Author: James

Shutdown — ‘A pox on everybody’s house’
By Alexander Bolton – 10/08/13 06:00 AM ET

Democrats have the advantage in the government shutdown debate, but it’s not the rout that many anticipated.

While polls show that more people blame Republicans than Democrats, the margin is not so lopsided that GOP leaders feel compelled to back down.

Democratic strategists confidently predicted last month their party would trounce the GOP in the court of public opinion in the event of a shutdown. But a week after government funding expired, some Democrats have a tough time reading the scoreboard.

“I don’t think anyone comes out of this looking better than when it started,” said former Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.). “It’s kind of a pox on everybody’s house.”

Democrats have had their share of missteps over the last week, including the World War II Memorial controversy, the interruption of the Amber Alert government website and a gaffe by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Republicans haven’t been flawless by any means, but the GOP has aggressively seized on Democratic mistakes. They also forced Democrats to shift strategy following GOP attacks that the White House was refusing to come to the negotiating table.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/327075-shutdown-a-pox-on-everybodys-house#ixzz2h89aMXuP

Cory Booker in Ridgewood photo by Boyd Loving

Apparently, Booker’s Hollywood millions aren’t enough to overcome his failed record in Newark, Trenk DiPasquale payoffs, his support for Obamacare, and his proposed $1.4 trillion in new taxes. – Steve Lonegan

Anxious Allies Aiding Booker in Senate Bid
By MICHAEL BARBARO

Published: October 6, 2013 201 Comments

Cory A. Booker is an undisputed star of a new generation of African-American leaders, electrifying liberal audiences with his oratory and charming the social media set with his digital savvy.

But the Senate campaign Mr. Booker, a Democrat, is running in New Jersey — at times sputtering, unfocused and entangled in seemingly frivolous skirmishes over Twitter messages involving a stripper — has unnerved his supporters, who thought that a robust and unblemished victory over his Republican opponent, Steve Lonegan, would catapult him onto the national stage.

As his allies move to shore up what was supposed to be a painless path to Congress, the biggest and wealthiest of them, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, will start spending more than $1 million on Monday to broadcast television commercials on Mr. Booker’s behalf, a vast sum to pour into a single candidacy.

With the special Senate election next week, the late campaign push is trying to exploit unhappiness over the government shutdown to promote Mr. Booker, Newark’s mayor, as a problem solver who eschews the kind of hard-line partisanship crippling the Capitol. “He is a solutions guy rather than an ideologue,” Mr. Bloomberg said in an interview.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/nyregion/anxious-allies-aiding-booker-in-senate-bid.html?pagewanted=1&_r=4&ref=nyregion&

ObamaCare crash not just traffic
By Sam Baker and Elise Viebeck – 10/08/13 06:00 AM ET

Problems plaguing online enrollment in ObamaCare are not just due to high traffic, but are being compounded by structural problems at healthcare.gov, the federal government portal where people can shop for medical insurance.

The Obama administration is now scrambling to fix technical troubles that contributed to a bruising debut last week for the new insurance marketplaces.

“I think there’s growing consensus that it’s not just volume,” said Caroline Pearson, a vice president at the consulting firm Avalere Health who focuses on the healthcare law.

Healthcare.gov — the main portal for consumers in 36 states to compare their coverage options — was taken offline for maintenance over the weekend and was scheduled to come down for repairs again at 1 a.m. Tuesday.

In addition to adding capacity to better deal with heavy traffic, the fixes included software upgrades and changes to the type of hardware used for certain functions, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) said Monday.

The initial problems with healthcare

.gov mostly prevented users from creating an account — a prerequisite to comparing or buying insurance. That means few people have been able to even begin the process of shopping for coverage.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/327077-obamacare-sites-collapse-is-seen-as-structural-not-just-heavy-traffic#ixzz2h87cvhto

Village of Ridgewood Next???

N.J. lawmakers want to put GPS trackers on state cars

TRENTON — You’ve seen them on the road — sedans and minivans with the yellow bumper stickers saying they’re property of the state of New Jersey.

You’ve wondered: Are these state workers behind the wheel actually on state business — or are they running personal errands?

And after hearing enough complaints to fill a parking lot, two lawmakers — a Democrat and a Republican — say they’d like to know, once and for all, whether the right to drive a state car is being abused or properly used. (Friedman/Star-Ledger)

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/10/lawmakers_want_to_put_gps_trackers_on_state_cars.html#incart_river

Garage owner says Ridgewood overpaying
Tuesday October 8, 2013, 9:56 AM
BY  CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Police studying claims of favoritism toward competitor

RIDGEWOOD – Police are investigating claims from a Ridgewood garage owner who contends that the village is overpaying for contracted services.

During the Village Council’s meeting last week, acting Village Manager Heather Mailander said detectives were involved in an investigation into allegations by resident Frank Thissen. Thissen, who has owned and operated Village Auto Body for 27 years, told the council that his winning bid for repair work to village vehicles had not been honored by Joe Loprieno, who manages the village’s garage.

Thissen said his $33-an-hour bid won him the village contract three years ago. But Thissen said he reviewed invoices approved by Loprieno since then, and alleged that he had lost an estimated $20,000 in work to Hackensack’s Bergen Brookside Auto Body.

Thissen told The Record on Monday that he believed Loprieno funneled the body work on the vehicles to Brookside because Loprieno is friends with that shop’s owner, John Sallemme.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/226897141_Garage_owner_says_Ridgewood_overpaying.html#sthash.4SXjwIBK.dpuf

SEE: Allegations made over Towing Irregularities at Village Council meeting

https://theridgewoodblog.net/allegations-made-over-towing-irregularities-at-village-council-meeting/

file photo Boyd Loving

Readers say Interesting chain of events……not buying Mayor’s “story” on Richie Communication Contract

How could our Carpetbagger Mayor say he didn’t know. He voted on the resolution. Oh and he didn’t know that Rich owned Extel. That shows you how self consumed he is about himself and no one else.

