NJ Governor Christie Ups the Ante Against IL Gov Quinn: Releases Ad Compelling Business to Come to Jersey

A couple of weeks ago, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) announced that he would be taking trips to Illinois, meet with business leaders who might want to flee the huge tax hikes that Illinois Governor Quinn (D) had just signed into law, and persuade them to move to New Jersey. In response, Gov. Quinn, basically, told him: Good luck with that.

Now, Gov. Christie seems to be upping the ante with a new ad that is set to hit Illinois airwaves soon:



You have to hand it to the NJ Governor. He has big brass ones.

H/T to Stephen Gutowski aka @collegepolitico

Could Illinois' Loss Be NJ's Gain? On IL Trip Gov. Christie to Lure IL Businesses to NJ After Tax Hike

Following the news of a 66% temporary tax hike that the heavily Democratic Illinois Legislature passed and was quickly signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn (D), it didn't take long for the Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie to plan a trip to Illinois. Why is he going to the Land of Lincoln? He is going there with one goal in mind, and that goal is to convince businesses who may want to avoid the tax hikes and the hostile political climate for business there to migrate to New Jersey:

Watch out, Illinois: New Jersey wants your businesses.

It is a time-honored tradition for mayors and governors of neighboring cities and states to compete for large corporations with tax breaks and other incentives. And so it was no surprise that the steep new tax increases approved this week by the governor of Illinois inspired the kind of trash talking heard more often from athletes than from state chief executives.

"Escape to Wisconsin," chortled Scott Walker, the state's Republican governor. Mitch Daniels, the Republican who runs Indiana, compared Illinois to the Simpsons - "you know, the dysfunctional family down the block?"

But New Jersey? Trenton is about 900 miles from Springfield, Ill. Jersey City is a 13-hour drive from Chicago. None of that deterred Gov. Chris Christie, a New Jersey Republican who spent much of last fall stumping around the country, from speaking up even before Gov. Patrick J. Quinn of Illinois, a Democrat, had signed the legislation.

"I'm going to Illinois," Mr. Christie said in an interview on Wednesday. "I mean soon. I'm going to Illinois, personally, and going to start talking to businesses in Illinois and get them to come to New Jersey."

In response to this story, Governor Quinn basically said: Good luck with that, and for good reason.

This will be a harder task than Christie would like it to be. Even if you taking into account the new higher tax rates in Illinois, the taxes in New Jersey still won't be lower than the taxes in Illinois, overall.

Also, the tax climate in New Jersey is so bad that it was ranked #48 in a list of the best states for businesses, when it comes to taxes. In this list that was put together by the Tax Foundation, Illinois would have dropped from #23 to #36, if the list was published today with the new tax rates. This is a huge drop, but it is still better than New Jersey.

Governor Christie knows that it will very much be an uphill climb, but he said that he has something that Gov. Quinn can't replicate:

Mr. Christie acknowledged that over all, taxes remain higher in New Jersey, but he said he could offer something more valuable, certainty.

“The pitch I’m going to make to businesses in Illinois is, ‘With Pat Quinn as your governor and this Democratic Legislature, you can guarantee this is just the beginning,’ ” Mr. Christie said. “As long as I’m governor, you’re not going to see that happen.”

I don't know how much "certainty" that Christie can give them. It is not a "certainty" that he'll be re-elected in the next election, and the next governor could be very different. Plus, the tax hikes in Illinois are "temporary" and are set to expire in four years. So, some CEOs may be worried that, if they make the move, all of the promises that Christie may make now may be broken by the next governor at the same time that the taxes are set to go back down in Illinois.

However, he is a very smart, charismatic man, and if anyone can entice companies to move there, it's him. It'll be interesting to see what companies that he will go after and if he is able convince them to make the move. The economy in New Jersey needs him to convince at least some new businesses to come to the Garden State, so that their economy will have a better chance to recover and grow.

