Christie Town Hall in Long Branch on Tuesday August 19

Govenor Chris Christie at his Belmar Town Hall on July 31

Governor Chris Christie will continue his Jersey Shore “No Pain, No Gain” tour with a stop in Long Branch next Tuesday at the Long Branch Amphitheater on McKinley Ave. 

The event is scheduled to start at 3PM.   The Governor’s Office requests RSVPs at  [email protected] .

Christie was rained out in Long Branch on July 15th.

Christie has been informing the public and about the pension and benefit crisis the State is facing during his summer tour.  He promises to announce a plan for pension and benefit reform sometime in the early fall.

• Tweet

Romney Is Headlining Christie’s Birthday Fundraiser

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee, is schedule to be a “Special Guest” at Governor Chris Christie’s birthday celebration/NJGOP fundraiser on September 10.  Christie turns 52 on September 6.

The grand party will be held at the Hilton East Brunswick.  A ticket to the general reception costs $150.  Entrance to a private reception is $5,000 per person.  There are 20 “Roundtable” spots reserved for 20 well healed guests.

For an additional $75, guests can have a message inserted in Christie’s birthday card.  For $35 a family will be listed in the card, $15 for an individual listing.

In lieu of gifts for the Governor, guests are urged to bring an unwrapped toy which will be donated to Toys 4 Tots.

• Tweet

Christie: Shark River Dredging Delayed By County and Municipalities

Beck: Federal and State Agencies Haven’t Approved Drying Sites

Governor Chris Christie told his Town Hall gathering in Belmar yesterday afternoon that the dredging of Shark River is being held up because the municipalities along the river and Monmouth County can not agree on a destination for the dredge spoils to be dumped.

The issue has gathered increased public attention in recent months due to a massive fish kill in the river last May.  310 tons of dead fish were removed from the shoreline of the estuary that feeds into the Atlantic through the inlet between Belmar and Avon-by-the-Sea and extents 11 miles through Neptune and Wall Townships.

In answering a question from a man who identified himself as Bob from Wall, Christie said that he supports the dredging, fought for money from FEMA to pay for the dredging and would impose a solution on the county and municipalities if he had the authority to do so.  He said he had been briefed on the issue three weeks ago.

Maybe the Governor remembered a briefing from a different dredging project when answering Bob’s question.

Both the Monmouth County and Neptune landfills are willing to take the dredge spoils, according to Senator Jennifer Beck.  The river hasn’t been dredged, Beck said in a phone interview last night, because over the last two decades various federal and state agencies have rejected every proposed location for the dredged materials to dry before being moved to their final disposal site.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Christie will hold Town Hall Meeting in Belmar, Weds, July 30

The next stop on Governor Chris Christie’s “No Pain, No Gain” tour on the Jersey Shore will be held in Belmar next Wednesday, 3PM, at the  Huisman Gazebo, 500 Ocean Ave.

Christie kicked off the tour in Long Beach Island on Tuesday where he said he would be proposing a plan to save New Jersey from bankruptcy by the end of this summer. The work-in-progress plan will focus on reducing pensions and benefits for public workers.

“There are going to be some really difficult things,” Christie said. “There’s not a lot of places left to do things except to look at a whole different variety of ways to reduce benefits or to increase contributions by employees.”

Residents can RSVP for the Belmar event to [email protected]

• Tweet

Christie’s Long Branch Town Hall Rained Out

Governor Chris Christie’s Town Hall in Long Branch this afternoon has been postponed due to expected back weather.

The Governor’s office said it would be rescheduled soon.

• Tweet

Handlin Wants SCI To Investigate Allegations That Fulop Planned Traffic Jams At Holland Tunnel and Port Jersey

Jersey City Police Chief Robert Cowan has responded to his announced demotion by Mayor Steve Fulop by alleging that the mayor order traffic jams at Port Jersey and the Holland Tunnel.   That Cowan objected and interfered is the reason he is being demoted, he says, according to reports in the Jersey Journal.

