http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=1403&mname=ArticleGroup Campaign News en-us 60 Steve Forbes – New Jersey native, CEO of Forbes, Inc., editor in chief of Forbes magazine, and co-author of the 30 percent income tax cut plan offered by Christie Todd Whitman in her successful 1993 run for New Jersey Governor – today endorsed Nathan Brinkman for Mayor of Hoboken. “City government in Hoboken suffers from the same problem that infects Trenton – the government is just too big,” said Forbes. “It spends too much, and taxes too much, and interferes too much with the lives of its residents. “Nathan Brinkman wants less government, and more freedom. He believes that that government is best which governs least. “Nathan believes that private citizens know better than bureaucrats how best to spend their own money, and he understands that Hoboken’s high property taxes are forcing seniors on fixed incomes to leave their lifelong homes, and preventing young families from buying their first. “Nathan is a free market conservative who has a plan to shrink the size of city government and cut Hoboken’s property taxes. He’ll put the city budget and all city contracts online, reduce the city’s bloated payroll, and return the savings to Hoboken taxpayers. “I’m pleased to join my friends Bret Schundler and Steve Goldsmith – both of whom served as successful mayors, and who showed that market oriented policies work best in urban areas – in endorsing Nathan Brinkman for Mayor of Hoboken in tomorrow’s special election,” concluded Forbes. “Steve Forbes is the gold standard of free market conservatism,” said Brinkman. “Through the magazine he edits and the company he leads, he spreads the gospel of individual liberty and limited government. “I’m honored, and humbled, to receive his endorsement,” Brinkman continued. “We need more people who subscribe to his thinking – and even his magazine – in Hoboken City Hall, and that’s exactly what I intend to bring to the job as Hoboken’s Mayor.” Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:00 CST http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24775&mname=Article http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24775&mname=Article Stephen Goldsmith – former Mayor of Indianapolis, and chairman emeritus of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Civic Innovation – today endorsed Nathan Brinkman for Mayor of Hoboken. “Those of us who have led municipal governments know what's necessary for success – a determination to put taxpayers' interests ahead of the bureaucracy's; a belief that government is there to secure simple and fundamental rights, rather than to slant the playing field for one group of actors over another; and a recognition that private citizens spend their money more wisely than do bureaucrats,” said Goldsmith. “Nathan Brinkman understands these things, and more. His call for real transparency in putting Hoboken's checkbook online will separate the true reformers from the posers, and his pledge to put all city contracts online will reinvigorate competition in city contracting. “If I lived in Hoboken, I'd be voting for Nathan Brinkman on Tuesday.” “Having Mayor Goldsmith’s endorsement means a great deal to me,” said Brinkman. “The Mayor was one of my earliest political heroes. I saw first-hand how he cut taxes, reduced bureaucracy, and saved city taxpayers $400 million. “Steve Goldsmith earned a reputation a decade ago as one of the nation’s most innovative mayors, and I’m honored to have his endorsement,” Brinkman concluded. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:30:00 CST http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24799&mname=Article http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24799&mname=Article Steve Lonegan – former Mayor of Bogota, two-time candidate for Governor of New Jersey, and one of the Garden State’s best-known conservative leaders – today endorsed Nathan Brinkman for Mayor of Hoboken. “Take it from me, the most tight-fisted money manager around (you can ask the taxpayers of Bogota) – Nathan Brinkman is the real deal,” said Lonegan. “If you live in Hoboken and you’ve had it with 47 percent property tax hikes, and out-of-control spending, and rent control that manipulates the system to benefit a few politically-connected at the expense of the rest of the taxpayers; if you’re determined to take back your city from the bureaucrats who think of your money as theirs, just waiting to be lifted from your wallet; if you’re committed to making a positive change for the better; then do what I would do if I were a resident of Hoboken – vote for Nathan Brinkman for Mayor,” concluded Lonegan. “I am thrilled to receive Steve Lonegan’s endorsement,” said Brinkman. “Steve has earned a reputation as one of our state’s fiercest taxpayers’ advocates. Like Steve, I am committed to putting taxpayers first.” Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:30:00 CST http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24798&mname=Article http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24798&mname=Article Former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler – the Republican who famously ended a 75-year losing streak for Republicans when he took office in Jersey City in 1992 after winning a multi-candidate special election with no run-off, and then was reelected twice, overwhelmingly, after demonstrating that innovative solutions and the ideals of lower taxes, less regulation, and reduced government spending can work to improve the lives of the residents of a community, even in urban areas – today endorsed Nathan Brinkman for Mayor of Hoboken. “In many ways, Nathan Brinkman reminds me of, well, me at that age — he’s not a member of anybody’s political machine, he doesn’t owe any party bosses any favors, he’s free to do what he thinks is best for the people who live in his community,” said Schundler. “He understands that the role of government is to serve its citizens, and not the other way around, and he understands that more often than not, the best answers come not from empowering government, but from empowering people. “If I lived in Hoboken, rather than Jersey City, I’d be voting for Nathan Brinkman on Tuesday.” “I’m honored to accept Bret Schundler’s endorsement,” said Brinkman. “The folks I’ve talked to who were living here in Hoboken when Bret was Mayor of Jersey City speak of him with fondness, and respect, and even a bit of envy that they were living in Hoboken while he was making such great strides in Jersey City. “Bret showed during his time as Mayor of Jersey City that putting people ahead of government bureaucrats, and keeping property taxes down, create a formula for success. We need more of his kind of thinking in Hoboken City Hall, and that’s exactly what I intend to bring to the job as Hoboken’s Mayor.” Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:50:00 CST http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24760&mname=Article http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24760&mname=Article Hoboken Mayoral candidate Nathan Brinkman, at an afternoon press conference, today rolled out a four-point transparency proposal designed to restore accountability to city government spending, as he released his income tax returns and challenged his rivals for the Mayor’s Office to do the same. “One of the biggest problems we face is out of control government spending,” said Brinkman, setting up his proposal: Full transparency for all city government financial transactions, via online databases allowing access to a line-by-line version of the city budget; A comprehensive database of all city contracts, listing the vendor, the services provided, the terms of the contract, the length of the contract, and the cost of the contract; A list of all city employees, by name, job title/description, and compensation package, including health and pension benefits; And posting of all proposed legislation for at least 72 hours before the city council votes on it. “Putting this information online, in a format that would be easy to access by the public, would have several immediate salutary effects,” Brinkman explained. “First, it would remind city workers that they are the employees of the taxpayers of this city – that they are, in effect, employees whose bosses are, at any given moment, looking over their shoulder to see what they’re doing, and decide whether that service they’re performing is worth the money it’s costing. In this sense, transparency equals accountability. “Second, it would remind city workers who have responsibility for entering into contracts on behalf of the city – whether it’s a landscaping contract, or a public employee union contract – that there IS a connection between those who consume the service and those who pay for it, and that those who pay for it are paying attention. “Third, by posting the vendors’ contracts online, it would reinvigorate the element of competition in city contracting, as vendors who missed out on a contract would now have information on exactly what the winning bid was – and that would, over time, lower costs for city contracts, as vendors lowered their prices in order to win the contract in the next round of contracting. “To some in this city, these proposals will be somewhat out of the ordinary,” Brinkman continued. “And I would be loath to ever ask somebody to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself. So, in keeping with my proposal that we post online, in an easily searchable database, the names, job titles, and compensation packages of all city employees, I am here, today, releasing my own personal tax returns going back to our LAST mayoral election, in the spring of 2005. And I challenge my rivals for the office to join me in becoming TRULY transparent,” Brinkman concluded. (A COMPLETE COPY OF BRINKMAN’S PREPARED REMARKS FOLLOWS) When I launched this campaign four weeks ago, I said I intended to run a positive campaign, based on the proposition that a good idea is a good idea, no matter where it comes from. I said I believe that what unites us as residents of Hoboken is far greater than what divides us. I said I believe campaigns should be about the future, not the past – and that they should speak to our hopes and our strengths, not our fears and our weaknesses. I promised that ours would be a campaign that actually offers solutions to the problems we face. And today, I intend to offer