The bill that passed the U.S. Senate on Friday that would provide $60 billion to rebuild New Jersey, New York and Connecticut from the effects of Superstorm Sandy and $400 million in projects unrelated to Sandy has stalled in the House of Representatives, according to reports on Politico and NorthJersey.com.
The House has split the relief measure into two parts; a $27 billion first installment to fund immediate recovery needs over the next three months and a $33 billion amendment to that installment bill. The amendment would fund strip away the $400 million in non-Sandy pork.
House Speaker John Boehner pulled the measures from the voting schedule prior to the “fiscal cliff” vote last night. If the House does not act before noon on Thursday any federal help for Sandy recovery will have to be taken up by the new Congress.
Posted: January 2nd, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Congress, Hurricane Sandy | Tags: House of Representatives, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Sandy Recovery, John Boehner | 1 Comment »
A better late than never “fiscal cliff” deal will get done in Washington. Federal taxes and spending will both rise. The federal debt ceiling will rise in the coming months.
Last minute legal maneuvers by “birthers” to prevent Barack Obama’s election by the electoral college will fail.
New Jersey will confront a budget shortfall of almost $1 billion. Governor Christie will attempt to plug part of the shortfall with the privatization of the lottery. There will be painful spending cuts during the first six months of the year.
Congress will pass and the president will sign the $60.4 billion Sandy Relief Bill.
The rebuilding of the Jersey Shore communities devastated by Superstorm Sandy will be slowed by FEMA.
Despite New Jersey’s fiscal mess and frustration over the rebuilding process, Governor Christie’s approval ratings will be in the high 50’s throughout the year. Christie will be reelected, defeating State Senator Barbara Buono. The Democratic Party will retain control of the State Legislature.
The State Senate will confirm David Baumann as a State Supreme Court Associate Justice. They will not confirm Robert Hanna.
Joe Oxley will be confirmed as a Superior Court Judge.
There will be surprise retirements in the Monmouth County Vicinage of the Superior Court.
The first Monmouth GOP nominating convention under Chairman John Bennett and his new by-laws will see no challenges to incumbent freeholders, legislators or the sheriff. There will be Tea Party led primary challenges in the 11th, 13th and 30th Legislative Districts. The incumbents will all win.
The Monmouth GOP by-laws will be amended at the nominating convention to make the chairman’s term two years.
The Monmouth County Democratic Party will have difficulty recruiting a full slate of legislative and county candidates.
Tom Arnone will be the Director of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.
What do you think will happen?
Posted: January 1st, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2013 Predictions | Tags: Barack Obama, By-Laws, Chris Christie, David Bauman, Joe Oxley, John Bennett, Monmouth County Court, Robert Hanna | 3 Comments »
Hurricane Sandy
Barack Obama was reelected President of the United States
Posted: December 31st, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Year in Review | Tags: 2012 Year in review, Barack Obama, Hurricane Sandy | 1 Comment »
MMM discovered irrefutable proof that the War on Women is real.
The leadership of the New Jersey Democratic Party was relegated to the nose bleed seats at the Democratic National Convention.
The Democratic National Convention adopted a platform that omitted the party’s traditional support of Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel and its recognition of God as the source of American values. The following day the convention chair ruled that 2/3 of the convention delegates voted to approve an amendment to the platform that reversed omissions, despite the fact that the measure obviously did not pass the voice vote by a 2/3 majority.
On the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attack on America that killed 3000 people our country’s consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by Islamic terrorists. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, a Foreign Service information office, and former Navy Seals Tyrone A. Woods and Glen A. Doherty were killed. President Obama and his admimistration falsely blamed the attack on a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Islam video.
The Monmouth County Republican Committee held a convention to adopt by-laws. The by-laws have not yet been posted on the GOP website, but you can find them here.
Posted: December 31st, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Year in Review | Tags: 2012 Year in review, September | Comments Off on 2012 Year in review: September
Mitt Romney selected Congressman Paul Ryan as the GOP VP nominee. Governor Chris Christie gave the Keynote address at the Republican National Convention.
California Governor Jerry Brown challenged Christie to a push up and pull up contest.
Christine O’Donnell came to Hazlet for an Anna Little fundraiser.
Sister Elizabeth Garvey, the Executive Director of the Bayshore Senior Center passed away.
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, passed away.
Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of people dined at Chick-fil-A as an expression of support to the company’s CEO’s right to express his family values without fear of government retribution.
Posted: December 31st, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Year in Review | Tags: 2012 Year in review, August | Comments Off on 2012 Year in review: August
Judge Michael Guadagno was elevated to the State Court Appellate Division.
Governor Chris Christie had a confrontation with a passerby on the Seaside Heights Boardwalk.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group issued a statement saying that they expected every Republican to face a primary in future elections.
Joe Caliendo stepped down as Middletown Democratic Chairman.
Former Brookdale College President Peter Burnham pled guilty to theft by deception and official misconduct.
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in a law suit brought by a Superior Court Judge that Judges don’t have to abide by the pension and benefit reforms sign into law by Governor Christie in 2011. State Senator Sam Thompson concluded that the Supremes’ ruling meant that all New Jersey Judges have been under-contributing to the pension system since 1982. Thompson asked the Treasury Department to collect the shortages for all retired and current Judges. They didn’t.
At a campaign appearance in Roanoke, Virginia President Obama proposed $1.2 trillion in spending cuts from government programs that don’t work and declared told business owners “You didn’t build that.”
Beaches in Loch Arbour and Spring Lake were closed due to an invasion of stingrays.
