Many a time have people heard about politicians who do plenty of talking. However, verbal rhetoric is only meaningful when backed by actual deeds aimed at the improvement of what politicians oversee, which is society and its welfare. The incumbent Senate President of New Jersey, Stephen Sweeney is one of such politicians who may be said to utilize his legislative authority to its limit. He has showed his aptitude in areas, such as education, property ownership, taxation, healthcare, and the protection of different social categories. Of course, as with other prominent politicians, however renowned, Sweeney has made some controversial steps like the pension law. Still, it may be an unpopular decision spelling well for the elderly residents in the long run although the law is now being demonized to a degree by sceptics and political opposition. Sweeney’s ability to listen to people, to take an innovative approach, to reform state systems, to challenge political allies when necessary, and to champion social welfare make him a proper replacement of the current governor of New Jersey, as do his accomplishments in the capacity of the senate president.
Literature Review
The analysis of multiple sources has pointed to Stephen Sweeney working towards improving the life of New Jerseyans in a variety of fields, such as education, property ownership, taxation, healthcare, and protection of people representing different social categories. “Steve Sweeney” (n.pag.) highlights the role the New Jersey senate president played in the protection of homeowners via the implementation of the bill placing a cap on the property tax. To evaluate the legal effort in an unbiased way, Sheingold and Ensslin (n.pag.) refer to the opinion of a research center director and Sweeney’s spokesperson, both seeing the positive effect of the initiative in the years after its adoption. “Steve Sweeney” (n.pag.) further enumerates the accomplishments of the politician dwelling on the removal of the income tax for seniors in an attempt to create conditions for them to stay in NJ. Kitchenman (n.pag.) reports about Sweeney’s effort to reform the healthcare system by making it more patient-centered. The author shows the innovative nature of the new approach and compares it with the healthcare delivery model of Medicaid. Kitchenman (n.pag.) also mentions important benefits, such as the reduction of insurance premiums and the improvement of healthcare quality.
“Steve Sweeney” (n.pag.) switches attention to Sweeney’s efforts to reform pensions and health benefits system capable of saving billions of dollars. Bob and Barbara Dreyfuss (n.pag.) are critical of his pension law sounding concerned with teachers and employees. Seidman (n.pag.) too cites the opinions of critics as well as revealing the actual figure of the unfunded liability of the pension system. By contrast, NBC Philadelphia (n.pag.) presents a gradual course of actions that can stabilize the system, without leading to adverse consequences. Such course demonstrates the pension law may be nothing but an unpopular decision with long-term positive benefits. “Inquirer Editorial: The Loyal Opposition” (n.pag.) builds his argument of Sweeney’s positive influence on NJ on a contrast between the senate president and NJ governor Christie while pointing to Sweeney’s efforts to raise the bar of the minimum salary regardless of the governor opposition. The source authors also pay attention to the legal initiative providing the work-funded paid family leave. The authors of “Steve Sweeney” (n.pag.) also mention the program referring to it as the Paid Family Leave Program. Also highlighted is the fact that the senator has passed around 30 bills greatly prioritizing job generation and investment in transportation. Silber (n.pag.) goes further than the previous researchers do summarizing Sweeney’s efforts as the advocacy of organized labor and workers’ rights. NJAA (1) provides a clear example of such prosocial stance by noting that Steve Sweeney authored a law getting small businesses to recruit employees who stayed unemployed for an extensive period.
“Steve Sweeney” (n.pag.) describes Stephen Sweeney as being a great supporter of people with disabilities. Being of similar view, NJAA (1) reports the senate president to have developed a law allowing children with handicaps to partake in athletics and obtain accommodation meeting their individual needs. “Steve Sweeney” (n.pag.) goes deeper into a different aspect of politician’s care stating that his is the initiative of building parks and schools for children with special needs. The source authors continue their line of argumentation by mentioning the statewide registry of offenders maltreating the disabled launched by the senate president along with the laws protecting children from sexual offenders and the families of emergency service staff, firefighters, and police officers losing their breadwinners. However, one of the most crucial may be the argument linking Sweeney to same-sex marriages, which, the authors claim, he supports.
