Anti-Religious Asbury Park City Council Violated Constitution,  Unwittingly Supported Hate and Neglected Black People

By Thomas DeSeno

Asbury Park Democrat Chairman Giuseppe Joe Grillo, Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, Tommy DeSeno and Mayor John Moor. photo via facebook

The Asbury Park City Council, using government letterhead, made a declaration opposing a religious belief.  Government can no more denounce a religious belief than they can endorse one, without violating the 1^st Amendment Establishment Clause.  They then went on an illegal bullying campaign against a Pastor.  So caught up in a mob-induced false narrative of gossip, they ignored that the Pastor was bringing financial relief to the Westside black community, something all City Councils failed to do for 50 years.

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Welle Underperforms Against Keady, Smith Overperforms Unopposed

By Art Gallagher

While much of the media is reporting how poorly U.S. Senator Bob Menendez performed in the  Democrat primary yesterday, I couldn’t miss how poorly Josh Welle, address none of your business, performed against former Asbury Park Councilman Jim Keady, Spring Lake, in the 4th congressional district primary.

With all three county party lines, more money and the endorsement of his former landlord, State Senator and honorary volunteer firefighter Vin Gopal, Welle only got 57% of the vote against Keady’s 43%.

Congressman Chris Smith, Hamilton, overperformed expectations, especially given that he was unopposed in the CD-4 Republican primary.

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Murphy could hold sports betting bill as a chip to play in budget negotiations

The William Hill Sports Race & Sports Book at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey. Photo By Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO.

Dennis Drazin and his partners at Monmouth Park were ready to accept sports bets on Memorial Day weekend.  They wisely didn’t after Senate President Steve Sweeney announced he was inserting a provision in the state legislation regulating sports betting that would prohibit anyone who took bets before the regulations were passed from getting a license.

Sweeney was looking out for the Atlantic City Casinos who weren’t ready to take bets yet.   In the meantime, Delaware passed their spots betting regulations and bets will start being taken there today.  New Jersey loses out again.

What was considered a two or three week delay while legislation was passed now threatens to deprive New Jersey’s racetracks and casinos of sports betting revenue, and the related jobs, for a third or more of their summer season.  According to a report on Politico, Governor Murphy is prepared to hold the sports betting bill as a chip to play as he negotiates his first state budget with the more moderate Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.

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Scharfenberger: Proposal to change ‘Freeholder’ to ‘Commissioner’ is wasteful unfunded mandate

By Monmouth County Freeholder Gerry Scharfenberger, PhD

The proposal to change the title “Freeholder” to “Commissioner” is an affront to every taxpayer in this state.

New Jersey residents are being suffocated by an onerous property tax system, companies like Gerber are leaving the state and taking hundreds of jobs with them, a host of taxes are being raised or created and this is what the legislature is wasting its time on?  If this ridiculous proposal goes through, it will cost the counties tens of thousands of dollars to change letterhead, stationery, signage – not to mention the reams of documents in which the term freeholder is embedded.  Read the rest of this entry »

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“Millionaires Tax” Not the NJ Fairy Tale Governor Murphy is Selling

By Rosemary Becchi, J.D., L.L.M.

We all know how the story goes: Steal from the rich and give to the poor.  In the story, it’s noble and righteous for the hero to take these actions.  So, it’s no surprise that Governor Phil Murphy believes he can sell New Jerseyans on an economic proposal known as the “Millionaires Tax”.  Unfortunately, this isn’t a story, and the Millionaires Tax doesn’t steal from the rich to give to the poor.  In fact, it steals from small businesses and gives to the bureaucracy of our state government that has proven unwilling and unable to make tough spending decisions.

Murphy’s story goes something like this: New Jersey will raise the state income tax rate for residents who earn more than $1 million, and this will supposedly produce more than $765 million in new state revenue.  Currently, the state’s personal income tax rate tops out at 8.97 percent on income over $500,000.  Governor Murphy’s proposed Millionaires Tax would increase the marginal tax rate applied to income above $1 million to 10.75 percent.

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Birds of a feather

David F. Hohsfield, 62, of Manchester Township, is accused of making sexually explicit and vulgar comments within earshot of pre-teen girls in Howell retail stores last week while pretending to be talking on his cell phone.

John P. Curley, 65, of Middletown Township, is accused of making sexually explicit and vulgar comments to minors while pretending to be a role model.

But these cuckoos are not flying together.

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What if Menendez resigns?

It’s not considered likely that Senator Bob Menendez will resign as a result of the bi-partisan admonishment he received from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics.  NJ and Washington Democrats have become a much more forgiving people since Senator Bob Torricelli was forced out of office after his admonishment 16 years ago.

As Bret Stephens wrote in a Trump bashing piece in the NY Times yesterday, America’s standards have declined over the years.   Menendez’s admonishment for trading the power of his office for luxury travel and massive campaign contributions will likely blow over as the Democrats and their media partners continue their mission to destroy the Trump presidency.

But what if the Russian collusion with the Senate Ethics Committee works and Menendez decides to take a job running Dr. Salomon Melgen’s port security business in the Dominican Republic while looking over his luxury villa?

If Menendez resigns, Governor Phil Murphy gets to appoint someone to fill the vacancy until January. That person would run in Menendez’s place for a six year term in the November election. Who would Murphy choose? Read the rest of this entry »

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Kelly: Adam Schneider is clearly the best choice for Long Branch

By Greg Kelly

“John Pallone is pathetic and so are all his running mates. They don’t care about anything. They haven’t been in this community working. We’re the ones making this a better city to live in. But I’m done being angry. It’s all about energy — which I’ll use right up to Election Day when we win.”

Long Branch Mayor John Schneider

That was Mayor Adam Schneider speaking to supporters at his lower Broadway campaign headquarters after a recent evening of cold weather but satisfying voter feedback during his door-to-door visits.

“We’re hearing a lot of good things,” explained the man seeking an eighth four-year term as the chief executive of Long Branch. “They think the city is headed in the right direction.”

Clearly, it’s election season in the City of Long Branch. City voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, May 8 to elect a mayor and six council members.

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“Weight” before you take the latest Monmouth University poll too seriously

Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray released a poll yesterday that, he says, indicates New Jersey’s Congressional Republicans are “facing hurricane force winds” and that all five New Jersey Republicans in the House of Representatives have a good chance of losing this year.

“This is pretty astounding. Not only are New Jersey Democrats doing better on the generic House ballot statewide, but the shift is coming almost entirely from districts currently held by the GOP. If these results hold, we could be down to just one or two — or maybe even zero — Republican members in the state congressional delegation after November.”

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FBI’s grab of Trump’s legal files sends a dangerous message

By Stuart J. Moskovitz, Esq.

Stuart J Moskovitz

Even if you don’t like Trump….

I’ve posted this in Monmouth County News because similar actions have happened not just in Washington, but right out of Red Bank and concerns everyone in this County who believes that a free society should remain so.

We are a divided country. We are a polarized country. That polarization is posing one of the most serious internal dangers to our nation and our notions of democracy.

Like every other attorney, I have told my clients that whatever they tell me is absolutely privileged under the doctrine of attorney-client privilege. That doctrine exists in every state. It exists in the federal system. It is close to sacrosanct. There are extremely few exceptions and they require overcoming the highest burdens imaginable to breach. Read the rest of this entry »

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