Christie Selected, Pallone Snubbed by National Bobblehead Hall of Fame

Breaking news out of Cleveland is that Governor Chris Christie has been admitted to the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.  The Hall and Museum are actually in Milwaukee, WI, but their representatives are in Cleveland this week selling their wares to RNC delegates and protesters. Presumably they will be in Philadephia next week for the Democratic Convention.

By glaring omission, New Jersey’s 6th District (Monmouth and Middlesex counties) Congressman Frank Pallone has not yet been admitted to the Bobblehead Hall of Fame.

Clearly, Pallone merits the honor more than any politician, athlete or movie star.

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David Samson, close confidant of Christie, pleads guilty in airline shakedown

NEWARK–David Samson–the embattled former chairman of the powerful Port Authority of New York and New Jersey–pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to using his considerable clout to coerce one of the nation’s largest airlines to accommodate his desire for a regularly scheduled, non-stop flight to a South Carolina summer home. Samson, 76, a well-connected lawyer and one-time New… Read the rest of this entry »

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Golden keeps up the campaign for honest disbursement of 9-1-1 fees

Golden’s message to Republican naysayers: “Get on board.”

Monmouth Sheriff Shaun Golden is not letting up on his campaign to get Trenton to disburse the $.90 per month, per line, that we all pay on our cell and land line bills.

In case you missed it, Golden and the Monmouth County Freeholders held a press conference last week to highlight Trenton’s diversion of our fees, at the expense of public safety and in apparent violation to the federal “NET 911 Act of 2008.”  Monmouth County’s leadership on the issue garnered significant media attention, including on both New York and Philadelphia local TV news stations.

Golden brought the issue to the attention of NJTV yesterday:

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Sweeney delivers Christie new gas tax plan to end N.J. road project shutdown

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney met privately Tuesday in an attempt to broker a deal to fund transportation projects and bring an end to a statewide construction freeze. Sweeney presented Christie with a new proposal for replenishing the now-expired and soon-to-be-broke Transportation Trust Fund, according to a spokesman for the governor.… Read the rest of this entry »

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Sweeney says he’ll offer Christie new gas tax plans to end N.J. road work shutdown

Senate President Steve Sweeney

TRENTON — Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Monday he will present multiple proposals to Gov. Chris Christie this week to re-up the Transportation Trust Fund and break a stalemate that’s suspended road and rail projects across the state. Sweeney (D-Gloucester), declined to elaborate on the funding plans, but acknowledged that timing is a concern as Republicans… Read the rest of this entry »

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Old Bridge N.J. gymnast Laurie Hernandez named to Olympic team

Laurie Hernandez, the 16-year-old whose vivid expressions have earned her the nickname the “Human Emoji,” will be taking her big smile and flashy moves to Rio next month. The 16-year-old Hernandez was named to the U.S. gymnastics team on Sunday night after a dazzling performance in the team trials in San Jose, Calif., becoming the first… Read the rest of this entry »

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Christie Issues List of Transportation Projects to Be Put on Hold

With cash for state transportation projects getting scarcer by the hour thanks to political gridlock in Trenton, Gov. Chris Christie’s administration yesterday released a list of dozens of road and rail upgrades that are slated to be put on hold later this week. The forced shutdown of the infrastructure work by late Friday night will affect…

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Gretchen Carlson files sex harassment suit against FOX CEO

HACKENSACK – Longtime Fox News host Gretchen Carlson has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, the network’s CEO and chairman. In the suit, which was filed Wednesday morning in Bergen County Superior Court, Carlson claims Ailes, a Cresskill resident, made “sexual and/or sexist comments” and made “sexual advances by various means.” Carlson claims Ailes… Read the rest of this entry »

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Christie defends his school funding “Fairness Formula”

By Chris Christie For 61/2 years, I have been able to effectively ignore the liberal, fact-twisting rantings of The Star-Ledger editorial board. But the stakes of this debate on property taxes and urban education are too great to ignore the newspaper’s latest emotional screed against my Fairness Formula. On property taxes, our residents pay the highest… Read the rest of this entry »

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Christie Shuts Down Road Construction

Arnone in talks to keep Monmouth County projects going uninterupted

Governor Chris Christie issued an Executive Order last night shutting down all projects funded by the state’s Transportation Trust Fund.  The fund’s authorization expired at midnight though published reports indicated that there is enough money in the fund to continue work through mid-August.

Christie’s dramatics came as a result of the Legislature failing to reauthorize the fund.  The Senate was considering a bi-partisan plan to reauthorize the fund with a $.23 per gallon gas tax increase while also phasing out the estate tax and income tax on retirement income.  The Assembly passed legislation negotiated by Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto in the wee hours of Tuesday morning that would increase the gas tax $.23 and phase in a reduction in the state sales tax from 7% to 6%.  Christie said the last minute sales tax reduction was his idea.

The Christie/Prieto plan was widely panned from both the left an right and had little support in the Senate.

No plan under consideration addressed New Jersey’s highest in the nation cost of road construction: an estimated $2 million per mile on average.

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