Governor jim mcgreavy who served from 2002 until he resigned in 2004. He joins us from the cspan bus and governor, you recently formed a Nonprofit Corporation called the new jersey Reentry Corporation. Whats its focus . The focus is to understand that for numerous individuals coming back from prison or county jail, that they need to be assisted to reclaim their lives and what we do is work with exoffenders, whether in providing for training and employment, housing, Addiction Treatment, also Legal Services to help clean up, if you will the legal wreckage of their past lives, addressing Child Support and most importantly, linking people to a federally qualified Health Center so they have the Necessary Health health care. We assist people, literally in making their lives hole and insuring working to insure they lead healthy lives. And recidivism rate is employment rate is 62 . And were grateful for the leadership of steve sweeney, governor christie. This is an issue in new jersey that has strong bipartisan support and so im blessed to do this work. When did you get interested and why . I got interested after i resigned. I went to seminary for three years and the dean of the seminary sent me up to harlem and i worked at a place called exdsz Transitional Ministry and saw men and women largely coming out of state and federal prisons. They wanted the same things i always wanted. A place to lay their head at night, three square meals a job of purpose and to live with their families but theres so many institutional barriers. Many did not have an identification but for their department of corrections id. So the difficulty of accessing benefits. The difficulty of accessing safe, secure housing and employment. And so weve worked to have if you will a onestop shop and we have one purpose and you know as a lawyer in my past life and a past Government Official i had had in a sense a familiarator of how to navigate the bureaucracy. But for someone dp coming out of prison so offen the bureaucratic requirements whether its general assistance, housing, employment and training. You have to navigate through the almost byzantine maze and thats what we do and i think we do it efelktively and this has been so much of a thrust on a bipartisan basis in new jersey and im proud of the work our clients are doing and it can be done. If i can just say its so much less expensive than prison. Prison is 55,000 a year. Theres no return on it. Every rational academic, prison administrative will say people almost invarably come out worse. Frankly the rhythms of prison. We work cooperatively on the ground to help people are eclaim their lives and for the overwhelming majority of prisoners who are serious i think weve achieved sound success. And if youd like to partace pit in our conversation with former new jersey about prisoner justice reform, 202 is the area code. 7488,001 for republicans. And finally if you have some experience at some level with prison, we want to hear about your experience. 2027488003. You used a 19 recidivism rate but the report your Reentry Corporation sent out said 53 of new jersey prisoners will be rearrested at some point after theyre released and that there is a recidivism rate of 31 . Wheres the 19 come from in . Thats within our program. But id like the give kudos to commissioner gary that new jersey understands the importance of linking people with services and i would argue this is one of the few issues where democrats and republicans come together. Ironically you look at governor pence, indiana has one of the strongest expungement laws in the country. So if were looking at the fact that we have 2 million americans incarcerated and invaryaebl 97 of which are coming home, we have to do so much better than the failure rate were achieving today which is almost 2 3 go back invaryably. 70 75 of people behind bars are clinically addicted. I think governor christie and president sweeney to their credit in new jersey have made Addiction Treatment a preferred option as opposed to incarceration. Second is housing. You need a secure sober place in which to live. And employment in training. Theres so much particularly in terms of manufacturing where lots of young people dont necessarily want to pursue. Were trying to link Vocational Education and those skills required so that individuals coming out of prison can develop the skills. Were replicating some of the good things that have been done whether its in North Carolina or kentucky or other states to make sure that, as my dad would say the best social program in the world is a job. And unfortunately when they walk out of prison theyre precluded from employment but ironically theyre almost condemned to go back to running and gunning and doping. So i think this is, god willing transsends all parties understanding the importance of Second Chances, second opportunities. Its what this nation was built on and thats why im grateful for the bipartisan strength in new jersey in supporting our reentry initiative. Of the 41,000 prisoners currently behoo hind bars in new jersey, is there a percentage of how many could be released through this program . Whether its the law of the release act or parole that everyone is almost coming back. And you can make a sound argument those