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O’Scanlon: Governor’s CV of S5 Shows More Consideration for Taxpayers’ Safety
POSTED BY DECLAN J. O'SCANLON JR. · MAY 11, 2018 7:10 AM
“Back in November, I wrote in an op ed that I was rooting for our Governor to succeed. I said then that I would call him out when he mis-stepped but be with him when he did the right thing. This is me keeping my word.”
“I want to commend Governor Murphy and his policy staff for what appears to be their complete reassessment of the deeply flawed original version of bill S-5. To be clear, neither taxpayers nor unions are getting everything they wanted out of this conditional veto. However, a fair assessment of the language of the conditional veto demonstrates that there was a genuine concern for taxpayers, as well as of the goals of union leaders to have more control over their pension funds investment strategy.”
“I have argued long and loud with anyone who would listen regarding the deep flaws of the prior versions of S-5—we could not have exposed taxpayers to the one sided liabilities that the original bill, or even the bill as passed, would have inflicted on them.”
“If all is as it appears, the conditional veto language adds many of the substantial additional taxpayer protections I have advocated. Under this language, the Treasurer would still set the projected rate of return. It sets a considerably higher bar for the enhancement of benefits, such as the reinstatement of the cost of living increases or reduction in employee contributions. These were all imminent threats to every property tax payer in New Jersey and I thank the Governor for listening to those of us who raised these concerns. Nearly every editorial board in New Jersey recognized the grave flaws in the original versions of S-5 and I am glad that the Governor heard our voices and did not capitulate to irresponsible union demands. The devil is in the details of course and the choice of actuaries, and exactly who gets to sign off on projections, can make or break these protections. Additionally, we need to ensure that the employer (ie taxpayer) contribution protection language throughout the document actually does what it purports to do, and isn’t fatally flawed as some have suggested it may be. The regulatory process and choices made by the Governor will be critical. But for now trust must be with the assurances of the administration.”
“The complications and expense of separating out one union fund from all other union funds was at once cumbersome, expensive, and unnecessary. The administration completely resolved those concerns by eliminating much of the redundant bureaucracy that S-5 previously called for, while preserving the mechanisms by which the unions will have reasonable and deserved input over their funds investment strategy.”
“There are some potential issues. Particularly, the Governor’s trustee appointment on the board needs to be chosen wisely otherwise they would give unions absolute power in a supermajority. It would merely take the co-option of one of the Governor’s appointees to dramatically tip the scales of the board against taxpayers. The Governor’s trustee choices need to be unequivocally representative of taxpayers.
“Additionally, it would have been wise for the Governor to reinstate some version of the targeted fund language as a mandate before any modifications in the benefits or contribution rates. To be clear, this would have been the easiest way to guarantee the safety of the taxpayers and safeguard the health of the pension funding. Short of this, the language in the conditional veto is a vast improvement.
“This was a big test. The Murphy administration deserves praise for resisting what I am certain was tremendous pressure from unions, standing up for taxpayers and vastly improving this legislation. Kudos.”
A brothers memoir
POSTED BY ART GALLAGHER · MARCH 30, 2018 4:17 PM
David Aaron O'Scanlon
There is a dead spider at the bottom of the light cover. A clear globe. Been hanging there for years. The globe, and probably the spider. I never noticed - either, until now...staring straight up at it. Walked under it a thousand times..grabbing a slice of pizza...laughing with friends...over the years. My brother's house. Hugging him...fighting with him...laughing with him...pleading with him...worrying about him...and always, loving him. Stood right here a dozen times over the last year...silent...holding my breath...staring at him in his chair...so still...wondering, is he asleep?....or is this it? Then he’d breathe and wake with a start. Happy to see me. Not knowing that for a long moment just before I stood on the edge...of life with him and life without him. No matter what, always praying for the former. Alcoholism had taken its ugly toll on him, on us. But the fighting now, his and mine....and ours, is over.
Now I stand here...staring up, at that dead spider...shriveled up in the light fixture. This time knowing...my brother...my tumultuous friend, my love....of the past 50 years...was upstairs, right above this light..dead. The police and first aid were there, not yet breaking the news. But I knew the feigned urgency. I knew he was gone well before they told me. Well before we broke down the door. Before I pulled into the lot, the tears I’d avoided for so long, were there.
