Christie to attend Howard Stern’s Birthday Bash

Governor Chris Christie is scheduled to attend radio shock jock Howard Stern’s Birthday Bash tomorrow evening at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan.   Stern is turning 60.

Stern spoke out in support of Christie last week.

It’s Stern. There is language that some may find offensive in this video.

The birthday show, which published reports say will last from 2 1/2 – 4 hours will be livestreamed here.  There is a pre-show at 4PM.  The main event starts at 6PM.

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RNC Chairman calls for boycott of MSNBC over racist tweet

UPDATED:  MSNBC CHIEF APOLOGIZES. FIRES THE PERSON WHO LAUNCHED THE RACIST TWEET.

According to a report on Brietbart  MSNBC President Phil Griffin issued an apology to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and “everyone offended” by the tweet (see below) posted last night that implied that the “rightwing” hates biracial families.

The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable. We immediately acknowledged that is was offensive and wrong, apologized and deleted it. We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet.

I personally apologize to Mr. Priebus and to everyone  offended.

At MSNBC, we believe in passionate, strong debate about the issues and we invite voices from all sides to participate. That will never change.

Phil Griffin

In a memo to  All Republican Elected Officials, Strategists, Surrogates, and Pundits and in an email to contributors, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called for a national boycott of MSNBC until the cable network’s president, Phil Griffin, apologizes for a tweet posted last night which suggested that the “rightwing” hates bi-racial families.  The tweet linked to a Cheerios commercial featuring a bi-racial family using the breakfast cereal as a discussion prop between father and daughter, rather than as food.

Here’s there tweet:

Here is the commercial

Priebus said:

While we understand MSNBC will go to great lengths to discredit Republicans and conservatives, this kind of attack on the millions of Americans who identify with the political right is offensive and unacceptable. Unfortunately, this tweet is just the latest in a pattern of poor statements by MSNBC and its hosts.

This morning I left a message with MSNBC President Phil Griffin to express my displeasure. I have sent him a letter demanding that he personally, as president of the network, take responsibility and apologize for the disgusting tweet. Until he takes internal corrective action and personally apologizes—not just to the RNC but to all right-of-center Americans—I’m banning all RNC staff from appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC.

As an elected official, strategist, or surrogate, I’m asking for you to agree to the same.

We can have our political disagreements with MSNBC, but using biracial families to launch petty and ridiculous political attacks is low, even by MSNBC’s standards. It only coarsens our political discourse.

MSNBC hosts—including Alec Baldwin, Martin Bashir, Melissa Harris-Perry, Alex Wagner, and Ronan Farrow just to name a few—have had a troubling streak in the last several weeks of making comments that belittle and demean Americans without furthering any thoughtful dialogue. Perhaps it’s time for the executives at MSNBC to consider whether their network is upholding a meaningful journalistic mission.

This is more than just a tweet or an offhand comment. This is part of a pattern of behavior that has gotten markedly worse, and until Phil Griffin personally apologizes and takes corrective action, we cannot be part of this network’s toxic programming.

I am confident that he will want to “lean forward” and prove to the American people that he does not condone this behavior. I look forward to his apology and corrective action.

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HUD Secretary: Sandy Money Is Being Monitored Closely. Being Distributed Faster Than Any Previous Disaster

Responding to partisan and media charges by those hoping to expand the Bridgegate controversy that has besieged the Christie Administration into misuse of Sandy funds, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes last night that he is confident that the Obama Administration is carefully monitoring federal funds targeted for homeowners.  Donovan said that federal money for Sandy victims is being distributed faster than relief for any previous natural disaster.

Congressmen Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell wrote to Donovan yesterday asking that HUD investigate New Jersey’s dealings with a terminated contractor that had been assigned the administration of Community Block Development Grants and that HUD appoint a federal official to the usage of those funds in New Jersey.

Pallone’s spokesperson, Ray Zaccaro, did not respond to a request for comment about Donovan’s remarks.  We are awaiting a call back from Thomas Piepnykosky, Pascrell’s spokesperson.

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Bayshore Tea Party Group Boasts of 1000 Members, Staunch Backers of Anna Little

Bayshore Tea Party Group member Frank Gonzalez, husband of the group’s co-founder, Barbara, installs homemade lawn signs on Rt 35 in Middletown during the 2013 Monmouth County Republican primary campaign

Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez told HuffPost that her group has nearly 1000 members and that they are staunch supporters of former Highlands Mayor Anna Little’s quest to unseat Congressman Frank Pallone, in an article posted last evening.

