Jon Corzine

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg addresses the crowd as Gov. Jon Corzine looks on.

TRENTON -- Burnishing his blue collar roots and seniority in Washington, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg today launched his re-election bid at the Trenton Marriott, promising to lead the fight for New Jersey's working families.

"I will build on my work of the last few years, to stand strong against those who attack our values that short change our state and to deliver the results that improve people's lives," said Lautenberg, who was first elected to the Senate in 1982.

Having briefly appeased some conservatives, including Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen), with his budget address last month, Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration now faces an uprising from the green wing of the state’s progressives, including the New Jersey Sierra Club.

Save Our State NJ, Inc., the group that Gov. Corzine helped set up to lobby for his fiscal restructuring plan, released its donor list this afternoon.

“We remain committed to ensuring that this is a transparent organization as we advocate for sound financial restructuring and debt reduction in our state,” said Executive Director Jennifer Godoski, who noted that the organization.

Gov. Jon Corzine 

Gov. Jon Corzine today celebrated Sen. Hillary Clinton's Tuesday victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island as significant in her ongoing primary battle with Sen. Barack Obama.

"I'm very  excited about last night," said Corzine, a staunch Clinton backer. "Hillary Clinton won by hundreds of thousands of votes  - a substantial victory - and she has the clear momentum.
She's the most  qualified candidate to be President of the United States in either party."

When the state Senate pasAFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanechsed paid family leave today by a vote of 22-16, AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech admitted he felt a particular sense of satisfaction after a hard, 12-year trudge.

"We're exhausted, but we're very happy," said Wowkanech, whose outfit numbers 1 million strong in New Jersey, and who remembers first trying to float the idea of paid family leave over a decade ago.

What the Senate passed today was a bill that enables employees to pay into a fund that would allow them to receive compensation while taking up to six weeks off from work to care for their own health or the health of a relative. According to the bill, "an amount not to exceed $25 million may be transferred from the state's temporary disability fund to the new account to support start-up costs." The program is designed to run on the monies employees pay into the funds, which amounts to about $33 apiece annually.

Two measures aimed at providing relief to constituents - public Senate President Pro Tempore Shirley Turner (D-Mercer)sector cuts proposed in the Gov. Jon Corzine’s 2009 budget, and the Paid Family Leave Act - landed in Sen. Shirley Turner’s (D-Mercer) district this week with all of the ceremony of friendly fire.

The president pro tempore can’t support the governor’s budget because it posits 3,000 job cuts that Turner said would devastate her district, which includes Trenton and the environs where a lot of public employees live.

"I’m going to fight to protect as many of my constituents as possible, to make sure they don’t go after the rank and file," the senator told PolitickerNJ.com. "I’m discussing those proposed cuts with the governor, and I know he believes the most humane and sensible way is to offer early retirement packages. These are workers at the top of the salary grade, and at an age where they can retire."

Sen. Bill BaroniUnlike a lot of his party brethren who were all but lining up to give Gov. Jon Corzine Statehouse high fives following his speech, State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), emerged from the Assembly chamber today worried about Corzine's budget proposal.

"The governor's targeting rank and file public employees," said Baroni, referring to Corzine's preliminary proposal to scrap three state departments and eliminate up to 5,000 public jobs through a combination of layoffs and early retirements.

Baroni said that as long as Corzine is willing to keep 50% of the political patronage jobs on the state payroll, the senator could not support what he sees as Corzine's balancing act on the backs of civil servants. Many state workers live in Baroni's hometown of Hamilton, which is adjacent to Trenton.

Gov. Jon CorzineCalling it cold turkey therapy, Gov. Jon Corzine today unveiled his preliminary 2009 budget, which is smaller by $500 million than this year's $33.5 billion state budget.

The budget demands 1,000s of state job reductions, and the elimination of three departments: personnel, agriculture, and the commerce commission. 

The governor said after leading 13 townhall meetings in 13 counties around the state, he could feel the outrage out there and recognizes the need for substantial cuts.

Conservative activist Steve Lonegan isn’t surprised that Gov. Corzine’s fiscal restructuring plan is so unpopular.

A Quinnipiac poll released today puts the public’s opposition to the plan at 73%. 

The more Corzine has tried to promote his fiscal restructuring plan, Lonegan said, the more distasteful the public finds it. As he’s traveled across the state to protest it, Lonegan has found mostly sympathetic reactions.

Tonight on NJN, Reporters Roundtable will feature Nick Acocella from Politifax; Michael Symons of Gannett; David Chen from the New York Times and the Bergen Record’s John Reitmeyer. The reporters will discuss the Governor’s toll plan and the indictment of former state Sen. Joe Congilio. The show, hosted by Michael Aron, will air tonight at 6:30 and Sunday at 10a.m.