Perfect Together

Senators Bob Menendez and Barack Obama with Governor Jon Corzine at a 2006 Menendez rally. Photo credit: Dith Pran/NY Times

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We’re Still with You, Mr. Governor

By Matt Rooney, cross posted from SaveJersey

Governor Chris Christie took his tax fight to a standing-room-only town hall crowd in Brick Township (Ocean County) yesterday afternoon.

And at that Brick gathering, my dear Save Jerseyans, we caught a welcome glimpse of the no-nonsense style of politics that quickly transformed Chris Christie into a national figure; you’ll likely remember his viral warning to beachgoers in the run-up to Hurricane Irene:
 

Surely, the contrast between Christie and Corzine in Election ’09 couldn’t have been clearer. I was proud to have been one of his earliest and most vocal grassroots supporters. I still am.

But what is our state party’s winning contrast with the liberal legislature right now in this ongoing budget fight?

I’m with MMM‘s Art Gallagher on this one, Save Jerseyans. There is no meaningful contrast.

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Stick and stones may break your bones, but farting can get you shot in the head

A 72 year old Teaneck man was arrested on Monday night after allegedly threatening to shoot his neighbor in the head for farting, according to reports in The Record and The Star Ledger.

Daniel Collins threaten to shoot his 47 year old neighbor, who’s identity is being withheld because there is no evidence of the flatus, after the neighbor cut the cheese while passing Collins’s apartment door.

Collins denied pointing his finger gun at his neighbor and gave the Teaneck Police permission to search his property.  A .32 caliber revolver that matched the description the man gave was found under the front seat of Collins’ car.

Collins was charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and terroristic threats.  He was released on his own recognizance.

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Cheap Talk Bob

The Joe Kyrillos for U.S. Senate Campaign launched a new website yesterday, CheapTalkBob.com

The site centers on a video of Bob Menendez’s constant chatter about the middle class, with facts that prove he does nothing to help the middle class.

Six years ago, Senator Menendez campaigned on a message of job creation for the middle class, but instead gave us a national unemployment rate that ballooned from 4.7% to 8.2%, a national debt that has nearly doubled, and a deficit which has more than quadrupled. Talk is cheap and Bob Menendez’s inaction continues to make things worse for the middle class.

Middle class families need a real reformer like Joe Kyrillos. Senator Kyrillos doesn’t just talk about reform, he’s implementing it for middle class families across New Jersey. Senator Kyrillos, under the leadership of Governor Christie and with the help of like-minded reformers, has worked to balance the state’s budget without raising taxes, cut spending, stopped borrowing, and reformed programs like the pension system. Election year rhetoric, like Bob Menendez’s cheap talk about the middle class, is no excuse for consistently voting to raise taxes, explode debt and stifle job creation.

“Bob Menendez thinks that if he talks enough about helping the middle class, people will start to believe that he actually is,” said Senator Kyrillos. “But you can’t hide from the facts. Bob Menendez has been consistently making things worse. He is making it harder for businesses to expand, and create more jobs. He is making families insecure about their financial decisions because of the frailty of the economy. He is hurting our friends, families, and neighbors, who have worked hard to succeed but have fallen on hard times. Those that want a better job, and to make a better living for their families. His constant talk about making things better for them is just that—talk.”

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There Will Be No Bathing Suits on The Road to Serfdom (but in this case I might not mind)

By Tommy DeSeno, first posted on Ricochet.com

This story requires one to consider social mores, conservatism, government powers, libertarianism, class, classlessness, tradition, expression, subsidiarity, humility, pride and manners.  In other words, it’s practically the reason Ricochet.com was created.

My beloved little city of Asbury Park, NJ made national headlines in 2010 when a local storekeeper, while attempting to drum up business, made a push for the City by the Sea to have a nude beach.   The measure was ultimately rejected.  That it was seriously considered at all shows how liberal Bruce Springsteen’s adopted hometown has become (of the 5,418 registered voters, only 390 are Republican).