“If you don’t get someone in who is totally willing to fight the establishment, it will never change,” Gonzalez told HuffPost.

Little lost to Pallone in 2010 and 2012 with BTPG’s support, but Gonzalez thinks it will be different this year.

Gonzalez said her membership roll has grown by “a couple of dozen new members” since earlier this month when the Bridgegate controversy broke.

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New Jersey’s Difficult Choices

Governor Chris Christie can no longer claim that New Jersey is a model for bi-partisan governance that Washington should emulate.

Yesterday, Senate President Steve Sweeney, playing the role of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) before The Star Ledger’s Editorial Board, threatened to shut down New Jersey’s goverment if Governor Chris Christie doesn’t support a budget for the next fiscal year that makes the state’s payment into the pension system required by the “landmark” legislation that Sweeney and Christie hammered out in 2011, and that Christie has touted as one of his major accomplishments.

Sweeney is reacting to what Christie said about the pension system during his State of the State Address two weeks ago.

Here’s what Christie actually said:

Lastly, let me share with you one more, hard truth that makes this new attitude of choice necessary for New Jersey’s future.

We have discussed many exciting opportunities for investment in our state. K-12 education. Higher education. Crime prevention. Drug rehabilitation and job training. Health care. Infrastructure investment. Lower taxes. Job growth. All exciting, all of which, done responsibly, could make New Jersey an even greater place. But here is the simple truth. We cannot afford to do it right now.

Why?

Because of our pension and debt service costs. For the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget, the increase in pension and debt service costs could amount to as much as nearly $1 billion.

That’s nearly $1 billion we can’t spend on education. That we can’t invest in infrastructure improvement. That we can’t use to put more cops on the street. That won’t be available to improve access to health care. And for those who would advocate for higher income taxes like the ones I have vetoed before, remember that the amount raised would not even cover the increase in our scheduled pension payment and would undoubtedly make us less competitive in the job market nationwide.

These are the consequences of failing to engage in an attitude of choice. If we continue in an era where we believe we can choose everything, we are really choosing nothing. We need to have the conversation now about further changes to our pension system and to adding further to the state’s debt load. But the time to avoid this conversation and these choices is nearly over.

If we do not choose to reduce our soaring pension and debt service costs, we will miss the opportunity to improve the lives of every New Jersey citizen, not just a select few.

I am ready to engage in those conversations and help, with you, to truly create an attitude of choice. The result will be a better, smarter, stronger New Jersey. The results from our refusal to choose – a weaker New Jersey with a middle class burdened by even higher taxes. That is an abandonment of our duty.

Centuries ago, a philosopher wrote that “choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”  And this remains true for New Jersey today.

Our destiny is not set – it is the product of the choices we make. Our future is not set – it, too, is the product of the choices we make from this day forward.

So let us choose wisely.  And let us not fail to act.  Let us create an attitude of choice.

 

Christie concluded that we should choose to fund better schools, safer streets and creating opportunity “for every citizen, through an excellent education, a productive job, and a thriving community.”

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Congressman Leonard Lance offers a prebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union Address

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Good News, Bad News Polls For Christie

Two polls release this morning indicate that the news avalanche over “Bridgegate;” the George Washington Bridge lane closures and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s allegations that Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and other Christie Administration officials said that Sandy relief was contingent upon a development approval have taken a heavy toll on the public’s opinion of Governor Chris Christie.

A Wall Street Journal/NBCNews national poll points to a sharp reversal of American’s opinion of New Jersey’s Governor.  29% view Christie unfavorably while 22% view him favorably.  In an October 2013 poll, 33% view the governor favorably, while only 17% viewed him unfavorably.

In New Jersey, Christie still has positive numbers, but the stratospheric approval numbers he has enjoyed since Superstorm Sandy crushed the Garden State have evaporated in the heat of Bridgegate.

The Farleigh Dickson University Public Mind Poll released this morning says that Christie’s job approval rating is below 50% for the first time since May of 2011.  48% of New Jersey registered voters approve of the job he is doing, while 39% do not.   53% of FDU’s respondents think Christie probably knew about the GWB lane closures before they happened.

