Today is the day, Save Jerseyans. If Governor Christie wishes to hold strong on his self imposed, seemingly random July 1 deadline for the Rut-Row Merger, his executive order must be issued by midnight tonight.
The Executive Reorganization Act of 1969, the statute by which the Governor’s office incorrectly assumes they have the power to force this merger, requires that any executive order initiating a reorganization plan must be presented to both houses of the Legislature and then given 60 days for a legislative veto by a simple majority. If the Legislature does nothing, then the order would become law.
Well if the Governor does not issue his executive order today, then the soonest the plan would be able to become law would be July 2, demonstrably later than his deadline. It is safe to assume that the plan will need the full 60 days to take effect, because this issue is wildly unpopular. The Legislature would not put itself out there to vote on it unless they knew for a fact that they could stop it. Barely anyone should want to be on the record supporting this thing, because they would not find much company.
So we have two potential outcomes today:
- Governor Christie issues his executive order today after 5:00PM. This is a favorite move my political people. Beat the news cycle by releasing at the end of the day, let it sink in for the people who care over night and allow the rest of the populous to find out in the morning when its already old news. Its the same tactic that was used with the conditional veto of the gay marriage bill, except that was on a friday, arguably an even better media move.
- The Governor does not issue an executive order at all, finally signaling that he is aware that it would never hold up in court. Consider this a small, symbolic victory for the Save Rutgers movement.
If the order is not issued, then the only way the merger happens is by affirmative legislative action. You know what that means, Save Jerseyans. The focus must then change immediately to lobbying legislators and garnering their support against the merger. The Governor should no longer be a target. He becomes insignificant in the process until a bill has passed.
But for now, there are 11 hours and 30 minutes left in this day. When the clock strikes 12:01AM, round 1 goes to the to Team Save Rutgers. Keep one eye on the clock and one on Save Jersey where we will bring you the latest, as usual, on all things merger.
Have you guys ever considered doing a post about the reasons why saving Rutgers is a good idea. I skimmed through the various posts here on the subject but could find anything that went into details on the pro's and con's of this thing. I don't mind supporting pet causes but I really don't have a clue as to why its being done and why people are opposed to it.
Thanks,
Bill Sawyer
H.H.