Budget deal not ready, Bramnick put Republicans in a box

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick put his caucus in an untenable position.

By Art Gallagher

Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin announced last night that the had a last minute budget deal to avert a state shutdown and that the legislature would pass the necessary bills this morning starting at 8am.

As of 9:45 a.m.  the legislator and many staffers have been in Trenton for three hours, but the bills have yet to be drafted and some of the details…where the devil lives…are still being haggled over, according to a sleep deprived source who called this morning.

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N.J. Assembly Republicans promise aggressive challenge to Democrats in November

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick addressing New Jersey Republicans in Atlantic City, February 2, 2015. MMM file photo

TRENTON — With the primaries over and the general election season upon us, state Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick has a big challenge. Bramnick (R-Union) wants to be Assembly speaker. That means in November — when all 80 Assembly seats at the top of the ballot — he’ll need to flip at least nine Democratic-held seats… Read the rest of this entry »

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O’Scanlon: When pumping gas, DON’T SET YOURSELF ON FIRE

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon is offended by the argument that New Jerseyans are not capable of pumping their own gas without setting themselves on fire.  But in order to get his legislation that would decriminalize consumer gas pumping passed he in inserting language into the bill that would require signs on gas pumps for the protection of the mentally challenged and members of the Jersey City Council.

“I am offended by people that argue that New Jerseyans are mentally incapable of pumping their own gas without setting themselves on fire. But I hear them.  For that reason I am recommending language be inserted in the final bill that mandates signs at all self serve pumps, in bold red and blue flashing neon lettering, that reads “Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, set yourself on fire!!”   I think that should resolve these concerns” O’Scanlon said when introducing the legislation.

O’Scanlon’s bill, which mirrors a bill in the Senate sponsored by Bergen County Senators Paul Sarlo and Gerald Cardinale, except for the signage language, would decriminalize gas pumping by consumers and provide for self-service islands at New Jersey gas stations. Each facility would be required to operate at least one island full service for three years following enactment, and the bill also allows for gas retailers to charge a lesser price for self-service gasoline.

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N.J. Assembly Republicans accuse NJEA of ‘pandering’ to members in pension talk pullout

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N.J. Democrats need to show us the pension money, Bramnick says

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick. MMM file photo

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Casagrande Calls On Cumberland Prosecutor To Drop Gun Charges Against Retired Teacher

Says she will introduce legislation bringing New Jersey’s treatment of antique guns in line with federal standards

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Monmouth) said yesterday that the charges gun charges against a 72 retired teacher for transporting a 300 year old antique flintlock pistol are “ludicrous” and that the Cumberland County Prosecutor should dismiss the case.

Gordon Van Gilder, who taught in Millville for 34 years, faces 10 years in prison and the loss of his pension after a traffic stop last November during which he disclosed to the Cumberland Sheriff’s Officer who stopped him that he had the antique gun, unloaded , in his car.  Van Gilder’s attorney, Evan Nappen, said that his client was carrying a collectible and is being charged as if he was carrying a loaded .44 magnum.

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Will N.J. trade a higher gas tax for a lower death tax?

TRENTON — New Jersey’s cheap gas is a point of pride in an otherwise high-tax state. On the other hand, the Garden State is notorious for its duo of death taxes often landing it a spot on superlative lists like “Where not to die” and “Worst states to die.” New Jersey is just one of two… Read the rest of this entry »

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Republicans Rally in Atlantic City

Atlantic City– With Governor Chris Christie out of the country, New Jersey’s snow covered roads remained opened and approximately 1000 Republican activists, and a few guest Democrats, from all corners of the state gathered in Atlantic City today to nurture their dream of hitting the jackpot and winning a majority of seats in the General Assembly in November.

Under a banner that reads DON’T MOVE.  Lower Taxes Are On The Way. VOTE ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS., Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick met with reporters prior to the kickoff of his convention.  Bramnick said he would welcome an election theme that was a referendum on Governor Christie’s record in Trenton since 2010, saying that the Democrats who control both houses of the legislature stopped cooperating with Christie on his reform agenda.

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Republican Legislators Unlikely To Override Christie

The eyes of New Jersey’s political junkies on are Trenton this afternoon to see if the public rift between Governor Chris Christie and the Kean family will lead to the first override of a Christie veto.

The Pig Gestation Bill is on the Senate calendar for an override vote this afternoon.   The bill, which would prohibited NJ pig farmers from caging gestating pigs in a manner such that they can not move or lay down for most of their lives passed both houses of the legislature overwhelmingly last spring.  Christie vetoed the bill, noting that the State Supreme Court upheld the Humane Standards that the State Board of Agriculture and  Department of Agriculture have set and enforced in accordance with the 1995 Administrative Procedures Act. In his veto message, Christie said he was confident the Board and Department would continue to monitor the humane treatment of gestating pigs, and that bill would inappropriately criminalize a practice that is not opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association nor the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.

Christie critics and skeptics have said that the governor vetoed the bill with an eye toward the 2016 Iowa Republican Presidential Caucuses.   Iowa is the largest producer of pork in the United States.

Don’t bet on an override, warn legislators who spoke to MMM on background.

As a matter of policy, since they voted for the bill last spring, the Republicans we talked to have learned that it is the Democrats supporting the bill, not Christie, who are playing presidential politics. The bill would not impact the quality of life for New Jersey pigs. No one knows of at New Jersey pig farmer that uses the gestation crates that the bill would prohibited.

As a matter of politics, New Jersey Legislative Republicans are united with the governor, the rift over this move to oust Tom Kean, JR as Senate Minority Leader notwithstanding.  They are not going to weaken Christie’s negotiating position with the Trenton Democrats over a bill that has no impact on what is happening in New Jersey.

“Things are back to normal,” one legislator said, “The governor underestimated the trust, respect and affection the Senate Caucus has for Tom (Kean, Jr), and mishandled that situation. But when your friend makes a mistake, you don’t trash the friendship.”

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Casagrande’s bill will thwart “Piggish” school superintendents

Assemblywomen Caroline Casagrande, left, and Mary Pat Angelini, in Long Branch this morning for Mayor Schneider’s endorsement of Gov Christie

While touring  Oakwood School, a non-profit, non-sectarian New Jersey Private School for the Disabled that serves adolescents with Asperger/Autism in Tinton Falls last March, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande learned that the school’s enrollment had declined after the State instituted its cap on school superintendents’ salaries.

One of the exceptions to the superintendents’ salary cap are bonuses awarded for academic excellence. An administrator at Oakwood tipped Casagrande to the notion that superintendents could be keeping special needs students in their schools, to the academic and social detriment of the special needs and ‘normal’ students, in order to snag those $25,000 bonuses.

Freehold Regional High School District earned unwelcome notoriety for its largess with its previous superintendent, the phony Doctor H. James Wasser.  Wasser’s replacement Charles Sampson, has a clause in his contract rewarding him for reducing the number of special needs students assigned to out-of-district schools like Oakwood, according to a December 2012 article in the News Transcript, a weekly newspaper serving Colts Neck, Englishtown, Freehold Borough and Township, Manalapan and Marlboro.

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