Banned by CBS

CBS refused to run this ad for the upcoming Three Stooges movie during the NCAA college basketball tournament.

Hat tip to Bob Ingle.

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Who said this?

Which journalist/personality wrote this about Governor Chris Christie this week?

“..this governor is a force of nature who could probably make a dog sing if he put his mind to it.”

No googling before voting.

Answering correctly entitles you to read app.com for free for a week.

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Corzine Moving to New York

He should check is couch for the missing $1.2 Billion when he packs

The New York Post and Bloomberg are reporting that former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has put is Hoboken penthouse condo of the market because he’s living in his wife’s apartment in New York City.

Hat tip to InTheLobby and Bob Ingle.

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Ingle on O’Reilly

Gannet columnist and bestselling author of The Soprano State, Bob Ingle will be a guest on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News at 8 PM and repeated at 11PM.

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Fodder For The Christie For President Buzz

By Art Gallagher

Despite his repeated and colorful denials of interest, the Republican calls for and media speculation about Governor Chris Christie entering the 2012 Presidential race is not going away.

In large measure that is because Christie doesn’t seem as though he wants it to go away. 

“No, I’m not running.  I don’t know what to do short of suicide to convince you that I’m not running. Oh, and thanks for asking, I’m really flattered that you are asking, again and again and again, and that you’re willing to raise hundreds of millions of dollars if I change my mind, but I’m not changing my mind.”   That’s an invitation to keep asking.  It’s a tease.   “No, I won’t do it under any circumstances.  I’m not ready. But ask me again.”

By most accounts, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels really wanted to run for president.  Yet, when he announced that he wasn’t running because he didn’t want to put his family through a presidential campaign, Republican rain makers and the media stopped asking him to run or if there was any chance that he would reconsider.

That’s obviously not the case with Christie.

As I said in my radio conversation with Bob Ingle last week, the only way I can see Christie running is if his wife Mary Pat becomes convinced that another four years of President Obama would have a more detrimental impact on the lives of the Christie children than a Christie presidency would have, and if New Jersey’s First Lady became convinced that Obama was likely to be reelected if her husband didn’t run against him.

As rehearsed and coached as the Christie family appeared in their Piers Morgan interview, after viewing it I was convinced they had made a family decision that Christie wouldn’t run in 2012.  I admired their family unity.  I admired a marriage that puts the children first.

Yet, why do an interview like that if you’re not running for national office?

I stopped taking the Christie for President buzz seriously after the Morgan interview. Karl Rove’s vibrations about Christie after Texas Governor Rick Perry stole the limelight from Michele Bachman didn’t make me think Christie was running.  Ross Douthat’s  New York Times columns, here and here didn’t make me think Christie would run.   The Daily Caller and Weekly Standard reports that Christie and Congressman Paul Ryan made an pact that one of them would run made me wonder just a bit.

Something happened today that made me wonder if Christie isn’t getting ready to run.  It wasn’t the news that Ryan’s not running, according to The Weekly Standard.

Four times today the Christie’s press office sent out email announcements to the press about something Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno is doing, including a video.   Usually Guadagno’s public appearances are included in the daily itinerary for the Governor that the press office sends out with little additional mention, if any.  Today’s activity was unusual.

The Governor and his team are extraordinarily disciplined.  It’s rare that something happens for no reason.  If the Governor’s office is intentionally raising Guadagno’s public profile, there is a reason for it.

It makes me wonder if Mary Pat is getting concerned about the Republican field of presidential candidates, our country, and her children’s future.

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Special Show Tomorrow: Bob Ingle Is Our Guest

Bob Ingle, the best selling co-author of The Soprano State, prolific blogger, and Gannett columnist will be our exclusive guest tomorrow afternoon on The LaRossa and Gallagher: Real Jersey Guys On The Radio Show.

