Monmouth County Legislators Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande will be sleeping under the stars on the grounds of the Statehouse in Trenton tonight, April 11, along with 8 other members of the legislature, from both parties, to raise awareness and funds in support of New Jersey’s homeless runaway and trafficked youth who are served by Covenant House.
Click on photo to support a legislator’s fund raising efforts for Covenant House
“Covenant House is always there, when no one else is, to help homeless, at risk adolescents,” says Casagrande. “I was moved to get involved by the stories of those whose lives have been changed by this remarkable organization. It is my hope that my participation in this ‘Legislative Sleep Out’ will bring attention to the work of Covenant House and encourage others to get involved.”
“Those of us sleeping outside tonight will be lucky. We only have to do it for one night and it will be during the spring,” Beck said. “Hundreds of youths sleep outside every night through the most brutal of seasons and during the harshest of weather.”
“I’m a mother. I’m the wife of a New Jersey politician. And, after taking some time to devote myself to loving those wonderful people, I rekindled with my first love… acting. I am living my own personal trifecta. Life is good.”
Democratic leaders in Trenton are working on increasing the only tax in New Jersey that is not one of the highest in the nation, the gasoline tax.
In a February meeting with The Star Ledger Editorial Board, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto said he favored increasing the 14.5 cent gas tax and that he favored a tax on water consumption.
Senator Ray Lesniak proposed a 29% increase in the gasoline tax in March.
Former Monmouth Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery
Former Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor V. Scudiery wrote Lesniak to oppose an increase in the gasoline tax on March 25. Not having heard back from Lesinak, Scudiery sent his letter to all members of the legislature yesterday and released it to the press:
March 25, 2014
Senator Raymond J. Lesniak
985 Stuyvesant Avenue
Union, NJ 07083
Dear Senator Lesniak:
I was disappointed to read that you are proposing raising the tax on gasoline here in New Jersey to pay help for repairs to our roadways.
Have you considered taxing the oil companies I believe that the road repairs should be their responsibility; after all, it appears we have no control over the increase at the gas pumps each week. In 2008 gasoline was $1.89 per gallon, look what has happened in just six (6) short years. We continue to see a rise in gasoline prices weekly and the average person just cannot afford the current prices let alone another tax.
If the current taxes collected on gasoline were used solely to repair roads as was the original intent, instead of using it for other items in the state budget, it would not be necessary to add any new taxes. These taxes would be more than enough funds to repairs our roads, bridges and tunnels, which incidentally are one of the highest labor and material costs in the nation.
It is time for all our Elected Officials to look for ways to cut and control spending and keep our residents financial hardships at the forefront.
In a sharp blow to New Jersey’s shaky budget structure, Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded New Jersey’s bond rating for the second time in Gov. Chris Christie’s tenure, driving up future borrowing costs and dropping New Jersey from a AA…
New Jersey Voters Disapprove of the State Legislature, 36-48%
By Art Gallagher, artvg@aol.com
Governor Chris Christie at Belmar Town Hall. photo by Art Gallagher
A Quinnipiac Poll released this morning indicates that, despite the beating he has been taking in the local and national media since January, Governor Chris Christie has higher approval ratings than President Barack Obama, Senator Bob Menendez and Senator Cory Booker, among New Jersey voters.
Quinnipiac didn’t spin the poll that way in their narrative, but that is what the numbers indicate. Most of the media coverage about this poll will be negative for Christie. Too many reporters and editors read the spin and not the numbers.
There is bad news for Christie in this poll. His approval rating has dropped to 49-44% since January when it was 55-38%.
82% of Republicans and 54% of Independents approve of Christie’s job performance. Only 23% of Democrats give the Guv love.
The Governor’s bully rating is higher than ever before. Voters are now evenly split 48-48 on whether he’s a leader or a bully. In January they said he was more of a leader by 54-40 margin.
56% of voters think the Mastro Report, the internal investigation commissioned by the Governor’s Office that exonerated Christie from any involvement in the Bridgegate scandal was a “whitewash.” Voters are split 46-46 over whether the legislative investigation into Bridgegate lead by Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Senator Loretta Weinberg is a legitimate investigation or a political witch-hunt.