who are the most violent i used to be a former prosecutor. What we need understand is that were 5 of the worlds population but were 25 of the worlds incarcerated population. Thats out of balance. Americans are not necessarily more malevolent or criminally addict addicted. In large measure our county jails and to a great extent our state prisons are frankly warehouses for those who are addicted and mentally ill. 75 of our clients are addicted and approximately 1 3 mentally ill. The question would be and i think this is a question that the governor has posed and democrats and republicans is this the moist proep ret setting and thats why governor has refired for a drug facility. Were providing exlungement for those individuals that have only drug free in charges. We need understand america pfsz imprisonment or almost prefer is not owny aly financially failed eskate and only 11 . It was a great report out of columbia university. Columbia center of Addiction Sciences and alcoholism that says only 11 of people behind bars are treated for their addiction. And so that means people are literally tolling time behind the road and theyre trying to grapple with employment, housing, and their family and theyre not at that time about to go to an Addiction Treatment center. And they said lets make the time behind the wall productive. Lets provide for enhanced employment and training. I think georgia is making that time. We need to Link Services stronger in a more pleasing look. And lastly, the Business Community has to be part of this, peter. We have great midsize new jersey corp rashzs that have decide tootd give people a break. Steve are taking people incarcerated. But what we need is major american businesses whose corporate Head Quarters are not located new jersey to understand the importance of Second Chances. If they get right with their higher power, with their god but dont for the ability with self sufficiency through employment, theyre never going to be productive tax paying citizens. If you look at murder sequences, for example. Individual murderers have among the lowest recidivism across the country. Its like a 1 to 2 . Thats because so many of our perceptions and i think we need understand to employ best practices and provide opportunities for people to be productive and transform their lives. Otherwise end this recidivism that is far too expensive. Lets hear what our viewers have to say. Steven, republican line. Steven, please go ahead. Were listening. Yes. Steven, one more chance. Go ahead. What do you want me to do . Talk about what mcgreavy said . Tell you what were go having to to move on. Once you get on the phone state your question were all listeni listening. Arnette from lancaster, South Carolina. Thank you and thank you governor mcgreavy for your human concern. Ive worked as a chaplain, also as a prison guard and in the United States air force i worked as a stalk aid person. Youve done it all. Well, when i firs got out of the air force in 1972 i worked at the va hospital in new york. My wife being from new york we transferred there. Im from North Carolina. Much of the problems that i see with prison is the criminalization of Police Departments that use human beings for their municipalities finances. Here in South Carolina the police can walk up in the yard. You can tell them that theyre tress passing but they can sit across the street with benocialers and look inside your window and come into your yard, arrest you. In my life of 69 years i only spent two nights in jail. Both from a criminalization process. I was a military policeman, worked as a desk sergeant so i was able to write complaints. Ive written three complaints to the police chief in lancaster and havent received not one answer. Lets hear what governor mcgreavy has to say. One, thank you for calling and thank you for being a prison chapel because on a personal level i find with so many of the inmates that we cant change our lives with the present level of thinking. So we rely heavily on scripture and understanding the importance of higher power whether its aa, na or faith. In new jersey weve developed really Close Relationships with Police Departments which is so important and weve worked particularly for people that have exited, have left prison. They come back the to the street and the community. We work with crisis intervention, particularly if someone has a problem with adiction. This heroin addiction and fentanyl is so pernishes and troublism is so that a person is not [ back to county jail. So we have this close cooperative relationship through various counties and municipal Police Departments that we understand after we spent all this time trying to provide employment and training that if someone relapses, we dont want to undue the work weve done but that we have close cooperative relationships with Police Departments who have been invaluable. Iras is calling in. Independent line. Well, hi. I was just wondering what a cost before you put them in prison for the court, the arrest. Thats expensive. And if youre spending 55,000 for every prisoner, i believe 55,000 for every student k through 12 would be the best spent and i believe drug deal rbz are the worse on the planet because they should be separated from the drugs while