How Liberals Outsmarted Themselves in New Jersey

There are some things that make me feel warm and fuzzy when they occur. This would be one of them.

The Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) was instituted by Jon Corzine in 2008 to forcibly integrate affluent communities. It was paid for by a tax levied on "non-residential" builders and required communities to approve new housing as a percentage that would be made available for to those who couldn't afford the high housing costs in the state. They made it sound really swell when it was passed and promised a zillion things it wouldn't do. The fact that it was regressive and would dissuade builders from constructing commercial tax rateables never occurred to them (as if it ever does but I digress).

Communities fought it and lost. The most notable was the town next to mine.

So, instead of accepting the states mandate to integrate, towns played by the letter of the law and instead of building low-income housing, they built 55 and over communities that offered cheap senior housing. It met the statute and attempts to make communities cooperate led nowhere. It was a win-win for communities as they filled housing with taxpayers but didn't overburden schools.

Let me explain how the school budgets work in New Jersey: some funds come from the state after they receive funding from the federal government. But the bulk comes from residents who vote every spring on the school budget. We had that election yesterday and it went down in flames in a majority of towns and counties. It was a bitter battle to say the least.

Anyway, here's where the liberals in this state outsmarted themselves and got bitten square on the ass by a law they imposed upon us.

Senior housing was built and they moved in in droves. But every year, the budget came up for a vote and these folks of fixed incomes and limited means were left with a simple choice; do I vote to raise my taxes for schools that I have no kids attending? More likely than not the answer was no. Anyone who pays attention to voting trends knows that the elderly vote and they do so religiously. In my town it was about 2,700 against and 2,200 for. I'm assuming that the majority of the 2.7K were the seniors who moved into the afordable housing Corzine envisioned as being occupied by low income folks.

Now we all know that liberals are wont to write bills and not foresee the consequences. The Obamacare bill is just the latest example. They had no clue that municipalities would find a way to ensure that they were not burdened with the zombie entitlements from years past such as providing meals and others that have been a continual drain on school budgets. They were simply outsmarted by part-time mayors and housewife councilpersons.

Add to the mix the simple fact that people don't have the means anymore to vote themselves higher taxes and you have the recipe for Chris Christie victory and a teachers' union defeat.

As with all liberal policies; the best intentions will always come back and kick one square in the package. We saw that yesterday when New Jersey said enough.

Exit question: Can a fat governor from a deep blue state beat Obama? Christie in 2012?