August 20, 2009

NJ Jewish News is inviting community leaders and our readers to write short essays suggesting issues they regard as critical to the state and the state of the Jewish community ahead of November’s election for NJ governor.

To offer your own ideas on “What’s at Stake,” send your thoughts (no longer than 300 words) to editorial@njjewishnews.com and write “Stake” in the subject line.

Rabbi Clifford M. Kulwin is religious leader of Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston.

All about the money

Since I am a rabbi, I suppose that someone asking what I think is important in the upcoming gubernatorial election expects an answer that in some ways focuses upon the ethical or the moral, or perhaps on some particularly Jewish concern. And while that might be so in other elections, not in this one.

This election is all about the money.

Our next governor will have a long list of important issues to confront. Few citizens are satisfied with public education in New Jersey. The transportation infrastructure is inadequate — sometimes maddeningly so. Growth — “sprawl,” as we say — continues in ways that make the state less and less attractive. And as for corruption, well, recent days speak for themselves.

All of this is well known. But if you ask your neighbors and friends what is the biggest issue we face right now, a large majority will respond: “money.”

It’s about the job they lost or the job they are scared of losing. It’s about businesses that are off 10 percent, 30 percent, or more from a year ago in a state that CEOs rate as the fourth-worst in the nation in which to do business. It’s about houses that are worth a lot less than they used to be even as property taxes on those houses zoom upward year after year. It’s about retirements that seem further away than ever or already begun retirements that cannot be sustained.

And issues that don’t seem to be about money? Most really are.

Schools are in crisis because funding is harder to secure. Traffic congestion proliferates when roads don’t get fixed. Emergency rooms become even more crowded when programs to provide health care to the poor lose support. Corruption makes us a national joke because bad money proliferates when good money is hard to find.

Gov. Corzine and Mr. Christie, my plea is simple: Don’t patronize me, talk over me, or shine me on. Explain to me just what the situation is that we face. Where are we? How did we get here? Once you have done that, explain to me precisely what you intend to do and why that is the right thing to do. I am not an economist, an accountant, or a businessman, but, like most of us in this state, I’m pretty smart. Make me understand.

We New Jerseyans are scared to death right now. Few of us feel in control, and we realize there will be things beyond your control as governor. Please, don’t grandstand and don’t pander. Respect us. Address the real issues in a meaningful way.

If you’ll do that, we promise to listen. And perhaps even vote for you.

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