Arnone Thanks Voters

Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholders Serena DiMaso and Tom Arnone at Christie fundraiser, facebook photo

By Monmouth County Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso and myself through the many months of what turned out to be a very exciting and sometimes exhausting 2013 political campaign. We are very grateful and extremely blessed to have had so many people come out and volunteer countless hours of their free time to support and join us in our efforts to make certain that the progress that has been made over the last three years continues. As a direct result of the loyal support we received, we were afforded the ability to serve all the residents of Monmouth County for another three years. With that we would like to thank everyone involved because this is something we truly could not have achieved without the involvement from the multitude of residents.

          Ultimately, we would like to recognize and thank each and every resident that took time out of their day to vote on November 5^th and take part in what truly is the greatest aspect of democracy. For the next three years we promise to continue to represent all 600,000 residents of our great county with the same resolve and dedication they have come to know and expect. Thank you for having the confidence and the faith in what we are doing for the betterment of Monmouth County.

          As I said, we will continue our commitment to the businesses and the people who make up Monmouth County, and we will do so with the same energy and enthusiasm that we have demonstrated in the past.

          Once again, we applaud your dedication and your support. We are proud and honored to be able to continue to serve the 600,000 residents which comprise all of Monmouth County, and we will strive to ensure that Monmouth County continues to be the greatest county in the State of New Jersey.

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Historians Will Judge ObamaCare Harshly

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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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Knowing where the money goes

For too many of us in New Jersey, it is not hard to imagine what life is like after a catastrophic storm.  We just have to remember what we were doing one year ago.

We also know the difference between charitable acts and contributions that met immediate needs and those that meet long term recovery needs.  Some of us will never forget the kindness and generosity we gave or received immediately after Sandy;  meals, supplies, shelter, a shower, a place to charge a cell phone, cleaning out a destroyed home.  Some of us are still filling out forms in the hopes of getting needed long term recovery aid.

As we confront, or deflect, the images coming from the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, we are fortunate to have a way to contribute that will make an immediate impact to the survival of 27 orphans.

Street Kids Philippine Missions is a orphanage with 501 C tax status run by our friend Ernesto Cullari’s mother, Lee.  Lee and her husband Matthew founded the orphanage in February or 2010 in Bohol.  They started caring for 6 children.  Now they are raising 27 children.   In 2012, Lee and Matthew cared for the children with a budget of $2000.00 per month. Amazing.

Today, in the aftermath of Haiyan, they need food, clean water and clothes and power. They are purifying their water with chemical tablets.

StreetKidsPM is hoping to raise $30,000 to recover from Haiyan. $1,111 per child.  They need water purification equipment, generators, food and clothing.

Please make a one time contribution, or enroll to make  monthly contributions to StreetKidsPM here.

Also, Cullari is holding a fundraiser on Wednesday December 4th from 6PM till 9PM at SeaGrass Restaurant in Occean Grove.  Tickets to the fundraiser are only $50 and can be purchased here.

For questions or to make offline reservations to the fundraiser, call Ernesto at 732-504-4506.

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Pelosi: When the website works, we’ll see what is in the bill, and we’ll like it

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Kean-Christie Wounds Are Festering

While Trenton Democrats are planning their aggressive “lame -duck” agenda with an eye on making Governor Chris Christie’s 2016 prospects more difficult, New Jersey’s two most popular Republicans, Christie and former Governor Tom Kean, are letting hurt feelings over the attempted ouster of Tom Kean, JR as Senate Minority Leader dominate the news on the Republican side of the aisle.

In case you missed it or didn’t care, on the heels of his landslide reelection with no coattails, Christie made it known that he wanted Senator Kevin O’Toole to replace Kean, JR as the Republican leader in the upper house of the legislature.  Junior got wind of the coup attempt and rallied the majority of the caucus to stick with him.  The day after the election, Christie publicly expressed his commitment to continue working with Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney and declined to comment on who the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate should be.  Junior released a letter signed by 11 of the 16 Republican Senators that expressed their support of him.  The following morning, prior to the Republican caucus meeting to elect their leader, Christie summoned Junior and Republican Senators to his Statehouse office, in view of the press corps, to lobby for O’Toole taking over the minority leadership.