In addition to his insightful commentary on New Jersey government and politics, “the 3rd Jersey Guy” as he was know when he appeared in 101.5 with Casey Bartholomew and Ray Rossi’s, weighed in on Presidential governing and politics this week with an Open Letter To President Obama.

I have no doubt we’ll have an informative and entertaining hour.

I hope you join us by listening at WIFI AM 1460, if you get the signal, or in the Internet here.   We’ll be taking your calls at 609-447-0236 and 609-447-0237.

The show is sponsored by Repatriot Radio, every Tuesday from 5PM until 6PM.

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Real Jersey Guys And A Pennsylvania Woman On The Radio

If you missed the LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show yesterday, no worries, here’s a recording:

Former Long Branch Councilman Anthony Giordano was a great guest. It was very interesting to hear his perspective on the New Jersey economy, eminent domain and the ongoing redevelopment of Long Branch.

Thanks to James/Shamus for calling in twice.

During the second half hour we were joined by Laureen Cummings, the founder and President of the Scranton Tea Party.  Cummings is considering a race for the GOP nomination to challenge U. S. Senator Bob Casey in Pennsylvania.

Next Tuesday from 5PM-6PM the former “3rd Jersey Guy” will be joing the “Real Jersey Guys” on the radio.

Gannett columnist and best selling co-author of The Soprano State, Bob Ingle will be our guest for what promises to be an entertaining, informative and infuriating hour….just like Bob’s book and movie.

Bob and I will be doing to show from WIFI AM 1460’s studio in Florence rather than calling in so that the phone lines will be freed up for your calls to 609-447-0236 and 609-447-0237.  My co-host, former Senator Dick LaRossa will be live on the line.

Our show is broadcast every Tuesday from 5PM-6PM on WIFI AM 1460 and on the Internet here.   Repatriot Radio is our sponsor.

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Soprano State Opens In Monmouth County

"Jersey Guys" Ray Rossi and Casey Bartholomew greet fans of The Soprano State at the Clearview Middlebrook theater in Ocean Twp. Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure in the background

NJ 101.5 hosted a special showing of The Soprano State this evening in Ocean Township.  The Jersey Guys, Casey Bartholomew and Ray Rossi broadcast their show from the Clearview Middlebrook theater this afternoon to promote the showing.  Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure, co-authors of the book that inspired the movie where on hand.

The movie opens at Clearview theaters throughout New Jersey and New York on Friday.  Click here to find the theater closest to you.

On my way out of the theater I noticed this car park in a handicapped spot:

At first I didn’t notice the handicapped permit hanging from the rear view mirror and thought the driver was thoughtless and foolish. Certainly not a Soprano State caliber law breaker.

Look what I found in the back seat of the car as I walked by:

Kind of looks like Senator Ray Lesniak, doesn’t it?  Lesniak didn’t make it into the movie. 

Do you think this handicapped driver is cruising in the NJ Turnpike HOV lanes?

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I wonder if the APP Editorial Board reads Bob Ingle

The Asbury Park Press has yet another ill-informed editorial this morning, Christie off the rails on tunnell.

Gov. Chris Christie’s announcement Thursday that he was pulling the plug on a new Hudson River rail tunnel that had been more than a decade in the planning stages was his latest in a line of “my way or the highway” decrees.

It is a pattern that is increasingly jeopardizing New Jersey’s ability to work collaboratively with others — its neighbors, public employee unions and members of the opposite political party — to address the short- and long-term challenges facing the state.

If New Jersey wanted a governor to work collaboratively with our neighbors, public employee unions and Democrats, the crew that got us into the fiscal mess we are in, we would have reelected Jon Corzine. Yes, even our neighbors, Pennsylvania and New York who, until Christie came along, have been fleecing New Jersey with glee.

Had the Nudniks of Neptune bothered to read their own columnist, Bob Ingle, since before former Governor Corzine broke ground on the ARC tunnel they would know that the project is an ill-concieved boondoggle that does not connect to New York’s major transportation hubs and that New Jersey taxpayers are bearing the lions share of the costs, while New York is not contributing a penny.

