Governor Chris Christie has activated the National Guard to assist New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy.
State offices will be closed on Monday.
NJ Transit and Access Link will gradually shut down all operations starting at 4PM and continuing until 2am Monday morning.
The PATH system will close at midnight.
Tolls on the Garden State Parkway North from Cape May through the Driscoll Bridge are suspended. Tolls are suspended both ways of on the Atlantic City Expressway.
The Motor Vehicle Commission’s operations are closed on Monday. All scheduled drivers tests, both road and written are cancelled on October 29, 30, and 31.
“Club Monmouth” is kaput. The Asbury Park Press negative monkier for the Monmouth GOP is obsolete now that their editorial board has endorsed the entire Monmouth Republican slate using the adjectives “innovative.” independenct,” and “effective.”
Accordingly, MMM is retiring the moniiker “Neptune Nudniks,” for now, that we have used for the last few years in naming the APP Editorial Board.
Curley has demonstrated leadership, independence and fiscal conservatism during his time as a freeholder. His tireless research and persistence in uncovering the excesses and illegalities of former Brookdale Community College President Peter Burnham led to Burnham’s ouster and guilty plea on official misconduct charges this summer.
DiMaso and Curley helped pare $4.1 million from the county’s $487 million spending plan this year, without laying off any employees and keeping property taxes stable. Curley has pledged to continue with plans to consolidate county jobs as people leave and to explore more opportunities to outsource county services.
DiMaso’s insistence on the need for the freeholders to keep our state legislators’ feet to the fire when it comes to the federal government’s lack of transparency with the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth is welcome, as is her focus on continuing to find ways to share services with neighboring counties and municipalities.
As they did in endorsing M.Claire French for County Clerk, the APP simply dismissed the Democratic opposition as not up to the jobs.
“What’s next, endorsing Romney?” one MMM reader asked. That would be something. The APP’s sister publication with the same website design, The DeMoines Register, reversed their 2008 endorsement of Obama yesterday, declaring,
Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals? When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the stronger candidate.
The former governor and business executive has a strong record of achievement in both the private and the public sectors. He was an accomplished governor in a liberal state. He founded and ran a successful business that turned around failing companies. He successfully managed the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Romney has made rebuilding the economy his No. 1 campaign priority — and rightly so.
Orders Mandatory Evacuation of Barrier Islands and Atlantic City Effective 4PM Sunday
Urges Residents to Use Nice Weather Saturday and Sunday to Get Prepared
Warns Retailers Against Price Gouging
Governor Chris Christie thanks first responders from the East Keansburg Fire Company prior to his Hurricane Sandy preparedness briefing in North Middletown
Middletown- Governor Chris Christie flew into to Middletown this morning to announce that he has declared all of New Jersey under a State of Emergency in preparation of Hurricane Sandy. The storm is expect to made landfall in New Jersey, somewhere between Cape May and Seaside late Sunday.
Christie has ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Jersey’s barrier islands south of Seaside and Atlantic City effective at 4PM on Sunday. All roads heading into those locations will be closed.
Residents of the northern coastal regions of Monmouth and Ocean Counties are left to their own discretion to voluntarily evacuate, pending updates from the National Weather Service.
Christie said that when shelter is needed that, except in those areas being evactuated, residents should stay in their homes or arrange to stay with family members. Shelters are being set up in all counties for those who can not stay at home or with family. The State will have five shelters open in the event of overflow at the county shelters.
“As we move towards what is an increasingly likelihood of seeing Sandy make landfall in New Jersey, I am urging all New Jerseyans to take every possible and reasonable precaution to ready themselves for the storm’s potential impact. That means having an emergency action plan for their families and other loved ones who may require assistance, and avoiding unnecessary risks in the severe weather, including staying off of the roads,” said Governor Christie. “At the state level, we are taking immediate steps to prepare for the storm’s impact and ensure that state, local and county governments have the tools they need to manage and respond in a coordinated way. With this, government at every level can respond more effectively to conditions on the ground, activate emergency operations plans, and ensure that resources are being marshaled to assist and protect the public through this storm.”
Christie encouraged residents to stay off of the roads during the storm and announced that NJ Transit will cross honor tickets and passes, Monday through Wednesday, giving those commuting to work greater access and flexibilty to public transportation in the event that their normal routes are closed due to the storm.
The governor emphasised that, unlike previous storms that have move through quickly, Sandy is expect to move slowly and impact the area for up to three days.
Utilities repair crews will not restore power while the storm is ongoing. Power outages are expected to last for as long as 7 to 10 days.
In response to a reporter’s question, Christie urged residents who are using power generators to make sure they are doing so correctly according to the manufacturers’ directions. “If it looks stupid, it is stupid,” the governor said, responding to the question about residents sharing power from generators with their neighbors via extension cords.
Following Christie’s briefing to the press and about 200 Middletown residents, his office issued a warning to merchants against price gouging.
“During emergencies, New Jerseyans should look out for each other – not seek to take advantage of each other,” said Christie. “The State Division of Consumer Affairs will look closely at any and all complaints about alleged price gouging. Anyone found to have violated the law will face significant penalties.”
Price increases are deemed excessive under the law if they are more than 10 percent above the price at which the good or service was sold during the normal course of business, prior to the state of emergency. The law does allow that, if the merchant faces additional costs imposed by suppliers or legitimate logistical concerns, a price increase is considered excessive if it is more than 10 percent above the amount of markup from cost, compared with the markup normally applied.
Violations of the price-gouging law are punishable by civil penalties of up to $10,000 for the first offense and $20,000 for the second and subsequent offenses. Each individual sale of merchandise is considered a separate and distinct event.