one of those solutions. One of the biggest problems we face is out of control government spending. One of the reasons we face this problem is what’s known in think tank circles as the “third party payer” problem – that is, the consumer of a service is not the person who actually PAYS for the service. When this is the situation at hand, the costs of the service usually go up, and the value of the service usually goes down, because the pricing mechanism no longer connects the consumer to the payer. Think of it this way: When you go to the grocery store to buy food for your family, you know how much money you can afford to spend that week on food, and you make your choices accordingly. If it’s been a good week, and in addition to your paycheck you won some money playing poker with the guys last Friday night, you might buy steaks and even a bottle of a nice wine; if it’s been a down week, and not only did you NOT win at poker, but you got the bill for your son’s orthodonture, you might have to buy Hamburger Helper and cheap beer. But either way, you’ll find a way to get the job done based on the budget you have. Government, unfortunately, doesn’t work that way. Because governments – even tiny municipal governments like ours here in Hoboken – have the power to tax, governments can decide what they want to buy first, and THEN worry about who’s going to pay for it. So bureaucrats who are given the responsibility to spend money on behalf of the residents of Hoboken do so without having to worry about how much it costs – because THEY are not paying for it. That gives them license to enter into contracts that they wouldn’t enter into, if it were THEIR money on the block – contracts with public employee unions, and contracts with vendors. But this isn’t really LICENSE – it’s a charade, it’s a false sense of security, because ultimately, someone WILL have to pay the tab for all those services they’re providing and all those contracts they’re signing. And who is it that gets stuck with that tab? We, the taxpayers. That’s how it is that, according to the database compiled by the Gannett newspapers and available at APP.COM, seven of New Jersey’s ten best-compensated municipal public safety officials are found right here, in Hoboken – with their compensation packages paid for courtesy of the Hoboken taxpayer. That’s how it is that our Chief of Police right here in Hoboken makes more money than the Commissioner of Police of that big city across the river – New York City. Does that make ANY sense to anybody in this room? The solution to this problem is simple – we must restore the connection between the person who is consuming the service, and the person who is paying for it. I’m not saying every taxpayer in Hoboken should have an equal voice in deciding on the contracts into which the city enters – that kind of direct democracy, however ideal it might be in theory, would be unworkable in practice. But here’s what we CAN do – we CAN shed sunlight on all the city’s taxing and spending decisions. And I mean ALL the city’s taxing and spending decisions. This is the age of the Internet, the iPhone, the net book, the BlackBerry. We can watch television on our smart phones, and we can watch YouTube videos from anywhere. We have 24-hour news cycles, and we have information overload. But it seems the information we have too much of is the stuff we don’t need – and the information we really need is the stuff we still can’t get. Why can’t we post, online, an easily searchable database of the entire city budget, line by line, so that anybody with a computer and Internet access can find out how his or her tax dollars are being spent? Why can’t we post, online, all proposed legislation, for at least 72 hours before the city council votes on it? Why can’t we post, online, an easily searchable database of all city contracts, listing the vendor, the terms of the service provided, the dates the contract will be in effect, and the amount of money paid? Why can’t we post, online, an easily searchable database of our city employees’ compensation packages, listing their name, their job title, and the annual value, in dollars, of their total compensation package, including health and pension benefits? Putting this information online, in a format that would be easy to access by the public, would have several immediate salutary effects: First, it would remind city workers that they are the employees of the taxpayers of this city – that they are, in effect, employees whose bosses are, at any given moment, looking over their shoulder to see what they’re doing, and decide whether that service they’re performing is worth the money it’s costing. In this sense, transparency equals accountability. Second, it would remind city workers who have responsibility for entering into contracts on behalf of the city – whether it’s a landscaping contract, or a public employee union contract – that there IS a connection between those who consume the service and those who pay for it, and that those who pay for it are paying attention. Third, by posting the vendors’ contracts online, it would reinvigorate the element of competition in city contracting, as vendors who missed out on a contract would now have information on exactly what the winning bid was – and that would, over time, lower costs for city contracts, as vendors lowered their prices in order to win the contract in the next round of contracting. To some in this city, these proposals will be somewhat out of the ordinary. And I would be loath to ever ask somebody to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself. So, in keeping with my proposal that we post online, in an easily searchable database, the names, job titles, and compensation packages of all city employees, I am here, today, releasing my own personal tax returns going back to our LAST mayoral election, in the spring of 2005. And I challenge my rivals for the office to join me in becoming TRULY transparent. