More than 30,000 in Trenton protest state budget cuts
By JASON METHOD • GANNETT NEW JERSEY •
May 23, 2010
TRENTON -- Tens of thousands of teachers and government workers protested Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget cuts Saturday with chants, signs and fiery speakers in front of the state office buildings.
The rally was perhaps the largest ever held near the Statehouse. Yet, despite claims by organizers that the event included more than 100 community
groups, nearly all participants wore t-shirts, hats or buttons indicating membership in a public employee union.
Trenton police estimated the crowd at between 25,000 and 35,000. New Jersey State Police troopers pegged participation at 15,000 to 20,000, but the agency did not release an official estimate.
Barbara Keshishian, head of the state's largest teachers union, challenged Christie from the stage.
""I wish you were here today, governor, so you could see we are united against your arrogant, destructive policies,'' said Keshishian said, head of the New Jersey Education Association. ""We can't all live in mansions in Mendham (where Christie lives), but we deserve a right to make a living.''
Led by Keshishian, the multitude erupted into echoing chant: ""We are not the problem!''
A spokesman for Christie said the governor -- who signed a bill Saturday at Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport during the rally in Trenton -- would not
comment on the rally Saturday.
Two jumbo screens in the street allowed protesters to see and hear action on a main stage. Buses filled state office parking lots as union members marched on West State Street. Urged on by speakers, the crowd often erupted into chants as they waved signs in rhythm.
Union leaders and many protesters demanded that Christie sign a tax hike on the state's wealthiest residents, even though the governor vetoed a bill that would have enacted a tax hike on millionaires last week.
But a millionaires' tax would have, at best, raised an estimated $600 million, while the state's structural deficit this year approached $11 billion and the state pension systems have $46 billion in unfunded liabilities.
Beyond the political rhetoric, rally attendees also said they were worried about the budget crisis, and their comments reflected middle class economic angst.
Susan Seaman, 57, a Perth Amboy school teacher, held a sign advocating for the millionaires' tax, and she worried that she may have to retire prematurely
if pensions get cut.
""Just because private industry has been robbed of their benefits, does that mean we should accept the
same unfair treatment?'' Seaman asked. ""I have worked 32 years, and I've given my heart and soul.''
James Monroe, 70, of Neptune, a retired teacher who now owns a carpet cleaning business, said he came to show support for teachers but otherwise
wished that both sides would cool down their rhetoric and talk.
"Everybody needs to come to the negotiating table,'' Monroe said. ""You can't say something's off the table. Everything is negotiable.'' Advertisement
Steve Lewis, 33, of Blackwood, who has taught United States history at Bridgeton High School for five years, noted that 130 staffers in that district are set to lose their jobs. He believed higher taxes on the wealthy would help.
"There has to be a better solution,'' Lewis said. ""The obvious solution would be to reinstate the millionaires' tax. There's so many teachers losing their jobs, they won't be able to afford their mortgages. It will cause a real estate problem. ... It will tumble down the line.''
Ben Dworkin, a political scientist at Rider University, said the rally was significant, but whether the movement has real power won't be known until next year's state legislative elections.
"It was larger than almost any other rally in recent memory, so people need to take notice. But it is one early skirmish in a longer war on spending priorities and leadership in New Jersey,'' Dworkin said.
But Peter McDonough, once a spokesman for then-Gov. Christie Whitman, a Republican, said any rally that did not draw beyond the base of government workers would be ""dismissed as there-goes-the-unions again.''
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-Monmouth, and two state Assembly members, Linda R. Greenstein, D-Middlesex, and Wayne P. DeAngelo, D-Mercer, attended the event. But beyond that, the rally drew few political leaders.
The rally was organized by the Better Choices for New Jersey budget campaign. A spokesman said the group has no legal standing but is a coalition of 120 unions, social-service organizations and tenant groups.
Statehouse protests are New Jersey political tradition.
Perhaps the most famous was when thousands of angry taxpayers took to the streets on July 1, 1990 to throw toilet paper and otherwise rage against $2.8 billion in tax increases enacted by then-Gov.Jim Florio, a Democrat. State Police then numbered the crowd at 6,000.
But that rally and organizers, led by talk show hosts on radio station New Jersey 101.5, sparked a movement that later helped Republicans recapture the state Legislature, and much of Florio's tax increase was repealed.
But public workers have flexed their own muscle. In 2006, then Gov. Jon Corzine and state Democratic leaders walked away from much of a pension reform package as the state's public worker unions, led by the NJEA, massed for a rally. The ""Back-Off'' protest was still held, and while public unions made some concessions under Corzine, they also continued to secure some wage and job protections.
In 2008, the anti-government spending crowd was back, again led by the 101.5 radio station. The ""Flying Pigs'' rally, attended by 700, helped galvanize public opposition to Corzine's plan to lease the state's toll roads.
Originally found at: http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100523/UPDATES01/100522030/More+than+30+000+in+Trenton+protest+state+budget+cuts+
