Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, the Republican Budget Officer in the Assembly and a representative of northern Monmouth County in the lower house of the legislature has taken some criticism here in the MMM comments and on facebook for not voting on the Transportation Trust Fund bill that was sprung on the Assembly by Speaker Vincent Prieto and Governor Chris Christie in the middle of the night on June 30. The bill, which would have increased the gas tax by $.23 per gallon and lowered the state sales tax from 7% to 6% passed in the Assembly and was never voted on by the Senate.
Now almost six weeks later with the TTF still not renewed and road projects stalled throughout the state, O’Scanlon said that he believes “even more strongly that my decision was exactly the right one.”
O’Scanlon issued the following statement to MMM to explain his decision not to vote on the Assembly TTF bill:
Governor Chris Christie yesterday called on the New Jersey Press Corps and law enforcement agencies to deploy the same aggressiveness towards Senator Loretta Weinberg and Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the co-Chairs of the Legislative Committee that investigated the George Washington Bridge scandal, that they have applied to him .
Brian T. Murray, Governor Chris Christie’s spokesman, told MMM in an email that Christie has not seen the Transportation Trust Fund legislation that Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto announced today.
New Jersey’s infrastructure construction projects have been shut down since July 8 when the TFF was down to a $10 million balance which being held for emergency projects.
TRENTON — After calling the Senate president’s proposal to end a stalemate over funding for construction projects “ridiculous” earlier this week, Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday delivered a counteroffer. No details of either proposal are known, but a spokesman for Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he is reviewing the latest proposal. The governor and Senate are… Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking news out of Cleveland is that Governor Chris Christie has been admitted to the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. The Hall and Museum are actually in Milwaukee, WI, but their representatives are in Cleveland this week selling their wares to RNC delegates and protesters. Presumably they will be in Philadephia next week for the Democratic Convention.
By glaring omission, New Jersey’s 6th District (Monmouth and Middlesex counties) Congressman Frank Pallone has not yet been admitted to the Bobblehead Hall of Fame.
Clearly, Pallone merits the honor more than any politician, athlete or movie star.
Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty and Governor Chris Christie walk the Belmar boardwalk in August 2011. Photo Credit: Tim Larson, Governor’s Office
Governor Chris Christie conditionally vetoed (CV) legislation that would have banned smoking at all public parks and beaches. Instead, he recommended that the legislature amend the bill to prohibit smoking at State parks and beaches, but not those governed by local governments.
The bill, which was Co-Sponsored by rookie Democrat Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling of Monmouth County’s 11th legislative district, passed in the Senate 25-6 with 9 Senators not voting and in the Assembly by 52-6 with 19 Assembly Members not voting.
Former New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox was charged by federal officials for his role in the bribery scheme that former Port Authority Chairman David Samson pleaded guilty to today, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
Additionally, United Airlines has agreed to a pay a $2.5 million penalty and to make compliance reforms for its role in the scheme in which it established a non-stop route between Newark-Liberty Airport and Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina for Samson to fly to his vacation home in Aiken, SC. In exchange Samson allowed the Port Authority Commission to approve a lease of three acres at the airport for United to build a maintenance hanger.
Fox, in his role as a $7,500 per month consultant to United, is accused of shaking down United employees, on Samson’s behalf, to get the route to South Carolina established.
NEWARK–David Samson–the embattled former chairman of the powerful Port Authority of New York and New Jersey–pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to using his considerable clout to coerce one of the nation’s largest airlines to accommodate his desire for a regularly scheduled, non-stop flight to a South Carolina summer home. Samson, 76, a well-connected lawyer and one-time New… Read the rest of this entry »
With cash for state transportation projects getting scarcer by the hour thanks to political gridlock in Trenton, Gov. Chris Christie’s administration yesterday released a list of dozens of road and rail upgrades that are slated to be put on hold later this week. The forced shutdown of the infrastructure work by late Friday night will affect…
By Chris Christie For 61/2 years, I have been able to effectively ignore the liberal, fact-twisting rantings of The Star-Ledger editorial board. But the stakes of this debate on property taxes and urban education are too great to ignore the newspaper’s latest emotional screed against my Fairness Formula. On property taxes, our residents pay the highest… Read the rest of this entry »
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, the Republican Budget Officer in the Assembly and a representative of northern Monmouth County in the lower house of the legislature has taken some criticism here in the MMM comments and on facebook for not voting on the Transportation Trust Fund bill that was sprung on the Assembly by Speaker Vincent Prieto and Governor Chris Christie in the middle of the night on June 30. The bill, which would have increased the gas tax by $.23 per gallon and lowered the state sales tax from 7% to 6% passed in the Assembly and was never voted on by the Senate.