Silber (n.pag.) provides an interesting view of Sweeney’s versatility even in his current capacity. He is described as a strong actor in the sphere of alternative energy especially after authoring the new law enhancing the development of offshore wind energy. The journalist also points to digitalization and transition to paperless performance as another two vectors of Senate House transformation in the spirit of reducing environmental degradation. “Inquirer Editorial: The Loyal Opposition” (n.pag.) report about the attempt of the senate president to make college more affordable. Unlike the author in the previous source, Friedman and Heyboer (n.pag.) concretize the role of Sweeney with respect to education. One of his initiatives is the suspension of tuition pending the employment of students to avoid their accumulation of debts.
Positive Accomplishments: Actual Positive Influence to His Name and Attempts that Are Sure to Influence NJ Positively in the Foreseeable Future
Stephen Sweeney assumed the office of senate president in 2010 (NJAA 1). The years of his tenure saw multiple legal initiatives authored and adopted. Whether fulfilled or otherwise, the following are the actual legal initiatives and efforts of the Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Of particular importance may be the contribution Sweeney made to the protection of homeowners through the passage of the bill imposing a 2% limit on yearly property tax growth (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). Assistant director of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center, Marc Pfeiffer presumes the cap to have been holding back such tax growth since 2011. As admitted by Richard McGrath, the spokesperson of the senate president, the legal initiative contributed to considerable progress in terms of the problem of property taxes lasting for decades. It allowed disciplining spending at the local level (Sheingold and Ensslin n.pag.).
There is more to Steve Sweeney’s tax initiatives than that. The politician is straining every nerve to remove state income taxes for seniors representing the middle class of the American society for them to get out of leaving the state of New Jersey, which they may have to for affordability reasons. To keep this demographic age group within the state, Stephen Sweeney is seeking ways to expand the Senior Freeze program by enhancing the deduction of senior property tax (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). What is it if not care for the elderly people? Theoretically, there is no point having elderly residents occupying space within the state for want of utility as they are past the working age; however, the senator seems to hold them in requisite esteem by going to great lengths to create conditions for them to stay.
When it comes to the health of New Jerseyans, Stephen Sweeney has come up with a proposal for a pilot healthcare project that can economize on health benefits for state employees all the while keeping them healthy. It is upon patient-centered healthcare rather than a traditional fee-for-service model that the project rests. Under the new plan, doctors receive payment for seeing a small number of patients along with bonuses for ensuring they stay healthy. Such healthcare centered on patients resembles the healthcare delivery model intensively employed by government programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, and self-insured health plans. Furthermore, the initiative, it is hoped, will decrease insurance premiums that have risen over the past 4 years. Besides cutting costs, the project is likely to improve the quality of healthcare as such (Kitchenman n.pag.). With this in view, Sweeney is not alien to innovative approaches. In addition, he seems not to have it in him to squander taxpayers’ dollars. More importantly, the politician appears intent on saving funds possibly for potential reorientation. Average residents stand to gain from needing to pay less than they do as insurance policy holders.
As far as the workforce treatment is concerned, the senate president spearheaded efforts to reform the system of health benefits and that of public employee pensions. The long-term benefit of the efforts will be the saving of 120 billion dollars over the period of three decades (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). At a time when Christie set a veto on an increase of the minimum salary, Stephen Sweeney advanced the law allowing voters to raise the rate by introducing amendments in the constitution of the state. The bill that legalized the work-funded paid family leave letting more residents to take some time off for looking after ailing relatives or newborns is also attributable to the senate president (“Inquirer Editorial: The Loyal Opposition” n.pag.). The legal initiative has come to be known as the Paid Family Leave Program. In 2010, the senator co-drafted and passed 30 bills known as “Back to Work, New Jersey” targeting economic growth and job generation within the state. In a bid to produce jobs and stimulate state competitiveness, the senate president is advancing sustained investment in transportation infrastructure (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). An ironworker himself, the president has spared no effort in advocating the rights of workers and organized labor (Silber n.pag.). Thus, in 2012, the politician authored a law providing stimulants for small ventures to recruit the long-term unemployed from New Jersey in an effort to protect middle-class working families (NJAA 1).
