Christie Has New Fleece, Baby. The Super Bowl Is In New Jersey And The Weather Will Be Fine

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Christie Roasts Boomer Esiason At The Friars Club

With Governor Chris Christie’s schedule this week…Super Bowl events, appearances on sports talk radio, and Howard Stern’s Birthday Bash, one might think that he is letting the media frenzy over Bridgegate just roll off his back.  He’s having a good time and basking in the limelight.

But Christie’s appearance at the Friar’s Club to roast Nassau County Hall of Fame quarterback Boomer Esiason reveals that Bridgegate has taken a toll on Christie’s fun.

You may have read that the lawyer handling the Bridgegate inquiries for Christie’s office is earning $650 per hour.  Being a good Republican, Christie apparently cut the budget elsewhere to come up with those funds.  His comedy writer must have gotten the axe.

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Samson Loses Rockefeller Group’s Business

David Samson

The real estate developer at the heart of Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s allegations against the Christie Administration has fired it’s law firm, Wolf and Samson, according to a report in the New York Times.

The law firm is led by Port Authority of NY/NJ Chairman David Samson, a former NJ Attorney General.  Samson, who has been subpoenaed by the legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures that have dominated the state and national political news this month and put Governor Christie’s presidential prospects in jeopardy, appears to be a central figure in both the Hoboken and George Washington Bridge controversies.

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Stronger Than The Storm: Sport Illustrated’s Swim Suit Edition Features The Jersey Shore

Sport’s Illustrated’s annual swim suit edition, usually shot in tropical island locations, features supermodel Hannah Davis enjoying the boardwalk at Seaside Heights and the beaches of Island Beach State Park and Cape May.

It is not known at this time if any federal Sandy Relief funds were used to recruit SI and Davis to the Jersey Shore, but Congressman Frank Pallone will probably call for an investigation.

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Christie to attend Howard Stern’s Birthday Bash

Governor Chris Christie is scheduled to attend radio shock jock Howard Stern’s Birthday Bash tomorrow evening at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan.   Stern is turning 60.

Stern spoke out in support of Christie last week.

It’s Stern. There is language that some may find offensive in this video.

The birthday show, which published reports say will last from 2 1/2 – 4 hours will be livestreamed here.  There is a pre-show at 4PM.  The main event starts at 6PM.

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RNC Chairman calls for boycott of MSNBC over racist tweet

UPDATED:  MSNBC CHIEF APOLOGIZES. FIRES THE PERSON WHO LAUNCHED THE RACIST TWEET.

According to a report on Brietbart  MSNBC President Phil Griffin issued an apology to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and “everyone offended” by the tweet (see below) posted last night that implied that the “rightwing” hates biracial families.

The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable. We immediately acknowledged that is was offensive and wrong, apologized and deleted it. We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet.

I personally apologize to Mr. Priebus and to everyone  offended.

At MSNBC, we believe in passionate, strong debate about the issues and we invite voices from all sides to participate. That will never change.

Phil Griffin

In a memo to  All Republican Elected Officials, Strategists, Surrogates, and Pundits and in an email to contributors, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called for a national boycott of MSNBC until the cable network’s president, Phil Griffin, apologizes for a tweet posted last night which suggested that the “rightwing” hates bi-racial families.  The tweet linked to a Cheerios commercial featuring a bi-racial family using the breakfast cereal as a discussion prop between father and daughter, rather than as food.

Here’s there tweet:

Here is the commercial

Priebus said:

While we understand MSNBC will go to great lengths to discredit Republicans and conservatives, this kind of attack on the millions of Americans who identify with the political right is offensive and unacceptable. Unfortunately, this tweet is just the latest in a pattern of poor statements by MSNBC and its hosts.

This morning I left a message with MSNBC President Phil Griffin to express my displeasure. I have sent him a letter demanding that he personally, as president of the network, take responsibility and apologize for the disgusting tweet. Until he takes internal corrective action and personally apologizes—not just to the RNC but to all right-of-center Americans—I’m banning all RNC staff from appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC.

As an elected official, strategist, or surrogate, I’m asking for you to agree to the same.

We can have our political disagreements with MSNBC, but using biracial families to launch petty and ridiculous political attacks is low, even by MSNBC’s standards. It only coarsens our political discourse.

MSNBC hosts—including Alec Baldwin, Martin Bashir, Melissa Harris-Perry, Alex Wagner, and Ronan Farrow just to name a few—have had a troubling streak in the last several weeks of making comments that belittle and demean Americans without furthering any thoughtful dialogue. Perhaps it’s time for the executives at MSNBC to consider whether their network is upholding a meaningful journalistic mission.

