2003 Ninth District - Part Two

Punch Line Of The Month Award Goes To Senator Len Connors (R-9th), Commenting On The Failure Of The State Senate To Approve A Constitutional Convention To Reform The New Jersey Property Tax System Before Going On Summer Recess: “When It Came Time To Fish Or Cut Bait, Most Of The Senators Jumped Overboard”, Senator Connors Said

Trenton: Ninth District legislators helped to get constitutional convention legislation through the State Assembly but, similar to previous years, the measure died in the state senate.

The bill, which would convene a constitutional convention for the purpose of reforming the state’s archaic property tax system, was passed by the Assembly 50-25, and was sent to the State Senate, where the Senators considered a motion to approve the bill before the legislature recessed for the summer.

Twenty-One Votes Needed, But Only A Dozen Senators Would Play

But only a dozen of the twenty-one senators needed to suspend the rules would vote to authorize a floor vote on the tax reform bill.

Senator Len Connors, R-9th, a  leader in the battle for property tax reform for every one of the twenty-one years he has served in the legislature, noted the high level of hypocrisy present in the chamber.

“Nearly every one of the  120 legislators in the senate and the assembly cried out for property tax relief reform in this session”, Connors noted.

The Senators Didn’t Fish, They Didn’t Cut Bait;
They Jumped Overboard

“But when it came time to fish or cut bait, most of the senators jumped overboard”, Senator Connors said.

Ninth District Assembly members, both of whom strongly support timely reform of the property tax, also commented on the senate’s failure to approve the constitutional convention legislation.

Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, appointed in June to replace former Assemblyman Jeff Moran, now Ocean County Surrogate, said the property tax issue deserves top priority.

Assembly Members Will Continue Tax Reform Crusade

“New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country”, Rumpf noted.

“We will insist that property tax relief be the issue to address when the legislature reconvenes”, Rumpf said.

Assemblyman Chris Connors, a leader in the assembly fight to approve the tax convention legislation, called the Senate’s failure to act “one battle lost in the war on high property taxes”.

“We will continue our own revolution for property tax relief”, Assemblyman Connors vowed.

More on the property tax and related issues as time marches on, brought to you by OceanCountyPolitics.

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