It would be great if The Star Ledger…

….put Cory Booker under a microscope like they have Governor Chris Christie and Rutgers Athletic Director Julie Hermann.

By Art Gallagher, artvg@aol.com

photo via facebook

Star Ledger sports columnist Steve Politi has a column this morning that is part of his ongoing campaign to take down Rutgers Athletic Director Julie Hermann; Julie Hermann: It would be ‘great’ if The Star Ledger went out of business.

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.

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Christie: “The war on drugs has failed”

West Long Branch Police Chief Larry Mihlon: ..”the deadly nature of heroin doesn’t care who you are…It just kills you”

Transcript

West Long Branch Police Chief Larry Mihlon: As a police officer, you never really think about that this is going to hit you at home. Well, April 13^th of 2013, the Long Branch Police Department responded to a call of a 22-year old young man who had stopped breathing and had no pulse. That young man was in my house because it was my son. The reason why I put myself out here and I relate this story in public is that I think it’s extremely important for people to realize that the heroin epidemic and the deadly nature of heroin doesn’t care who you are. It doesn’t care what your father does. It doesn’t care whether there are good parents or bad parents. It doesn’t care if you’re a good kid or a bad kid. It just kills you. This rollout of Narcan, in my eyes, is another fantastic tool for law enforcement to do the other mission that law enforcement has and that is to save peoples’ lives.

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N.J. heroin crisis: Christie discusses new tool in battle against overdoses

N.J. heroin crisis: Christie discusses new tool in battle against overdoses (via NJ.com)

BRICK — Police officers and first responders in Ocean and Monmouth counties will begin carrying naloxone, a drug that can counter the effects of an opiate overdose, Gov. Chris Christie said today as New Jersey continues its years-long battle against…

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Christie to hold press conference this afternoon

MMM photo/Art Gallagher

Governor Chris Christie will end his 75 day exile from the New Jersey press corps this afternoon at 2:30 with a press conference in his outer office.

Christie has not taken questions from the press since his January 9 marathon press conference about the revelations that members of his team had orchestrated the George Washington Bridge lane closures last September.

Yesterday the lawyers that Christie hired to investigate GWB lane closures and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s allegations that he, through Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, threaten to withhold Sandy relief from Hoboken unless Zimmer secured a zoning approval for the Rockefeller Group, a client of Port Authority Chairman David Samson, released their findings.  The report backed up Christie’s claims from his January 9 press conference that he had no involvement in the lane closures and Guadagno’s denial of Zimmer’s allegations.  The investigation cost New Jersey taxpayers roughly $1 million.

The report blamed Christie’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly and his former #2 at Port Authority David Wildstein for the GWB lane closures and concluded that the widely speculated motive for the lane closures…political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich…did not make sense. The report says the motive for the lane closures remains a mystery.  Kelly’s termination from Christie’s staff was announced at the January 9 press conference, the day after her “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email to Wildstein became public.

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NJ Democrats: Report clearing Christie brings more questions than answers

NJ Democrats: Report clearing Christie brings more questions than answers (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — A leading Democratic state lawmaker investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures dismissed the findings of a report released today by Gov. Chris Christie’s lawyers clearing him of responsibility for the traffic scandal. State…

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Christie bridge scandal: Internal report clears governor, calls for Port Authority restructuring

Christie bridge scandal: Internal report clears governor, calls for Port Authority restructuring (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — An internal investigation commissioned by the governor’s office found no evidence Gov. Chris Christie knew about the controversial plan to shut down several toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge beforehand, according to a report released…

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Christie’s Internal Bridgegate Report To Be Released Thursday

MMM photo/Art Gallagher

The former prosecutors that the Christie Administration hired to perform an internal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures and allegations made by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer that Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno told Zimmer that Sandy aid for Hoboken was contingent upon a development approval will release the findings of their investigation on Thursday morning at 11:30.

A New York Times article about the report published on Sunday says it will address what and when Mr. Christie and his aides knew about the lane closings; analyze the structure, practices and culture of the Christie administration that contributed to the scandal; and issue pointed recommendations to prevent such conduct in the future.

