Acting Governor Guadagno On Disaster Assistance

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Court Reverses Itself, Carl Lewis Is Off The Ballot

Politickernj and the Star Ledger are reporting that the three judge panel of the Third District Court Federal Appeals Court reversed its earlier order that Carl Lewis be on the ballot as a State Senate candidate in the 8th legislative district.

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, acting in her capacity as Secretary of State, had ordered Lewis off the ballot because he does not meet the state constitutional residency requirement.  Today’s order affirms Guadagno’s position.

Politickernj said that the Democrats might make Lewis an Assembly candidate since the Assembly only has a two year residency requirement, compared to the Senate’s four year requirement.

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Carl Lewis Can’t Run

He can’t sing either

U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman upheld Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno’s decision to keep former Olympic champion Carl Lewis off the general election ballot in NJ’s 8th legislative district. Lewis is the Democratic nominee for State Senate. 

Guadagno, in her capacity as Secretary of State, ruled that he does not meet New Jersey’s residency requirement to run for the legislature.

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The Increase The Lt. Governor’s Public Profile Campaign Resumes

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno will be on the radio with NJ 101.5’s Jim Gearhart tomorrow morning at 7:35 AM and again with John Gambling on 710 AM at 8:05 AM.

Last Monday MMM noted that the front office was working to increase Guadagno’s profile.  I don’t know what it means.  I think it means that Governor Chris Christie is getting ready to run for President, despite his most recent denials.  I think he feels it.

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Governor Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno Announce Statewide Hurricane Irene Business Recovery Assistance

Trenton, NJ – To support the recovery of New Jersey’s businesses and protect the overall economic interests of our state in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, Governor Chris Christie and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno have announced a series of business assistance services for those affected by the storm.  Among these vital services are those related to financial support, information on temporary space, and technical assistance for impacted businesses.   Information for all services may be easily accessed through New Jersey’s Business Action Center (BAC), by calling 1-866-534-7789 or through the state’s business portal at www. nj.gov/njbusiness/, the “one-stop” shop for business resources.  

“In response to this natural disaster, New Jersey has coordinated a range of multi-agency resources to assist impacted businesses and ensure they are operational quickly,” said Governor Christie.  “We have worked hard to grow our state’s economy by working to meet the needs of our business community.  Providing a thorough and inter-departmental business recovery assistance program is another demonstration of our support for our business community and their workers.”

“Through the collective efforts of the Partnership for Action, which includes the Business Action Center, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and Choose New Jersey,  in addition to the Departments of Banking and Insurance, Community Affairs and Labor and Workforce Development, we will work to protect the assets of our state’s businesses, provide the necessary temporary support to our workforce and sustain our economic vibrancy,” said Lt. Governor Guadagno. 

The business recovery assistance services are designed to support businesses and workers who may be temporarily unable to perform their jobs due to the storm.  These services include:

·         Access to lines of credit of up to $500,000 for businesses that need access to cash to improve their damaged property while awaiting insurance proceeds;

·         Grant awards for businesses to assist with on-the-job training costs for new workers hired specifically to assist in disaster-related activities, such as landscaping and tree removal, construction, insurance claims, building supplies sales, materials transport, utility work, call and claims centers staffing, and infrastructure clearing and repair.

·         Availability of the Business Resource Centers at any of the 17 local One-Stop Career Centers across the state as temporary hubs for businesses to access telephone and internet services  as well as for job seekers and displaced workers seeking workforce development and unemployment assistance.

·         The availability of Disaster Unemployment Benefits to provide income security for those displaced workers suffering temporary storm-related job loss.

·         Dispatch of Rapid Response team members to identified Disaster Recovery Centers to assist displaced workers

·         Availability of services through New Jersey Youth Corps to assist non-profit, public and governmental entities in a variety of ways for disaster relief and clean-up. 

In addition, BAC’s Business Call Center is also the one-stop resource for more information on how to get businesses back up and running.  The Call Center staff can assist with the following services:  

·         Arranging business facility inspections for buildings suffering major flood damage, as such conditions require structural integrity inspections before utility service can be restored.  These inspections are handled in local code enforcement offices and by local code enforcement officials.   Anticipating an enormous increase in such work, the Department of Community Affairs has mobilized all qualified personnel to assist local governments in this effort.

·         Advocate for businesses seeking assistance from local utilities to restore electric, phone, gas and water services.

·         Advocate with insurance carriers to file and expedite claims.