This is more than just a tweet or an offhand comment. This is part of a pattern of behavior that has gotten markedly worse, and until Phil Griffin personally apologizes and takes corrective action, we cannot be part of this network’s toxic programming.

I am confident that he will want to “lean forward” and prove to the American people that he does not condone this behavior. I look forward to his apology and corrective action.

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HUD Secretary: Sandy Money Is Being Monitored Closely. Being Distributed Faster Than Any Previous Disaster

Responding to partisan and media charges by those hoping to expand the Bridgegate controversy that has besieged the Christie Administration into misuse of Sandy funds, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes last night that he is confident that the Obama Administration is carefully monitoring federal funds targeted for homeowners.  Donovan said that federal money for Sandy victims is being distributed faster than relief for any previous natural disaster.

Congressmen Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell wrote to Donovan yesterday asking that HUD investigate New Jersey’s dealings with a terminated contractor that had been assigned the administration of Community Block Development Grants and that HUD appoint a federal official to the usage of those funds in New Jersey.

Pallone’s spokesperson, Ray Zaccaro, did not respond to a request for comment about Donovan’s remarks.  We are awaiting a call back from Thomas Piepnykosky, Pascrell’s spokesperson.

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Bayshore Tea Party Group Boasts of 1000 Members, Staunch Backers of Anna Little

Bayshore Tea Party Group member Frank Gonzalez, husband of the group’s co-founder, Barbara, installs homemade lawn signs on Rt 35 in Middletown during the 2013 Monmouth County Republican primary campaign

Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez told HuffPost that her group has nearly 1000 members and that they are staunch supporters of former Highlands Mayor Anna Little’s quest to unseat Congressman Frank Pallone, in an article posted last evening.

“If you don’t get someone in who is totally willing to fight the establishment, it will never change,” Gonzalez told HuffPost.

Little lost to Pallone in 2010 and 2012 with BTPG’s support, but Gonzalez thinks it will be different this year.

Gonzalez said her membership roll has grown by “a couple of dozen new members” since earlier this month when the Bridgegate controversy broke.

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New Jersey’s Difficult Choices

Governor Chris Christie can no longer claim that New Jersey is a model for bi-partisan governance that Washington should emulate.

Yesterday, Senate President Steve Sweeney, playing the role of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) before The Star Ledger’s Editorial Board, threatened to shut down New Jersey’s goverment if Governor Chris Christie doesn’t support a budget for the next fiscal year that makes the state’s payment into the pension system required by the “landmark” legislation that Sweeney and Christie hammered out in 2011, and that Christie has touted as one of his major accomplishments.

Sweeney is reacting to what Christie said about the pension system during his State of the State Address two weeks ago.

Here’s what Christie actually said:

Lastly, let me share with you one more, hard truth that makes this new attitude of choice necessary for New Jersey’s future.

We have discussed many exciting opportunities for investment in our state. K-12 education. Higher education. Crime prevention. Drug rehabilitation and job training. Health care. Infrastructure investment. Lower taxes. Job growth. All exciting, all of which, done responsibly, could make New Jersey an even greater place. But here is the simple truth. We cannot afford to do it right now.

Why?

Because of our pension and debt service costs. For the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget, the increase in pension and debt service costs could amount to as much as nearly $1 billion.

That’s nearly $1 billion we can’t spend on education. That we can’t invest in infrastructure improvement. That we can’t use to put more cops on the street. That won’t be available to improve access to health care. And for those who would advocate for higher income taxes like the ones I have vetoed before, remember that the amount raised would not even cover the increase in our scheduled pension payment and would undoubtedly make us less competitive in the job market nationwide.

These are the consequences of failing to engage in an attitude of choice. If we continue in an era where we believe we can choose everything, we are really choosing nothing. We need to have the conversation now about further changes to our pension system and to adding further to the state’s debt load. But the time to avoid this conversation and these choices is nearly over.

If we do not choose to reduce our soaring pension and debt service costs, we will miss the opportunity to improve the lives of every New Jersey citizen, not just a select few.

I am ready to engage in those conversations and help, with you, to truly create an attitude of choice. The result will be a better, smarter, stronger New Jersey. The results from our refusal to choose – a weaker New Jersey with a middle class burdened by even higher taxes. That is an abandonment of our duty.

Centuries ago, a philosopher wrote that “choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”  And this remains true for New Jersey today.

Our destiny is not set – it is the product of the choices we make. Our future is not set – it, too, is the product of the choices we make from this day forward.

So let us choose wisely.  And let us not fail to act.  Let us create an attitude of choice.

 

Christie concluded that we should choose to fund better schools, safer streets and creating opportunity “for every citizen, through an excellent education, a productive job, and a thriving community.”

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Congressman Leonard Lance offers a prebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union Address

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