Gannett has listed The Asbury Park Press headquarters in Neptune for sale. The price of the 24,000 square foot facility is not disclosed.
APP explained that the move is part of its “ongoing strategic transformation” and that they plan to lease space in the Monmouth/Ocean area.
“We’re excited about the opportunity this presents,” said President and Publisher Tom Donovan. “We are beginning the search for new space where we will continue to pursue great journalism and work for the greater good of our communities while positioning ourselves for an increasingly digital and mobile world. We remain deeply committed to serving the vital Monmouth and Ocean County communities. “
All righty then. Good thing they are continuing to pursue great journalism. I hope they get there soon.
Assembly Republican Conference Leader Dave Rible (30th District, Monmouth) announced yesterday that he will propose legislation that would prohibit the public release of the names and addresses of gun permit holders.
The Journal News, the suburban New York affiliate of the Asbury Park Press, published a map of and the names and addresses of gun permit holders from Westchester and Rockland Counties on Sunday, December 23. The Gannett owned publication obtained the information from the county clerks of Westchester and Rockland via New York’s Freedom of Information Law. Since the December 23 publication, the Putnam County Clerk has declined the Journal News’ Freedom of Information request for that county’s gun permit holders’ information.
A Westchester based blog, Talk of the Sound, responded by publishing the names and addresses of Jounral News employees, including those of the reporter who wrote the original story and Gannett’s CEO. A group of hackers broke into the company’s subscriber database. They are distributing the names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and passwords of the 10,000 subscribers of the paper’s website to anyone who asks.
The Journal News hired arm guards to secure its Rockland County headquarters. JN didn’t report that they hired arm guards. That stroy was broken by their competitor, The Rockland County Times.
Rible’s proposed bill would prevent that kind of nonsense from happening in New Jersey.
“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 The Asbury Park Press negative monkier for the Monmouth GOP is obsolete now that their editorial board has endorsed the entire Monmouth Republican slate using the adjectives “innovative.”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.
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.
The editorial board of the Asbury Park Press Neptune Nudniks want the State Attorney General’s office to monitor the ballot positioning draw for Monmouth County elections until such time as the legislature takes the chance out of ballot positioning.
Even though they acknowledge that there is no way to prove their allegations, the Nudniks are basically accusing Monmouth and Essex County Clerks, and the Monmouth GOP and Essex Democrats by inference, of fraud because the results of ballot positioning draws have defied statistical probability by huge margins over the past few decades.
Ballot drawings should be watched. But the Attorney General or Jimmy Carter don’t have to do the watching. The APP should send a reporter and write about the process.
One reason this matters, the Nudniks and the “experts” they refer to say is because voters who are uninformed about candidates will vote for candiates in the first ballot position. It seems to me that “voters” who are uninformed about the candidates stay home. They APP could impact this problem by doing a better job covering candidates and campaigns.
Bill Shea, the young retired State Trooper with a disability pension who is challenging Freeholder Director John Curley for a seat on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, called for a 20% across the board reduction in county government spending yesterday. Shea’s running mate, former Hazlet Mayor Kevin Lavan, said Shea’s proposal “is not out of the realm of possibility” and would depend on the results of a county audit.
Shea and Lavan were speaking yesterday to the Asbury Park Press Editorial Board where they appeared along side Curley and Freeholder Serena DiMaso. DiMaso and Lavan are competing to complete the unexpired term of Assemblyman Rob Clifton who resigned in January upon taking office in Trenton. DiMaso was elected by the GOP County Committee to serve in the seat until the general election results are certified.
Curley and DiMaso said such cuts would be impossible to achieve, according to APP. They said such cuts would annihilate small county departments and cripple to county’s efforts to reduce municipal spending with shared services.
The Asbury Park Press is still struggling for relevance and their trying to get it by attempting to set Governor Chris Christie’s agenda and schedule. Their likelihood of success is less than that of Star Ledger Editorial Board Editor Tom Moran’s attempts to get Christie to improve his manners.
Back in May, APP ran an multi-part expose on the Lakewood School System. So few people read about it, cared about it or took it seriously that when Christie came to Freehold for a Town Hall Meeting the following week, no one brought it up. That prompted an front page editorial rant that bashed Christie, Congressman Chris Smith and others not directly responsible for the mess in Lakewood for not paying attention to the APP Neptune Nudniks.
Last week the governor visited a private school (publicly funded) in Lakewood that serves the developmentally disabled. The Nudniks responded with another front page rant and by getting the Lakewood Board of Education President to write an open letter to the governor complaining that he is not paying attention to them on their schedule.
Yesterday, the Nudniks sent a reporter to a Christie press conference in Hackensack about a new solar power farm to ask him about the Lakewood Schools and why he hasn’t visited:
