New Jersey News Roundup

The New Jersey minimum wage went up by a dollar yesterday to $7.15/hour. That rate is an two dollars higher than the federal rate of $5.15. The new payraise means that a minimum wage worker in NJ grosses $14,300 for a forty hour work week. If you ask me, this is hardly a living wage, but as retail worker Kobby Hayford noted yesterday, "More money is always good. I will feel it, definitely. It's going to help because everything costs more now." He should know. And Kobby Hayford is just the type of New Jerseyan Gov. Corzine is trying to help out with the increase.

However, it's worth noting that According to Carl Van Horn, who directs the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, it would take a $12 hourly minimum wage to lift New Jersey's workers out of poverty

.Ouch.

Herb Jackson debunks the Tom Kean Junior's lies about being a centrist or "independant." The Record:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. says bipartisan cooperation is the key to solving problems in Washington. But Kean's record as a legislator shows he may not be the independent fighter he says he is. Not only does he serve in the Republican leadership in Trenton, a database analysis by The Record found that Kean voted the same way most of his GOP colleagues did at least 93 percent of the time.

Naturally Junior is whining that this isn't the whole story. So I'll fill in the gaps: not only is this guy not an independent, but he's also a scumbag. Just look at the riffraf Junior has working on his campaign. (Note to Jill Hazelbaker, this means you too!) For those of you keeping score, there is a detailed, itemized list of Junior's Rovian, radical, rightwing record in today's Record article.

Today's Trenton Times challenges the new Attrorney General Stuart Rabner to get tough on corruption in Trenton. The article cites Wayne Bryant "a notorious grazer at the public trough" as the posterboy for all that's wrong in the state legislature. No argument here. It seems like Sen. Bryant punctuates every change of direction with (yet) another scandal. I guess that's what happens to men like Bryant who have one hand on their pants and the other in the cookie jar at all times. If you ask me, Wayne Bryant would make a perfect addition for Tom Kean Junior's campaign team.

In other NJ news, Garden State farmers are hurting, tensions are at an all time high in Mercer County, NJ Superior Court judge busted for driving tipsy, Death toll in Iraq continues to rise.