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:07:00 CST http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24637&mname=Article http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24637&mname=Article Hoboken Mayoral candidate Nathan Brinkman – responding to news reports indicating that Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer and 2nd Ward City Council member Beth Mason have had difficulties filing their qualifying petitions in a timely manner – this evening issued the following statement: “Dawn Zimmer and Beth Mason should both be qualified for the ballot immediately. Both are serious candidates, and each represents a significant segment of our community. “To deny either or both of them a place on the ballot because of their failure to meet the simple legal requirements – including the timely filing of their petitions – would be to deny their supporters an opportunity to make their collective voices heard. “Hoboken’s problems are far too serious to let this election campaign devolve into a street brawl right from the start. Let’s get the ballot question settled, so we can get on to discussing how we’re going to get our property taxes back to reasonable levels, how we’re going to get spending under control, how we’re going to make our city government more transparent, and how we’re going to eliminate the influence of the corrupt party bosses.” Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:48:00 CST http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24302&mname=Article http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24302&mname=Article Nathan Brinkman, co-founder of the Hoboken Republican Club, today joined the race for Mayor of Hoboken. Brinkman filed 173 signatures on nominating petitions at the Hudson County Clerk’s office. “Because our property taxes are too high, because our quality of life isn’t as good as it could be, because our city government still spends too much, because our recent experiences with Mayors is proof that our leaders are still not open and transparent enough, today I filed the papers necessary to qualify for the ballot as a candidate for Mayor of Hoboken,” Brinkman said. “Some say a mediocre quality of life is what you have to put up with to live in Hoboken. Some say corruption is a fact of life in Hudson County. Some say high property taxes are just part of the cost of living in New Jersey. Some say out of control spending is a problem all over the nation. “I say, hogwash. “I say there is no reason, no reason at all, that we cannot have a better quality of life. “I say there is no reason, no reason at all, that we have to endure skyrocketing property taxes. “I say there is no reason, no reason at all, that our city government cannot do more with less. “I say there is no reason, no reason at all, that we must indulge corruption in city government or the hidden costs of crooked political machines. “I am not a member of an organized political party – to paraphrase Will Rogers, I am a Republican in Hudson County. “I am not a member of anyone’s political machine, I am not a foot soldier in any political leaders’ army, and I owe no allegiance to any bosses other than the citizens of Hoboken. “I am unbossed, I am uncorrupted, and I am undaunted. “I am an optimist. Recently married, with our first baby on the way, I must be. “I believe we can make Hoboken a better place to live, work, and raise a family. “I believe that, though it may sound trite, what unites us as residents of Hoboken is far greater than what divides us. “I believe that campaigns can, and should, be civil discussions about the future, not the past – about our hopes and strengths, not our fears and weaknesses. “I believe the time has come for a different kind of campaign – the kind of a campaign YOU would run, were you in my shoes, and I in yours. “Over the course of the next 48 days, I plan to offer solutions to the problems we face. Ours will be a campaign dedicated to the proposition that a good idea is a good idea, no matter its origin, and dedicated to the proposition that government is there to do those things, and only those things, which we, its masters, choose to allow it to do in our name. I look forward to the campaign to come,” Brinkman concluded. Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:48:00 CST http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24303&mname=Article http://www.brinkmanformayor.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24303&mname=Article