You need to remove your blinders and imagine what this state would have looked like if Corzine was still running it !

really? we live in a state now that has a 50% tax hike that christie won't veto while he takes helicopter rides to met life stadium for the announcement of wrestlemania. wake up

a state where christie's rich pro athlete buddies get 120 mph escorts on the garden state parkway that put lives in danger. funny i dont remember reading any tax dollars being wasted on race car rallies or wrestlemania events under corzine.add to that a $400 million dollar mistake not filling out a form correctly and a crippled nj buried under a blizzard for a week while christie was tanning in disneyword . puh leeze

Hey Bob since you are such a political genius why don't you tell us what you would be doing if you are in charge? Doesn't take much thought to write an article pointing out all the problems our state has without offering some solutions.

Christie will never be Vice President. He is too much of a loudmouth for that. Let's hope he is voted out next election and New Jersey can really move forward in a good way.

We had a chance to elect a real businessman and genuine conservative in Steve Lonegan. Instead, we nominated and elected establishment puppet, lawyer, and limousine liberal Chris Christie. Since he was elected, he has made anti-business moves such as substantially hiking Port Authority tolls, allowing the pre-approved Turnpike Authority toll hikes to take effect, approving a law that is forcing several gift card sellers to stop doing business in the state, and made little effort to keep the New Jersey Nets in the state. Oh, and then there's the complete lack of real property tax reform, and the fact that he's now pushing the biggest budget in New Jersey history at $32.1 billion. In a way, I actually respect liberals more because at least they're up front about what they plan to do. Chris Christie ran on a platform of conservatism (since he was a Bush crony, I knew he was full of it), and has a gubernatorial record that's about as liberal as his predecessors. Our state has not had anyone in my lifetime who has attempted to seriously address the high cost of living in this state. It's high time we elected someone who will address the factors that are forcing people out of the state, causing businesses to close their doors (and making others reluctant to hire people), and piling on more state debt. We cannot afford another term of Christie, but since the Democrats in this state can't pick a common sense moderate, our only hope is a strong primary challenge.

lets remember it is the towns and cities and counties and schoolboards that determine the property taxes and not the governor

I think before Christi got in office, NJ was worse off then other areas and the challange was much more difficult because of the sheer size of the economic comparisons. While the metrics speak volumes, I do believe the policys and direction of NJ is better off then the prior adminstrations and will take longer to recover. On the other side of this economic down turn I believe NJ will be in a much better place then before.

Another person making comments and ripping folks without providing any solutions of their own. Another armchair QB this Griffiths guy. My 28 years of experience has taught me a few things...one being if you are going to bring up an issue, be prepared to offer some type of solution as an alternative...otherwise, you are just whining and not doing anything to help. Take note Griffiths....

I guess Bob decided he couldn't keep defending Obama any longer without looking completely ridiculous so he decided to start going after Christie.

The comments about snow storms and helicopter rides are distractions. Look back and little, I remember a snow storm under Corzine that shut down the state, in fact there were cars stranded on 287 and other major roads...short memory. Corzine raised tolls too and wasted how much on the EZ PASS fiasco...give me a break

At LAST!, a non democrat party mouthpiece evaluation of Christie!..Oh wait, never mind.

Dunno where this writer gets his "facts," likely Nancy Pelosi or Debra Wasserman Schultz....simply not true. Like all Dems these days, distorting info.

It has been pointed out to me that anyone who wishes to can blog on the Patch. This Griffiths has nothing to say except "We love Obama, and we hate Christie". There's no point in correcting his errors, he just keeps churning out the same blather. If you're looking for facts, pick up a newspaper and avoid this partisan mouthpiece.

The only way to bring down property taxes is to go after the driving force behind it. 70% of property taxes go to schools. The schools waste an enormous amount of money supporting micro infrastructures to satisfy local egos (and to help people steal money). We need to consolidate school districts to be more efficient. Also, we can not buy parenting in the abbott districts. Either these parents need to step up or DYFUS needs to step in and get these kids some parents that will. We are spending rediculous money per child in those districts and producing very little. Redirect the money to solve the problems, not give politicans something to point at and say I endorsed funding this(Lautenberg). These are just some solutions. I still believe those that attack Christie have a hidden agenda maybe stemming from being a state or local employee. This nonsense has to stop. You need to pull your own weight and realize the free ride is over.

Christie is the "BIGGEST" blowheart ever...he will grandstand on ANYTHING!!