·         Provide information on how to qualify for federal recovery assistance, and 

·         Connect businesses to the other county and local business services and to the services offered by the Small Business Administration and Small Business Development Centers that include assistance with insurance claims, as well as loans and business plan revisions.

For further information about best practices in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, please visit www.ready.nj.gov for continual updates.

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Guadagno Signs Her First Bill Into Law

The earthquake and the coming hurricane kept Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno off the front pages this week despite the Governor’s press office’s best efforts to raise her public profile.

Yesterday, for the first time Guadagno, as Acting Governor with Christie out of the state, signed a bill into law.  The press office issued as press release and a video.  One of three videos of the LG released this week.

With Hurricane Irene coming, Governor Christie has shorten his vacation and will hold a hurricane preparedness press conference at noon.  That is sure to overshadow Guadagno’s press conference at 3PM at Cargotec USA in Monroe.

Maybe the administration has decided it needs to do more to promote their pro-business and job growth efforts.  Maybe Christie is getting ready to run for president and wants Guadagno to bet better known since she would be Acting Governor a great deal more often should that happen and Governor should he win.  Maybe Guadagno will enter the race to take on U.S. Senator Robert Menendez .

Something has shifted, that’s for sure.  It’s worth keeping an eye on.

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State Investigating Double Dipping Sheriff’s Officers

By Art Gallagher

The Star Ledger is reporting that the Treasury Department has initiated an investigation into sheriff’s officers in Essex, Monmouth and Union counties who are collecting pensions from the state Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) while continuing to perform as law enforcement officers, but with civilian titles, allowing them to “double dip”….collect a pension and a salary for job that would not allow for collecting a pension if it were properly classified.

Only elected officials are supposed to be allowed to do that in New Jersey.

In addition to the Treasury Department probe, John Scierchio, chairman of the PFRS board of trustees, has asked the Attorney General’s Office to launch a criminal probe into three sheriff’s officers suspected of circumventing pension guidelines, according to the Star Ledger.

The three officers are Monmouth County undersheriff Mickey Donovan, formerly the chief warrant officer, Essex County chief warrant officer John Dough, and Union County sheriff’s chief Harold Gibson.

This issue was first raised publically regarding Donovan, who retired from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office in 2005 and was hired as Monmouth’s chief warant officer by then Monmouth County Sheriff, now Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno in 2008, last October by NJ Watchdog.

NJ Watchdog alleges that Guadagno, as Sheriff, eliminated the chief warrant officer position on September 16, 2008, but then gave Donovan that title a week later, even though he was hired in reality to be the chief law enforcement officer, so that he could collect a pension of $85,000 per year and a salary of $87,500 per year.

In a piece published on April 11, 2011, NJ Watchdog says that Donovan has improperly collected $227,000 in pension payments since 2008.  Additionally, he should have contributed $18,000 to the pension system, according to NJ Watchdog.

Guadagno declined to comment when MMM raised this issue with her when it became public in October.

Shaun Golden, then Acting Sheriff, told MMM in October that he had discussed Donovan’s employment status with state pension official months earlier and offered to make any changes they required.  There were no changes required at the time.  Golden said he told the officials that if they require changes in Monmoth County that they should also look into Essex and Union Counties.

Apparently they did.

Golden announced on February 15, 2011that Donovan was sworn in as undersheriff and is in charge of the law enforcement division.

Undersheriff is a civilian title, not a PFRS job, meaning Donovan, who now makes over $90,000, continues to collect his $85,000 pension.

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Guadagno Tosses Carl Lewis From The Ballot

By Art Gallagher

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, in her capacity as Secretary of State, has overturned an administrative judges ruling that former Olympian Carl Lewis meets the constitution requirements to run for state Senate.

Lewis and the Democratic party are likely to appeal Guadagno’s ruling to the State Appellate Court.

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Love for Christie, Right and Left

By Art Gallagher

The Chris Christie for President buzz just won’t go away, no matter how strongly the governor declares he’s not running.  Pretty soon the state police will consider putting Christie on a suicide watch.

Ann Coulter’s comment at CPAC…that the GOP either run Chris Christie or Mitt Romney will be the nominee and lose…has reignited the smoldering Christie for President banter.

In cable TV and radio interviews today,  Coulter has said Christie is the only Republican who can defeat President Obama, and the governor would have her support even though she questions how conservative he is.

