Increased spending on issues such as education, public worker pensions, transportation, and hospitals drove lobbying expenditures in New Jersey in 2015 to $70 million, the second highest total ever, according to an analysis of annual lobbying reports released today by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Jeff Brindle, PolitickerNJ Read more
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON – As municipal employees filed out of City Hall at quitting time on Monday, one of their colleagues stood near the doorway and wished them a “Good Holiday.”
Only 453 Paterson employees hold positions the administration deems essential – mostly police officers, firefighters and sanitation collectors – and were told to come back to work on Tuesday. The rest are supposed to stay home as the budget showdown between the mayor and city council continued toward what now seems like an inevitable partial shutdown of municipal government.
The shutdown will affect school crossing guards, street-cleaning, after-school recreation programs and senior citizen services, officials said.
Paterson’s non-essential employees are in limbo and have been told to call the city’s hotline Tuesday night to find out if the council approves the mayor’s budget proposal, a move needed to allow them to resume work on Wednesday.
“I’m angry,” said Joanne Bottler, a tax search officer. “I have a sick mother I care for and losing a day’s pay is going to be a hardship.”
Posted by Laurie Ehlbeck On March 01, 2016 2 Comments
By Laurie Ehlbeck
We haven’t even made it out of the first quarter of 2016 but there is already plenty for small businesses in New Jersey to be concerned about on the upcoming legislative calendar. Senator Sweeney and Speaker Prieto seem determined to continue to challenge the economic stability of our state by introducing bills to nearly double minimum wage, mandate all employers provide sick leave and attempt to convince the voters that a pension payment must be constitutionally required. Sweeney and Prieto are creating what may ultimately amount to the most hostile session in state history in terms of damage caused to the small business community.
When it comes to minimum wage it is imperative that as a society we are honest about what it truly is. Minimum wage is not now, nor has it ever been, a vehicle in which to feed a family 4. It is an entry level wage that is earned almost exclusively by teens and young adults seeking work experience and a smooth transition into a career. Raising the minimum wage again, especially to the rate of $15 will have one direct effect. It will result in a loss of job opportunities for those seeking to expand their skill sets. It will not alleviate poverty. It will not empower the middle class. It will leave teenagers wondering what to do after school.
According to a recent study, 63 percent of workers who earn less than $9.50 per hour are the second or third earner in their family and 43 percent of these workers live in households that earn over $50,000 per year. In spite of what the proponents would have you believe, minimum wage earners are not an impoverished, disenfranchised group of struggling single mothers just trying to make ends meet. Most are teenagers from middle class families and many more are sharing the responsibility of providing for their families, not breaking under the burden of putting food on the table.
https://savejersey.com/2016/03/small-business-new-jersey-paid-leave-minimum-wage/
BY DUSTIN RACIOPPI
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Governor Christie on Monday nominated a Republican judge for a long-vacant seat on the state Supreme Court and named a successor for the state’s outgoing acting attorney general, moving to fill two high-profile vacancies that loomed as question marks over the rest of his tenure.
But he refused to discuss anything else — not his disappointing bid for the White House, not his controversial endorsement of Donald Trump. He conducted his first local news conference since dropping out of the race last month in regimented fashion, at least four times swatting down off-topic questions and telling one reporter, “Permission denied.” Christie also blocked the opportunity for anyone to ask him about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday morning, favorable to his administration, to decline ruling on a case challenging billions of dollars in cuts to the public employee pension fund, therefore allowing the reductions to stand.
Now, after his brief and tightly controlled appearance in Trenton, Christie sets off to campaign with Trump in Ohio and Kentucky during the Super Tuesday nominating contests having laid down a challenge to Democrats in New Jersey that he also hopes will resonate in Washington, D.C.
The death last month of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has triggered a battle between Republicans who control Congress and President Obama, who has 11 months left in his term, over who will fill the conservative justice’s seat on n the bench, potentially shaping the court for years to come.
Democrats face a stark choice: A money-mad, scandal-plagued establishment, or the potential of decency and change
CAMILLE PAGLIA
Despite Bernie Sanders being tied with her for pledged delegates after last weekend’s Nevada caucuses, the media herd has anointed Hillary Clinton yet again as the inevitable Democratic nominee. Superdelegates, those undemocratic figureheads and goons of the party establishment, are by definition unpledged and fluid and should never be added to the official column of any candidate until the national convention. To do so is an amoral tactic of intimidation that affects momentum and gives backstage wheeling and dealing primacy over the will of the electorate. Why are the media so servilely complicit with Clinton-campaign propaganda and trickery?
Democrats face a stark choice this year. A vote for the scandal-plagued Hillary is a resounding ratification of business as usual–the corrupt marriage of big money and machine politics, practiced by the Clintons with the zest of Boss Tweed, the gluttonous czar of New York’s ruthless Tammany Hall in the 1870s. What you also get with Hillary is a confused hawkish interventionism that has already dangerously destabilized North Africa and the Mideast. This is someone who declared her candidacy on April 12, 2015 via an email and slick video and then dragged her feet on making a formal statement of her presidential policies and goals until her pollsters had slapped together a crib list of what would push the right buttons. This isn’t leadership; it’s pandering.