The senator seems to have done much to protect the rights of residents with specific handicaps and untraditional orientation. Steve Sweeney is in the vanguard of the campaign to protect individuals with developmental disabilities (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). In 2014, the politician authored a law guaranteeing that students with disabilities are free to take part in athletics and eligible for sensible accommodation in accord with their individual needs (NJAA 1). He has commissioned the construction of parks and schools for children with disabilities and special needs. Sweeney has also gone to great pains to launch a statewide registry of offenders mistreating individuals with developmental disabilities. The politicians has authored laws to improve the protection of children from sexual offences by law enforcers and help the families of emergency service staff, firefighters, and police officers who perish in their line of duty. The senator has also expanded access to education via the Dream Act and advocated marriage equality with might and main (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). Despite being too late to support same-sex marriages, he assumed leadership position on the matter later on. His bipartisan legislative accomplishments are believed to have won Sweeney the support of electorate in his Third District (“Inquirer Editorial: The Loyal Opposition” n.pag.). Indeed, the politician is a prodigious legislator, which may be a positive sign of his legal aptitude that will be very useful if he ever chances to secure the position of the NJ governor.
Sweeney may prove his economic genius if he has New Jerseyans elect him a new governor. Now he already shows the signs of being a thrifty administrator wanting to keep abreast of time and current trends, environmental ones included. Silber (n.pag.) claims the senate president to have authored the new law enhancing the development of offshore wind energy, which has the potential of placing the state atop the standings as a leader in the green energy development. New Jersey can take a nationwide lead in the production of wind energy. The Senate House under Sweeney’s leadership is going digital on a grand scale. Furthermore, the institution is set to go paperless to become the first legislative chamber to do so (Silber n.pag.). Reducing dependence on paper can also do much to save funds that can go into important areas like education.
At this point, what remains to be done is to render college more affordable in the period to come, which is what the politicians seeks to achieve (“Inquirer Editorial: The Loyal Opposition” n.pag.). Promises are but promises until fulfilled; thus, until they are, there is no taking into consideration the plans of Sweeney as his accomplishments or the indicators of his efficiency as the senate president and a potential governor. However, the politicians may have come close to fulfilling the plan. Friedman and Heyboer (n.pag.) admit that Steve Sweeney’s plan is for public colleges in NJ to suspend fees and tuition for students who undertake to provide the state with a share of their wages following graduation, which is expected to decrease the amount of loans students cannot help but take to attend college. Obviously, the idea is smart since students will not have to work to cover the loan and the accruing interest rate while at college, which will allow focusing on the acquisition of skills and knowledge and increasing their human capital prerequisite for a productive capacity and output, on which the economy relies.
The Controversial Pension Law: A Questionable Accomplishment or a Bumpy Path towards Improvement
The New Jersey legislature and Chris Christie enforced a sweeping pension law that affected public employees and teachers the hardest, and Steve Sweeney is believed one of the officials involved (Bob and Barbara Dreyfuss n.pag.). Sweeney may be more to blame in that few initiatives put forward by the governor can materialize without the senate president who worked out a compromise on issues like pensions, taxes, and spending, which he did within his party. The support of Christie’s law is not occasional, as both men capitalize politically on their close political relationship (“Inquirer Editorial: The Loyal Opposition” n.pag.). Back to the pension law, requires that financial arrivals from the state of NJ to the pension system be larger. Employees need to dedicate a larger amount of monthly income to both pensions and health benefits. Furthermore, cost-of-living adjustments went into suspension. The law also sent the age of retirement into rise (Seidman n.pag.). Bob and Barbara Dreyfuss (n.pag.) also agree that all the law did was to elevate the share employees needed to contribute to their pensions significantly, to liquidate cost-of-living adjustments, and to axe benefits for future workers. Here comes a piece of bad news. Since Social Security eligibility stays limited, all some residents have is their pension, and the law is said to weaken them (Bob and Barbara Dreyfuss n.pag.).
