O’Scanlon: If Pensions are on the ballot, delay TTF until after the election

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, the Republican Assembly Budget Officer, said today that no New Jersey legislator can responsibly vote on a bill to replenish the state’s Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) if a constitutional amendment requiring the state to make specified annual payments to state employees pensions funds is on the ballot this November.

“No legislator from either party can cast a responsible vote on any TTF plan until we know if the disastrously flawed Democrat constitutional amendment will be on the ballot.  If the Senate Democrats irresponsibly vote to place the amendment on the ballot they are voting to put any TTF decision off until after November – at least.

O’Scanlon said that the constitutional amendment proposed by the Democratic majority has three fatal flaws:

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Wanted By The Ocean Township Police

The Ocean Township Police Department is asking the public’s help in identifying the woman in the attached photo.

Detective Lieutenant Timothy Torchia didn’t say what the woman is suspected of doing in the Ocean Township Target strore on Saturday night, but it is save to surmise she wasn’t responded to the help wanted sign.

Anyone who recognizes the woman is asked to contact Detective Michael Legg at 732-531-1428 Ext 2236 or via email at [email protected].

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Nude photos of first ladies and presidents

If Donald Trump is elected President of the United States, his wife will not be the first first lady who posed for nude photographs.

Melania Trump’s censored nude photos adorn the pages of the New York Post today.  Columnist Andrea Peyser posted, “This election has finally gotten European,” on facebook.

The Post said it exclusively obtained the photos from French photographer Alé de Basse­ville who shot them during a Manhattan photo shoot in 1995 when Melania was a professional model, Hillary Clinton was first lady and Monica Lewinsky was an intern.

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How to beat the traffic in Belmar

Hopefully the rain will let up this weekend and residents and tourists alike can enjoy our beautiful Monmouth County beaches. The only downside of a trip to the beach is traffic and parking.  Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty has a solution to that problem.  Land a helicopter on borough property at Silver Lake!

On July 7 a friend of the mayor’s who just happened to donate $2500 to Dirty Doherty’s campaign coffers chartered a helicopter to fly him and his very recently betrothed fiancée away for a romantic getaway .  Our friends at Common Sense for Belmar have been all over the story.

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Arnone: Shark River dredging to restart imminently

Freehold Director Tom Arnone told MoreMonmouthMusings that the NJ Department of Transportation has agreed to restart the Shark River dredging project despite the fact that the Transportation Trust Fund has yet to be renewed and funded. The news came to Arnone from a DOT official via phone after business hours on Wednesday.

NJ DOT spokesman Kevin Israel confirmed that the project will restart in an email to MMM.

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With transportation funding negotiations deadlocked, County has plan to restart Shark River dredging

Freeholder Director Tom Arnone said he will announce a plan to restart the Shark River dredging project Wednesday morning at the Shark River Marina in Neptune Township.

The project, which had restarted on schedule on July 1 was halted at midnight on July 8 when Governor Christie’s executive order halting projects funded by the Transportation Trust Fund took effect.

The legislature failed to pass TTF funding with a $.23 per gallon gas tax on June 30th. The Senate’s plan was to increase the gas tax while phasing out the estate tax and reducing income taxes on retirees.  Christie and the Assembly agreed on a bill that would have raised the gas tax and reduced the sales tax from 7% to 6%.  Senate President Steve Sweeny and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto agreed to pass a revised version of the Senate’s original bill last week.  Yesterday, Christie said the Democrats plan is “dead on arrival.”

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Hillary names Wasserman Schultz her honorary campaign chair

In the Clinton universe a little email scandal should never be a career killer.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz will open and close the Democratic National Convention in Philadephia this week and then step down has Chair of the Democratic National Committee, ostensibly because of the leaked emails from the DNC proving that Clinton’s nomination was rigged by the committee and Bernie Sanders never had a chance.

It seems Wasserman Schultz’s apparent forced resignation is really just a transfer. Hillary Clinton announced this evening that Wasserman Schultz will become the Honorary Chair of the Democrat presidential campaign.

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Christie says Sweeney and Prieto have not shared their gas tax plan with him

MMM file photo

Brian T. Murray, Governor Chris Christie’s spokesman, told MMM in an email that Christie has not seen the Transportation Trust Fund legislation that Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto announced today.

New Jersey’s infrastructure construction projects have been shut down since July 8 when the TFF was down to a $10 million balance which being held for emergency projects.

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DNA evidence clears Long Branch Man of 1992 rape conviction

Dion Harrell of Long Branch spent four years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced this afternoon that a recent DNA test proved the Harrell was not the source of the biological evidence found in the 17 year old victim of the 1987 rape.  Gramiccioni sad that Harrell’s conviction will be vacated.

Harrell was convicted on March 26, 1993 and released from prison in 1997.  He turned 50 years old last week and is homeless, according the the New Jersey Sex Offenders Registry.

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Beck Opposes Sweeney/Prieto Gas Tax Plan

Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), the leading opponent of a gas tax increase in the legislature, announced her opposition to the compromise legislation out forth by Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto.  Beck says the Sweeney/Prieto plan is just as bad for taxpayers as the Senate plan that failed last month.

“The tax plan announced by Democrats today would still raise the gas tax by 23 cents per gallon, just as the last failed plan would have,” said Beck. “The cosmetic changes that the Senate President and Assembly Speaker have agreed to are just window dressing on the core $1.2 billion tax increase on drivers that remains largely unchanged from the previous version of the legislation.”

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