Christie killed the project because New Jersey taxpayers could be on the hook for between $2 and $6 billion dollars in cost overruns, in addition to the $3 billion, plus our share of the Port Authority’s contribution, that we are already on the hook for.   U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LeHood appealed to Christie for time to review options to reinstate the project.  Christie gave him two weeks.  I’m looking forward to the Neptune Nudnik’s editorial after LeHood announces that the feds will cover the cost overruns or that New York is contributing to the project.

If LeHood comes up with an acceptable solution to the financial inequities of the project, Christie should insist upon an evalution of the wisdom of building a tunnel that ends 150 feet below Macy’s, rather than a tunnel that could be built in partnership with Amtrak that would end at Penn/Moynihan Station before he commits billions of New Jersey’s dollars to the project.

If the Neptune Nudniks don’t want to be informed by one of their own, maybe they will learn from the Star Ledger which has an excellent article on the controversy.

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THE SOPRANO STATE

New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption

Part One

FILM INSIPIRED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING BOOK

TO BE RELEASED IN SELECT CLEARVIEW CINEMAS IN NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY

BEGINNING OCTOBER 22, 2010

NEW YORK, NY (September 14, 2010) – New Jersey Pictures announced today that THE SOPRANO STATE: NEW JERSEY’S CULTURE OF CORRUPTION PART ONE, a film produced by three-time Academy Award® nominee Steve Kalafer, his producing partner Bruce Raiffe and directed by Peter LeDonne, inspired by the New York Times Bestselling book by Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure, will be released in select Clearview Cinemas in New York City and New Jersey beginning Friday, October 22, 2010. The film will have its official premiere at Clearview’s Ziegfeld Theatre in New York, NY on Monday, October 18, 2010.

Envelopes of money exchanged for political favors. Cash paid for back-door deals. Construction contracts handed out for those who have to pay elected officials. Sound like an episode of “The Sopranos”?  Worse. Welcome to what is arguably the most politically corrupt state in the USA … New Jersey. THE SOPRANO STATE takes viewers on a wild ride of political power and corruption that started when New Jersey was still a colony. The film exposes elected officials who ran on platforms promising to end political corruption, only to find themselves behind bars for doing exactly that.

THE SOPRANO STATE features interviews and commentary from the attorneys, politicians and journalists who were there – including current New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The film is narrated by Tony Darrow (“The Sopranos” & Goodfellas).

THE SOPRANO STATE has reunited a very successful team. It is executive produced by Kellie Pyffer. Kalafer, LeDonne and Pyffer, have teamed on the Academy Award-nominated films Curtain Call and Sister Rose’s Passion, winner Best Documentary Short at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival, both acquired by HBO, and on The Diary of Immaculee, which was honored at The 2006 Toronto film Festival’s  “One By One” event.

The production team for THE SOPRANO STATE includes Steven Moskovic (Director of Photography), Daniel Raiffe (Associate Producer), Molly Williamson (Editor).

This film is not yet rated.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“The Soprano State: New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption” by veteran journalists Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure was published by St. Martin’s Press in February 2008 and became a New York Times Bestseller.

The book has been called “a page-turner. You start out laughing and end up pounding the table for reform” by Tom Curley at The Associated Press. “Looking for laughs at the expense of stupid criminals? Their nonfiction tale reads like a pay-per-view epic, hence the Tony title. Featured are real-life politicians, businessmen and mobsters who’ve less than gracefully nabbed headlines the past 30 years,” said the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald. And from Barnes & Noble, “If Garden State politicians were worried that The Sopranos would give Jersey a bad name, they would be mortified by the allegations in Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure’s revealing muckrake. Penned by two hardworking Trenton investigative reporters, The Soprano State paints a picture of widespread corruption that would embarrass even the Bada Bing! Crowd. Scandalously good.”

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