Is he leaning right, or am I leaning left? Spadea finds common ground with Assemblyman
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora called in this morning to weigh in on two of the week's most pressing topics: weed and property taxes. We ended up finding common ground amid political differences.
Gusciora and I began with a discussion of Jon Peditto, the Toms River man who could face twenty years in prison for running a drug manufacturing center because he grew pot in his basement.
The assemblyman and I agreed that New Jersey needs an alternative to incarcerating nonviolent offenders like Peditto. "The real shame is it costs 50,000 a year to house a prisoner," said Gusciora. "And to send him to prison at this point- a 54 year old man- it's another waste of taxpayers money."
According to Gusciora, Peditto could've "filled a void" in the medical industry for many people by handing in his personally grown strand of marijuana to a state-run dispensary.
Eventually taxes made their way into the conversation, and in a rare instance I found myself agreeing with a politician about how to handle money.
"We need to jump start property taxes because they're too high. It doesn't matter if you cap property taxes- people can't afford them anyway," said Gusciora. "So it's meaningless just to cap them."
Instead of freezing taxes, Gusciora suggested a rollback of New Jersey's current tax rate by 25% for two years, during which time the legislature would have to find an "alternative funding mechanism."
"Hopefully with the legislature doing their job, and an active governor, we can find a solution.... I think we need a sledgehammer and not a tool box," Gusciora said.
What do you think of Gusciora's statements? Let me know by tweeting @nj1015 and @BillSpadea or commenting below.