It’s been just over a year since that day. And I’m not sure why I write now. I started out telling myself it might help other families struck with addiction to know they’re not alone. But it may really be as much about a selfish desire for absolution, or at least confession, as anything noble. Absolution for everything I didn’t do. Maybe every family member of every addict feels this way at some point. For those that have, or still do, you’re not alone. That’s all I have to offer, for whatever small value’s there.
My brother was a great man. He was fun and talented and smart. He loved his kids with all his heart and hated that alcohol was keeping them from him, and he knew, would eventually take him away from all of us. He was funny as hell and had a memory of our childhood better than mine even after decades of self abuse. He could balance a table on his chin and sound more like an Irishman than anyone born and raised there.
Beware: Next Attempt By Corrupt Camera Company to Steal From NJ Motorists is Underway
POSTED BY DECLAN O'SCANLON · MAY 17, 2017 12:17 PM
Quick: what do you when you come upon a school bus from the opposite direction - but there is a grass median between you and the bus?
Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon today warned NJ motorists that Redflex Traffic systems - one of the two now infamous red light camera companies blessedly sent packing with the end of the failed pilot program in December - is trying to bring automated enforcement back to NJ.
The "Third Option" To Efficient Policing
POSTED BY DECLAN O'SCANLON · NOVEMBER 30, 2016 9:52 AM
The concept of municipal consolidation/shared services is referred to by some as the panacea for high property taxes. Others claim that consolidation/shared services is a pipe dream and not worth pursuing because no single service will solve our property tax problem. Both sides of this argument are wrong. No one act or reform will slash our taxes - short of major increases in other taxes. To argue that we shouldn't pursue such reforms because they won't save "enough" is to argue against doing anything to cost costs. On the contrary, the answer is we must do EVERYTHING.
Merging of municipalities is a heavy lift. People have nostalgic attachments to their town names and pride in their community identity. And if things don't go as well as planned, ain't no going back. That leaves shared services as the sweet spot - much easier to attain than wholesale municipal mergers and can generate 60 to 80% of the savings.
We must then hone in on the areas where we can get the greatest amount of savings. Things like public works and administration sound like good targets but those areas have already, frequently, been cut to the bone. One area in many municipalities that is ripe for restructuring: police.
Assemblyman O'Scanlon's Original Post-9/11 Column
POSTED BY DECLAN O'SCANLON · SEPTEMBER 11, 2016 12:26 PM
This originally appeared in Assemblyman O'Scanlon's Carpe Eatem Column:
So what’s the author of an irreverent restaurant review column to do when the whole country is feeling somber and sick to its collective stomach?
Wow. I was in the middle of writing my first column after my summer sabbatical when the first plane hit the Trade Center. Every exclamation ever conceived by anyone throughout history has been used to describe the horror that occurred that day. I’m not an eloquent enough writer to improve on that. But I can’t simply crank up and move on without some form of acknowledgement. So here’s my humble, jumbled Carpe Eatem take. You’ll have to forgive me – I’m much better at irreverence than reverence.
Anyone who’s been a regular reader of this column knows about my belief in God. I’ve cited scads of evidence that irrefutably supports my conviction: in the smile of an old woman as you hold a door, in hot fudge sundaes, in the eyes of your dog when you get home, in that first bite of an Auntie Anne’s Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel, in every touch from someone you love, in love itself, in Windmill Cheese Fries. Tomorrow the car will break down, my roof will spring a leak or a loved one (or 10,000 loved ones) might be taken from me unexpectedly. I’ll be mad and stranded and wet and sad. But that doesn’t change the evidence. But in case the everyday, whimsical examples of God’s existence, and supreme sense of humor, aren’t enough to convince you, witness then the reaction of people since September 11th’s destruction.
Like everyone after the attack I sat there before my TV. Dumbstruck. Flirting with contemplation of the horror. In shock. No appetite – which for me is a pretty big, sad deal. Having been sitting in front of my computer doing a food column maybe was what sparked my thoughts of the buildings. My first trip to the Trade Center was with my dad for what was likely my 10th birthday. Windows on the world baby. Nothing excites a boy more (before his 16th birthday anyway) than tree forts. The Trade Center towers were the motherload of tree forts. I still remember looking out those windows – convinced that I could see so far that if I strained just a little harder I could see all the way around to the back of my head looking the other way. I remember the layout of the place and the thin fried onions on my steak. I always just assumed that someday I’d bring my kids there.
On Wednesday night – the day after the attack – I sat late at night all alone on my back deck. It was so quiet with no planes in the air and no people on the streets that I could hear every cricket, and the sound of my dog breathing as he lay asleep at my feet. There was no wind – as if the world itself had stopped turning. And it was just time to cry. But I still wasn’t hungry.
I had to drive North into Connecticut on the Saturday following the attack. Almost every bridge had banners and flags flying from it. One, in particular, stood out. It was one simple word – FAITH. And each letter was written in Red, White and Blue. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Those of us who have lost someone we love know the worst feeling in the world – when you wake up the day after they die and you have to almost relive the moment you lost them all over again. Then you lie there. Listening to the world outside – the trains running as usual, phones ringing, people going on with their lives. And it seems wrong that they don’t know that the person you loved is gone. But that’s not the case with this loss. Those who are grieving for loved ones lost know that everywhere they go, every minute of every day, that every American is grieving with them. I don’t know exactly why that makes me feel so much better, but it does.
The United States of America was born out of a struggle with an opponent who underestimated our resilience, ignored our resolve and couldn’t comprehend our spirit. Since then we’ve vanquished numerous adversaries who made the same miscalculations. This one too shall fall. Rising to the occasion is our specialty. It’s all about FAITH.
It’s at the moments of our greatest adversity that we as individuals and we as a Country excel beyond everyone’s wildest estimation. We could dwell on the unfortunate reality that adversity frequently comes with the loss of people and places and things dear to our hearts. Or, we could honor those who have fallen by rising to this occasion like we have never before in our lifetimes. I bet our fallen loved ones would opt for the latter.
Of course one of the best aspects of this truly wonderful society that we’ve created is our irreverence, our wit, and our ability to survive even the most heinous devastation with our good humor intact. So while we’re busy kicking the butts of those responsible for this terrible attack we must remember – ya gotta eat. Toward that end Carpe Eatem will be here all along the way. One of a billion small efforts that will collectively show the world that our spirit can’t be beat. If only I had an appetite…
On the Thursday after the bombing I was still doing what everyone else was doing – watching TV in shock. The news was focusing on the rescue effort. They cut to a camera and sounds of the recovery area. The machines were loud and there was banging and clanging as the tireless rescuers continued to remove the shattered remnants of the Trade Center in a desperate search for survivors. All of a sudden I was aware of more sound than was coming out of the TV. Someone was banging and clanging outside my house. I looked out the window and had one of those faith affirming moments of hope that – if you’re paying attention – seem to show up just when you need them. The sound outside my window, which was melding almost perfectly with the sounds emanating from the rescue effort on my TV, was that of a guy across the street installing a giant, wooden stork announcing the birth of my neighbors’ baby. He was born Tuesday, September 11. Mid morning. Suddenly I had a craving for a bacon cheeseburger.
Faith.
Carpe Eatem.
Links to Red Light Camera Studies
POSTED BY DECLAN O'SCANLON · JULY 20, 2016 12:57 PM
Here are links to studies supporting our claims on Red Light Cameras:
University of South Florida Study:
USF follow-up to their study, taking aim at the Insurance Institute's claims: http://www.baynews9.com/content/dam/news/static/baynews9/documents/2014/01/Red-light-camera-study-usf-124.pdf
Article summarizing USF findings:Study finds red light cameras cause accidents | Watchdog Wire - Florida:
Watchdog Wire - Study finds red light cameras cause accidents
University of North Carolina A&T study prepared for US DOT:
http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/burkeyobeng.pdf
Crashes increase at Winnipeg intersections with 7 years of data:
Winnipeg Sun red light cameras disgrace
A California firm was found to rig their data in a bid to keep red light cameras:
California: Firm found to rig data in bid to keep rlc
Analysis Of National Data Finds No Benefit To Red Light Cameras:
Analysis_Of_National_Data_Finds_No_Benefit_To_Red_Light_Cameras.pdf
Roundup of Red Light Camera Studies:
http://thenewspaper.com/news/04/430.asp
Stunning Cost/Benefit Analysis Obliterates Red Light Camera Credibility
POSTED BY DECLAN O'SCANLON · JULY 14, 2016 4:20 PM
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) today released the first true cost/benefit calculations of the NJ red light camera pilot program. The numbers are striking, and devastating to the camera program.
“The best way to assess the success of any program – government or private – is to actually assess the value of the program versus the cost. If a program costs you more than the value it returns, then it is a bad investment – and should be discontinued. This is particularly applicable to automated enforcement programs like red light cameras. If the total value of “accident cost savings” is less than the amount of fines charged, then the deal stinks for NJ drivers. You can’t argue with these numbers because they come directly from the state study” said O’Scanlon.
O’Scanlon outlined that the methodology of the NJ red light camera study lends itself particularly well to a cost benefit analysis. “The NJ RLC study applies a monetary value to accidents based on the degree of severity. A fender bender costs $7,400, a possible injury costs $44,900, an ‘evident injury’ costs $79,000, a disabling injury costs $216,000 and a death – although there weren’t any deaths at qualified study intersections either before or during the assessment period – would cost $4,008,900. The numbers employed coming from straight from the Highway Safety Improvement Program Manual, from there it is easy to do the math” said O’Scanlon.
“The easy and most honest answer is that there were no savings – since we have demonstrated that cameras don’t improve safety. So there are only costs. Those costs amount to around $40 million per year. That’s the total fines paid by NJ motorists – with normally half the proceeds going to the municipality, with the other half going to the camera operators. That’s almost too easy, so we decided to see if there would be net savings using the camera company/town fabricated savings numbers. They try to suggest that there are savings even though we have shown that any reductions line up with natural accident rate trends and fluctuations or can be attributed to factors other than the cameras. Stunningly, even using the tortured numbers – the cameras are a disaster from a cost/benefit perspective.
Using the most statistically significant data set from New Jersey’s red light camera reports, 22 intersections with over 3 years of data, one finds that this data set averages 12,200 citations per month. This translates to 146,400 tickets per year costing motorists at least $12,444,000. The supposed “savings” at those intersections is $390,000. That leaves a net cost to motorists of over $12,000,000! Looked at another way, the program takes almost $32 in fines for every $1 saved. By any objective standard, the red light camera experiment was a disaster.
This Op-Ed originally appeared on tapinto.net:
Here are links to studies supporting our claims on Red Light Cameras:
University of South Florida Study:
USF follow-up to their study, taking aim at the Insurance Institute's claims: http://www.baynews9.com/content/dam/news/static/baynews9/documents/2014/01/Red-light-camera-study-usf-124.pdf
Article summarizing USF findings:Study finds red light cameras cause accidents | Watchdog Wire - Florida:
Watchdog Wire - Study finds red light cameras cause accidents
University of North Carolina A&T study prepared for US DOT:
http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/burkeyobeng.pdf
Crashes increase at Winnipeg intersections with 7 years of data:
Winnipeg Sun red light cameras disgrace
A California firm was found to rig their data in a bid to keep red light cameras:
California: Firm found to rig data in bid to keep rlc
Analysis Of National Data Finds No Benefit To Red Light Cameras:
Analysis_Of_National_Data_Finds_No_Benefit_To_Red_Light_Cameras.pdf
Roundup of Red Light Camera Studies:
http://thenewspaper.com/news/04/430.asp
Memorial Day 'Carpe Eatem' Column
POSTED BY DECLAN O'SCANLON · MAY 29, 2016 12:22 PM
This column was originally published Memorial Day 2000. I have repurposed it here, in honor of Memorial Day.
