O’Scanlon and DiMaso: Don’t tax summer rentals

As part of their compromise with Governor Phil Murphy over how many taxes to raise and by how much in the new state budget, the Democrat leaders of the legislature have proposed taxing seasonal rentals of vacation homes and Airbnb rentals.

Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso came out against a seasonal rental tax, which will have a disproportionate impact on Jersey Shore property owners, in a statement issued this afternoon.

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Supreme Court Decision Changes New Jersey’s Political Landscape

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 is a game changer nationally and particularly in New Jersey where teachers and government workers pay checks are dinged significantly for union dues that ends up paying seven figure salaries to union executives and for political campaigns supporting politicians who do not deliver. (More on those lying politicians next week when the NJ School Funding Formula is finalized)

SCOTUS decided, 5-4, that public sector employees cannot be forced to pay union dues or fees that support union activity.
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Arnone confronts Curley for use of gay slur

In an uncharacteristic outburst, Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone confronted his disgraced colleague, John P. Curley for disparaging two County employees with a gay slur. “Deny you said it,” Arnone shouted at Curley during a public comment by David D’Amico, a representative of Garden State Equality.

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Murphy blinks: Offers Legislature budget compromise

In an effort to get a State budget passed by Saturday and avert a government shutdown, Governor Phil Murphy offered a compromise between his proposed budget and the budget that passed in the Democrat controlled legislature last week, according to NJBiz.

Murphy has previously threatened to veto or line item veto the legislature’s budget.

According to NJBiz, Murphy has proposed a lower corporate business tax increase than the legislature passed and to phase in the sales tax increase proposed over two years.   The Governor said he would accept the School Funding Formula proposed by Senate President Steve Sweeny, which has passed the legislature. Read the rest of this entry »

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Art G and Tommy G talk Jersey Politics this afternoon

Will the State government shutdown this weekend?   How much will your taxes go up?  Will New Jersey elect Bob Hugin, a Republican, to the United States Senate or send disgraced Senator Bob Menendez back to Washington for six more years? Why are Democrat congressional candidates running away from Nancy Pelosi and Republicans equivocating on their support of President Trump?

Tune in to The Tommy G Show this afternoon at 4:06 to hear Tommy and MMM publisher Art Gallagher banter about the shenanigans in Trenton and Washington.

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A Very Special High School Graduation: Sean Goldman Graduates From Holmdel High School

By Art Gallagher

David and Sean Goldman celebrate Sean’s graduation from Holmdel High School

This time of year thousands of New Jersey families, millions throughout the nation, are celebrating a major milestone in the lives of their teen aged children as they graduate from high school.

Twice this week, Sean Goldman’s graduation from Holmdel High School was described to me as a miracle.

It’s not that Sean overcame a disability or extreme hardship–miracles that should be celebrated.  Sean was abducted by his mother, Bruna Bianchi, 14 years ago and taken to Brazil. Bianchi took Sean on what she said was a two week vacation to visit her family in Brazil, but once there, she divorced Sean’s father, David Goldman, and kept the four year old boy from his father.  A Brazilian Court granted Bianchi a divorce. A New Jersey Court granted David custody of his son.

When Bianchi died during childbirth four years later, the international child custody case should have been over, under the terms of the Hague Convention which grants custody to a surviving biological parent.  But Sean’s maternal grandparents and step-father used their wealth and political influence to thwart—temporarily as it turned out–David’s unrelenting commitment to raise his son.

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Stephanie Murray resigns as Middletown Mayor

Stephanie Murray

Stephanie Murray resigned as mayor of Middletown Township this afternoon in a hand delivered letter to the Township Clerk.  Her resignation from the Township Committee is effective immediately, MMM has learned.

Murray cited her increased job responsibilities in her letter.  She became the part time Borough Administrator of West Long Branch last summer and was promoted to full time administrator earlier this year.

Once considered a rising star in Monmouth County political circles, Murray’s prospects for higher office took a hit in 2016 after the Asbury Park Press wrote an inaccurate and incomplete story about her family’s financial difficulties.  Never-the-less, Murray was overwhelmingly reelected by Middletown voters last November and was selected to serve as mayor this year by her colleagues on the Township Committee.

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BPU unanimously rejects JCP&L’s Monster Lines project

RAGE leaders, in Trenton, celebrate the BPU’s decision to nix JCPL’s Monmouth Monster Power Line Project

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities unanimously denied  Jersey Central Power and Light’s ‘Monmouth Reliability Project,’ according to Hazlet Deputy Mayor Sue Kiley who is in Trenton for the BPU meeting.

“This is a great victory for all of the grassroots activists of RAGE (Residents Against Giant Electric), and all of the government officials who fought together through a complex and arduous legal process to produce the right result for Monmouth County residents who live along NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line,” Kiley said. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hanlon certifies Curley’s nominating petition

Disgraced Freeholder John P. Curley survived a challenge to his nominating petitions for reelection, according to a letter from Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon dated June 13, which was obtained by MMM via OPRA request.

After noticing irregularities in the Curley petitions, Monmouth County Republican Chairman, Sheriff Shaun Golden, submitted a formal challenge to the petitions requesting that Hanlon’s staff review the signatures before certifying Curley’s candidacy for Freeholder as an Independent.

Hanlon found that over 120 signatures were invalid because the signers were not registered to vote in Monmouth County or the signature on the petition did not match the signature in the state voter records.  The censured freeholder still has over 100 valid signatures, making his overall petition valid.

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Mike’s Bikes Owner Killed By Drunk Driver

Drunk Brooklyn dentist was driving on the wrong side of the highway

Michael Gustafson, 66, the owner of Mike’s Bikes Shop at Route 36 and Ave D in Atlantic Highlands, was pronounced dead early Saturday morning at Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank, following a motor vehicle crash that occurred at the Middletown/Highlands border on Route 36, according to a statement by Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Anthony F. Sarlo, 62, a dentist from Brooklyn was driving a 2015 Jeep Cherokee westbound in the eastbound lane of Route 36 when he crashed into Gustafson who was driving eastbound in a 2017 Honda Fit at approximately 12:46 a.m.  Both the Highlands and Middletown Police Departments responded to the crash, according to a Highlands law enforcement source.  The Middletown PD handled the initial investigation.

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