Yeah, right, Aronsohn will discuss this publicly but any other personnel matter will be done in private.

Why would Aronsohn reveal what was discussed behind closed doors? If its is going to be disclosed after the fact in a manner different than at a public meeting reporting on what has occurred, then don’t discuss it at all behind closed doors. Is there an ethics violation here?

Interesting indeed. Don’t you all think it’s a bit funny that this story comes out a week after Mayor Paul Aronsohn has a sit down with the papers owner Stephen Borg? The old phrase you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours comes to mind.

I find it hilarious that Jane Reilly is trying to duck this one. “I don’t remember. I’m sure I meant I don’t recall giving him a contract while he was a councilman — that is, after Floyd,” Reilly wrote in an email last week. “I’m not sure even that was a contract — or an emergency appropriate.” Yet, records show on more than three occasions, the former mayor endorsed adopted resolutions that approved work orders that made specific mention of Riche’s involvement.

I’m no fan of Riche but how about Aronsohn claiming he didn’t know the Riche was in the telecommunications business? The guy has been on and off of the council for years. Has served on numerous other boards and you’re going to try and tell me as a councilman you don’t know what the guy does for a living? I’m sure a career politician like Aronsohn knows what everyone on the council has for breakfast every day. Believeing that he didn’t know what Riche did for a living is ridiculous. I teally think he feels he is smarter than most of the people in Ridgewood and the one’s he is not smarter than are not paying attention.

By the way; when a firm has a NJ State contract # that means the state has gone out to bid for whatever the item or service is and has found the lowest bidder. Municipalities, school boards, etc…. can purchase items from a firm using the state contract # and not have to re-bid the item so from that standpoint it really shouldn’t matter who owns the company.

Ridgewood’s Village government is a laughingstock. The VC stumbles and bumbles its way through personnel matters, ringing up unnecessary expenditures along the way. Meanwhile the Planning Board sucks up to Valley and any developer that wants to throw up a housing complex in the center of town.

Is there one person in Village government that cares for Ridgewood without a personal agenda?

Steve Lonegan: Leader not tweeter
Monday October 7, 2013, 8:21 AM
By ALFRED P. DOBLIN
RECORD EDITORIAL COLUMNIST

HE’S A LEADER, not a tweeter. You got to love Steve Lonegan. That was his message during a U.S. Senate debate with Cory Booker taped in Trenton on Friday. The Republican and the Democrat faced off during a 60-minute debate that aired Sunday on ABC. I was a panelist.

Booker is the undisputed king of Facebook, but Lonegan is emperor of In-Your-Face. I say that with some admiration. Agree or disagree with his policies, Lonegan has done what Barbara Buono, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, has failed to accomplish: Run an effective campaign.

Despite a misstep over Booker’s pedicures, Lonegan has been doing what he does best. He is an everyman, angry, agitated and never silent. He is more than the natural progression of Howard Beale, the run-amok anchorman from the film “Network”; he is Howard Beale and Howard Roark, the Ayn Rand protagonist. Lonegan believes every man (and I assume every woman) should be able to pull himself or herself up by their bootstraps. Reduce government. Get rid of unnecessary federal departments, like education, and go out and get a job.

Booker is an unabashed social liberal, with a few exceptions. The contrast in style could not have been greater watching the two men face off Friday. They are both completely comfortable in their own skins. Booker is criticized for being more of a brand than a public official, but if Booker is a brand, Lonegan is brand X. They both understand that contemporary politics is fueled by personalities first and politics second.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/226701721_Doblin__Steve_Lonegan__Leader_or_tweeter.html#sthash.eSUVUBGB.dpuf

Park Service OKs immigration reform rally on ‘closed’ National Mall

By CHARLIE SPIERING | OCTOBER 7, 2013 AT 2:06 PM

A planned immigration reform rally will take place on the National Mall on Tuesday even though the site is closed due to the government shutdown.

Organizers for the “Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform” were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday.

A few scattered barriers around the park have signs informing visitors that the area is closed as a result of the government shutdown.

Susana Flores, a spokesperson for the rally, confirmed for the Washington Examiner that the Park Service will allow the event to take place under the group’s rights granted by the First Amendment.

Sign Up for the Politics Today newsletter!

About 30 members of Congress are expected to attend the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

https://washingtonexaminer.com/park-service-oks-immigration-reform-rally-on-closed-national-mall/article/2536908

Dr. Ben Carson is latest on list of conservatives targeted by IRS
By John Solomon and Ben Wolfgang
The Washington Times
Thursday, October 3, 2013

Tea party groups, Franklin Graham, Christine O’Donnell, a pro-marriage group. And now Dr. Ben Carson.

The list of conservatives targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for audits, tax-exempt reviews or tax privacy breaches keeps growing, raising fresh questions in Washington about whether a scandal the Obama administration has blamed on bureaucratic incompetence and coincidence may in fact involve something more nefarious.

The latest revelation came Thursday from Dr. Carson, the renowned neurosurgeon who told The Washington Times that he was targeted for an audit just months after he gave a speech in front of President Obama that challenged America’s leadership. The agency requested to review his real estate holdings and then conducted a full audit.

In the end, the IRS found no wrongdoing, Dr. Carson said, but it raised his suspicions about being singled out for his speech.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/3/irs-targeted-dr-ben-carson-after-prayer-breakfast-/