Posted: December 31st, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Year in Review | Tags: 2012 Year in review, July | Comments Off on 2012 Year in review: July
Anna Little won the GOP primary for Congress in the 6th Congressional District and filed her FEC reports as a candidate for U.S. Senate.
In a prelude to the Democratic Chairman’s race, Democratic nominee for Freeholder William Shea lost county committee race. Shea and his running mates, Kevin Lavan for Freeholder and Michael Steinhorn for County Clerk, were prominent supporters of Marlboro Council President Frank LaRocca in the Democratic Chairman’s race.
Vin Gopal defeated LaRocca to become Monmouth County Democratic Chairman. The 27 year old businessman and former candidate for Assembly in the 11th Legislative District won with 73% of the votes.
After a hard fought campaign, former State Senator John Bennett defeated State GOP Committeewoman Christine Hanlon for the Monmouth County GOP Chairmanship by 3 votes of the 615 cast.
Middletown’s Democratic Township Committee Candidate, Linda Baum suggested introducing a LGBT curriculum into Middletown’s schools.
Asbury Park GOP Committee Chairwoman Louise Murray asked the city council to start enforcing a decades old ordinance that prohibits beach wear on the boardwalk. They didn’t.
A mystery illness that was never discovered caused the Monmouth County Courthouse to close for over a week.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter Warshaw was nominated to the Superior Court by Governor Christie. His nomination was confirmed by the State Senate before the end of the month.
Christopher Gramiccioni was nominated to replace Warshaw and was named Acting Prosecutor. Like so many other of Christie’s nominations, the State Senate has yet to act on Gramiccioni’s nomination.
The Supreme Court of the United States declared that ObamaCare is a tax and that it is constitutional.
Photo credit: Tony Fiore
had a major infrastructure failure at its Swimming River Water Treatment Plant due to unrepaired damage from the August 2011 Hurricane Irene. Over 55,000 Monmouth County residents experienced water shortages and rationing as the summer season started.
Posted: December 31st, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Year in Review | Tags: 2012 Year in review | Comments Off on 2012 Year in review: June
Congressman Chris Smith and Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden prior to surveying Hurricane Sandy damage
The $60.4 billion dollar appropriation to fund the rebuilding of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut passed in the U.S. Senate last night by a vote of 62-32.
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ 4), representing parts of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, is calling on his Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass the aid package without delay before the 112th Congress adjourns on Monday.
“The House now has before it legislation that will provide critical federal support to help ease and mitigate the severe hardship on people, communities and businesses decimated by Superstorm Sandy,” said Smith, “There is no doubt that this storm created unprecedented emergencies and devastation and should be treated as such— with no delays, no budget offsets. Immediate federal assistance, resources, and mitigation planning is needed to help restore some normalcy and hope into the lives of the victims of Superstorm Sandy and start the rebuilding process.”
Posted: December 29th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Chris Smith, Congress, Hurricane Sandy, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Chris Smith, Congress, Hurricane Sandy, Superstorm Sandy | 4 Comments »
The “If it lasts more than four hours, call you doctor award” goes to U.S. Senator Bob Menendez for his antics in the Dominican Republic and for regularly keeping his Washington, DC neighbors up all night.
The “Three monkeys award” goes to the New Jersey press corps for their coverage of Bob Menendez and Lisa Jackson.
The “They’re all made of ticky tacky and they all look the same” award goes to Newark Mayor Cory Booker for backing down from his candid comment on Meet the Press that he found the negative political ads deployed “by both sides” nauseating.
The “Rahm Emanuel Never Waste A Good Crisis Award” goes to Senate President Steve Sweeney and Senator Mike Doherty for their political courage in proposing that funding for rebuilding the Jersey Shore post-Super Storm Sandy be contingent on the elimination of beach badge sales to pay for beach safety and maintenance. Sweeney gets the bonus Kitten, kitten , kitten award for his unwillingness to discuss his proposal with anyone other than stenographers and the Asbury Park Press Editorial Board.
The “Cory Booker Profile In Grandstanding Award” goes to Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik for his multiple TV appearances promoting his community’s Cops in Schools program.
Posted: December 29th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Year in Review | Tags: Bob Menendez, Cory Booker, Jon Hornik, Lisa Jackson, Marlboro, Mike Doherty, Rahm Emanuel, Steve Sweeney | 5 Comments »
United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced her resignation yesterday. Jackson was Governor Jon Corzine’s Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner and briefly his chief of staff before joining the Obama Administration.
The Asbury Park Press’s coverage of Jackson’s resignation is more glowing than an obituary. Both the APP and the Star Ledger used the news to fuel speculation that Jackson could be a candidate for governor of New Jersey or the next president of Princeton University.
Neither of New Jersey’s two largest media outlets bothered to mention the recent scandal surrounding Jackson.
Jackson is being investigated by at least two congressional committees and her own agency’s inspector general. The Justice Department just agreed, as the result of a law suit filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, to release 12,000 emails from an alias account that Jackson used to conduct the government’s business under the name “Richard Winslow.”
Even anti-corruption crusader and champion of transparency, Bob Ingle, co-author of The Soprano State: New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption
, failed to mention Jackson’s use of an email alias while conducting the government’s business as a cabinet level official of the Obama Administration.
Posted: December 28th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2013 Gubernatorial Politics, DEP, EPA, Lisa Jackson, NJ Media | Tags: Asbury Park Press, CEI, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Lisa Jackson, Star Ledger | 2 Comments »
