In honor of Senator Bob Menendez crying, “twice choking back sobs” today as Poltickernj put it, because Joe Kyrillos is distinguishing himself as the pro-women candidate in New Jersey’s U.S Senate race, MMM is announcing a song parody contest with the theme being “Joe Kyrillos is the pro-woman candidate in the New Jersey U.S. Senate race.”
The contest is open to all readers of MoreMonmouthMusings. Submissions will be accepted until midnight on July 31st, or whatever time Art Gallagher wakes up on August 1. There is no limit on the number a submissions any one person or team of people can submit. Submissions can be made in the comments of this post or by sending a message to Art Gallagher on facebook. Submissions can be made in your real name or with a pseudonym. By submitting a parody you give up any copyright or right to profit monetarily from the parody.
The winning song will be made into a professional quality video produced by our friend and professional videographer Joe Schilp. MMM readers will be stars of the video. The video will be launched on YouTube the week after Labor Day
To get things started, MMM publisher Art Gallagher reached deep into the MMM archives to find Lightshines, a prolific parody writer for MMM and other sites in the late 2000’s. Art asked Lightshines to write a parody entitled “Don’t cry for me Bob Menendez” to the tune of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” This is Lightshines’ first entry in the contest:
After witnessing the sad spectacle of Bob Menendez breakdown when addressing a Union County Day Care Center (he didn’t get his nap?) we channeled Eva Peron who, feeling Senator Bob was a little too corrupt even for her, had this to say:
Don’t cry for me, Bob Menendez The truth is we never liked you All through your Hudson days your dirty politics You kept no promise Now keep your distance
And as for fortune, and as for fame That didn’t do much for us Cause it seemed to the world that was all you desired
You’re an illusion You are not the solution you promised to be The answer was here all the time Defeat you and all of your grime
Don’t cry for me, Bob Menendez The truth is we never liked you All through your Hudson days your dirty politics You kept no promise Now keep your distance
Pick any song you like to write your parody. You can use “Don’t cry for me..” or any other song.
MMM is assembling a panel of judges who will select the final four parodies.
MMM readers will select the winner in early August.
Politickernj is reporting that U.S. Senator Bob Menendez cried emotionally, “twice choking back sobs,” at a Union City daycare center earlier today.
State Senator Joe Kyrillos’ claim that he is the “women’s candidate” in New Jersey the U.S. Senate race is reportedly what brought Menendez to tears.
Menendez and a cohort of Democratic women were at the Union City daycare center to take a page out of the Obama playbook by accusing Kyrillos of being anti-woman, according to a report on NJ.com
“That fact of the matter is, on all of the issues that matter most to the women of New Jersey, state Sen. Joe Kyrillos has been on the wrong side,” state Sen. Barbara Buono said at a campaign rally held in a Union City daycare center. “For every stride Sen. Menendez has made to uplift and support women in New Jersey and across the nation, Sen. Kyrillos and his allies took a step — a leap — backward.”
The Kyrillos campaign fired back with a statement from Communications Director Meaghan Cronin:
“Sadly, aided by some partisan politicians, Bob Menendez today tried to deflect from his record of failing women by attacking Joe Kyrillos. The truth is women have been hurt by Bob Menendez’s votes and policies. In fact, there are 780,000 more women unemployed today than there were three and a half years ago. What does Menendez’s record show: increased debt, reduced jobs and cuts to Medicare. No wonder he wants to draw focus away from that. While Menendez continues to play politics, a ticking time bomb awaits New Jersey families. While he continues to talk and not act, the threat of a massive tax increase that will hurt women and all taxpayers continues to grow. Bob Menendez promised us better, but gave us so much worse.”
Since a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Quill v North Dakota) online sales have largely been exempt for state sales taxes. In Quill, SCOTUS ruled that sellers did not have to collect sales taxes unless they had a physical presence in the home state of the buyer.
Consumers in many states, including New Jersey, are required to pay the sales taxes on online purchases themselves. Few do and few states do anything to enforce the tax.
In 1992 online sales were not such a big deal. However 20 years later, America makes $200 billion per year in online retail purchases and states are losing out on $23 billion in sales tax revenue, according to a Washington Post report.
Large “brick and motar” retailers complain that the online exemption creates a pricing disadvantage for them and a cost, as consumers shop for items in their show rooms but then purchase items online at the lower price, often from smart phones while still in the retail show room.
Local retailer Vic Scudiery, owner Hazlet electronics seller IEI and the former Chairman of the Monmouth County Democratic Party, has long held that the state is losing out by not taxing online sales. Scudiery told MMM that IEI’s monthly sales tax paid to New Jersey was over $20 thousand before the majority of its sales shifted from store visits to the Internet. Now, Scudiery says his store generates less than $8000 per month in sales tax for New Jersey while overall revenues continue to grow.
Mega online retailer Amazon had long been opposed to collecting sales taxes, in part because the process of collecting and reporting sales taxes for thousand of jurisdictions is too cumbersome and confusing. But Amazon has abandoned that argument as it has changed its business model. As the company aggressively opening new distribution centers in many states, including New Jersey, to reduce the time and cost of its shipping of consumer products, it is cutting deals with states that would allow it avoid collecting sales tax for a year or two and get state income tax credits if they build and hire. In New Jersey, Amazon will build two huge distribution centers, create 1500 jobs. The company will start collecting New Jersey’s 7% sales tax from Jersey residents in July of next year under a voluntary agreement with the Christie administration.