Could they possibly endorse Curley and DiMaso for Freeholders too?
The Asbury Park Press has recognised the fine job Republican County Clerk M. Claire French has done over the last ten years and endorsed her for a third five year term.
The Neptune Nudniks got this one right. They dismissed Democratic candidate Michael Steinhorn as someone who “has little to recommend him for the job,” despite the fact that he exposed the statistical anomaly of the Monmouth GOP winning the first general election ballot position in 30 of 33 years and that they like his proposal to that the clerk’s office provide mobile services to seniors and veterans.
Given their logic in endorsing French, it will be fascinating to see how they endorse at least one of the Democratic Freeholder candidates, as I expect they will.
The Democratic Freeholder campaign has been so anemic that I suspect many readers don’t even know who is running. Despite the Monmouth Dems outraising the Monmouth GOP through September, there is little evidence that Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal and his team are trying to get their nominal slate elected. Publicly Democratic leaders say the right things about supporting their candidates. Privately they seem resigned to a Republican blow out.
The Democratic candidates are William Shea and Kevin Lavan. Shea, as Amy Mallet’s running mate, lost to Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich last year. He is challenging Freeholder Director John Curley for a full three year term. Lavan, who lost his run for Assembly to Declan O’Scanlon and Amy Handlin in the 13th district last year, is running against Freeholder Serena DiMaso for the remaining one year of Rob Clifton’s term. Clifton resigned upon being sworn into the State Assembly.
Shea and Lavan were not even on the same page when the Nudniks interviewed all four candidates in September. Shea recklessly proposed a 20% across the board spending cut from the county budget without backing up how he would do it. Lavan said “maybe” depending upon the results of an audit.
Yet, the Nudniks loath single party control of any governing body (except the federal government when it is in Democratic hands) and has a historical bias against “Club Monmouth” as they frequently call the Monmouth GOP. They seem to forget that all of the Monmouth Republican county office holders and all of Monmouth GOP leadership has been replaced since Operation Bid Rig, except Claire French who they just endorsed. The GOP holds all five seats on the Freeholder Board.
Will the APP editorial board affirm the nudnikness and endorse Shea or Lavan? We’ll find out soon. Either way, it won’t matter on election day. It might matter to their own crediblity if the actually endorse the best people for the job and get over their own biases.
In a remarkable interview with NJ.com,6th district congressional challenger gives insight into her transformation from a rising GOP star to a fringe candidate.
“I had been a mainstream Republican candidate, but unfortunately I was not allowed to be myself. I am a traditional lady – I am pro-life, I am Catholic, and I am proud of it,” Little said. “Any political party, if it’s top-down driven, they want you to fit their mold. I don’t fit anybody’s mold. With the Tea Party people, I can be me. And I just want to do the right thing.”
Anna Little in her Woodbridge campaign office during her NJ.com interview. Photo credit: Mark Bonamo/NJ.com
The obvious implication is that those who didn’t “allow” her to be herself don’t want to do the right thing. That’s her ethos. On the wall next to her desk in her campaign office is her slogan,
“NEW JERSEY & POLITICAL CORRUPTION: PERFECT TOGETHER.”
Little was a mainstream candidate. A good one at that. In early 2006 the Monmouth GOP County Committee, suffering from the aftershocks of Operation Bid Rig, tabbed the little know Highlands Councilwoman and her “do the right thing” message to complete Amy Handlin’s seat on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders when Handlin was sworn into the State Assembly.
During her fall campaign to defend the seat, then GOP County Chairman Adam Puharic, a proud pro-life Catholic, called Little “a Rock Star.” Against an anti-war, anti-Bid Rig tide, Little was a rare Republican victor on election night of 2006. Within weeks the proud pro-life Catholic Puharic was plotting to get Little off the Republican ticket the following November.
Puharic and the Monmouth GOP did send Little packing from the Freeholder Board one year after she emerged like a Rock Star. The Highlands GOP welcomed her home an nominated her for mayor after the incumbent unexpectedly resigned his candidacy. The Highlands voters welcomed her home with a victory. Three years later, rather than run for reelection Little ran for Congress. She narrowly won the Monmouth County portion of the 6th district in a huge pro-Republican tide election. But she lost Highlands. Republicans swept every ballot position in Highlands in 2010, except the top one…Little’s. Highlands voted for Frank Pallone in 2010 rather than their incumbent mayor.
If you don’t support Anna Little unconditionally and give her what she wants when she wants it, you’re either corrupt or stupid. That’s her message. Her lack of mainstream support has nothing to do with her being pro-life, Catholic or a traditional lady. There are many pro-life, Catholic, traditional ladies thriving politically in the mainstream NJ/Monmouth GOP.
The list of former Little supporters who have mysteriously become corrupt or stupid is long and growing. It is not an accident that those who know her best, the voters of Highlands and the Monmouth GOP who nominated an unknown political neophyte instead of Little in the congressional primary, have withdrawn their support.
And it’s not because they are corrupt or stupid.
It is, in large part, because she says they are corrupt and stupid when they dare to question her.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden said that the K-9 search for explosives in the Court House this afternoon came up negative and that normal operations will resume tomorrow.
A male caller using a cell phone in Freehold Borough called 9-11 at 12:40 this afternoon and said that there were pipe bombs in the Court House that would explode this afternoon.
Investigators from the sheriff’s office and the prosecutor’s office are investigating the call.
Golden said there is no indication that the incident is in anyway related to the unsolved chemical/environmental event that closed the Court House for a week last June.
All bomb threat called into 9-11 early this afternoon has closed down the Monmouth County Court House for the rest of the day as bomb sniffing dogs are searching the building.
