When Gov. Jon Corzine signed New Jersey's $33.47 billion FY 08 Appropriations Act on June 28, he also reduced or vetoed 66 individual line items totaling $10 million, including several items of particular interest to the Jewish community.

Gone from the new state budget are a proposed grant of $48,000 for SPOT, an after-school support program for teens sponsored by the Jewish Family and Vocational Service of Middlesex County; $100,000 for the Riskin Children's Center of the Jewish Family Service of Clifton/Passaic; and $82,000 for a meals program sponsored by the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey.

Corzine also reduced by $50,000 a proposed $300,000 grant to the NJ State Association of Jewish Federations for social services to its NORCs – naturally occurring retirement communities – in Cherry Hill, Clifton, Elizabeth, Parsippany, Clark, Union, and other points throughout the state.

During the signing ceremony at the State House in Trenton, the governor noted his strong preference for specific line-item appropriations that are statewide or regional in scope.

"I must say," he said, "that when you're doing these line-item vetoes and you're doing each one of them individually, you struggle, since so many of them go to the heart of the social services that we're trying to do and that government should be involved in.

Perhaps of greatest political interest to the Jewish community was Corzine's veto of a controversial earmark in the budget that would have provided $100,000 in state funds to the Newark-based social-services organization Women in Support of the Million Man March, Inc.

The proposed grant evoked waves of protest after it came to light that the nonprofit organization had, in recent years, honored as "heroes" Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and poet-activist Amiri Baraka. Both have been widely criticized for making anti-Semitic remarks.

One of those critics, Sen. Barbara Buono of Edison (D-Dist. 18), was on hand at the budget signing in her role as a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

"It's out," Buono said in an interview about the proposed grant. "I actually did talk to the governor's deputy chief of staff on several occasions and, although no promises were made, it was clear that the governor was leaning toward line-item vetoing it," she said. "So I'm relieved."

Etzion Neuer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, also expressed satisfaction over the governor's veto of the proposed grant to WISOMMM. He noted that Fredrica Bey, executive director of the organization, has praised not only Farrakhan and Baraka, but also Leonard Jeffries, professor of black studies at the City University of New York, who has charged, among other things, that "rich Jews" financed America's African slave trade.

"From my end, there was some gratification," Neuer said of the line-item veto. "It would have been very troubling to see state funding go to an organization that has tainted its goals with the baggage of anti-Semitism and hate."

Regarding the reduced grant for NORCs throughout the state, Roy Tanzman of South Brunswick, president of the state association, issued a statement praising the allocation despite the $50,000 cut.

"We're delighted the money will be available for this worthwhile project," he said.

Kevin Frechette, vice president and general manager of the Trenton-based MWW Group, said he sees the NORC grant as an important tool in enabling the state to maximize its resources for seniors.

"We are extremely encouraged," said Frechette, who served as a spokesman for the state association as the NORC proposal made its way through the legislature. "We are extremely appreciative of the fact that the governor and the legislature recognized the value of the NORC programs."

Lori Price Abrams, director of the Community Relations Committee of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, also welcomed the $250,000 grant – especially in light of the fact that federal funding for NORCs has dried up over the past year.

Price Abrams, who is actively engaged in the work of the state association, said she believes the NORC request met with success, in part, because it was a coordinated effort to benefit several communities" aging-in-place initiatives, which satisfied the governor's stated preference for grants with regional impact.

"Given the climate of cutting in the governor's office and the State House in a difficult year, I think it is exceptional that we were able to garner $250,000 for a variety of aging-in-place initiatives in New Jersey," she said.

"Many of us are looking for federal NORC earmarks in the 2008 federal budget," she added. "So the state money is quite critical in helping to bridge the gap to enable the programs to carry on."

In particular, Price Abrams said, the funds will allow the MetroWest federation to restore to full operating scale Parsippany LIVE – Lifelong Involvement of Vital Elders. In recent months, the program has been running "on a bare-bones basis," she said.

The new budget, which Corzine characterized as "fiscally sound and fiscally responsible," contains no new taxes. It provides for nearly $16.8 billion in property tax relief to the citizens of the state – in effect, 50 cents out of every budgeted dollar. It also allocates $11 billion in aid to school districts and $2.88 billion in aid to municipalities, counties, and other local governments.

"Unquestionably," the governor said, "I believe this is a good budget for the people of the state of New Jersey."

In a preface to the budget signing, Corzine noted that just the day before he had attended the funeral of former state Sen. Byron Baer of Englewood, who died on June 24 at the age of 77.

A seasoned lawmaker who served in the NJ Legislature for more than three decades – 21 years in the General Assembly and 11 years in the state Senate – Baer was the unofficial elder statesman among the roster of Jewish state legislators.

Corzine called Baer "the solid epitome of a fine public servant."

"Too often in New Jersey, we focus on the negative of what is done in public service," the governor said. "His life and his public service demonstrate fairly clearly, I think, for anyone who checks the record, that there are people who do tremendous work to serve the public."