Opinion: GOP Legislators May Finally Be Ready to Buck Christie, Override Veto

By Carl Golden

Rarely has a possible legislative override of a gubernatorial veto been as fraught with political implications as that involving Gov. Christie’s rejection of legislation to revise and reform the operations of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Entering his sixth year in office, Christie has run the table in having his…

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On Anonymity, Integrity & Personal Attacks

By Jim Granelli

To be honest, I’ve had a draft of an article like this on my desktop since before Christmas. But the recent article about John Heyer, AKA Vin Gopal, AKA Monmouth County Democrat Chair has created an opportunity to tie the current matter into the above issues.

Integrity as one dictionary describes it is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” That was the point of exposing Vin Gopal as a real person behind Jersey Shore Insider. It was a lie of omission, for if the real truth were known about the editorial bend of the Jersey Shore Insider blog, one would be able to put it all in context.

One of the tip off’s that something was fishy was finding out that John Heyer was a Democrat Freeholder who died in 1905. No one in Holmdel knew of John Heyer, nor was he found in any public records. That wasn’t too smart of a move Mr. Gopal. It raised a flag. Furthermore, that Gopal has not replied to MMM with a comment should raise a flag with you; telling you that  a) he got caught and b) he’s got something to hide.

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Has Trenton turned Christie upside down?

Jim McGreevey is Governor Christie’s Ethical Compass?

Govenor Chris Christie at his Belmar Town Hall on July 31. Photo by Art Gallagher

In the summer of 2004, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had Governor Jim McGreevey on the ropes.  McGreevey was “State Official #1,” an unindicted co-conspirator in a pay for play scheme that nabbed Democratic fund-raiser David D’Amiano.  A few weeks later McGreevey was resigning, purportedly because he was a “Gay American” who gave his boyfriend an important homeland security job that he wasn’t qualified to perform.

Yesterday, a decade later, Governor Christie is hanging his hat, and his orange sweater, on a McGreevey Executive Order that exempts the Governor from New Jersey’s ethics laws against accepting gifts.

Chris Christie marched into Trenton promising to turn the place upside down. Five years later McGreevey is Christie’s ethical compass.   Not the man McGreevey has become over the last 10 years.  Christie’s ethical compass is the man he investigated and probably could have indicted and convicted.  To paraphrase Christie on the stump for Mitt Romney two years ago, something got turned upside down in Trenton, but it wasn’t the culture of government that Christie promised he would impact and overturn.

About the best thing we can say about Christie accepting gifts of travel on private jets and seats in owner’s boxes at NFL games is at least it was family friendly entertainment with the cameras running, unlike the alleged entertainment U.S. Senator Bob Menendez flew off to on a friend’s private jet.

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O’Scanlon: There’s no silver bullet to resolve New Jersey’s budget issues

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Politicians like to talk about budgetary issues and challenges in pieces -ignoring the big-picture, and inconvenient,  collateral effects of their proposed solutions. Even the public, and well-meaning editorial boards, fall prey to this segmentation mentality hoping there is an answer that doesn’t eviscerate their particular sacred cow.  Throw in the fact that there is a general belief in a magic bullet that will fix our budget problems and you have a dangerous mix of ignorance and irrational expectation.  It is time to clear that up.  Governor Christie is right when he says our budget problems are serious. The solutions are going to be painful.

First, let’s understand that the causes of the problem are rooted in the actions, over the last 20 years, of legislators and governors – Republicans and Democrats – who were either well-meaning, but ultimately ill-informed, or those who consciously opted for political expediency knowing their actions would ultimately bankrupt the state.  The former motivation is sad, the latter reprehensible.

Making certain assumptions about things we can and can’t fund, our structural deficit is around $6.75 billion – inclusive of $1.6 billion in transportation investment per year but exclusive of things we’d love to do like cut property taxes.

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Opinion: Divided We Govern, Both in Trenton and Washington, D.C.

