WyBlog

1. Eliminate property tax rebates. OK, this seems like blasphemy coming from a conservative. But bear with me. The rebates are a gimmick, taking tax money from one source and using it to defray another tax. It would be far more efficient to simply cut the property tax in the first place.

2. Cut state funding of "the arts" to zero. Medieval Popes and Kings set themselves up as patrons of the arts. They commissioned magnificient works to glorify God and/or their own legacies. Jon Corzine is just a mediocre bureaucrat. He doesn't need an artistic legacy. Government has no business supporting artists, starving or otherwise. Let some rich liberal philanthropist pay their bills.

3. Privatize NJN television. The New Jersey Network is public television bought and paid for by the taxpayers of our state. Back in the days before 500 cable channels it might have made sense for New Jersey to have it's own TV voice on the airwaves. Nowadays it's a white elephant, mostly rebroadcasting shows produced by other PBS outlets. Kick it to the curb.

4. Eliminate the Office of the Public Advocate. Only in New Jersey could we create an arm of government with the sole purpose of giving the citizens assistance with navigating the byzantine halls of government. It's in effect a branch of the government which exists to chide the other branches of government. Isn't that what the Attorney Generals' office is for?

5. Merge our multitude of police and law enforcement entities. Every town has a police force. There are county police, not to be confused with county sheriffs. We've got transit police, Port Authority police, housing police, harbor patrol, maritime units, K-9 units, Hazmat teams, game wardens, and a private police force at every public university. The State Police patrol our highways.

The feds have FBI, DEA, DHS, US Marshalls, and who knows how many others. And still there's never a cop around when you need one. Every one of those police forces has commanders and clerks and overhead that we pay for. How they manage to coordinate their activities is beyond me. The probably don't.

New York City has NYPD. They merged their transit and housing police into it. It's time for New Jersey to do the same. Cutting all the excess overhead and eliminating the overlapping jurisdictions has got to result in some pretty significant cost savings.