Ha, ha, ha, ha this guy Griffiths must like to show off how much he likes to get a verbal beating.
Are you kidding Mr Griffiths? Christie has nothing to do with raising taxes locally, that's on each township. If you bothered to read the rest of this rag, you'll notice today Toms River is voting on a tax HIKE - something that has been debated on this site for well over 3 weeks. Dig around, you'll find it.
And - wasn't it Corzine who had a tantrum and shut down the state to raise the sales tax a penny so he can spend more than the budget had? And isn't it Corzine who had so much money disappear that Christie had a conniption when he found that out once in office? Wait - doesn't Corzine have a habit of making millions and billions disappear?

But hey, what do I know? <shrugs>

this is just funny , have no other comment but to say funny.... and i hope christie is our next vice president ! heck i would vote a chimp before i would ever vote for that that that thing currently sitting in the white house.... and i dont studder i was moderating my self

Mr. Griffins deserves the chance to have his opinions heard even if they are ridiculous. Is he on the Re-elect McGreevy or Corzine Committees? I'm an indepentant, but I think Democrats are embarrassed by the bad national attention McGreevey and Corzine got and very jealous of Christie's good national attention.

Cosmo's comments hit the point. Property taxes are local - city and county. All Christi can do is to stop increases in state taxes and fees.

When Corzine left office, the following year's state budget showed an $11 billion defict according to Republicans and "only" a $6 billion deficit according to Corzine who was expecting a huge economic turn around by Obama. If your wife or kids keep asking for more and more money, you keep giving it to them, you start working a second job, and you're still going into debt, you would or should stop giving them more, have them get their budgets in order, and prioritize how they spend the money.
That's what Christie's done. He's stopped giving more and more $ to the counties and cities, and left it up to them to decide if they really need a bagpipe band or a roller derby team at the school or 6% salary increases. If voters are unhappy with high property taxes, they should not re-elect the local officials. Christie can't.

By the way its not chrisites fault that property values are going down either. The Bubble burst in 2009

We are seriously considering retiring to OCNJ. The vitriol on the Patch blogs has caused us to reconsider. For a "family" centered place, the animosity and anger in the community reflected on Patch seems robust and quite unwelcoming. Do people ever work together in OCNJ or do the "right" and "left" just keep trying to bury each other with mud?

Neil, then go somewhere else. You think the world is rainbows and lollipops ? You've been on this site offering your opinion as well. Politics plays a big part, even more so in a smaller town, where the power and influence is easier in a small sample. So, if you think you can find someplace that it doesn't exist, good luck to you.

Thanks for proving my point. I have been posting, but nothing political or vitriolic. I think the world is challenging, I always have. If politics is even more important in a small town, than I guess only Republicans would be welcome in OCNJ. That's sad. I know of some small towns where people try to work together and set aside differences in the name of a greater good. Ripping apart our great country isn't what I like to see happening. It's okay if you think that is rainbows and lollipops. I won't apologize for trying to see the better part of humankind and thinking that we could avoid another Civil War.

Get ready for more fireworks if you do move to oc..with less than 12,000 people who
live there (and more are moving out everyday) this small group have a strangle hold
on the town. They push thru what ever THEY want and too bad for anyone else..
they do not work together but push their own agenda and that is why thngs are
going so bad in this beautiful little town...

Neil,
I see the positive of the humankind too and the Point Patch is a great place for local new news. It is especially wonderful with local fundraisers and events around town. This is a political blog/story/article that is used to create a heated discussion. The story about little league does not create comments like this story does. The comments are impassioned and if you do not like them do not read them. And FYI, Point Boro is a small town that tries to work together. D's and R's in a small town are a bit different. Ask our current D mayor what he was 15 years ago. Had to take out the R running for mayor because she was a nut. But that is another story that would have over 60 comments in 10 minutes.

Thanks for the warning. We try to be thoughtful before taking action. Looking for great place to retire and OCNJ certainly has some nice things to offer. But, as we scratch below the surface there do seem to be significant concerns, a shifting demographic, and reasons to raise questions. Does OCNJ have a long term "master" plan?

Thanks, I'll check out Point Boro.

bob i must ask you this question based as an impartial bystander on your comments . i went to a council meeting a few months ago and was told that taxes are going to be raised in manchester township due to the schools being overbudget. this came from our council. how come christie is getting the blame for this?

Remove one corrupted politician for another.