NetChoice, a trade association lobbyist, who’s members clients include eBay, facebook, Overstock.com and Internet wine sellers, are continuing to fight sales taxes based on the complicated and cumbersome argument.
Bi-partisan federal legislation, The Marketplace Equality Act, would authorize states to collect sales tax from online retailers shipping products into their jurisdictions and require, that if the states choice to impose that tax collection on retailers, that they simplify the process and, in some circumstances, provide software to the sellers that would calculate the appropriate tax.
Republican governors, lead by Gov. Chris Christie, have dropped their long term opposition to taxing online sales and endorsed the Marketplace Equality Act, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon called for fiscal accountability in Newark this week. You wouldn’t have known that unless you read The Star Ledger. The Asbury Park Press, the newspaper/pay site that covers O’Scanlon’s Monmouth County district missed it.
At issue is the $24 million in state aid that Newark is “due” this year, after the state taxpayers kicked in $32 million to Newark’s budget last year, in the face of blatant waste on the part of Mayor Cory Booker and the city council.
Booker squandered $3.7 million in legal and consulting fees in a fight with the New Jersey Devils hockey team over revenue sharing. Booker lost the fight, which even The Star Ledger says was a waste and should have been settled, and vowed to spend more—O’Scanlon says $1 million more, The Ledger says $100 thousand more—in appealing the ruling that favored The Devils. As the ruling stands, Newark owes the Devils $600 thousand.
Newark’s city council is disgrace. A “gaggle of blowhards,” Ledger editor Tom Moran calls them, who “awards itself the highest salaries in the state, along with a free car.” Newark’s city council is paid six times more than Jersey City’s city council, according to Moran. $3.45 million in salaries paid to the Newark city council in 2011.
Also at issue is that the overpaid council has yet to pass their budget that was due in February. Yet, they want the $24 million from Jersey taxpayers.
According to The Ledger, O’Scanlon said,
“Cory Booker is fighting an expensive personal vendetta with one hand while he has the other hand out expecting state aid”
and
“As the ranking Republican member of the Assembly Budget Committee, I cannot, in good conscience, imagine handing Newark another $24 million when the mayor is continuing to rack up legal fees and costs for litigation that could have been settled months ago,” O’Scanlon said. “The state should not be in the habit of bailing out towns and cities that are unwilling to help themselves.”
Oceanport Councilman Joe Irace sat down with William Richards, Director of New Media at The Hall Institute for Public Policy as part of the institute’s Hometown Solutions series.
William and Joe discuss Monmouth Park racetrack, Fort Monmouth, the challenges Oceanport has faced in recent years with uncertainty for both institutions, and what looks like a promising comeback for Monmouth Park.
Odd/Even Day Watering Restriction Still In Effect, But Sprinkler Use Is OK
New Jersey American Water Company said that the temporary repairs at the Swimming River Water Treatment Plant are completed and that its Monmouth County customers can water their lawns with sprinklers so long as they continue to observe the odd/even day schedule that has been in effect since Sunday.
The odd/even watering schedule entails:
Outdoor water use between the hours of 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on odd-numbered days of the month if your street address is an odd number (i.e., 23 Oak St., 7 Maple Ave.)
Outdoor water use between the hours of 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on even-numbered days of the month if your street address is an even number (i.e., 6 Oak St., 354 Maple Ave.)
Exceptions are:
Watering of new sod or seed if daily watering is required (note: it is recommended that any planting of new sod or seed that has not already taken place be delayed until the fall)
Use of private wells for irrigation
Commercial uses of outdoor water, such as for nurseries, farm stands, power washing, plumbing, athletic fields, and car washes
U. S. Senator Bob Menendez raised nearly $400 thousand more than his challenger, State Senator Joe Kyrillos did during the quarter that ended June 30th. Menendez raised roughly $1.7 million to Kyrillos’ $1.3 million. During the first quarter, Kyrillos out raised Menendez by $100 thousand.
Menendez has $10 million in cash to Kyrillos’ $2 million.
“I am grateful for the support of so many people for my campaign, which is about so much more than re-electing one person as Senator. It’s about the middle class of New Jersey and what matters most to all of us,” said Senator Menendez. “These resources are invaluable to me as I prepare for a long hard fight in the Senate race. Contributions from regular people who hold a tremendous stake in this election serve as a bulwark against the very real possibility of my opponent turning to corporations and billionaires to fund his campaign.”
The Kyrillos campaign said that the $3.1 million they have raised to date puts them in the top tier of U.S. Senate candidates, both incumbents and challengers, throughout the country.
“Bob Menendez has raised millions of dollars from special interests,” said Kyrillos Campaign Manager Chapin Fay. “Oil companies, banks and Wall Street are all kicking in big bucks. And like Jon Corzine did in 2009, Menendez will have more money in this race. But no amount of money can explain away Bob Menendez’s failed record on jobs and the economy. We are right on pace for Joe Kyrillos to have the resources necessary to get out his job growth message.”
Invoking Hillary Clinton from her ill-fated 2008 Democratic presidential primary against Barack Obama, the Romney for President campaign is releasing a television ad today that pushes back on Obama’s claims that Romney outsourced jobs while managing Bain Capital.