What a difference two years makes though.   Former councilwoman and Republican Committeewoman Louise Murray has found a 50 year old ordinance on the books that says people in Asbury Park may not wear bathing suits on the boardwalk.  At a recent council meeting she pleaded with the City to once again enforce it.   Her plea has been picked up as newsworthy locally, regionally, and nationally now that Drudge has given it a headline.  The City Council is considering her request.

I don’t know if there is a social conservative backlash to the Obama Administration going on in this country but this might actually be proof of it.  Here is an exchange between Ms. Murray and Asbury Park Deputy Mayor John Loffredo as reported by a local website, www. moremonmouthmusings.net:

“I’ll be darned if I want to be standing at a bar and have somebody slither up in a Speedo or bikini that shouldn’t be in a bathing suit,” Murray said. “It’s disgraceful … I implore you to enforce this, but do not amend it.”

Deputy Mayor John Loffredo responded, “I honestly don’t disagree with you.”

Why is that exchange important?  Loffredo is one of New Jersey’s first openly gay elected politicians and a Democrat.  He’s a liberal.  He supports Asbury Park’s annual Gay Pride Parade (and you know how they dress marching in that).   Yet he doesn’t disagree with Ms. Murray about this.  A shift in social mores?

A bit of history about Asbury Park for context.  It was founded as a Methodist retreat in the late 1800s.  It had been a dry town where certain sports were originally banned as they might attract bettors.  This one square mile City still has nearly 40 churches.   So full of elegance was it that when I was a boy people would dress up to walk downtown and women working at the local department store were forbidden from wearing pants.

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Attorney General Wants Underage Drinkers to Come Up Empty in Booze Quest at the Jersey Shore

30 Shore Law Enforcement Agencies Will Participate in “Cops in Shops” Stings

BELMAR – Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa gathered in Belmar today with state and local officials, as well as members of the liquor and prevention industry to outline his plans to stop underage drinking on the Jersey Shore.

“We all look forward to soaking up the fun of the Jersey Shore this summer, but we’re focused today on a serious mission: keeping the good times safe for our teens and young people,” Chiesa said. “Simply put, I consider underage drinking a threat to the health and well-being of our youth in New Jersey.”

The keystone of the Shore efforts is the “Cops in Shops” program, which is run by the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

“Cops in Shops” is a program designed by the Century Council, a national not-for-profit organization funded by distillers. Under the program, local police officers work undercover in participating retail locations. Law enforcement officials either pose as store employees or are positioned outside the establishment to apprehend adults who attempt to purchase alcohol for underage drinkers. The New Jersey Cops in Shops program is recognized nationally as a successful program.

“One Shore teenager told us that it was common for her and her friends to wait outside a liquor store for a sympathetic adult to buy them alcohol.  She called this ‘Going Fishing,’” Chiesa said.  “My message for those teens and adults of a similar mind is this: Simply don’t do it.”

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The Return of Corzine Democrats…..and Whitman Republicans

Photo Credit: NJ.com

Governor Chris Christie has taken to the town hall stump declaring that the Corzine Democrats are back.

“In the last couple weeks, we’ve seen an ugly type of Democrat start to rear its head again,” Christie said during a town hall last week. “I think you thought you had slayed this type of Democrat in 2009 — that you had taken the wooden stake and out it through this type of democrats heart. But I am here to tell you today that I fear this type of Democrat has returned to the state legislature. You know what kind of Democrat I’m talking about: A Corzine Democrat.”

The governor will likely expand on the Corzine Democrats theme at his town hall meeting in Brick this afternoon, as he did last evening in his statement about the budget passed by the Democratic State Legislature yesterday:

“With today’s budget, Corzine Democrats reversed course and sent a loud and clear signal that they want to go back to the eight years prior to my administration when taxes and fees were raised every 25 days. After two years without raising taxes, the only way to feed the Corzine Democrats’ obsession is to hold tax relief hostage. I will not allow New Jersey to go back to the same failed policies that nearly put our state over a fiscal cliff. Tax relief for our hardworking families is long overdue and that is exactly what I will continue fighting for.”

