CARUSO COMMENTS ON POSSIBLE RUN AGAINST RUMANA

JOSEPH CARUSO

WAYNE N.J.

201-806-7309   

                                                                           Nov. 20, 2008 

  An Open Letter from Joseph Caruso   Recently,

I was asked by a reporter for Politickernj.com about my interest in running for the New Jersey General Assembly seat in District 40 that is currently held by Scott Rumana  I expressed my concern about affecting real, meaningful change in New Jersey and countering the liberal agenda of the big city politicians who control the state legislature.   Mr. Rumana chose not to respond to the issues I laid out and instead, launched into a meaningless diatribe about palling around with Peter Murphy.  Obviously Mr. Rumana and his handlers are playing the game of political deflection. Rather than addressing what I see as the essential core conservative issues that the Republican Party was founded upon 

My decision to run or not to run for Assembly will be made on the facts – not on character assassination, not on meaningless, time wasting recalling of past failures or old hatreds. My decision to run for Assembly will be based on how I can help the Republican Party turn around a state in severe trouble.  

And if I decide to run, I will win. I don’t accept failure. And I don’t accept people in my organizations who are satisfied with failure.  After years of Liberal Democrat rule, New Jersey is a state that is in real economic peril. Republicans must focus on the fundamental failures of big government liberalism practiced by Gov. Jon Corzine and the legislative leadership. 

The Republican Party must begin addressing economic issues in a comprehensive manner that will ignite investment in New Jersey.  

To my knowledge, Scott Rumana has never run a business or made organizational decisions. He is a fine citizen but is no different than many legislators, who lack a fundamental understanding of how serious business decisions are made and what impacts they may have on people’s lives. 

 I, however, have been fortunate enough to be in senior management positions nearly all my adult life. I have managed multi-million dollar budgets, thousands of workers, multiple locations through the globe. That is why I understand that New Jersey has the worst business reputation in the nation. And I understand that Gov. Corzine’s social engineering is not only hurting business, it is hurting hard working, middle class people, without whom this state cannot operate.   

In the middle of a national recession, New Jersey is about to implement the Family Leave Act, which will burden private sector employers and governments with added costs and higher property taxes. Yet, I see no one in Trenton calling for its termination. 

He has failed to aggressively oppose COAH or the flimsy legal ruling it is based upon. He has not challenged Gov. Corzine’s statement when signing the COAH legislation last summer that everyone has a right to an affordable home? Really? Where does that right exist in the state Constitution? It doesn’t.  You work to own a home, you work hard at it! 

Where does it say in the constitution that the state has to provide “affordable housing for families making in excess of $77,000? It doesn’t  

The Record reported recently that foreclosure activity in New Jersey rose 75 percent in the 12 months ended in October.  One in every 410 New Jersey households received a foreclosure notice in October, compared with one in every 452 households that received a filing nationwide. 

Where is the market for all the new housing Corzine wants to build? There isn’t one. So why isn’t every Republican member of the Legislature demanding the COAH plan be shelved? 

Moreover, Mr. Rumana failed to address the COAH-3 regulations to tax businesses so more housing can be built. COAH regulations read in part that: “Non-residential development fees may be imposed pursuant to the following:  Fees shall be a maximum of three percent of the equalized assessed value.” Fees can also be assessed on residential construction 

In a state with the worst business reputation in the nation – adding another tax and more regulation is amount to creating fiscal suicide. Too many politicians fail to grasp basic business and economic concepts. We need to start worrying about the middle class taxpayers who are struggling to keep their head above water, while the state legislature finds more ingenious ways to raise taxes and ship our tax money to cities like Paterson and Newark – where unfortunately – it seems to be doing little to improve the lives of the poor because so little of it seems to be actually getting to the people who need it the most.  A citizen like me wonders why? 

  Joseph Caruso