From the left, we have Star Ledger columnist Tom Moran, who helped make Christie a national figure with the famous, “You should see me when I’m really pissed” video.  Moran wrote a piece for Sunday’s paper/website which was essentially a white flag of surrender from New Jersey’s Democratic establishment.

After comparing Christie to Oprah, detailing the powerful Democratic support Christie has won over in Hudson and Essex counties, and explaining how hopeless it has become for Trenton Democrats to oppose Christie’s reforms, Moran himself endorsed the Christie agenda:

He’s winning this argument because he’s right on the core issue — New Jersey has promised more than it can deliver. Governors all over the country, in both parties, are moving in the same direction out of necessity.

 

If Christie can win over Moran, maybe Coulter is right.

Perhaps the question should not be, “Is Chris Christie ready to be president?” as he repeatedly protests that he is not.  Perhaps the question should be, “Is Kim Guadagno ready to be governor?”

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So what went wrong and who is at fault?

 It snowed too much too fast.  That’s what went wrong in New Jersey this week.  New York too.

It wasn’t a personal snowstorm, yet naturally many, if not most, people relate to the aftermath of a storm out of their personal concerns.   The numb minded media, especially the Asbury Park Press editorial board, who is once again is living up to their Neptune Nudniks moniker, granted a full page in the print edition to selfish rants, 12 pages on their website, contributing to an online frenzy of wind-bagging. 

The Nudniks are contributing to directly to the frenzy with yet another editorial premised on inaccurate information and assumptions.  They say the storm was predicted days in advance.  Hogwash.  Forecasts as late as Saturday night were predicting snow falls in Central Jersey in the 12-18 inch range.  It wasn’t until just a few hours before the storm hit that any forecaster was talking about accumulations of 25-30 inches with 55 mph winds.   Folks in Buffalo or Syracuse might be expected to be prepared for the type of storm we got, but the truth of the matter is that New Jersey’s various governments don’t have the equipment or the personnell to handle the this type of weather quickly.   That is why the clean up is continuing now, 48 hours after the snow stopped falling.

The Nudniks started their editorial rant accusing road crews of “surrendering” to the storm.  

I was out Sunday night to plow my properties.  The DOT crews were out.  The visablity was terrible.  It was dangerous to be plowing.  It was snowing too hard too fast.

If they were not still out there cleaning up, I would suggest those crews dump truck loads of snow that they surrendered to at APP headquarters in Neptune.  Cancelled subscriptions should suffice for cooler heads. 

It snowed too much to fast.  That is what happened.  There have been lots of rumors and comments that there have been job actions and sick outs in some towns and maybe the state.  Given how well Monmouth County’s crews performed vis-a-vis many towns and the DOT, you have to wonder.  Investigations should take place and corrective action taken where appropriate.   However the APP should be tracking down the validity of those rumors rather than wind-bagging that road crews “seem to have” quit on the storm.

The media driven brouhaha over Governor Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno being out of state at the same time is as absurd and insulting as the Nudniks’ assumption that road crews quit.

As published elsewhere and confirmed by MMM, Guadagno and her brothers are spending what is most likely their last Christmas holiday with their father who is suffering from Stage 4 prostate cancer.  The trip was planned and booked months ago with Christie’s approval.  Shame on the pundits and politicians who have been trying to score points over Guadagno’s absence.

Once the news about why Guadagno is “on vacation” at the same time as the Governor gets around, watch he feeding frenzy on Christie step up.   I’m looking forward to his first press conference back.  I hope he shames the mindless numbskulls of the press.

There’s little going on in Trenton this week.  That’s why it was a good week for the Governor to take his family to Disney World.   Guadango’s situation made the decision to take a vacation delicate.  Senate President Steve Sweeney’s good character made the vacation doable.  But various pundits and political hacks won’t care.  Let the Christie kids give up one more thing because their Dad is tough to lay a political glove on.

Does anyone really doubt that Christie would have returned to New Jersey given the “state of emergency” if it was possible?  The airports were closed. They are just opening today.

Christie’s presence would not have made a difference in how the snow was cleaned up, or not cleaned up.   His leadership from the bully pulpit would have made a difference though.   He would have told the media the truth. It snowed too much too fast.  We’re doing the very best that we can and we’re working about the clock, he would have said.  He would have done a much better job than New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg did when he told NY that everything is OK and that they should go shopping.  Christie would have told people to remain calm and safe; to look out for the elderly and disabled.   And the media would have had something responsible to write about, rather than create a frenzy over the fact that it snowed too much too fast.

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