in prison and not given drugs in prison and spending too much time trying to give them a better life while children are going around with inadequate education. Keep the drugs out of our lives, get rid of them. Where theres a will, theres a way. People can find dealers all right. Iris. I thij we got the point. Governor. Iris, it reminds me of that quote ye shall reap what we shall sew. The contrast between those who complete high school and complete college and those who dont, theres a remarkable distinction in terms of the prupencety of going to prison. On the question of addiction. We have a crisis in this country and theres been a remarkable literally within the last couple of years of indeed fentanyl being bundled if you will in baking soda and what this has done what this does in terms of their neurological pathways and this is an addiction crisis. Were doing so many things right i think in new jersey in terms of housing and employment and Legal Services linking people to health care but weve got a real challenge. The importance of Law Enforcement particularly on the interdiction of synthetic opioids. This is a scourge. Weve lost clients, the numbers of which i have never seen and so i think this is going to take a full approach on behalf of congress in terms of Prescription Drug monitoring, protecting our borders as well as making treatment a preferred option. But i agree with iris and secondly, i think it was the state of new york. For the second year in a row is actually spending more money than on higher education. We have to understand that spending this inordinate amount of had dollars is not without a cost and that in an era of limited resources, it was facing other budget items that would yield greater investments such as education. And i think thats why in new jersey with the Senate President and the governor, they understand the importance of Vocational Education. Giving people the skills to compete in the marketplace, in the work force and if youre interested, youre willing to stay sober, maintain employment, then were going to give you the skills to be part of the work force and be a productive tax paying citizen and thats something all New Jerseyans should cherish. Lets hear from nitro. Lets hear about your experience with prison. Hi. I spent quite a few years ago from 1989 to 1993 in the Florida State prison system. And while i was there after i was there two 1 2 years i was offered drug treatment. By the way i went in for a nonviolent crime. I went in for drugs, specifically heroin and back then fentanyl was just being intertruced into heroin. Fentanyl is so dangerous. I have been clean for a long time. It took a long time and i have to tell you if somebodys arrested i would say this. It took time. I had been arrested many times before and gone to jail. Hello, are you there. Were listening. Tell us about when you got out of prison. I got out with 100 and a bus ticked from florida back to new york and was it not for my family, if i had had no support like many people who come out of prison do not have, i would not have had a place to live. I would not have had had food to eat. I got out and so what thats the point were trying to say. What options would you have had had . You were one, thank you for your curage and thank you for sharing because your stories give me hope and so many of our clients hope. The point were saying and if it anybodys interested please look at our website, new jersey reentry. But his point is well taken. If somebody comes out and particularly maxes out of prison and on your way out dont let the door hit you on your back side. What services are available. Thats what were trying to do. Were working with people to make sure they have access to Addiction Treatment. To make sure they have intensive out patient to keep sober. You cant be a good father. You cant be a productive employee. You cant pay your rent. So these services we have were expanding throughout the state but we understand that were going to give somebody i had a friend of mine who came out after 30 years. He said not only do the buses change but also the streets change. He didnt know how to navigate government, didnt know where it was. And so their only options would have been was frankly to go back because you have to eat the next day. You have to have a place to live. And for those of us who havent lived ape shelter, its a pretty tough place to live, let alone show up to work every day and i just think as a country this is not onlywn civil rights issue b be smarter. If were willing to spend 55 k for concrete wires, were using all existing Government Services. What governor christie did and the Senate President said was look at all these Government Services but have onestop shopping so we can help the person walking out of the prison, help him stand on his feet, get structured sober housing. Go to employment and training program. Get Legal Services to get his identification. And to lirng him to a health care. To a federally qualifies health care. Now were blessed to have the Affordable Care act. Its our clients who are heroic and there are a few. If i could say to the majority of White America to look at our clients who want to wurks want to be reunified with their family, they just want the chance