Junior fought back and 9 other Republican Senators stuck with him, giving him a 10-6 victory over O’Toole and giving Christie the first act of defiance from Republicans in four years.

Why did Christie want to oust Junior?  He’s not saying.  Speculation centers on two reasons; 1) Christie was doing Sweeney’s bidding in the Senate President’s ongoing feud with Junior for having the gall to try and win his seat in the Senate and 2) Christie wanted Junior to take the fall for Republicans not picking up any seats in the legislature.

After Junior retained his leadership post, he and O’Toole emerged together from the caucus meeting and put on happy faces to the press, pledging unity and to get to work on the people’s business.  That should have been the end of it.

But then Kean, SR started talking to reporters, expressing his frustration and disappointment with his mentee, Christie.  Kean SR’s comments were “tinged with bitterness” toward Christie, The Record’s Charles Stile wrote on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Kean, SR kept his disappointment with Christie in the news by granting an interview to The Star Ledger’s Matt Friedman wherein he placed the blame for the Democrats retaining the legislature squarely with the Governor.

“You assume that if the governor wins by 20 points or more you’d have coattails,” Kean said. “No governor I know in any state has won by 20 points and not had coattails.”

By Friday, the Kean-Christie story had seemed to blow over. But it had not.

Yesterday, The Associated Press’s Angela Delli Santi posted a story quoting Kean SR as being “as surprised as I’ve ever been in my life in politics,” and how disappointed he is that Christie has yet to call him or Junior, to mend fences.

None of this reflects well on Christie, the Keans or the NJ GOP.

And none of it will help Republicans, Christie and members of the legislature, continue to “turn Trenton upside down.”

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Monday’s Override Vote Seeks to Free Female Pigs From Cramped Cages

Monday’s Override Vote Seeks to Free Female Pigs From Cramped Cages (via NJSpotlight)

In a dispute that will have a greater impact on Iowa than New Jersey, humane groups are encouraging the Legislature to protect female pigs from being confined in cramped cages. The state Senate has scheduled a vote Monday on an override of Gov. Chris…

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Will NJ Pull Plug on Promoting Zero-Emission Vehicles?

Will NJ Pull Plug on Promoting Zero-Emission Vehicles? (via NJSpotlight)

The Christie administration has already pulled New Jersey out of a regional initiative to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Does that mean the state’s efforts to encourage use of zero- emission vehicles — as proposed under the California…

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O’Scanlon Slams Rand Paul For Baseless Attack On Christie

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Yesterday Senator Rand Paul attacked NJ Governor Christie suggesting that the Governor’s landslide victory last week was the result of the federal aid package sent to NJ following superstorm Sandy.  

I occupy the unique combination of positions of Republican Assembly Budget Officer, long term fiscal conservative who has warned of New Jersey’s irresponsible spending polices for years, long-term advocate for reforms like pension benefit and collective bargaining reforms – and my District (13) covers the area of the bayshore hardest hit by the storm.

Unlike Senator Paul, I can state unequivocally – and based on first hand experience – that Governor Christie’s popularity wasn’t purchased with federal aid.  It was earned by tireless, extraordinary leadership on multiple crisis fronts from the moment Christie won election in 2009.  He inherited a state on the verge of insolvency, requiring reform solutions – pension and benefit, arbitration, property tax, budgetary – that no governor in the history of the state ever dreamed of tackling.  

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Booker has a girlfriend

Bianca Levin, Senator Cory Booker’s girlfriend, per the NYPost. facebook photo

Really. And it’s news!  The New York Post broke the story and now everyone is running it.

Bianca Levin, a 36 year old Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer has been dating New Jersey’s junior U.S. Senator since she co-hosted a fundraiser for his campaign last June.  Levin represents Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.  Her firm represents Clint “The Chair” Eastwood.

Lynsie Lee, the Oregon stripper and Chasing NJ sports reporter, who was linked to Booker via private twitter messages, doesn’t care.

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