Credit: Amanda Brown Dick Zimmer The smart money is betting that the gridlock that plagued the legislative process in Washington, D.C., during the past four years will become even worse now that Republicans have won decisive majorities in both houses of Congress. Surely, nobody will be shocked if lawmaking in Washington remains paralyzed for the next… Read the rest of this entry »

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Now and then, Good does prevail

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

In every election there are winners and losers. This year was no exception. On the national scene, the obvious losers will be written about by most pundits – Obama and the Clintons. Obviously Harry Reid has probably seen his last days of power in any form. But there are other losers. The entire Democratic platform — the so-called war on women, the freebie mentality, the irresponsible blind eye to international distress, the cowardly acquiescence of the Democratic congress to Obama’s war on Israel, are all losers. Republicans elected young people, African-Americans, women, as diverse a group as anyone would want to see. In many cases these were the first of such to be elected in their state — an accomplishment the Democrats never managed and never would manage. These Democratic campaign platforms were as fake as their claim for the last forty years that Republicans would overturn Roe v. Wade. The electorate is simply not as naive as they were in 2008 and 2012. No more. Obama has accomplished at least that.

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A Case For Keeping The John L. Montgomery Care Center County Owned

By Jennifer Gregory, CTRS

I am writing this letter in response to the countless articles written by the Asbury Park Press, their editorials, the treatment of Monmouth County Employees and the family Members of the Monmouth County Care Centers.  I am an 18 years employee of Monmouth County and I work at the John L. Montgomery Care Center in Freehold, NJ.  We are a long term Care facility that takes care of Monmouth County’s most vulnerable young citizens. There are 62 residents under the age of 59.  Currently, our youngest resident is just 17 years old.  I mention the age of our population because several of your articles have pointed out how many empty Medicaid beds are available in other private Monmouth County Nursing Homes that our residents could easily be transferred to, should Freeholder Curley succeed in Closing, Selling, or Privatizing the John L. Montgomery Care Center.  These “typical” other private nursing homes are perfectly fine for your average geriatric residents but are not suitable alternatives for residents of John L. Montgomery.  Our residents are in their teens, twenties, thirties, and forties, who are not grandparents or your elderly parents but they are your children, your brothers, and your sisters…  They are not looking to reflect on their lives but looking to live their lives to the fullest with the possibility of new experiences, friendships, and futures.  That is what Monmouth County provides its citizens with at the 5 Star Rated John L. Montgomery Care Center.

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Sunset Provisions: Keeping Laws Relevant

By Gary Rich, Sr, Monmouth County Freeholder Deputy Director

Late last month, Governor Christie signed into law Assembly bill 3424, which extended the two percent cap on binding interest arbitration awards. I was present when Governor Christie inked his name to this bill, extending the cap through December 31, 2017.

The law which originally set the two percent cap was enacted back in 2010 when the Governor joined with legislative leaders to implement these important reforms to a segment of the government system that desperately needed revamping. Historically, it was a system that had often run amok, awarding benefits to the public unions in question without regard for the town or county’s ability to pay for such benefits.

The 2010 law was historic and vital—and temporary. The original law included a Sunset clause, which allowed the law and its terms to expire as of April 1, 2014 if no action was taken by the legislature to extend it.

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More Regulations for NJ Businesses

By Joe Schilp

Joe Schilp

This past week, the New Jersey state Senate and Assembly both passed the “Opportunity to Compete Act,” which prohibits businesses with more than 14 employees from asking applicants to check a box to indicate whether they have been convicted of a crime.  Additionally, businesses would be prohibited from asking first-time interviewees if they’ve been convicted of a crime.

It has been reported that NJ Governor Chris Christie’s office worked with the legislators on the language of the bill; thus, Christie is expected to sign the bill into law.

New Jersey is already one of the least business-friendly states in the United States.  According to the Tax Foundation’s 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index, NJ was the 2^nd least business-friendly state – based on over 100 criteria – and ranked at the bottom in income taxes, corporate taxes, sales tax and property tax.  And this ranking does not account for the Democrat-controlled legislature’s zeal to increase the “millionaire’s tax” that affects far more people making less than a million dollars a year than people making more than that.

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Opinion: Sweeney Starts to Gather Strength for Possible Governor Bid

Opinion: Sweeney Starts to Gather Strength for Possible Governor Bid (via NJSpotlight)

When Senate President Steve Sweeney took a victory lap in celebration of the Democrats’ maintaining their legislative majorities, it served also as the start of an effort to cast himself as a credible candidate for his party’s gubernatorial nomination…

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