Fulop announced plans to sue the Port Authority of NY/NJ for $400 million. Cowan’s attorney said Fulop’s plan was “designed solely to create havoc for the Port Authority.”

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Middletown) wants the joint legislative committee that is investigating the September 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures to investigate the allegations against Fulop as well.

In a letter dated today to Senator Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman John Wisniewski, Co-Chairs of the New Jersey Select Committee on Investigation,of which Handlin is a member, the assemblywoman asked that the committee immediately issue subpoenas to Fulop and Cowan

As you know, the mission of the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation is to “investigate all aspects of the finances, operations, and management of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and any other matter raising concerns about abuse of government power or an attempt to conceal an abuse of government power including, but not limited to, the reassignment of access lanes in Fort Lee, New Jersey to the George Washington Bridge.”

Because the allegations against Mayor Fulop raise significant concerns about the repeated abuse of government power directly related to the Port Authority, I respectfully ask the committee to investigate this matter including the immediate issuance of subpoenas to Mayor Fulop and Chief Cowan.

Handlin’s letter can be found here.

Fulop is widely considered to be a contender for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2017, or sooner if Governor Chris Christie does not complete his term.

• Tweet

Christie Town Hall in Long Branch on Tuesday

Governor Chris Christie will hold a Town Hall Conversation in Long Branch on Tuesday afternoon July 15 at 3 p.m, according to an announcement from his office.

The first of several stops along the Jersey Shore this summer, Christie will highlight in budget and reform initiatives and answer questions from New Jerseyans.

The event will be at the Long Branch Amphitheater, 17 McKinley Ave, Long Branch.

• Tweet

Christie in Keansburg Monday Morning

MMM photo/Art Gallagher

Governor Chris Christie is scheduled to be in Keansburg on Monday morning, 10:30am, to make an announcement and give updates on the Homeowners’ Elevation Program.

The event is scheduled to take place at a private residence at 57 Beaconlight Ave.

• Tweet

Ocean Grove Opens Its New Boardwalk

Dr. Dale Whilden, President of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Assoc, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Sen Jennifer Beck, Gov Chris Christie, Congressman Chris Smith and Neptune Mayor Dr. Michael Brantley cut the ribbon of Ocean Grove’s rebuilt boardwalk

After being twice denied funding from FEMA before finally getting $2.4 million on their second appeal, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association re-opened their boardwalk to the public today with a ceremonial ribbon cutting lead by Governor Chris Christie, Congressman Chris Smith, Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Neptune Township Mayor Dr. Michael Brantley and Dr. Dale C. Whilden, President of the OGCMA.

“Today is truly a great day for Ocean Grove, Neptune Township, Monmouth County, and the Jersey Shore, and a critical step forward in our recovery from Sandy,” said Smith.”This boardwalk is an integral part of Ocean Grove the neighboring Jersey Shore community, a fact we reinforced during our efforts to reverse FEMA’s original decision at the local level—and yet another at the regional level—to deny critical funding.”

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Christie vetoes gun control legislation, Re-writes bill as mental health reform measure

Calling a bill that would have reduced permitted ammunition magazine sized from 15 rounds to 10 “reform in name only,” Governor Chris Christie conditionally vetoed A2006   this afternoon.

In his conditional veto message, Christie said the bill follows the well worn path of empty rhetoric, political self-promotion and polarizing intolerance in the face of violent crimes committed with guns:

“Difficult choices are brushed aside
in favor of empty rhetoric. Uncomfortable topics are left
unexplored, while easy soundbites and videoclips are packaged
for consumption. Appropriate empathy for victims, and their
suffering survivors, blurs with politics and elected officials’
self-promotion to create a polarizing intolerance. We ignore
the hard for the expedient, the controversial for the safely
familiar, and the costly for those cheaply recycled answers that
never really address the root causes.”

Christie sent the legislation back to the General Assembly as a bill that he says addresses violence by fixing critical short comings and crack in the mental healthcare system.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet