We’re one week into a new legislative session, Save Jerseyans. Approximately 60%+ of the seats in our State Legislature are occupied by Democrats who will consequently control the day-to-day agenda.
A solidly far-left, anti-liberty, spend-happy legislature is the sad reality our Governor faces on a daily basis; it’s also the single greatest obstacle to substantive, pro-taxpayer reform in the overtaxed Garden State.
But guess what?
I crunched the numbers this weekend. Approximately 48% of votes cast for legislature office in 2011 were for Republican candidates. 1,896,524 to be exact, whereas 2,024,905 were case for Democrats (remember: 4M individuals didn’t show up to vote; most folks voted three times… twice for assembly and then once more for a senate candidate). And this close popular result wasn’t an isolated incident. In 2009, Republicans garnered about 52% of the vote with Governor Christie sitting atop their column.
So what does this tell us, class? Something that should be common sense: a competitively drawn map would produce an almost 50/50 legislature! And can you imagine how much healthier our state’s political discourse would be for it? Not only would Trenton politicians be more accountable to their constituents, but radical ideologues would have an infinitely harder time securing election. It’s a no-brainer.
Yet what we have instead is a pro-incumbent abomination courtesy of liberal academic Alan Rosenthal. As the court-appointed redistricting czar last year, he happily adopted this aforementioned affront to democracy to protect the Democrat majority. He actually made the argument that “stability” is superior to accountability! Maybe in a dictatorship… not in a republic! Unfortunately, Rosenthal’s scheme worked exactly as planned. Half of the state voted for pro-Christie candidates last fall only to wake up on Wednesday to a 60%+ Democrat majority. God knows how many more conservative voters stayed home because they’re stranded in non-competitive districts lacking serious pro-taxpayer opposition.
None of this comes as a surprise to those of us who’ve been following along. That said, I’m angrier than ever having seen the raw numbers staring back at me from the page. Frustrated taxpayers would certainly be justified forwarding their next property tax bill to Professor Rosenthal’s office. Rarely can one person be said to truly deserve almost 100% of the blame for such a large-scale travesty.
Why? Because Rosenthal literally robbed citizen of their democratic right to punish their legislature for mismanagement! At least until someone draws a new map in 2021.
Matt Rooney
Brian McGovern
Ed Sheppard
Matt DeLuca
Irwin M. Fletcher
James Beattie
Joshua Einstein
Michael Ward
Who signed off on Rosethal, Matt? The GOP RINO leadership.
By 2021 which means 9+ years your property taxes should double again ..
[...] editor-in-chief, Matt Rooney, wrote a great piece about the need for re-districting reform. But how can we reform our current [...]
Doesn’t it always sort of work out that way?
Like If one party wins 55% of every district, they win 100% of the seats.
Just look at the House of Representatives now, the GOP won 51.4% of the vote, yet they control 55.6% of the seats.
Or in 2008, the Democrats won 53.1% of the vote, but won 59.0% of the seats.
[...] that decision would engender to the Democrat plan: 120 State House dwellers, most of whom are gerrymandered into election-proofed districts, passing judgment on the essence of an ancient and fundamental social [...]