Greenwald spoke about the importance of public service, on a personal level.

Marlboro Colts Neck Patch
June 6, 2012
By Kaitlyn Anness

Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D) is now the Assembly Majority Leader in NJ, but his political career came from humble beginnings.

"We were a very poor family," Greenwald said. "We did not have a lot of money, we did not have access to a lot of money, and my parents struggled to make a good life for my brother and I."

Greenwald, spoke on Monday night to the Marlboro Teen Advisory Committee, a group that now has over 1,000 members in he community, actively doing community service.

"To get 1,500 young people to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors and of their friends is an unbelievable accomplishment," Greenwald said.

The assemblyman grew up in South Jersey with a family who could barely afford the $1.50 swim fee in the nearby lake.

The Assemblyman spoke of his mother, Maria Barnaby Greenwald, an Italian immigrant who grew up in Camden City and wanted nothing more than to be a teacher, but there were no community colleges in the state.

"There was no access to achieve her dream of going to college and becoming a teacher."

Barnaby Greenwald went on to work But the answer to a newspaper advertisement began Maria Barnaby Greenwald's steps into public service. Greenwald's mother eventually became the first female Mayor of Cherry Hill, first female Camden County Freeholder and the first female County Surrogate.

New Jersey 101.5
June 8, 2012
By Dino Flammia

While many middle-aged and older people set up wills to handle their physical possessions after they pass, most don’t make a plan for their online accounts. Even if they did, some web sites’ complex privacy agreements and terms of service make it difficult to actually complete the process.

Legislation approved by the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee on Thursday would allow the executor or administrator of an estate to take control of a person’s online accounts (social media, blogging, e-mail) in the event of their death. Whoever takes over the accounts, whether it be a loved one or paid executor, would have the power to conduct, continue or terminate them.

“This is a very important piece of legislation for the families and loved ones of those who have passed, to be able to communicate and transfer what is the property of that individual back to the families,” said Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D), a bill sponsor.

Certain possessions that were tangible in the past are only available in a digital format now.

Greenwald explained, “The pictures that would be in the shoeboxes that would be sent home – those are now your Flickr account…Our grandparents would tell us about the letters that they would send home, those are now Facebook accounts.”

NJ.com
June 7, 2012
By Salvador Rizzo

TRENTON — New Jersey's economic output shrank last year, ranking 47th out of all the 50 states in terms of growth and outperforming only Alabama, Mississippi and Wyoming.

The Garden State's gross domestic product — its share of the U.S. GDP — decreased 0.5 percent in 2011, one of six states that registered a negative rate of growth, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday.

It was the only state economy in the Mideast region — which includes Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. — that shrank, according to the data.

The state GDP rose 1.5 percent in 2010, but it decreased 4.8 percent in 2009 during the height of the financial crisis.

Gov. Chris Christie has been touting a "Jersey Comeback" this year, saying the economic climate has improved and that businesses are beginning to look favorably at New Jersey as the regulatory landscape becomes easier to navigate and as the state restrains budgets, borrowing and pension liabilities. Those developments, he said, have made it possible to enact an income tax cut this year.

But Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D-Camden), who along with colleagues in the Assembly is pushing a 20 percent property tax cut that would be financed by a higher tax on millionaires, said the new data were "very, very concerning" in a statement Wednesday.

The Paramus Post
June 7, 2012
By Mel Fabrikant

Christie Economy Grouped at Bottom with Alabama, Mississippi & Wyoming

Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D-Camden/Burlington) on Wednesday expressed concern about new figures showing New Jersey ranked 47th in the nation last year for real gross domestic product growth.

“This data is very, very concerning,” Greenwald said. “We’re more than two years into the Christie administration, so the governor can no longer blame others for his failed economic policies. Gov. Christie needs to take a long hard look at these numbers and hold himself accountable for the fact that nearly every other state enjoying more economic output than New Jersey. New Jersey is, in fact, actually losing ground.”

The data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce show New Jersey’s real GDP decreased 0.5 percent last year, even though nationally overall real GDP by state grew 1.5 percent in 2011. A copy of the report can be found here. It’s also attached.

“The governor needs to finally understand that slogans don’t create economic output,” Greenwald said. “What creates economic output is the pro-middle-class policies Gov. Christie has vetoed time and time again.

Unfortunately, Gov. Christie has been more concerned with creating catchy slogans and traveling the country than focusing on New Jersey’s economy, and now statistics are unfortunately bearing that out.”

The Record
June 6, 2012
By John Reitmeyer and Kathleen Lynn

Governor Christie’s vision of a “New Jersey Comeback” — the huge economic rebound he says will make a 10 percent income tax cut affordable — was challenged Tuesday by a double dose of bad news.

The federal government released data indicating the state’s economy shrank by 0.5 percent in 2011, even as 43 states saw their economies grow last year, with the state ranked 47th in economic performance.

Also on Tuesday, a non-partisan state legislative budget analyst told New Jersey lawmakers in an email that a gap between earlier budget projections and actual tax collections may now be as wide as $1.4 billion through the end of June 2013, a development the governor’s office later downplayed.

Christie, a Republican and frequent surrogate for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, has been heavily promoting what he calls the “New Jersey Comeback” since last year at town-hall-style events and other appearances throughout New Jersey, as well as major speeches in California, New York and Washington, D.C.

After two years of cuts and frugal spending practices, the governor said the state’s finances and economy are now healthy enough to pursue the 10 percent, across-the-board income tax cut he rolled out in January.