpkin at 7 tonight. He's making the most of it while Corzine and Codey are out of town -- he's throwing a private party today at Drumthwacket, the official residence of the governor.
That's not to say Roberts isn't taking his duties as governor seriously. He's signing two bills, one of which allows lower minimum bets at horse tracks. And he had a flack churn out a statement to the media today about the power outage on the Amtrak line, assuring citizens he was receiving regular updates and that the situation was well in hand. I sure hope the episode doesn't put a damper on his party.

Hospitality in Belmar

I took my 3-year-old son to the beach Sunday, choosing Belmar once again, mostly because of its neat Jungle Gyms and swings on the beach, which were a real hit with him last time we went.
We were both having so much fun that I lost track of time, which isn't a good thing to do when you are parked at one of Belmar's 1-hour meters on Ocean Avenue. When I spotted two guys in uniform tucking tickets under windshields, I knew I was in for it. Sure enough, when I got back to the car, there was a ticket waiting for me. I later learned that my mental lapse would cost me $45. Yes, $45 for an overtime meter violation.

I deserved the ticket. But $45? It's legalized theft. The amount is far more than is needed to keep people from doing it again.

McGreevey's 'painfully honest' book

Excerpts from Gov. McGreevey's upcoming book were released at a book expo over the weekend. If the intent was to generate interest in it, it didn't work with me. Many of the passages from the book were a complete turnoff, including his statement that he lived out a lie about his sexuality because if he didn't he knew it would ruin him politically.
"I knew I would have to lie for the rest of my life - and I knew I was capable of it,'' he wrote. ''The knowledge gave me a feeling of terrible power.''
So, he lived out the charade, hanging out at go-go bars, becoming "as avid a womanizer as anybody else on the New Jersey political scene" and, of course, getting married twice. All in the name of advancing his political career.
McGreevey calls the book ''painfully honest.'' Painful to whom? To him? To his family? To the wives he deceived? To his two young daughters, who will one day be forced to grapple with his ''painfully honest'' revelations. If he had any character at all, and any concern for his family, he would have turned down the $500,000 book deal, kept his story to himself and moved on with his life.
Instead, he opted for the money and what he hopes will be newfound fame and martrydom. It's downright shameful.

School budget vote charade

Red Bank and Lacey have provided two more examples of why most people don't bother voting in school elections. Voters in both towns rejected their school budgets last month. When budgets are defeated, they are sent to the township committee or council for cuts.
In Red Bank, the council cut $35,000 from a $15.48 million budget - about 2/10 of 1 percent. The Lacey committee cut $200,000 from a $35.1 million budget - about half of 1 percent. The whole process is a farce.
School budgets should be subject to strict, but fair, spending caps and subject to line-item vetoes by county superintendents. Employee contracts should be negotiated at the county level with allowable salary increases and employee benefits capped by the state. That would eliminate the need for the annual budget vote charade.

Long on tenure, short on clout

Ever wonder why New Jersey doesn't get its fair share of tax money back from Washington? The conventional wisdom is that because New Jersey is the wealthiest state in the U.S., it contributes more in federal income taxes and requires less in social services.
A new ranking of the most influential members of Congress may offer another clue: New Jersey has one of the least powerful Congressional delegations in the nation. According to Congress.org, New Jersey's representatives rank ahead of only those in Arkansas and Georgia in political clout. Even the territory of Puerto Rico has more influence than New Jersey.
Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who recently announced he would be seeking re-election in 2008, at age 84, was the 3rd least powerful senator of the 99 senators ranked. Bob Menendez, who replaced Jon Corzine as senator when Corzine became governor, was not included in the rankings.
On the House side, Rep. Chris Smith, R-6, was rated the 36th most powerful congressman in the nation and the most powerful in the 12-member New Jersey delegation. Jim Saxton was 103rd nationally and second in the state. The study ranked 436 members of Congress.
The national rankings of the other members of the N.J. delegation:
Frank LoBiondo, R-2, 109
Scott Garrett, R-5, 147
Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11, 191
Steven Rothman, D-9, 241 (top-ranked Democrat)
Scott Ferguson, R-7, 291 (lowest-ranked Republican)
Frank Pallone, D-6, 303
Rob Andrews, D-1, 327
Donald Payne, D-10, 338
Rush Holt, D-12, 340
Bill Pascrell, D-8, 373 (lowest-ranked member of delegation)

Payola alive and well

Aha, I knew it! Payola! That was my first reaction when I heard this week that one of the nation's largest radio conglomerates, Entercom Communications, had been sued by New York Attorney General Eliott Spitzer for allegedly accepting gifts and other payments in exchange for giving various artists air time, including Jessica Simpson and Avril Lavigne.
How else to explain how a small group of talent-free musicians and bands, performing songs that make your ears bleed, get all the radio exposure while acts with superior talent, music and originality get none, outside of some college radio airplay?
On Thursday, Spitzer was back in the news. He announced that Universal Music Group, which releases nearly one in every three albums released in the U.S., agreed to pay more than $12 million to settle allegations that in exchange for airplay it bribed radio programmers with vacations, electronics and cash.
Spitzer says the practice is pervasive throughout the industry and his office is continuing to investigate. The FCC also is conducting its own probe into hundreds of radio stations for potential violations. Thanks to Spitzer, we may start hearing decent music on the radio again - or at least a greater variety of it.

