More Press Releases

(This time from the Dems.)

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: Cathleen Lewis
(732) 294-9008 (office)
(617) 699-5940 (cell)

Aaronson and McMorrow to Powers: The Monmouth County website is not owned and operated by the Monmouth GOP

In Thursday’s Asbury Park Press, Freeholder Director Tom Powers penned an editorial denouncing the “Club Monmouth” series, which exposed numerous examples of waste, fraud and patronage. Within that editorial he also advocated for the election of Bill Barham and Lillian Burry for Freeholder. Referring to them as the “new faces” Monmouth County needs.

Within hours, that same editorial was published on the front page of the official Monmouth County website.

“Mr. Powers is clearly unaware that a website operated by taxpayer dollars is an inappropriate place for political endorsements,” Barbara McMorrow, a Democratic candidate for Freeholder, said.

“It’s disappointing that Mr. Powers doesn’t see a difference between the Monmouth GOP website and the official website of Monmouth County government,” Rebecca Aaronson, a Democratic candidate for Freeholder, said.

“This is just another example of abuse by the Freeholder Board,” McMorrow said.

See Link Below

http://www.visitmonmouth.com/news.asp

###


PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Cathleen Lewis
(732) 294-9008 (office)
(617) 699-5940 (cell)

At today’s Monmouth County Freeholder Meeting Democratic candidates for Freeholder Barbara McMorrow and Rebecca Aaronson presented a petition to the Freeholder Board supporting the New Jersey Federal Delegation’s efforts to bring more homeland security funds to New Jersey.

“It is imperative to our security that the federal funds be allocated based on risk. Security threats are not equal between the states, nor should the funding be. New Jersey clearly has a larger threat of attack than the Virgin Islands, yet New Jersey receives $7.08 per capita and the Islands receive $46.00 per capita,” McMorrow said.

The resolution written by McMorrow and Aaronson will be sent to the mayors of all 53 municipalities with a letter requesting that the petition be posted so that concerned citizens can sign them.

“We can not sit idly by and hope that more funding will materialize. Our federal delegation is working tirelessly to ensure that the formula changes and I think it’s important that we are proactive in our efforts to secure homeland security funding,” Aaronson said.

“It is our hope that the Freeholder Board will join with us and the citizens of Monmouth County in signing this petition,” Aaronson added.

A copy of the petition is below.

We, the undersigned, support our Federal Delegation’s fight to ensure that New Jersey is kept safe. In order to adequately protect any of our citizens, we must protect all of our citizens. Federal Homeland Security Funding must reflect the high risk of attack on certain areas of the country. New Jersey’s airports, seaports, highways, mass transit systems, chemical plants, casinos and financial institutions all provide potential targets for terrorist attack.

We ask the Congress, the Senate and President Bush to modify the formula by which Homeland Security funds are allocated to reflect the higher risks that New Jersey and other states face.

###


For Immediate Release Contact: James Sverapa IV
August 26, 2005 Phone: 732-389-3103

STEVE CORODEMUS SAYS:
“HOMESTEAD REBATE IS A SHAM”

EATONTOWN – During an Assembly Republican news conference in Trenton yesterday, designed to kick off the election season by drawing attention to their property tax scheme, Assemblyman Steve Corodemus, R-Monmouth, was quoted on the record as saying, “Homestead Rebate is a sham,” referring to the popular thirty year old Homestead Rebate Program, which provides property tax relief to those who need it most.

“But Sires and Roberts dismissed the Republican plan, decried Corodemus' description of rebates as a "sham," noted Republican opposition to the convention and government spending caps and their votes against the budget that included restored - though for most people, reduced - rebates.” [Source: Trenton Times, 8/26/05]

“This simple, dismissive statement shows, without a shadow of a doubt, how little Steve Corodemus has in common with 11th District residents after 14 years in the Legislature,” said 11th District Democratic Assembly candidate Matt Doherty. “How can he, in good conscience, call a program that provides between $800 to $1,000 in property tax relief to senior and low income homeowners a ‘sham?’ The only sham is that Steve Corodemus and Sean Kean still think they deserve reelection after a comment like that.”

Property taxes account for over 40 percent of total State and local tax revenue in New Jersey. By contrast, the national average is just above 30 percent. And, according to New Jersey Policy Perspective, New Jersey has the seventh highest tax burden on the working poor in the nation, which is largely the result of the property tax system.

To illustrate, a couple who purchased their home in 1950 at $10,000 may have been paying property taxes on that home that bore some relationship to their income at that time. The same home, owned by the same couple today, however, may be valued at over $200,000, while the couple’s income may have been greatly decreased or become fixed. Their property tax burden now bears no relationship to their financial status and is only mitigated by programs like Homestead Rebate.

“In the fourteen years Steve Corodemus has been in the Legislature, he has done nothing to alleviate the property tax problem, despite his party being in control for eight of those years,” said 11th District Democratic Assembly candidate Jim Reilly. “Add to that the fact that the current Republican tax scheme would actually eliminate the Homestead Rebates altogether, while spreading the funds to the wealthy, and you’re left with a statement, a candidate and a party that smacks of hypocrisy. Can Steve Corodemus and Sean Kean truly support property tax reform if they think our current system of relief is a ‘sham?’”

(From PoliticsNJ.com)
###