Today’s vocabulary word is “perspective.” Occasionally as we make our way through another
day, another week, another year, something happens that stops us in our tracks and makes us
think. Memorial Day is supposed to be a day that triggers that kind of reflection. Of course even
that day has become part of the yearly routine. Almost unnoticed. Certainly not given much
thought by most of us.
Memorial Day has become a day of summer’s anticipation during which we consume massive
amounts of food and drink and lie in the sun. Thus the connection to this column. This column
is about all the pleasures of food and good times. This one week it would be a good idea to put
the things we enjoy into perspective. How did we get “here” and who was responsible for
making “here” the great place it is.
There are not too many things in history - or traits of the people of our country - that we can look
at and say, with much certainty, that they were world changing events or characteristics. The
wars fought by the United States of America and the character of the people that fought them are
exceptions. Without either, the world would be a very different place.
I write this admittedly goofy column every week about cheese fries and hotdogs and mile long
buffet tables without much thought or thanks to those people that made the sacrifices that paid
for everything we have today. We as individuals are so proud of our own personal successes that
we frequently fail to realize that none of what we have today would have been possible without
that big eared kid that waved good-bye to his mom when he shipped off to fight and die in World
War II or I or any of the other wars or battles the United States has waged. I know there are
those that would argue that the purpose of some of the wars we have waged is debatable. Viet
Nam always stirs heated debate. But the men who served and died there were no less responsible
for instilling in the generations that have followed them a sense of honor and duty and courage
than were those who served in the previous campaigns.
This being a food oriented column I recently spent some time reflecting on the dinners that must
have been consumed around this country the night before a member of a family was shipped
overseas to die for us. Did their mothers know, via that 6 th sense that mothers seem to have, as
they served their sons that last meal that it would in fact be that? Did they pay extra special
attention to the way their sons held their forks, the huge amounts they ate and that they still had
to be reminded to eat their vegetables? Did they send them away the next day knowing they
would never see them again?
My generation has not had to go through the fear of the draft or the likelihood that we would - in
large numbers - be sent off to die in war. Our mothers haven’t had to face what they knew might
likely be our last meal with them. We haven’t had to go through those things because those that
came before us were strong enough to go through them for us – and those that go off to war
today volunteer to do so, so the rest of us won’t have to. The ghosts of those that have fallen sit
next to us at our picnic tables and it is – consciously or not - to them we drink. They sit there
I’m sure, reveling in the world they made possible, watching our children playing in the yard,
knowing that our children’s young lives hold as much potential as they do in no small part due to
the sacrifices our fallen heroes made.
I don’t intend for this column to leave anyone feeling depressed or even solemn. Reverence and
joy are not mutually exclusive emotions. In fact I can’t think of a place closer to heaven than a
backyard Memorial Day barbecue! We just should make sure we understand who we have to
thank for the day off and all the other wonderful things in our lives, and perhaps our lives
themselves. Don’t worry loyal readers - next week we’ll dive squarely back into the pool of
irreverence. It just never hurts to once and awhile remind ourselves who we have to thank for
that ability.
Blasting the Myths, and Making the Case for Reasonable Speed Limits
POSTED BY DECLAN O'SCANLON · APRIL 28, 2016 10:46 AM
This Op-Ed is posted to MoreMonmouthMusings.net
The editorial board recently took a position AGAINST setting speed limits based on engineering criteria and FOR setting limits based on the hunches of unqualified elected officials and bureaucrats. The position is so fundamentally flawed, so based on decades-old defunct myths, so devoid of any basis in actual fact, that it's hard to decide where to begin.
My speed limit initiative is a simple one - set speed limits based on sound engineering criteria. I would remove uninformed or profit-motivated elected officials and bureaucrats from the process. Traffic laws shouldn't be based on the random hunches of any of us. Setting any law by hunch only diminishes the public's confidence in ALL laws. That's not a way to enhance safety anywhere. Why should the public take a 25 mph school speed limit seriously when we randomly post such speed limits all over - including stretches of roadway that should be posted at 40? Don't even get me started on the damage random limits have on the image of our police - who become the face of these arbitrary laws.