Acting Gov. Richard Codey said today that he hasn’t decided whether he will run for governor next year and probably won’t decide for a few months, but the big news (for us) is where he said it: in the library at Glen Ridge High School.
Democratic senator Jon Corzine announced his intended candidacy for governor yesterday.
Codey, who lives in West Orange, visited the high school to talk informally to to seniors in two American government classes and to members of the student council. About 70 students were invited, as well as reporters for the Glen Ridge Voice and the Glen Ridge Paper. The connection was made by government teacher Tim Liddy, who is also — like the acting governor — a basketball coach.
Since the Barista wasn’t, ahem, invited, we have to rely on high school principal Ken Rota for reportage. According to Rota, the kids asked the acting governor about homeland security, property taxes, Essex County secession and how he plans to rebuild the Democratic party in New Jersey following his predecessor’s scandalous exit.
From what Rota said, it sounds like Codey put the onus for property tax reduction on local officials — none of whom were invited. Actually, we know plenty of people who would say that property tax (and the state’s reliance on it for funding education) is very much a state issue. But we weren’t there to evaluate the nuance. We open discussion, after school ends, to those who were.
Kudos to the kids for asking such perceptive questions. When the Barista was that age, she didn’t even didn’t know property tax was.