Average Some One

By Art Gallagher

This post is for my Tea Party friends and my Republican friends in Monmouth County who continue to relate to each other with caution and trepidation or worse.

I’d like you all to consider the evolution of my friend James Hogan and the evolution of our county party over the last two years.

Hogan was the embodiment of the Tea Party before most Tea Partiers got off the couch.  Motivated, dedicated and completely out of his mind, he ran in the 2008 GOP primary for the nomination in the 6th Congressional District of New Jersey.

A few weeks after the 2008 primary, Hogan wrote of his first encounter the the MonmouthGOP establishment. It wasn’t pretty, but it worth reading.

Today, James wrote about his more recent experience with “the establishment.”  There has been a great deal of progress in two + years.

James has not compromised any principles, nor has he become any less outspoken.

He is an example of what is possible for those who are passionate about our politics yet new to the polictical process.  Those who have welcomed James graciously into the process are examples of the kind of leaders who empower the growth of our party.

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No Civilian Housing At Earle

The Asbury Park Press is reporting that the Navy has reached an agreement to buy out the contract for the Laurelwood Housing Area at Earle Naval Weapons Station.  The 300 townhomes originally built for military housing will be demolished.

This is good news for Colts Neck and Tinton Falls taxpayers who would have picked up the tab for education and municipal services had the Navy gone through with its plan make the development available for civilian housing.

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NJN will remain on the air

Governor Chris Christie told the Star Ledger that NJN, New Jersey public television and radio stations, will remain on the air after January 1st if legislation that allows negotiations with a private entity to take over the station is passed before the end of the year.   Senate President Steve Sweeney, (Reagan Democrat) has a bill before the legislature that would create a bi-partisan commission to manage the transfer to a private entity.  Senator Joe Kyrillos has proposed a bill that would empower the State Treasurer to manage the transfer.

State funding for the network is scheduled to expire on December 31. Layoff notices went out to the station’s 130 employees last month.

Michael Aron, the station’s senior political correspondent, told MMM that the network’s annual budget is roughly $20 million, including $7 million in in-kind contributions from the State for rent on its facilities and other fixed assets. The cash contribution from the State coffers was $4 million in 2010.

Christie’s original plan under the current state budget was for NJN’s licenses to be sold or transfered to a private entity.  Officials now want the state to retain ownership of the license and enter into a management agreement with a consortium of broadcasters to provide content, according to the Star Ledger report.

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Weekend @ Monmouth

The House at 831 opens at the Clearview Cinema in Red Bank on Sunday.  Show times are at 4:30 and 7.

I have no idea what the movie is about. Jackie Bartley and Andrew Bane are in it, so I’m going. 

For the rest of the weekend, without fail there is GregsList.

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Little Government Returns To Highlands

By Art Gallagher

After being absent from Borough of Highlands Council meetings for much of the year due to her congressional campaign, Highlands Mayor Anna Little swept into the Council’s public meeting last night in order to vote with her Democratic colleagues to prevent police layoffs.  Little skipped the Executive Session in lieu of attending holiday parties sponsored by the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce and the Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club.

Little voted for a resolution offered by Democratic Councilman Christopher Francy and seconded by Democratic Councilwoman Rebecca Kane to amend the PBA contract to accept concessions by the police union in exchange for penalties to the borough should there be layoffs through June 30, 2012.

The police have given up a 4.25% salary increase, retroactive to July 1, 2010, have offered to accept comp time in lieu of overtime payments, and have agreed to join the rest of Highlands employees in having their health insurance transferred from the borough’s contract with Horizon-Blue Cross to the NJ State Health Benefits Plan, in exchange for a no layoffs pledge through June 30, 2012.

Should there be any police layoffs through June 30, 2012, the borough will make cash payments to all members of the PBA for the conceded salary increases and for overtime incurred, under the proposed agreement.

Highlands Chief Financial Officer Steven Pfeffer told MMM that the salary and overtime concessions would save the borough $90,000 in the current fiscal year through June 30, 2011 and another $60,000 in the following fiscal year. The Borough is saving $300,000 by transferring all of its employees to the state health benefits plan, according to Pfeffer.

Republican members of the Council, Frank Nolan and Richard O’Neil voted against the resolution.  Had the resolution failed, 3 police officers would have been laid off, resulting in a savings of at least $250,000, according to Nolan.

Nolan will succeed Little as Mayor on January 1st. O’Neil is Little’s predecessor.

Nolan and O’Neil are in the early stages of negotiations with Middletown to share police services with Highlands.  Should the two municipalities enter an agreement that has Middletown taking over policing Highlands, the savings to Highlands taxpayers would be reduced by the penalties the Borough would have to pay to the PBA members.

The deal with the Highlands PBA must be ratified by its members and be approved by the Council again, presumably at the December 15th meeting, before it will take effect.

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Morning News

SHARK is out for bear

Senators out for pork

No off-shore drilling until 2017, Gas tax hike on the horizon

Middletown send off for the troops

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Happy Hanukkah

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Hey Frank, Where’s the $400 million? Will Anglers Have To Pay The Fee?

By Art Gallagher

Remember back in September when Frank Pallone held a press conference in Keyport to announce the $400 million he was bringing home to the bayshore with the Coastal Jobs Creation Act?  The Asbury Park Press covered it as if it were a done deal and Pallone was a hero.

In August Pallone told the NY Post’s Ken Moran that the bill would fund New Jersey’s recreational fishing registry, thereby preventing fisherman to have to pay a federal fee of $15-25 per year to fish in saltwater off New Jersey.

Well, here we are in December and there has been no movement on Pallone’s bill since July, two months before his press conference that impressed the Neptune Nudniks so much.