According to Social Security Administration (n.pag.), the aim of the COLA or the cost-of-living adjustments is guaranteeing that inflation does not wear down SSI benefits and the purchasing power of Social Security. Benavie (n.pag.) states that Social Security benefits preserve the purchasing power during the lifetime of a beneficiary by virtue of the adjustment. An important function of Social Security is the Provision of support to families lose a breadwinner as a source of income (Benavie n.pag.). If liquidating the adjustment is what the politician did, he appears to have left the Social Security PP vulnerable to inflation, should it be the case, which may bode ill for the welfare of people dependent on Social Security. The vulnerable cluster of the society did not stand to gain from the legislative actions of the politician a year after the assumption of the president’s position. Pensions running weaker following the law implementation means residents ineligible for Social Security will witness their welfare reduced. The law, for which Steve Sweeney is responsible, looks very asocial.
Why the destructive law received legal power was because of Christie-crats or democrats who joined ranks with Christie. The concept refers to the democrats making common cause or pooling interests with the right-wing governor. This is not all there is to the backstage politics and alignments since Senate President Stephen Sweeney is the principal associate of George Norcross, his political boss and an insurance magnate sometimes branded as the warlord of New Jersey. Central to the controversial law, Christie too enjoys the support of big-dollar donors. The bill that passed the legislature met with a tumultuous response of protesters whose number run up to thousands of people united in the frustration over the piece of legislation. Theirs was a clear promise made that bill authors will have revenge taken on them come the election time (Bob and Barbara Dreyfuss n.pag.). Provided that this is true, the president of the local senate is a protégé of an imposing businessperson who could have been advancing his private interests since taking over the position. For a public servant to stand proxy for a private capital and a commercial tycoon who invests in political insiders the caliber of Sweeney and possibly expects dividends in return may not necessarily be good news for average residents, let alone the state of New Jersey; however, such partnership may be a product of exaggeration made by sensation-motivated media.
In 2011, the senate president assaulted unions verbally describing them as having lied to their members. However, under pressure, unions got Sweeney not to support the additional weakening of pensions, as urged by the NJ governor (Bob and Barbara Dreyfuss n.pag.). The pension law got public sector unions cross and infuriated. More importantly, these unions constituted the prevalent majority of the Democratic constituency (Seidman n.pag.). Theoretically, it could have been fear that power and the governor position not slip through the fingers of the democrat, yet even the most exemplary of politicians for history books would often find themselves criticized for their course, as they had no option except to make unpopular decisions that brought long-term benefits despite early criticism. Rossouw and Louw (33) note that both John Kennedy and Margaret Thatcher made hard and unpopular decisions in their time; however, they managed to inspire their followers and attain success using their exceptional leadership abilities. Thus, Sweeney could be another Kennedy, and his unpopular pension system decision could be a humble beginning in this area, from which a solid system may emerge. Rather, he could be an impersonation of Thatcher. Frank (103) states that the British prime minister was willing to take the consequences of decisions no matter how unpopular. Seidman (n.pag.) cites Sweeney admitting that he put much on the line by proposing and pushing the law.