I still don't see any suggestions from Bob G. on here......

you got to love gb shore the typical memos from his bubble like " all you do is whine without offering solutions" and then he offers zero solutions himself. or the pure hypocrisy by conservatives who say "you cant blame bush for the train wreck he left this economy in " but then do the exact same by blaming everything on a gov who has been gone for a long time already. christie has the power of veto. he vetoes something every other day. things most people dont care about like gay marriage. hey gb wait till you get the bill for the strip malls and housing complexes he plans to build in sensitive shore areas to line the pockets of his developer buddies. the water treatmewnt plants that will have to be built after sewage is already pumping into our beaches and lakes are going to cost countless millions if not billions.but christie to care less about the working class of nj who now pay twice as much to get to work or buy groceries . or buy anything because the trucks delivering anything you buy are paying double too.and the clueless remark by bingbong about corzine getting into a crash being compared to 24 racing cars doing 120 mph while weaving thru traffic.copters are distractions. yes gb they are expensive distractions we pay for.

Hey Netron......NEWS FLASH !!!!! I was not the one who made or posted comments...it was Bob G.....so HE is the one who needs to come with solutions, not me..... So since I agree and support Christie, any rational person would assume that I support the things he is doing. Are you for real? Do you think like this about everything? Talk about lack of common sense....and talk about the same old regurgitated hate verbiage.....

talk about your boss gb and the screwing youre giving him. i had off work today but as for you every day and all day you live on the patch. of course you would love christie. much like you he is screwing the small business owners, georgie you should be ashamed of yourself and you keep condeming people for not suggesting solutions . where are your solutions? i have one veto the 50% tax hike christie has we the peasants of nj are living under.

and gb since you hammer everyone who knows what a dud christie is what are your solutions?

yes george because "rational people" love the fact that christie wont veto a 50% tax that is breaking the backs of the middle class. he's too busy having iraq war vets bounced out of town hall meetings by his goons . trenton had to actually make it a rule that christie had to tell them when and where he will be out of state which will be awkward every times he spends time and our money going to the koch brothers mansions.

What 50% tax increase are you referring to?

I think that it is pretty obvious that Gov. Christie's policies, proposals and stances on issues are not so much to to make NJ better, but are geared toward his national candidacy in 2016

cosmo when everything you buy including gas that has to be delivered by trucks and those trucks now pay 50% more in tolls to get it to you its a tax. when you have to get to work and it costs you twice as much to get there its a tax. christie's appointee for the port authority never even bothered to show up for any of the 8 public hearings on the hudson river crossings even though he is the pa chairman. because he had no idea design problems including loading docks would cost over $1 billion in cost over runs so he sticks it to commuters to pay for his mistake. and "dope" ? really? my my what would mrs bailey say to hate speech like that gb ?

It doesn't matter whether we elect a Democrat or a Republican ... spending always outpaces revenue because of the irresponsible policies of both. It is not brought up enough that, in these economic times, Gov. Christie wants to pass the highest budget in state history at a whopping $32.1 billion. That's about 10% higher than the last budget signed by the extremely liberal Jon Corzine. And to pay for all this increased spending, something is always getting hiked: Democrats raise what is clearly marked as taxes, while Republicans raise "user fees" such as tolls, court costs, and stealing dormant gift cards. What is it going to take for us to elect someone who understands that the reason why life is so difficult in this state is because government is too big? We need to eliminate tolls, start appointing qualified people to head state departments instead of incompetent cronies of the party bosses/leadership, scale back the DEP, and take other actions that will improve the business climate and make living here more affordable. We should have elected a conservative businessman like Steve Lonegan as our Governor when we had the chance. Now, it may be too late and our state will be doomed. Removing an incumbent Christie will be remarkably difficult, and it's highly unlikely that Democrats will nominate a candidate with any common sense given the names who are likely running. Our only hope may be a well-heeled independent without any ties to a corrupt machine.

and hats off to the clueless mother who took her son out of school on the state testing day to go listen to another christie speech. of all days to miss school and christie makes a photo op by giving the kid an excuse note . christie the gift that keeps on giving

and george using words like "dope" and " loon " violate the patch's terms of policy i,m surprised the patch would allow such hatespeak on here. tsk tsk gb shore what would mrs bailey think?

cosmo you are clearly in the same bubble as bing bong, gb and others. yes cosmo its the guy who is driving to work at 4 am to make a 6 am start in construction thats the problem. if your math is anything like your spelling you would realize that that is 7 hrs worked to get home at 3 pm. $495,000 for a crane operator? what fantasy planet does that happen on? most crane operators are out of work because construction is still hurting from the bush recession..try reading cosmo instead of watching fox news and listening to limbaugh. cosmo is a good name for you. its the same as kramer's first name on seinfeld and you make just as much sense

Neutron, guess you can't read either. Get your head out of the sand. Its the guy that sits in a bar from 9 am to 1:00 and gets paid to do nothing. the master mechanics that are required by union contract on every crane cost the job 495k +benefits. think construction is slow, go drive thru manhattan. you have no clue.