But the federal fee is coming, unless the New Jersey Senate passes S-1122, the companion version of which has already been passed by the Assembly, according to an Asbury Park Press piece that failed to mention the Pallone connection.

S1122, which is sponsored by Senators Jennifer Beck and Jeff Van Drew, would require the NJ DEP to set up a free state registery for recreational fisherman and to apply for “exempted state designation” so that NJ fisherman would not have to participate in or pay for the federal program. S1122 also allows the state to impose a state saltwater recreational fishing license, which is currently prohibited.

According the the NJ Recreational Fishing Alliance, the bill has strong bi-partisan support, but Senator Robert Smith, D-Middlesex, Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee won’t release the bill for a vote by the full Senate because the DEP does not want to create the state registery.

RFA makes their case for the bill, including an ecomomic impact analysis here.

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MATAWAN, FAIR HAVEN MAYORS ANNOUNCE FRIENDLY WAGER ON SATURDAY’S CJ GROUP 2 CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL GAME

Matawan Mayor Paul Buccellato and Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre announced today that they, along with the council members in both boroughs, have engaged in a friendly wager on the upcoming Central Jersey Group 2 high school football championship game between the Matawan Huskies and the Rumson-Fair Haven Bulldogs.

The Mayors and Councils of the two municipalities have agreed that the losers of the wager will donate $200 worth of food to the foodbank of the winner’s choice.

The game will take place Saturday December 4th at 3pm at Kean University.

“In the spirit of friendly competition, I asked Mayor Bucellato to join me in this friendly wager and I’m glad he accepted,” said Halfacre. “Due to the difficult economic conditions, food banks are being hit with a double whammy: less people donating and more people who need help. If we can have some fun with this and at the same time raise awareness and make a nice donation, I think it’s a win for everyone.”

Buccellato agreed, stating “that economy has had an impact on numerous families in the area” and the two municipalities wanted to do something that would benefit the community. “There is a critical need among the local and regional food banks as they are experiencing unprecedented food shortages,” Buccellato said. “We believe that we can help this need and at the same time support our football teams.”

If Rumson-Fair Haven wins, the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties will receive a donation of food. In Matawan wins, the donation will go to the St. Mark’s Food Kitchen at Trinity Episcopal Church in Matawan.

Anyone wishing to make a donation of food to the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean can call 732-918-2600 or email [email protected]. Donations to St. Mark’s Food Kitchen can be arranged by calling 732-591-9210 or emailing [email protected].

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Scott and Anna have jumped the shark

By Fred Lehlbach

Like many of you, I had hoped for victory in our two local Congressional races on November 2nd. I thought that we had captured lightning in a bottle, with the Tea Party carrying Anna to success over Frank Pallone and Scott’s millions carrying him to success over Rush Holt. Like many of you, I was sorely disappointed.

However, that disappointment has now been replaced by bewilderment.

Who are these people?

It all started on Election Night, when Anna announced the creation of not one, not two, but three new Political Action Committees. Really, three PACs? How will she raise money for three new PACs? What purpose will they serve? That same night, her Campaign Manager told a reporter for the Two River Times, owned by Diane Gooch, that Anna was running again “Whether your boss plans on running or not”. This comment has sparked a “cold War” between Anna’s camp and Diane’s camp. Just plain dumb.

But perhaps it really started with Anna prior to Election Night, during the waning days of the campaign, when she alienated many of Anna’s Army by cozying up to the establishment hacks that began courting her only when it looked like she had a chance. Some thought she had abandoned the Tea Party supporters that had put her in the position to have a chance. There was talk of the Tea Party supporters “crashing” the stage when she claimed victory and had only establishment types on stage with her.

Meanwhile, back in Highlands, the Borough that has had “Little Government” for a few years, is in a fiscal nosedive. A massive budget deficit, layoffs, and talk of simply giving up and merging with Middletown or Atlantic Highlands are issues that have been left in the bag being held by the new Mayor. Is it any wonder that her hometown broke for Pallone?

Scott Sipprelle on the other hand, has now found someone besides Jamestown Associates and demographics to blame for his loss. He has been sourced as the writer of a letter sent to Mercer County GOP Chair Roy Wesley advising of a “no confidence” vote by the Mercer County Committee. (Let’s get one thing straight: Roy Wesley may very well be an incompetent Chairman. But that’s not the point)

You may recall that last Spring, Roy Wesley was the only one of five County Chairs that came out prior to any conventions and endorsed Scott Sipprelle over his opponents. Dale Florio in Somerset, Henry Kuhl in Hunterdon, Joe Leo in Middlesex and Joe Oxley in Monmouth all at least pretended to be neutral. It was only Roy Wesley, Chair in Mercer that publicly stuck his neck out for his hometown candidate.

How is he thanked? By Scott Sipprelle authoring a letter and airing Mercer County GOP dirty laundry all over the Trentonian and Politickernj. The letter clearly lays out an undercurrent of fault for Scott Sipprelle’s embarrassment in Mercer County. What the letter doesn’t mention is whether Roy Wesley was responsible for the decision to have Scott spend the last two weeks of the campaign defending himself from Rush Holt’s use of the property tax issue, instead of attacking Holt, or whether Roy Wesley was responsible for the “How do you pronounce my name” media campaign, or whether Roy Wesley was the one who told Scott to spend significant time and resources in Trenton, when he should have been increasing his lead in the suburbs.

Who are these people?

Is Scott Sipprelle a self-made millionaire with loyal Republican convictions? Or is he an ungrateful child who blames others for his short-comings?

Is Anna Little a Tea Party darling with all the right moves? Or is she an at-best average Mayor who believes her own press releases?

I remain bewildered.

“Fred Lehlbach” is a pseudonym for Central Jersey Republican

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