Seidman (n.pag.) refers to Sweeney who suggested that pension costs should snowball during the decade to come if the problem should remain unresolved by lawmakers. At the time of writing, as per the Treasury Department, the unfunded liability of the pension system stood at 40 billion dollars (Seidman n.pag.). The figure is likely to increase by another 20 billion dollars by 2018 (NBC Philadelphia n.pag.). After dedicating 3 billion dollars in 2018, the state is supposed to contribute the intended annual amount around 2022, whereupon pension costs should take a drop. Critics speculate that a crisis, if it be the case, could force the authorities to make painful budgetary cuts or raise taxes (Seidman n.pag.). There may be no room for doubts in the light of the situation. Friedman (n.pag.) suggests that the senate president plans to close out the 51 billion dollars’ worth of unfunded pension liability by resorting to the federal government. Although lacking the enacting power, the politician put forward the federal loan program with a budget estimated at 1 trillion dollars in hopes of relieving the mentioned liabilities in whatever state that desires to utilize the initiative (Friedman n.pag.). For all the current skepticism, the pension plan of Sweeney may be a success in the long term, with much at stake. The senate president would not have taken risk implementing what would cost him his career if he were not sure all this time about the initiative yielding positive results sometime in the future. Thus, the positive effects of the policy have yet to materialize.
As unpopular as the pension decision of Sweeney may be, it may come to good, as did those of Thatcher or Kennedy with regard to other matters. Senator’s decisions may bring back what they now are said to claim, which is the cost-of-living adjustments. NBC Philadelphia (n.pag.) notes that Stephen Sweeney actually works towards modifying the formula of funding NJ pensions. Ideally, he plans to render contributions more manageable and lower in the coming decade as well as retaining benefits for retirees, which he may by funding the system at 85% during the 30-year period. As follows from the senate president, funding at 85% is a gold standard in the private sector under ERISA or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The rate can help restore the COLAs. In addition, what the plan may save may run into billions of dollars in the period of the next 10 years. Even so, the plan will preserve the solvency of the pension system.
Sweeney: The Appropriateness of Being a Governor Replacement
While the above-presented achievement speak volumes for Sweeney’s fitness for the governor position, additional arguments are worth producing. The senator admits he is trying to improve the lives of New Jerseyans in areas and directions, such as public school funding, joblessness, foreclosures, Planned Parenthood and women’s healthcare, assistance to non-profit organizations, such as Wynona Lipman’s House, special needs communities, and same-sex marriage (Sweeney 236). That the senate president employs in improving the life of the residents in such multiple areas shows he uses a complex approach. Being numerous that they are, areas he prioritized may show he sees a bigger picture, without focusing on narrow areas for building a populist impression of a politician catering to the needs of ordinary people in one specific area, rich investment in which would create a great misleading illusion. It is not like Sweeney to do so; thus, his versatility along with the nonuse of populism makes his a great governor candidate.
One of the important research questions is whether Stephen Sweeney has the governor fiber. One of conclusions whether he can make a good governor comes from what the senator has to say on the efforts made while in the office. As admitted by the politician himself, in 2011, the number of the poor was 2.7% up on 2007 reaching a high of 11.4%. The senate president admits that this was a shameful figure for a state as prosperous as New Jersey is (Sweeney 237). Since, as of 2011, the senator had already been in office for several years, over which the poverty was on the rise, Sweeney is a self-critical politician if he was so bold as to make such self-scathing claim. Politicians would usually conceal such information or place blame on the shoulders of predecessors before they would admit their fault, albeit indirectly.
Steve Sweeney is an untiring advocate for working middle-class families, children, and seniors (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). As such, he may prove very useful to the same categories of people on a greater level, that is, the scope of his prosocial policy can grow bigger with the assumption of the new office, as he will represent the executive function. The senate president can be said to be helping the state of New Jersey on firm financial grounds by eradicating profligate spending and trying his hardest to arrange for the government to work more efficiently for less money (“Steve Sweeney” n.pag.). If he leaves working in his legal line of duty and secures the governor office, he can personally see it done bringing government spending under the budget knife, which will allow reorienting the economized funds and funneling them into the social sector. It will be smart of Sweeney to do so since social welfare translates into better production capacity and budgetary arrivals. Thus, in some ways, the intentions of the president reveal him as having faculty for being a visionary official ad potentially a thrifty governor-to-be.