Randy Mastro, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Deputy to former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, lead the team of lawyers from Gibson Dunn in conducting the investigation.  Over 70 interviews were conducted and thousands of documents reviewed in the probe that cost New Jersey taxpayers over $1 million.

Three key players in the Bridgegate scandal, Christie former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly, Christie’s former political strategist Bill Stepien and David Wildstein, Christie’s former #2 at the Port Authority of NY/NJ, did not submit to interviews with Mastro’s team.

A joint legislative committee lead by Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Senator Loretta Weinberg continues to investigate the Bridgegate matters. U. S Attorney Paul Fishman’s office is also investigating.

Christie told NJ 101.5’s Eric Scott during his Ask the Governor radio show on Wednesday evening that if Mastro’s report implicates members of his staff, that punitive measures will be taken.

MMM will livestream Mastro’s press conference on Thursday at 11:30 AM

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Christie: Federal Law Keeping RREM Applicants in Limbo

Pallone says legislation is not necessary, regulators can change the rules

Governor Chris Christie listens to a resident’s question in Belmar. March 25, 2014 MMM photo/Art Gallagher. Click for larger view.

Governor Chris Christie told the 650 people in attendance at his Town Hall Meeting in Belmar yesterday that he went to Washington last week to ask HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to waive the rule that is keeping Sandy victims from rebuilding their homes while they are waiting to find out if they will be approved for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) grants of up to $150,000.

The RREM program will not reimburse homeowners for work done on their homes prior to their acceptance into the program.  Over 3000 people are on the RREM waiting list for the second round of HUD funding which is expected to be awarded late this spring. They are in limbo, living in temporary housing, paying rent and mortgages, while their ruined homes are dormant.

Christie said that Donovan told him he could not waive the rule because a specific federal law prohibits grants being used to pay for work performed prior to the federal approval being secured.

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Governor Fields Questions About Post-Sandy Relief at Latest Town Hall

Governor Fields Questions About Post-Sandy Relief at Latest Town Hall (via NJSpotlight)

Gov. Chris Christie heard more tales of woe from people still struggling to recover from Superstorm Sandy at his latest town hall meeting yesterday. It was the sixth Q&A he’s held in Belmar, as well as the sixth town hall he’s held since the Bridgegate…

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The Dismantling Of Christie’s “Bi-partisan” Reforms

photo credit: Tim Larsen/Governor’s Office

It’s beginning to look like Governor Chris Christie’s Boulevard of Compromise is a dead end.

The 2% property tax cap is under attack, as the Trenton Democrats are on the verge of passing an “extension” of the Interest Arbitration Award Cap that eliminates the cap on most arbitration awards and increases the cap on the remainder of the potential awards by 50%.

In my piece last night about the Interest Arbitration Cap, I raised the hope that published reports that Assembly and Senate committees cleared an identical bill that guts the cap were inaccurate because Senator Mike Doherty was co-sponsor of the Senate bill and because of Senate President Steve Sweeney’s comments about the cap at his Town Hall Meeting in Keansburg last week.  It turns out that was wishful thinking. MMM has learned the bills are identical and, inexplicably, Doherty is a primary sponsor of the Senate bill, giving Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto “bi-partisan” cover.

Doherty has yet to return our call for comment.  We’ve been told his attitude about the bill he is sponsoring with Sweeney is “a bill that will pass is better than no bill.”

Doherty has a point, albeit a minor one.  If no bill passes by April 1, there is no cap on Interest Arbitration awards at all.  If the bill that cleared through committees yesterday passes the full legislature and is signed by Christie, there will be a 3% cap on a minority of municipal government labor contracts for the next few years.  If Christie vetoes the bill, even conditionally, there is no arbitration cap.  Either way the property tax blaze is about to be reignited and/or the pain inflicted upon municipalities will be so great that consolidations and mergers will be forced indelicately.  The backdoor destruction of municipal governments appears to be Sweeney’s undeclared plan.

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