A task force created to decide how a constitutional convention aimed at reforming New Jersey's property taxes met on November 23 to debate how delegates might be selected and whether they should be paid.

Task Force Chairman Carl Van Horn pushed off a proposal to hold a preliminary vote on whether a convention should be held, saying it will be up to the Legislature to decide if the convention question should be placed on the ballot.

Van Horn also delayed discussion of what the scope of a convention should be, such as whether it should be allowed to deal with state spending issues or just tax revenue.

Instead, the meeting focused on smaller issues, such as the possibilities of legislators being allowed to be convention delegates, legislative districts being used in picking delegates, the election of delegates during a general election in November or a special election and whether delegates should be paid.

No decisions were made, but a consensus emerged that delegates should be chosen from the 40 legislative districts. Some members argued the vote should be in the November general election with its higher turnout.

A question of whether delegates should be paid for serving in the convention, which is expected to take several months, ran into the question of whether lawmakers should be allowed to serve because the state Constitution bars legislators from being elected to another state office during their term unless they are elected governor or to a different house in the Legislature.

Steve Lonegan, candidate for Governor, believes the task force working on a New Jersey constitutional convention concerning property taxes is rigged to produce one outcome: higher income and sales taxes on middle class New Jerseyans. "Whatever this commission comes out with won’t be good. The overwhelming majority of members are pro-tax increase liberals whose political philosophy can be best described as far-left. This group is committed to massive tax increases on productive working families across the state in order to create a new income redistribution scheme worthy of Karl Marx,"

Lonegan said that he will fight whatever proposal the group puts on the ballot. "Anything this group comes up with will be bad, cost taxpayers more money and expand state government even further. There is no chance that when you get a dozen ultra-liberals in a room that you will get anything other than an ultra-liberal plan.”

NJ Constitutional Convention

Governor McGreevey signed legislation in July, 2004 that moved New Jersey one step closer to conducting a constitutional convention to reform the state’s property tax system. The new law called for the establishment of a task force to issue recommendations regarding the process of conducting a constitutional convention and to identify issues the convention should consider. The task force must complete its study and issue a report by no later than Dec. 31, 2004. The call for a constitutional convention must be approved by voters in 2005 to enable a convention to meet in 2006.

Task force website link

The task force consists of 15 members: nine appointed by Governor McGreevey; two appointed by the Senate President, one of whom is a Senate member and one of whom is a member of the public; two appointed by the Assembly Speaker, one of whom is a member of the Assembly and one of whom is a member of the public; one member of the Senate appointed by the Senate Minority Leader, and one Assembly member appointed by the Assembly Minority Leader. The Governor appointed the chair and vice chair.

Information concerning task force members can be found here