So is Atlantic City shutting down over this budget mess or not?

[pa3lsvt]

Corzine is a pinhead. Not that I followed the campaign (live/vote in PA, work in NJ), but I doubt he ran on a platform of raising taxes at the first chance he gets. Especially the sales tax, which burdens taxpayers inversely to their income - the lower your income, the higher the sales tax increase is as a portion of your income.

And then he does the "If I don't get my way, I'm shutting things down. But not the casinos ($$$) on the biggest weekend of the summer." Not that I've heard him actually try to negotiate with the Assembly - last I checked his stance was "I sign nothing without the 1% sales tax increase. Send me anything else and we shut it down."

The only things good about NJ in my opinion: low gasoline taxes (I save 30 cents/gallon over Philly), legal casino gaming, and my job. I don't think posts can be long enough with this software for me to list what sucks about NJ.

[mdelcorso]

The government shutdown order that Corzine has signed takes effect on July 5th. If there is no budget in the place by then, AC will close at midnight on 7/5 with the order to close all non-essential government services, which includes the CCC.

Corzine (I didn't vote for him) ran on a platform of property tax cuts and reforms! (ha!) Now he wants to raise the sales tax. I admire him for trying it (not that I agree with it). Last governor that raised the sales tax got ran out of Trenton.

Actually, at this point, good old Corzine is in violation of the state constitution by continuing the run the government after the deadline. The government is currently operating illegally. The NJ state constitution states very clearly that the state cannot spend one penny without a budget in place...

[WhiteRabbit]

The latest from www.nj.com:

Casino closings on hold - for now
A state appeals court today gave lawyers 24 hours to submit additional written arguments on why Atlantic City’s 12 casinos should remain open during a government shutdown, making it highly unlikely they would close anytime before late Sunday, if then.

Winnie Comfort, a spokeswoman for the courts, said the appeals court granted the joint request by lawyers for the casino industry and the administration of Gov. Jon Corzine. The order, entered about 1:30 p.m., gives both sides until mid-day Sunday to submit additional legal briefs.

The three-judge appeals court would then begin reviewing those arguments, making a decision unlikely before late Sunday.

Technically, the order does not prevent an earlier shutdown of the casinos, but that is considered unlikely with the case still pending in the courts.

At a news conference earlier this morning, both Corzine and his chief counsel, Stuart Rabner, said they would follow the court’s ruling on whether the casinos should close. “We’ll abide by the court,’’ Corzine said.

Contributed by Robert Schwaneberg

[TheJunkyardGod]

As of right now the Simulcast in casinos is shut down, as is the State Lottery.

The Casinos are all fighting to stay open, but we'll see.

Personally I could use the few days off, It took my 3 hours to get to AC (I work there) and I live only an hour away.

[Kyo Souma II]

The casinos were trying to argue that gaming inspectors were essential state employees.

If you read the list of the offices that can be opened by emergency order (prison guards, mental hospital workers, child services, state police) this is pretty funny.

[PrimogenitoX]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/....ap/index.html