Any ‘normal politician’ would be very happy with the kind of numbers that FDU put out Christie today.  Given the beating he’s been taking in the media, that the voters who know Christie best still approve of him by +9 points, even though they think he probably lied when he said he knew nothing of the GWB lane closures before they happened, the FDU numbers are very positive.

New Jerseyans and the rest of the country are paying close attention to the Christie controversies. 85% of NJ voters told FDU they were watching closely.  79% of Americans are aware of the story, according to the WSJ/NBC poll.

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Freehold Businessman Announces U.S. Senate Run

Rich Pezzullo

Monmouth county businessman Rich Pezzullo will throw his hat into the US Senate race in New Jersey during an appearance at the Freehold Township Republican Club tonight , 7 PM, at the Szechuan Star Restaurant in Freehold New Jersey.

Pezzullo, 55, is a IT consultant serving small businesses. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves for 20 years, attaining the rank of Major, according to his campaign website.

In 1997, Pezzullo ran for Governor as the nominee of the New Jersey Conservative Party.

If Pezzullo wins the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, he will attempt to unseat Senator Cory Booker in the November election.

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Elf on the shelf?

Walsh won’t say if he’s running for freeholder

Howell Councilman Bob Walsh. photo via facebook

It’s been almost two months since Howell Councilman Bob Walsh told us he would challenge Republican freeholder incumbents, Director Lillian Burry and Deputy Director Gary Rich, at the upcoming Monmouth Republican Nominating Convention.  In our early December interview, which Walsh claimed he thought was off the record after publication, he said he would be sending a letter to member of the Monmouth County Republican Committee shortly after the first of the year.

Now, at the end of January, there’s been no letter, and Walsh wouldn’t say if he’s running when we called him late last week.  “I’m busy at work and have a few things to take care of; go to the doctor for my annual check up.  Then I’ll decide,” Walsh said.

But Walsh was overheard at a Howell Republican Club meeting last week saying he was going to run and he was seen working the crowd at Sheriff’s Shaun Golden’s Winter Breakout fundraiser on Friday.

One Republican insider who requested not to be named said Walsh is running.  “He’s all in and its going to be a shit show,” the committee member said, ” he’s calling the municipal chairmen.”

Manalapan GOP Chairman Steve McEnery said he hasn’t heard from Walsh. “He hasn’t called me,” McEnery said, “so I really don’t know what he’s going to do, but I don’t think we need a convention fight for freeholder nominations.”

Another chairperson said Walsh is probably gauging his level of support before committing. “A lot of people rallied around Lillian and Gary as a result of your article in December,” the chair said, “they both (Burry and Rich) have issues, but nothing that disqualifies them. Why should we have a fight just because Bob Walsh wants to be a freeholder?”

Burry, who said Walsh “should wait his turn” in December, laughed when told that he in now equivocating.  “One day he’s running, the next day he’s not. You’ll have to ask him,” Burry said, “I’m running.  I already have more than enough signatures on my petitions and I’m still collecting.”

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Warren Chamberlain Fills Keyport Council Seat

Warren Chamberlain, center, takes the oath of office as a Keyport Councilman. Borough Clerk Valerie Valerie Heilweil, left, and Keyport GOP Chairman Bob Burlew, right.

Warren Chamberlain, 63, was sworn in as a councilman in Keyport on Friday.  He was selected by the Keyport Republican Committee on Thursday to fill the seat of Clemente Toglia, the reelected council member who died suddenly on December 31, the day before his new term was to start.

“I’m happy to be working with the rest of the council and the mayor, for the people of Keyport,” Chamberlain said, “but I’m very sad about the circumstances. Clemente will be greatly missed.  This council is a great group, Republicans and Democrats.  We will work together well.”

Chamberlain is starting his second stint on the Keyport council.  In 2011 he was selected to fill a vacancy on the board and then lost the election to complete the term he was appointed to to Kenneth McPeek to by 4 votes.  He will be serving with McPeek this year.

The new councilman was a Monmouth County Sheriff’s Officer from 1982 through 1996. He retired with a disability pension after suffering back injuries in an altercation with inmates in the jail. From 1986 through 1990, he was president of PBA Local 240.

In 1992, Chamberlain was the Democratic nominee for Monmouth County Sheriff, losing to incumbent Republican William Lanzaro by 2700 votes.

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