Glad tidings from Assembly Speaker

We've been critical of Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, D-Camden, for a variety of reasons in the past. But we applaud his set of proposals to increase efficiency in government. Among other things, he wants to encourage shared services, remove civil service barriers to municipal consolidation, eliminate waste in schools, end pension abuse, give county school superintendents more control over local budgets and superintendent contracts, eliminate nonoperating school districts and allow referendums on creating regional school districts.
Those are all superb ideas. They won't solve all of New Jersey's property tax problems. But they will get things moving in the right direction. Roberts should waste no time in converting the talk into action.

Make Asbury Park inviting

After enjoying a wonderful morning at the beach in Belmar with my 3-year-old son Saturday, I decided to head north up the coast in search of his favorite meal - a hot dog and a shake. I figured I'd stop off in Asbury Park, to see if Howard Johnson's was opened. It wasn't. Neither was anyplace else on the boardwalk.
I recognize it's still early in the year, but Asbury Park was anything but inviting. There were detours everywhere on roads leading to the beach. Ocean Avenue, the main drag along the beach, was full of litter, as were the grounds of some of the pavilions.
As the redevelopment proceeds, the city and the developer, Asbury Partners, need to find a way to keep the beachfront easily accessible and as inviting as possible. Right now, it isn't. Picking up trash would be a good start.

Great lineup at PNC Bank Arts Center

The Press has been critical of the lack of diversity in musical offerings at the PNC Bank Arts Center in the recent past. This year, there is little to complain about. While the schedule is heavy again with rock acts from the 70s and 80s, there is much more.
The great rock acts include Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) , Def Leppard, Journey, Styx, Foreigner, Black Crowes, Counting Crows, John Fogerty, Poison, Goo Goo Dolls, Depeche Mode, Cinderella, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Blondie and Nine Inch Nails.
But just about every other musical genre is represented. Other performers include Earth Wind & Fire, Willie Nelson, Paul Anka (and Don Rickles), Ashlee Simpson, Chicago, Kelly Clarkson, The Wailers, Brooks and Dunn, Rascal Flats, Neville Brothers, Wynton Marsalis and Dr. John.
A curtain call to the bookers this year is in order.
The full schedule: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWS/605030329

Abuse of the word 'blight' in New Jersey

Of the many abuses surrounding the issue of eminent domain, one of the worst is the manner in which properties are deemed blighted - one of the chief rationales for seizing land. The liberal interpretation of that word, and the wide latitude given to local government to establish large areas in need of redevelopment that can include nonblighted homes and residences, allowed Long Branch to lump many well-maintained homes in the northernmost part of the beachfront area into a redevelopment zone. That's a disgrace.
If New Jersey is looking for a model to guard against such abuses in the future, it should take a look at Georgia, which recently approved an eminent domain reform law that substantially tightens the defintion of blight and requires that individual parcels, as opposed to areas, be designated as blighted in order to be subject to condemnations. The bill also states that economic development is not a ''public use'' that justifies the use of eminent domain.

Nothing just about eminent domain compensation

Reasonable people can disagree about whether there is any justification - ever - for seizing private property for economic redevelopment. But it's hard to argue that the current law regarding compensation for those whose properties have been seized is fair. It's anything but.

The redevelopment areas of Long Branch offer many examples of why there is a need for change - assuming you accept the proposition that eminent domain for private redevelopment is acceptable in certain circumstances, which I don't. In today's ongoing Press series "The Battle Over Eminent Domain,'' it is pointed out that the value of the property being seized is frozen from the time the government moves to take it, regardless of how long it takes to settle. In determining a price, normal appreciation is taken into account, but the increased value of the property due to redevelopment is not.

As a practical matter, that almost guarantees that property owners will get a bad deal, particularly in a hot real estate market like New Jersey. The series cites the case of the Cangemi family, which bought a four-family home 500 yards from the ocean in Long Branch in 1988 for $240,000. Over the years, they made $80,000 in improvements. Long Branch took their home for the new Pier Village parking garage in 2001 and offered the Cangemis $182,000. Condemnation commissioners ultimately raised the offer to $220,000 - a figure the Cangemis are contesting in court. Several years ago, their appraiser valued their property at $360,000. Because state law only allows the Cangemis to argue what the property was worth when it was taken, $360,000 is the best they can do - minus the one-third cut their attorneys will take if they are successful in court. That would leave them without about $240,000 - about the same amount they paid for the property 18 years ago.

Anyone think that's fair? How would you feel if it happened to you?