Voters have a net negative impression of the State Legislature that crosses all party lines. Republicans disapprove of legislature 40-45, Democrats 40-43 and Independents 33-53. The Legislature’s overall approval numbers are negative 36-48.
Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni is asking the public’s help in a identifying the suspect in an attempted armed robbery that occurred in Keyport very early Monday morning,
At about 2:30 am a while male, approximately 5-feet 11-inches tall wearing a dark hoody entered the convenience store at the Shell station at Clark Street in Keyport. The suspect brandished a box-cutter and assaulted the clerk with the weapon and removed a black cash register. He fled the store towards Gerard Street, heading towards the Aberdeen/Matawan border, according to Gramiccioni’s statement.
The surveillance video shows the suspect as he entered the Shell gas station prior to committing the robbery.
Anyone with information about this case is urged to call Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Jose Cruz at 732-921-9733 or Keyport Detective Shannon Torres at 732-264-0706
In the race to replace Congressman Jon Runyan as the GOP nominee in the 3rd congressional district (Ocean and Burlington counties) former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan is doing what anyone who has observed New Jersey politics for the last twenty years expected he would do. He’s attacking his opponent, former Randolph Mayor Tom MacArthur, as a tax and spend RINO who paid for the GOP establishment support. In the race between carpetbaggers, Lonegan is attacking MacArthur for be a worse carpetbagger.
MacArthur has the support of the Burlington and Ocean GOP machines. Lonegan, who beat Cory Booker in the district in last October’s special U.S. Senate election, has superior name recognition, a PolitickerNJ commissioned poll that gives him a huge lead, and his trademark attention getting rhetoric.
MacArthur counter-attacked Lonegan in a Open Letter last week by calling him desperate, negative, angry, caustic and creepy. All the things Lonegan’s supporters love about the guy.
MacArthur took particular umbrage to the fact that a Lonegan supporter did some opposition research by visiting the facebook page of MacArthur’s 16 year-old daughter and blogged anonymously about it.
Moreover, I am appalled that you are promoting an anonymous internet blog by a person or organization who has clearly spent a considerable amount of time spying on my 16-year old daughter’s Facebook page in search of an issue to use against her father in a political campaign.
Frankly, Steve, it’s creepy.
What salacious dirt did Lonegan’s blogger dig up on MacArthur’s daughter on facebook? She lists herself as a student at Randolph High School which is 90 miles away from the 3rd district.
Politi has been trying to get Hermann fired since Rutgers hired her to turn around their Athletic Department last spring. Something about alleged bullying and sex discrimination at a previous job and lying about whether or not she talked to the parent of a Rutgers student who alleged he had been bullied.
Turns out that Hermann doesn’t like The Star Ledger. Several weeks ago she told a journalism class that, “That’d be great [if the Star Ledger died]. I’m going to do all I can to not to give them a headline to keep them alive because I think I got them through the summer,” according to a Rutgers student alternative news site, Muckgers. (Note that Hermann didn’t actually say the words ‘if the Star Ledger died.’ She was responding to a student’s question that was not quoted.) The Muckgers reporter broke the “news” of Hermann’s several weeks old remarks to a journalism class last Thursday, the same day The Star Ledger told 167 employees they would be out or work in September with severance pay.
As part of his pity party for his 167 colleagues, Politi wrote a column with a headline that implies Hermann threw a celebratory party to celebrate the coming hardship on those reporters, advertising execs, copy editors and clerks who don’t find work before their severance and unemployment benefits run out.
Forget, for a minute, what you think about the newspaper. It doesn’t matter if you think its Rutgers’ coverage stinks, or its news coverage is biased, or if its columnists are too smug for their own good.
What matters is this: The Star-Ledger employs a lot of people. And if the Rutgers athletic director thinks it would be great if it closed down, then she relishes the idea of seeing those people lose their livelihood, their benefits and maybe more.
I don’t know Hermann. Never talked to her. But I’d bet that she doesn’t “relish the idea of seeing those people lose their livelihood, their benefits and maybe more.” She probably just feels that way about Politi, who has been trying to see her lose her livelihood, benefits and more.
I don’t begrudge Politi taking his shots at Hermann. I have no idea if his coverage of her career is accurate or not. I respect the fact that his bias against her is obvious.
But I think that The Star Ledger spending so much on an Athletic Director while giving a U.S. Senator a pass is disgraceful.
