Governor Christie: "Mother, May I?"

I was going to write about Art All Night because it was such a hit and I loved being part of this phenomenal home-grown success story. As I signed on, Fox News was covering Governor Christie's remarks after the NJ Assembly's feeble attempt to override his veto of the "Millionaires' Tax". I got mad all over again.

Senior citizens in New Jersey have just had a $1,300.00 increase in their real estate taxes this year. The Millionaires' Tax proceeds were supposed to cover the expense of senior programs not covered in the upcoming budget. Some items were tax rebates, Senior Gold, PAAD, senior tax relief...now scuttled because of this bill's demise. The Governor huffed and puffed and exclaimed that he was running the state and basically we had to get used to it. He does not think that he has ask anyone's permission, he does not have to say, in his words,

"Mother, may I?"

I think his own mother, who was a school teacher and waged a gallant battle with breast cancer, would not have been pleased at his arrogance.

The point is that this Governor does not share our pain. This Governor has not spread the pain over every citizen in this state. This Governor has taken a stand that he does not care for the elderly and the disabled and even has gone so far as to put it into words.

There is no point in asking him to walk in our Dr. Scholls. There is no point in asking him to share our "Peanut butter and jelly Thursdays". There is no point in asking this galloot to put his Colt back into the holster.

Save your breath.

Ask him if he wants to adopt a senior.

He is making hundreds of thousands a year, maybe more. (Governor Corzine did not take a cent.) Betcha he could afford to adopt a senior.

I know of elderly homeowners who had to give up their prized cars because the tax man came before the car insurance. I know of diabetic seniors who, nontheless, eat pasta because it is cheap. and because this year's tax bill in Trenton went up beyond belief.

This Governor seems to be rather self serving. His share of our pain, as he insists we are all sharing the same hardships, is certainly not obvious to me.

His words are alien to us. His "eloquence" is lost on us. We have links to decades of hardship that we would express in dramatically different terms.

I remember when you mixed margarine with flavor and color packets because butter was rationed. I remember when my folks could not drive ten miles without being challenged because you needed a permit for using the gas. I remember making rugs out of short pieces of cotton underwear and shirts. I remember panties and nighties that my grandmother sewed out of parachute cloth after the war was over.

The seniors in my acquaintance are not cast-offs. They are mothers and fathers who worked hard all their lives and Roosevelt's Social Security was a welcome safety net. They knew hard work, like drawing steel in the Roebling Mills or building the streets that make up this Capital. They were mothers who used to watch the neighborhood. They made sure that the kids still talked Italian in the home but learned the new language because the homework was in English. They were mothers who made sure that the kids went to school because they were just as sure that college was the guarantee of the future. The unexpected problem was that the college kids left the city...and parents are left trying to keep up the house or ended up in "Affordable Housing".

There is a senior shift going on right now. I have heard rumors that the senior centers are to be consolidated...not the end of the world if transportation is adequate for the change. Many elders would sure appreciate a warm meal to carry them over the hump because they are short of cash thanks to Christie's shenannigans. However the range of activites is not attractive to many seniors who think the centers are boring.

The activities at most senior centers include TV and reading. Sometimes there are "programs" where community reps come in and discuss items that they think should be of interest to the elderly. There are occasional games, but prevailing throughout most of the centers is bingo. Since the Catholic Church started Church Bingo, the locals forgot that the Church had special permits. Now they have become conditioned to gambling. They will bet on lottery tickets, lotto, fifty-fifty,but the original fund raising intent has been obscured.

Hey, Governor, are you going to raid these illegal senior bingo parlors?

If... you want to make exceptions for Senior Bingo...then you could make exceptions for those seniors going bankrupt and waive these obscene real estate taxes. It is not "sharing the pain" to let a millionaire enjoy his farmland tax-exempt property on the flimsy pretext of harvesting hay or cloning herefords while Chambersburg residents have to eat macaroni.

Seniors should be treasured. Seniors deserve respect. Governor Christie, maybe you should have asked "Mother, may I?"

Have a good day.