and the opportunity and i think thats what were doing. Matthew henderson, North Carolina. Im an exoffender in new jersey and ive lived in several states. New jerseys programs are very well instituted considering the rest of the country. My problem being is the things that are cut off to exfelens like pelgrants or whatever theyre called now. Youre not eligible for food stamps if your going to school. Theres so many things cut off from, including jobs. Im having a problem with that now. Matthew, youre so right. And let me say and some of these restrictive laws were passed by democratic congresses and republican congresses, democratic president s and republican president s. Were going to preclude the ability of people that are coming back from earning a living, from having asistence. So what were trying to say is if someones going to come back and not have the opportunity for general assistance in the first week, what opportunity do nay have . As a former effected officials it was great sound bietd but youre condemning people to the same criminal parterns theyve had had had in the past. Say for example Senate President , his brother who happens to run an iron workers logo. Having a skill thats going to if able them to have a high quality of flief the rest of their lives. You compare that with no, you cant ever have any benefits, youre precluded from any receiving benefits. All were asking is all the people coming out of prison have the same access to programs to help them stand on their feet. I know ive made a lot of mistakes in my life. Alliumrapher asking is for the clients for the opportunity for them to get back on their feet. If i can the addiction crisis we talked about earlurate. I mean the heroin crisis is a scourge and particularly in middle class america. We have a conclagz. But people in prisons, 75 of which are addicted. So we have to understand and i think the Senate President has and has spoken on the question of making sure treatment is the preferred option, that we need to get people healthy, get them the skills they need. Thats not the answer and when they come out saying theyre precluded from any benefits to get back on their feerkts isnt your answer is there are very few people except for michael who would have a home, three square meals and the possibility of somebody loving him. Thts rr why these. And governor, you were a former prosecutor. Youve been elected to office many times. Did you use the tough on crime as a. Ep my uncle, my cousins and im proud to come to that tradition. The cop on the beat. They know what works and what doesnt work. For me, yeah, tough on crime sounded good. Maybe getting older, wider, seminary but people want to be sleeping on a bed thats safe and so the chaos of the streets clearly unffrpinately has an allure. But for the guys i come back with said jim, look it. After 20 years in prison, he actually moved to a farm in pennsylvania because he just wanted quiet. So what im surj suggesting is this is one of americas glsh trp in terms of violence, personal property, kbiz i seeical property lost. I think the sum nationally is upwards of 72 billion. And whatiable have employment thats going to get them to job, make sure that whatever its hepatitis a, b, teerp if we help them to stand up on the short term skb our program is only 2200 top and thats why we need Business Community. Frrbs i think america will be a much better place. Were 5 of the worlds population but 25 of the worlds inkarszerated community. This isnt a republican or democratic issue. Ive worked with everything from liberal catholics to evangelical partnerships. This is about Second Chances and lighters. I would ask us all to have a different perspective of giving people the opportunity to reclaim their lives and dignity. And joining us from the cspan bus on our 50 state capitol. Tour. And by the way, feeter. Its a great fwrus. In just a few minutes president of the new jersey state sent, steve sweeney, will be joining us on that bus in downtown trenton. But first we want to show you new jersey senator, cory booker. Im one of those people that believes the ideals of this nation are evident not just in the strength of our military but also in the strength of our system of health care and that it is a violation of our principals and values as a nation what our Health Care System breaks down to not ideals we see in the military we stand for everyone rich or poor. But suttenly with accessing lifer saving procedures. That boils down to who is getting gets access. And somehow that should not be covered in our ideals. We are a nation that professes the most profound values. The oldest democracy that put forth ideas that we are not a theocracy. That we are not a monarchy, that we are the oldest constitutional democracy that put ideals forward that became lights to other nations. This ideal that we believe in liberty and justice for all. What justice is there in the case of legislation that would cast millions of americans, our poorest americans, our elderly americans into a world where they no longer have a security of health care. Is that justice . Washington journal is lierv from trentden, new jersey and on the cspan bus now joining us is the leader of the new jersey state senate, steve sweeney. In a recent pole they found that these were the issues most important to new jersey residents, property taxes and then health insurance. 