Chicago Political Machine Kicks TEA Party Candidate, Black Mother of Three, Off the Ballot Over Minor Clerical Error

It appears that the Chicago political machine is hard at work keeping a TEA Party candidate off the ballot. This time they kept off black mother of three. Why did they kick her off? Did she not get enough signatures? No, it was because there was a sentence just with “slightly different wording” than it should have been:

Illinois, the vote is being denied to the voters of the 43rd State Senate District by a frivolous challengeChicago - On Wednesday, one of Governor Quinn's routine bill signing ceremonies turned into a debate over ballot access and the Tea Party in Illinois.

A supporter of Republican and Tea Party activist Cedra Crenshaw jumped up and demanded to know why Democrats supporting incumbent State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, who was at the bill signing, had worked to get Crenshaw kicked off the ballot.

Crenshaw, a 37-year old mother of three who studied accounting at North Carolina A&T, submitted hundreds more signatures on her nominating petitions than required. But Will County officials knocked her off the November ballot, saying one of the sentences in her filing should have used slightly different wording.

"I am angry," said Crenshaw, an African-American who rejects complaints that the Tea Party movement is racist. "And a lot of the voters are very angry, as well. Right here in the State of Illinois, the vote is being denied to the voters of the 43rd State Senate District by a frivolous challenge."

Now, both sides do kick people off the ballot for cheap technicalities all the time, and I think that it is ridiculous. We should let all the people run on the ballot that wants to run. Let the people decide who they want.

Blagojevich, You Were Just Indicted; What Are You Going To Do Now? Go To Disney World

Blagojevich Indicted on Federal Corruption Charges
A federal grand jury handed down the 19-count indictment against Blagojevich, his brother, two former aides and two businessmen Thursday.

FOXNews.com Thursday, April 02, 2009

Former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and ousted, has been indicted on charges he engaged in a "wide-ranging scheme to deprive the people of Illinois of honest government."

A federal grand jury handed down the 19-count indictment against Blagojevich, his brother, two former aides and two businessmen Thursday. It accuses Blagojevich of corruption involving billions of dollars in state pension bonds.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitgerald had until Tuesday to get an indictment against Blagojevich but Thursday was the last day for the grand jury to meet.

FBI agents arrested the Chicago Democrat in December on allegations that also include trying to auction off President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat.

Illinois lawmakers impeached him and threw him out of office in January.

Blagojevich has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has promised to fight the charges in court and has a book contract to tell his side.

The former governor is not in Chicago; he's with his family at Walt Disney World in Florida.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., whom Blagojevich defiantly appointed to replace Obama in the Senate, told FOX News the senator nor his staff will have no comment on the indictment.

Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., who was one of several Senate appointees Blagojevich considered, told FOX News Blagojevich's indictment is "a sad day for the state of Illinois. It's a sad day for politics.

"I'm still hoping that the governor is not guilty," he added. "I think the voters and the citizens must put this behind them as quickly as they can."

Illinois Republican Party seized on Blagojevich's indictment to denounce Democrats.

"Today's indictment opens another tragic chapter in the national embarrassment of Blagojevich Democrats have brought on the people of Illinois," state Republican Chairman Andy McKenna said in a statement.

"This is another sad day in our state's history, but Republicans are ready to bring change and reform to government and are fighting to bring a new beginning for the people of Illinois," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/02/blagojevich-indicted-federal-corruption-charges/
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My Thoughts

The next installment of Corruptacrats: Chicago-Sytle.

Blagojevich's Arrogance Reaches New Level

Blagojevich Compares His Arrest With Attack on Pearl Harbor In an interview Thursday, the Illinois governor compared his early morning December arrest by FBI agents to Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. AP
Thursday, January 22, 2009

CHICAGO -- Illinois' embattled but defiant governor, so fond of reciting poetry as he defends himself against federal corruption allegations, has turned instead to the history books to describe the emotional strain his arrest put on him and his family.

In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Gov. Rod Blagojevich compared his early morning December arrest by FBI agents to Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

He says it was a "complete surprise" but he'll prevail, just like America in World War II.

Blagojevich says there's no chance he'll resign before the start of the state Senate's impeachment trial next week. He says he'll fight the allegations against him "to the very end.

"The two-term Democrat is accused of scheming to swap President Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat for personal gain.



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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/22/blagojevich-compares-arrest-attack-pearl-harbor/
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My Thoughts

Does the arrogance of this guy know any limits?