Dear Editor:
I love the State of New Jersey. It is where I was born, grew up and chose to raise my family. It is the state I have had the honor and privilege of serving in the state Legislature and in the House of Representatives.
But like many New Jerseyans, I have become disillusioned by Trenton’s failure to tackle some of the real problems we face in our everyday lives.
Property taxes are skyrocketing out of control. Parents have lost faith in a school system that puts too much power in the hands of unions and too little power in the hands of parents and teachers. Unchecked development and traffic congestion are threatening New Jersey’s quality of life.
Too often Trenton has refused to take on some of our toughest problems. That’s because, for too long, Trenton has been influenced by special interests, not the people’s interests. When I served in the Assembly, I saw it firsthand. Later, serving in Congress, I again saw the corrupting influence of big money and special interests. That’s why I stood side-by-side with Senator John McCain fighting for real reform that would move power away from the special interests and back to the people.
We face that same challenge here in New Jersey today. If we’re going to change things in New Jersey, we’re going to have to change the way Trenton does business.
As your Governor, I want to begin a new era of true reform, one that brings accountability to state government and puts the interests of New Jersey citizens first.
I want to shake up the political process. But you can’t create a new era if you drag along all the rules from the old era.
We must begin with term limits. I want to see citizen lawmakers, not career legislators. When I got to Congress eight years ago, I led the bipartisan effort for term limits. As your governor I’ll push for term limits for state legislators. Our government needs to give more power to our people, not less. As governor, I’ll renew the fight that I started more than a decade ago in the State Assembly to give the voters of New Jersey the right to put issues on the ballot. Initiative and Referendum have worked in other states in America, and it should be allowed to work here too.
I want to end the Leadership PACs in Trenton that allow the special interests to build cozy relationships with the state’s most powerful legislative leaders. The only cozy relationship I want to see is the one between the taxpayers and their government.
And that’s why I believe it’s time to elect a State Auditor General to serve as the people’s watchdog over all our tax dollars. An elected Auditor General would have the power to ferret out wasteful spending on all levels of government, from the local school system to the State House and would answer to no one but the people of New Jersey.
When I was growing up in Bergen County, I listened to a call to Public Service. The call came from John and Robert Kennedy. They challenged us, the future generation of Americans, to give something back to this great country of ours. They called on us to rise above petty interests and find higher goals. My goal became honest and effective public service.
Honest and effective public service means being willing to stand up to the powerful special interests and even members of your own party.
As a state legislator, I spearheaded the successful revolt against Jim Florio’s record tax increases. In Congress, I took on the Washington establishment to fight for an end to 40 years of reckless deficit spending. As New Jersey’s only member of the House Budget Committee, I helped write the first balanced budget in a generation, stopped the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund, cut taxes for the first time in 16 years and actually paid down the national debt.
I wasn’t afraid to oppose my party’s leadership to champion causes that were important to the people of New Jersey. I fought for a higher minimum wage, HMO reform, stricter safeguards for our environment and more police officers on the street.
The bottom line: When I’m governor, we will reform Trenton, we will finally address the tough issues, and we will make New Jersey a state all of us can be proud to call home.
Bob Franks