Letters from readers...or trolls....whatever.

We recently received the following communication to our email at njtaxrevolution.com:

r u contingent of the Republican Party? ... similar to Dems: "Victory ’09, a project of the NJDSC” (Democratic State Committee).

Regardless, any explanation for Daggett's surprisingly low tally, far lower than pre-election polls? Two-thirds of my property taxes go to the school system which, in turn, is mostly labor cost.

Wasn't Daggett the only major candidate to propose a specific, workable remedy? If so, any indication that property tax cut tied to municipal fiscal restraint (CPI cap) would garner support tho Daggett's candidacy was rejected?

Lastly, where's the best source (website) to find gov.-elect Christie's property tax plan.
Thanks in advance for any info and insight.

The first thing I would like you to know is that the email came from someone who resembles someone really close to the Daggett campaign. But that is neither here not there as the points he brings up are worth discussing.

First, as to njtaxrevolution.com being an arm of the Republican party. If you trace our history we started this web site around the time of Jon Corzine's sales tax hike. We finally had enough. Jake and I have full time jobs and are software guys. We have zero formal affiliation to the Republican party or the Libertarian Party who both link to our site. However, given that we are conservatives, it is obvious that our audience are mainly Libertarians and Republicans. We receive no outside funding from anyone. Our opinions are our own. And our editorial agenda is made clear on our site.

Regardless, any explanation for Daggett's surprisingly low tally, far lower than pre-election polls?

Frankly, I do not believe that Daggett had a surprisingly low tally. If you asked me before the election, based on the polls I would have had him between 6-8. Why? Daggett only surged in a very limited set of polls and in none of the polls that we consider the most trustworthy did he ever crack 12. Recognize that there are media outlets in this state that wanted Chris Daggett to do well. Why? Because they wanted to support the incumbent and Jon Corzine never cracked 42% in any legitimate poll. That means that he could not win without a split election three ways and the third candidate needed to get 9% or more.

When you couple Daggett's real core support (probably around 3-5 when you consider the last minute 'open to change' respondents) and his ballot position, he performed within the margin of error.

Wasn't Daggett the only major candidate to propose a specific, workable remedy? If so, any indication that property tax cut tied to municipal fiscal restraint (CPI cap) would garner support tho Daggett's candidacy was rejected?

We have no idea whether or not Daggett's remedy here was workable or not and neither does he. To declare that property taxes are too high and it is all about school salaries and fiscal restraint is somewhat questionable. There are many budget busters in every town and municipality in this state including:

- Abbott school redistribution
- Growth within formerly rural towns resulting in major capital expenditures
- Redundant spending on town infrastructure
- Too many municipalities and too much government infrastructure
- COAH requirements that force density on towns that don't want it

I will support the NJEA here (I know, shocker) and not allow the schools to be blamed for every property tax ill. There are some loose spending towns however there are also many towns that try their best but the budget is distorted by expenses outside their control through historical practices.

Lastly, where's the best source (website) to find gov.-elect Christie's property tax plan.
Thanks in advance for any info and insight.

I suppose this is a snark as a result of waking up and finding your candidate didn't win so it is forgiven. We went public on our opinion here as to the strategy in the Philadelphia Daily News. Jon Corzine spent 24 million dollars to attempt to defeat Chris Christie. It is clear to us that the Christie campaign made a specific decision to provide "just enough" information to avoid Corzine's negative advertising machine which twisted almost every moment of Chris Christie's life knowing that he didn't have the funds to fight back to every single attack. Specificity was not the Christie campaigns friend and you can thank Jon Corzine for that.

As a matter of fact, we can thank the New Jersey Democratic party for the lack of any real campaign for any statewide office. It wasn't that long ago that Frank Lautenberg campaigned without actually showing up anywhere or saying anything. Even our normally Democrat friendly newspapers trashed him for that. But he did it because he knew he could get away with it. We at NJTaxRevolution would love it if all candidates would stick to the campaigns instead of mud fights. But that isn't NJ is it.

As to the gentleman who submitted this email, I really respect your enthusiasm and am glad you are fighting for your beliefs and trying to make New Jersey better. Whether you supported Daggett, Corzine or Christie, I love the knowledge that this writer exhibits in his letter whether or not I agree with it. We need a lot more people in this state like him.

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