cosmo why dont you channel your hate into reading instead? you think construction is easy? you think that buildings get built by themselves while the workers are in the bar? i think youre more than confused you should look into the bankers and wall st types who took $8 trillion of our tax dollars and rewarded themselves with $80 billion in bonuses who sit in vip clubs drinking $500 bottles of vodka while betting with our money on the economy instead of some working stiff getting up at 3 30 am on 5 degree mornings to drive to work. its clear that you are listening to too much rush limbaugh to form any thoughts of your own or any thoughts for that matter.the wait time to get called between construction jobs in manhattan is between 6 and 11 months . just because you drove to the city for the first time and saw 3 skyscrapers going up doesnt mean everyone is working. you have no clue how many men carpenters , steamfitters etc one building takes . another boob who has no clue of what he's talking about and never spent a day in the business he is trashing. whats next from you financial and medical advice?

The preposterous "dialogue" in these blogs makes one wonder if this is a blog for the mentally incompetent.

Patch having this on it's NJ home page is just another example of their liberal favoritism. They just can not help themselves by running "news" that smears conservatives. Patch must think American's are really stupid and will not recognize their clear favoritism of the left. Keep up the "good" work Patch and soon all your staff will add numbers to the real unemployment rate of that is much higher that the 8.1% that Obummer thinks is good enough.

The State of New Jersey will never economically viable until someone kicks out the Unions! Republican or Democrat in charge doesn't matter as long as those parasites are running the show from behind the scenes! Everyone "should" be supporting a "Right to Work" initiative. If that ever happens, see how fast your tax situation improves!!!

Quote directed at me: “Probably at his desk right now finding ways to contort, twist, misconstrue, and best of all, conjure another one sided story”.

This comment made me laugh. Well, I am at my desk writing, so that part is correct, although it’s not hard to point out the hypocrisy and of far right today. Conservatism in America is no longer the political movement of sincere, thoughtful, leaders such as Ike Eisenhower, William F. Buckley Jr., or Ronald Reagan; instead it has become the shelter for neo-conservatives with pseudo knowledge of history that only goes back to 2008. I think a water shed moment for the demise of the conservative movement occurred when Sarah Palin could not name a single newspaper she consumed, maybe she said that because she didn’t know if the National Enquirer was a newspaper or a magazine. But then there is always Fox News? The way I see it the Huffington Post leans to the left, but Fox lies to the right.
I can’t wait until tomorrow, because the conservative movement’s lack of common sense is the gift that keeps on giving to Progressives in America.

Yeah, the whole conservative think tank relies on Sarah Palin.

How do you figure New outlets have anything to do with what the commentators on this thread gain knowledge from?

Whatcha working on now Bob? Give us all a clue so we can watch Fox News for our political learnin' so we can comment our ignorant thought to you.

I must add on to my above post. Bob, that comment was not directed at you - it was directed at "It's 5 o'clock somewhere". It was about you, but not TO you. You honestly have a comprehension problem and your reply about what I said proves it.

Hey Bob, please can you answer a sincere question for me? Honestly too.

What makes having the government have more control of our lives better for us than leaving our own lives to us?

It's generalized because the whole Progressive 'movement' is more of a collectivist movement. So far, they aim to control every aspect of one's life and share and share alike. How is that better than what our Founding Fathers laid out for us in the Constitution and our Declaration of Independence?

Edit to add:
The whole Progressive idea is more government compared to how I was raised to not trust government and less of it is better for me.

When in a debate, if the opposition requests specifics and all you can offer is "generalities" it is an indication that you do not have sufficient background or knowledge to discuss the topic. Don't waste my time.

You should be a politician Bob. You always find a way to wheedle out of answering.
And slinging insults? How very generous of you.
You may go back to your desk and fabricate more crap now.

Oh and just so you know, my question was not to debate, I wanted to know why you thought big government was better than small. Not too hard to understand.

Does anyone else understand my question? I bet many do.

Mr. Griffiths...typical of liberal misdirection...suggesting Sarah Palin represents the foundation of the "conservative movement" in this country. That's precisely why the liberals haven't had an original thought in decades.

Whacky Bob loves big government as long as the democraps are in charge. I bet whacky Bob didnt like big government under Bush. Democrats hate war, the military, the FBI, the CIA, homeland security, the attorney general and all government security agencies only when republicans are running them.

As soon as the dems take over, Clinton or Obama, then every war is justified and all the secret agencies and intrusions on our personal lives and freedoms are somehow okay. Right BOB?
...

hey aqualung bin laden sleeps with the fishes . nuff said