Sweeney is a prudent politician, which is a quality he can put to good use while in the governor office. According to Farrell (n.pag.), the senate president is of the view that it is important to concentrate on keeping inappropriate people from laying hands on weapons. Thus, he recommended addressing issues, such as illegal weapons, background checks, mental health, and straw purchases (Farrell n.pag.). Sweeney knows better than to ignore the causative-consecutive relationship in the case of specific problems. Such deep vision makes itself seen in his plan to address the cause of weapon being a deadly tool of mortality, which is mental health and the ways, in which mentally ill individuals can come into possession of arms.
Interesting is his ability to listen to people. Reduction of the cartridge clip by every round means that a gun will take more time to reload, which can help people escape or disarm shooters (Farrell n.pag.). Sweeney has now come supporting the mentioned opinion and parents who lost their children in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting through the bill that will cut the magazine to 10 bullets if successful (Langford n.pag.). Rather than show inconsistency in views, the change of heart shows the senate president can side with people catering to their requests instead of allowing gun producers and retailers to flourish, which is an excellent quality of a would-be governor of New Jersey.
Contrary to political mutualism or the symbiosis between the governor and the senate president, Sweeney has stayed true to his vision on essential matters. He made such independent stance felt when resisting the plan of Governor Chris Christie to reduce income taxation, which would reduce tax revenue and provided rich taxpayers with a break (“Inquirer Editorial: The Loyal Opposition” n.pag.). It follows therefrom that Sweeney will not be possible to manipulate as a governor. The politician can form important coalitions with other executives, which may be of great use when it comes to the implementation of important policies benefitting the residents of the state. Another important conclusion to infer from the above is that Stephen Sweeney can resist his political allies, if need be, if only to improve social welfare or maintain tax justice through respective policies. Both the ability to form political partnerships and challenge his allies for the sake of social harmony may indicate the senate president can make himself useful as an efficient bureaucrat in the governor capacity. However, it is not that he stays loyal to his political allies even if it runs counter to social interests. While giving his interview, Sweeney could be heard criticizing Christie for pension cuts and issues inflation (NBC Philadelphia n.pag.). Despite both benefitting from their political relationship, as argued above, Sweeney can venture to censure his ally, without supporting his vision when it contravenes social welfare, as was the case with pensions.
The senator has also been in the forefront of fight to outlaw the toxic gasoline additive known as methyl tertiary butyl ether inasmuch as it leaves private wells and ground water polluted. Throughout his career, Sweeney has lent his support to open space preservation and farmland. What he has also sought is to provide funds for communities with a view to preserving pristine land from development (Silber n.pag.). Now that Sweeney has advanced the alternative energy law in his new capacity, as mentioned above, it is obvious he will prioritize green energy if elected the governor of the state, apart from looking to it that pollutants do not soil the environment or impair the health of residents.
Conclusions
NJ Senate President Stephen Sweeney has proved his versatility by achieving success through the initiation of laws in diverse areas, such as education, property ownership, taxation, healthcare, and the protection of different social categories. The chief matter of controversy now is the pension law, with critics fearing for teachers and the elderly. However, if the politician wanted pensions reduced, he would not be seeking ways to make living space more affordable for the elderly, much less trying to solve the problem of unfunded pension liability. The ability to be self-critical, to challenge his political allies, to reform state systems like that of healthcare, to innovate, to keep abreast of time and modern trends like alternative energy and same-sex marriage legalization all reveal Sweeney a modern politician despite his relatively advancing age. The senate president does have what it takes to become the next governor of New Jersey; thus, he stands a good chance of winning. He already has chosen areas to improve and reform, and these are aplenty, as befits a versatile administrator and a genuine visionary.
Works Cited
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