50 said property taxes. You agree with that . Absolutely, if not more. New jerseys been a state look, we have a lot of government in new jersey and that drives up property taxes. And theres a great deal of frustration because i think the average is 8500 for a home now. Public education. Whats the situation with Public Education in new jersey and why is the Education Association angry with you personally . Public educations an issue new jerseys very proud of. We have some of the greatest schools in the nation. The Education Association was fightingual me over an issue. And were trying to follow through the if formula you gave us. We have districts that have children that werent getting any funding. They were getting funding for 18,500 kids they didnt have and we have districts in the top 50 had had 12,500 kids that they actually physically had in their school and the argument was youre taking money from School Districts. Well, we took from those over funded to give to ntd founded. Its about fairness and its not an easy new jersey weve had a lot of financeal challenges between our pension, between all theish tews. But weve worked on a lot of these issues. Sometimes you puss people off. Nigh decision is it to do the right it something i work for the International Union in north korea. But as a senator i have to look at all members of a community and thats what i do. Were knowing to talk about some of the issues facing new jersey and national issues. 7488 hen hen hen well begin taking calls. Senator sweeney, go to your website and you look at your legislative agenda and snof bills youve been introducing. There seems to be a couple common themes and one is increase the minimum wage and another is legislation that effects people with dislth. Is that a Fair Assessment . I got into politics and i didnt go to college. A lot of times people complain and someone will tell you do to something about it. I did. First thing was to build schools for special needs killings and my focus has been helping the voiceless. One of the bills that we passed we banned the word retarded. And someone said thats just a word and words are meant to praise or and it. Which is it . Im the prime sponsor of pay equi equity. Youre going to see new jersey have the opportunity to show progressive ral r values that are that ingoing to hurt the economy. And the Business Community basically stha sky is falling. We actually gained 60 thousand jobs. They predicted we were going to lose 30. Peter, i learned it from my own experience with my daughter. You shouldnt be forced back to work when youre in a crisis and youre going back and forth to a hospital and your job. Were going to take it from six weeks to 12 weeks and increase the amount of money you can collect while youre on it so you can sustain yourself enough to not fall behind. Well, obviously im hoping for a new governor and im sure you can imagine what im looking for. Peter, you talked about education funding. We pass a millionaires tax, thats 640 million more that can go to education. And we had a recession and we fell way behind. In two years were going to add a billion dollar s in education funding. So theres a lot of things we believed in that governor christie would not support and for us it was important to let people know pee have not walked away. Women are making 82 cents of every man makes. A female welder makes the same as a male welder. They should get paid the same. So theres a whole host of legislation that we have been passing that when hes not governor in this state, were going to have a list, pass a lot of ledgeilation thats going to support the class. 9 million people. 34 billi 34 billion state budge. 72 cents of every dollar basically goes back to School Funding to running county colleges, universities. So 72 of it goes back in grants to a lot of communities. One of the problems we have is were government controlled. We have too much government. Yrv rr been a big proponent of shared services. And when i was like the county commissioner, we started consolidating services. We were saving over 30 million a year when i left office for the towns. So trying to consolidate services to reduce the inefficiency of having all these towns School Administrators and all of that, we wanted to consolidate. We kept the School District separate but had had one administration which saved 1. 5 million annually. So theres a way to be more efficient and not sacrifice and again new jerseys Public Schools are among the greatest in the nation and our goal was to insure we had had had and dan, youre on with state Senate President steve sweeney. Hi, good morning, senator. I was in south jersey School District and id like to say thank you for fighting so hard to allocate additional education dollars in this years state budget. And my question is what issues coo you plan to tackle in the next legislative session . The big issues are School Funding. We have to start moving to a pathway so our children are treated equally. And we want to get the pension fully funded. I was successful getting governor christie to sign so that the money goes in during the year and not the end of the year. Minimum wage is another big issue. Because we think that puts more money in the pockets of lower end working class people. That actually will put money back in the economy and the other big issue is the opioid problem that we have. Its a serious, serious problem that your neighbors, we have napers who lost their brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, to this disease. Please go ahead with your question or comment. Hi, good morning. This is patricia from the new Jersey Coalition against sexual assault. I want to just thank grou the leadership and support youve provided to our Rape Crisis Centers across new jersey. And the legislative successess over the past couple years. So i wanted to ask you while we have had is some significant successes, what do you see as our greatest opportunities and challenges ahead particularly in the federal climate when it comes to addressing sexual prevlance in new jersey . Its been a big fight for us to expand and provide more facilities and more options for kids that have been abused. I went to a place called the winoenau litness house named after the first African American freed senator in the state of new jersey. And when we saw that, we said this had had to be replicated throughout the state. Whats going on federally is really challenging for us because all youre hearing is them is talking about cutting programs. And we are starting to move in the right direction but we cant see all these programs cut. Theres value to a lot of these programs and well double down on our commitment to programs you run because they matter and change peoples lives especially when the damage has been done. We have to try to help put that person back together. But as i listen to whats going on in washington, its very troubling when lishening to the funding theyre talking about cutting, the tax policy that will crush New Jerseyans. And it will be an enormous tax increase for almost everybody in new jersey. My commitment is that were going to continued fight for funding. You crunch those and you start looking at the line items. Theyre people and thats what we really worked hard at is having people understand that 35 billion dollar budget, theres people dependent on these programs that make a difference in peoples lives. Earlier we talked about the reentry and pilot program. Are you supportive of that . Absolutely. And governor mcgreavys done a phenomenal job bringing this to the forefront. Its i tell people . You can get past the person, sometimes somebody looks at somebody and says they cant if theyre disabled. If you can get past that, that person can be very successful. And same with the person thats had a drug addiction or Mental Health issue, theres a stigma attached and we dont allow people to get past that health issue that caused the imbalance. So we have to start looking and thinking incarcerate people, to keep people locked up is instain. We need to find ways to help these people put their lives back together. Theyre human beings and they should be treated with respect and dignity like everyone else. If you had somebody with a drug issue, its a drug issue. Weve all had friends and family members that have had that happen. Its the same with Mental Health. What governor mcgreevey is doing is gods calling. Its the right thing to do. And we need to do more of that. But peter, one of the big things we really need to get past is the stigma when someone looks at someone. Thats what used to anger me with my daughter. People would stare at her. And i would say shes beautiful, isnt sne you would catch people offguard. She understands she is a little different. But she wants to be productive. Just like all disabled people. Just like people who have addictions. Theyre brothers or cousins or sisters. We want to at least give them a chance to have a normal life again. Andrea is calling in from pardon me crosswicks, new jersey. Youre on with senator sweeney. Hi, senator sweeney. I live in chesterfield, which is one of the most underfunded School Districts in the state of new jersey. And id like to echo the last two callers and thank you for leadership youve shown in the senate and in new jersey. Because of you, my district was able to get an additional 401, 205 that was very much needed in our district. Were only funded at 18 now. And its still not quite enough. So where do you think were going in this fight for more School Funding . Are we going to continue down this path . Whats next . Well, andreandrea, everyone chesterfield in the states, a very small community. We made shooter was known the unfairness that was taking place. When the state passed the School Formula funding act that. Put two temporary provisions in. One was so districts couldnt lose more money they had. Because the program was the money would follow the child. If School Districts were being funded for children they didnt have, they had a couple years to face that and then there was enrollment caps. Well, those temporary issues werent temporary. They were there for seven years you. Asked me why the Teachers Union was mad at me is there is 740 million in districts where there is no children, where they dont have the children for that funding. And we wanted to start moving that funding