But the budget the Democrats passed doesn’t raise taxes once every 25 days.  It doesn’t raise taxes any day.  It also doesn’t reduce income taxes as Christie’s budget proposed.  Nor does it reduce property taxes as the proposal that Senate President Steve Sweeney reneged on would have done.

The budget that the Democrats passed spends $400 million less than the budget Christie proposed.

Christie’s budget would have increased spending 8% with a phased in 10% income tax reduction.  It relies heavily on one shot gimmicks and increased borrowing.  Christie’s revenue projections, which the Democrats have acceptted, are based upon extremely optimistic assumptions that seem to have little grounding in reality. New Jersey’s economy would have to suddenly start growing faster than the rest of the country in order for Christie’s revenue projections to come close.   That sounds a lot like the fiscal cliff that the Whitman/DiFranceso/Bennett Republicans drove New Jersey over in the 1990’s until New Jersey voters kicked them out of power in 2003.

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Beachwear Ban On Asbury Park Boardwalk

Asbury Park GOP Chairwoman Louise Murray wants the city to start enforcing an old, but current, ordinance that prohibits citizens from wearing beach attire on the boardwalk, according to a story in the Asbury Park Sun that was picked up by the Star Ledger, NJ 101.5, but not the Asbury Park Press.

Murray made her appeal to the city council during their meeting on June 20:

“I don’t want to go back to 1940 or 1950 but the bottom line is you have on your books an ordinance — no person clad in bathing attire shall be on the boardwalk or public walks adjacent thereto,” Murray said. “Asbury Park was known for being the classiest boardwalk in the summertime. You never went down there unless you were dressed.”

In the past, beachgoers could not walk the boards barefoot without someone telling them to put their shoes on, recalled Murray, who is also a former city councilwoman.

“I’ll be darned if I want to be standing at a bar and have somebody slither up in a Speedo or bikini that shouldn’t be in a bathing suit,” Murray said. “It’s disgraceful … I implore you to enforce this, but do not amend it.”

Deputy Mayor John Loffredo responded, “I honestly don’t disagree with you.”

The ordinance specifically states, “No person clad in bathing attire shall be on the boardwalk or the public walks adjacent thereto.” It also prohibits holes deeper than 12 inches to be dug in the beachfront

Of the 5418 registered voters in Asbury Park, 390 are registered Republicans.  Murray must be trying to expand her base by appealing to the city’s social conservatives and law and order types.

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Dress To Get Wet and Dirty

The Bayshore Watershed Council and the American Littoral Society are conducting a field training for volunteer oil spill spotters, tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26 at 7PM.  The training will be conducted at Bayshore Waterfront Park in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown.

Bayshore Watershed Council Co-Chair Joe Reynolds said, “The Bayshore region is downstream from the Port of NY & NJ, you never know when an oil spill accident will take place. A Spill Spotter volunteer will be the eyes on the water before, during and after an oil spill or other catastrophic pollution event.”

Volunteers will be trained to identify and document coastal wildlife through a biological assessment using serine nets, binoculars and clam rakes.  After the workshop, the trainees will adopt a coastal spot near their homes to monitor throughout the  year.

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Monmouth County Courthouse to reopen Tuesday at 1:30 PM

Officials don’t know what caused illnesses that befell over 70 people

The State Department of Health and Senior Services has given the green light to reopen the Monmouth County Courthouse which was closed last week due to over 70 people falling ill.

Laura Kirkpatrick, Public Information Officer, told MMM that normal court operations will resume on Tuesday, June 26 at 1:30PM.  State and county employees should report to work as instructed by their supervisors.

The announcement from the State Department of Health said that the Courthouse  indoor air tested within normal ranges for chemical and environmental contaminants.  However the announcement did not disclose the cause of the illnesses that occurred on Friday June 15th and again on Monday June 18th. 

Donna Leusner, Director of Communications for the department said that “we don’t know the definitive cause at this time.”

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