Steve Sweeney Awakes From His Slumber

At least temporarily:

State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney said this morning that some local mayors essentially have been duped into supporting Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed toolkit to aid municipalities in controlling property taxes. 

“I can’t believe the mayors let themselves get bought into something that’s not going to save them,” Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said during a news conference at the Statehouse. “Because it’s not.” 

Sweeney argued that civil service reform -— one of the major parts of the governor’s toolkit -— would only affect one-third of New Jersey’s municipalities. 

“So how is that going to fix everything?” he asked. “It needs to be reformed, and we’re going to reform it. 

He also said that, although it is needed, arbitration reform -— the process through which public contract negotiations at impasse are resolved —- would not fix all municipal budget ills either. And he added that the governor was hiding behind the toolkit as a way of deflecting blame when property taxes continue to rise. 

“These are sound bites the governor has convinced people are going to fix things, so when taxes go up again, the governor is going to say, ‘I gave them a cap. I gave them tools, and it’s their fault that taxes and spending keep going up. Don’t look at my … funding cuts to municipal aid, school aid, rebates. Don’t look at them, they had nothing to do with it. It’s the mayors’ fault.' ” Sweeney said. “This is about assigning blame and … pointing fingers.” 

But the TOOLKIT fixes everything! Its magical powers prevent tooth decay, make your whites even whiter, and gets 50 MPG on the highway!

I wonder what made Christie think he could get away with a goofy scheme like this? It's not like Sweeney has stood up next to him and endorsed any of his cockamamie plans before...

Oh - never mind...