to where the children are. We can fully fund the School Funding formula. We absolutely can. And andrea, i am committed with the millionaires tax and additional funding next year, and then moving that money at the same time from these overfunded districts into the funded districts. We can fully fund our school program, our School Formula in five years. We know we can do it. It just takes a willingness. Look, it took us shutting the State Government down. We had to shut the State Government down for three days well, the fourth of july is when we finally passed the budget. But we had to shut the budget down for three days to ensure we start moving that money. So that money started moving because the money is supposed to follow the child. And my argument from time to time with some people is it fair for one teacher to have 35 kids in a classroom and another district that is overfunded to have 20 kids in a classroom and have one School District to have tablets for all their kids and the other districts are sharing books. So we have a game plan you. Saw how hard it was in new jersey to fix the problem. I can tell you when i intend to return to the senate, as Senate President , when we come back, we are going to fight like hell just as hard as we did this time to continue that progress so in the end of five years, no one will be pointing fingers at each other. The problem was people were i have mine. Shame on you. Well, were better if were all in it together. And thats where were focused and thats where were working hard to get to. Whats your relationship with governor christie . Listen, its been what its been since the beginning of time when he got elected, peter. He got elected governor. I got elected Senate President. So we sat down and we talked about he said to me, is there anything we can get done . I said we should focus on areas where we can compromise. And lets focus on those. And where we can compromise, well compromise and move the ball down the field. And it worked. And it worked for seven and a half years. We also had many fights where we couldnt compromise like the Supreme Court and there was a thing on job banning that he wanted to do and tackle the Civil Service that we blocked. So where we thought, you know, i had a decision to make, to do what theyre doing in washington and impose at all costs and have the people of the state suffer, or find areas to work through. Look, i got the governor to sign a quarterly pension payment bill which was critical to ensure that the Pension Fund Gets fund on a regular basis instead of what they do now. So, look, its a working relationship. It has been a working relationship. Where we dont agree, we dont agree. And hell tell you the same thing, you know. We try not to be partisan. But there are things we believe in that he doesnt, and thats why we, again, pay equity was a big issue for us. Were not walking way from it. Minimum wage, we stood our ground on things we believed in. And he stood his, what he believed in. And we havent been successful in the veto override at this point. But that doesnt mean we stop trying. Lets hear one more voice. And that is herald in westwood, new jersey. Good morning. Steve, im a 94yearold veteran of world war ii, and we are blessed with seven children. So now my children are like will soon be in their 70s. They all want to move away from new jersey. We dont want them to move. We want our family to stay together. But here is the problem. Here in westwood that. Want to build a 3 million maintenance garage the board of education. I talked to the councilmembers. They say they have no control over education. This is please do this. Let the local people, our local mayor and Council Control the budget of the board of education. My children, some two left already. They cannot they say dad, dad, im saying 16,000 a year. Im paying 14,000, im paying this, im paying that. They cannot. You had your chance. You did have your chance. President obama had his chance. He put us 19 trillion in debt. You had your chance as democrats all these years, you run, run, run. And what did you do . You gave the money away. All right. Thats harold in westwood. Senator sweeney . Well, you know, harold, one thing that id like you to know is this year we passed legislation that is raising the threshold on Retirement Income. So in new jersey, before you were exempt on the first 15,000. And if you were single, and then they taxed you on the rest of your Retirement Income and 20,000 if you were married. Over the next few years were going to raise that threshold to 75,000 if youre single and 100,000 if youre married. Whats that going to do, thats going help people hold on the more of their money. In fact, 90 of our seniors are going to be able to keep a lot more of their money. As far as the schools, Capital Projects are supposed to are normally put on the ballot for people to vote on. So thats something that your local districts, their local governments are elected. And they have their say. But so do the voters because they can vote for change. Steve sweeney is president of the new jersey senate. He joins us from trenton on the cspan bus, which is on a 50state capitol tour. Well want to thank our partners
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