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
A national campaign finance watchdog group has asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate a $1 million contribution made to a Super PAC said to be supporting Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s potential bid for New Jersey governor.
Outraged by the delegate deficit Sanders faces even after his New Hampshire win, the senator’s backers are taking action.
By Daniel Strauss
02/14/16 06:34 PM EST
Bernie Sanders lost by a hair in Iowa and won by a landslide in New Hampshire. Yet Hillary Clinton has amassed an enormous 350-delegate advantage over the Vermont senator after just two states.
Outraged by that disconnect – which is fueled by Clinton’s huge advantage with Democratic superdelegates, who are not bound by voting results – Sanders supporters are fighting back.
Pro-Sanders threads on Reddit have been burning up with calls for action, with some supporters even reaching out to superdelegates (who are typically Democratic governors, members of Congress, and top state and national party leaders) to lobby them on the Vermont senator’s behalf. Progressive groups are also taking a stand: There are currently two petition campaigns designed to urge superdelegates to reflect the popular vote, rather than the sentiment of party elites.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-superdelegates-democrats-219286#ixzz40G9k2JnJ
The purpose of superdelegates was to save voters from political suicide, and while they have tended to follow public voting patterns in recent elections, 2016 could be different.
By Peter Grier, Staff writer FEBRUARY 11, 2016
Does Hillary Clinton have a secret weapon in her battle for the Democratic presidential nomination – “superdelegates” already pledged to support her?
Well, yes, yes she does. But in the end, they probably wouldn’t tip the balance in a close race with rival Bernie Sanders.
Superdelegates aren’t delegates with special powers. Their votes don’t count more than normal elected delegates. They won’t wear spandex or any kind of identifying costume at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
FEBRUARY 10, 2016, 6:08 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016, 6:10 PM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON – City officials sent municipal employees a notice on Wednesday warning them that they would not be getting their biweekly pay through direct deposits to their bank accounts on Friday.
Instead, all Paterson employees would get old-fashioned paychecks this week – but only if the City Council approves a $7.9 million payroll appropriation at hastily scheduled special meeting on Thursday night.
“There won’t be any release of payroll without the council’s approval,” said Business Administrator Nellie Pou.
Pou said that in order to make the direct deposit payment on Friday she needed to wire the money to the bank on Wednesday. “I can’t do that,” she said.
The city’s payroll process was knocked off schedule when the council in a 4-4 vote on Tuesday rejected the administration’s proposed $22.5 million budget appropriation for February. Opponents said the administration had not implemented enough budget cuts.
What happened to the STIMULUS Money ?
Time to audit the Transportation Trust Fund
FEBRUARY 3, 2016, 5:20 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016, 6:12 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
New Jersey’s Democratic legislative leaders said Wednesday they are close to working out a proposal to fix the state’s dwindling Transportation Trust Fund.
Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, D-Secaucus, each said they just have a few details to work out on a proposal to replenish the fund – which pays for improvements to the state’s roads and bridges – runs out of money by June 30. Neither offered details of their plan.
But the two Democrats sparred with their Republican counterparts before an audience of several dozen mayors over the timing of such legislation.
Sweeney and Prieto said first they want to hash out a deal with Governor Christie – something they said has not yet happened – rather that pass a measure that he will veto.
“I don’t think anybody is going to go for something knowing the governor is not going to sign it,” Sweeney said during a panel discussion during the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ annual Mayors’ Legislative Day.
By John Whitesides8 hours ago
Hillary Clinton at her caucus night rally in Des Moines. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
By John Whitesides
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Hillary Clinton’s struggle in Iowa to fend off underdog Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, reignited questions about her ability to close the deal with Democratic voters and turned up the pressure on her high-profile White House campaign.
The Democratic presidential front-runner, whose campaign ran off the rails in Iowa in 2008 against Barack Obama, was dealt another setback on Monday in the Midwestern state that begins the 2016 race for the presidency.
The former secretary of state, Clinton, 68, was pushed to a virtual tie with Sanders, a 74-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont.
Next up is New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Feb. 9. Sanders has been leading in opinion polls there and has an advantage because it neighbors his home state. A Clinton loss would start to set off alarm bells with her supporters.
“She has had every possible structural and organizational advantage and Sanders fought her to a draw,” said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.
“This is almost a moment by moment rerun of 2008,” Schnur said. “The difference is her competition is not as tough this time.”
Clinton insisted at her post-caucus rally that she was the candidate who could unify her party and prevail against a Republican challenger in the Nov. 8 election but the sense of disappointment was palpable.
Her subdued, six-minute speech contrasted with the ebullient tone of Sanders’ 16-minute speech.
https://news.yahoo.com/virtual-tie-raises-doubts-hillary-clinton-close-deal-085603229.html
Obama and Ryan, Long at Odds, Said to Meet as Soon as Next Week
Margaret Talev
Angela Greiling Keane
January 22, 2016 — 3:02 PM EST
President Barack Obama and House Speaker Paul Ryan may sit down together at the White House for a long-anticipated meeting as soon as next week, a person familiar with their plans said.
The blizzard bearing down on Washington may force them to postpone if the capital remains shut down at the start of next week.
The two men haven’t spent significant time together since Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, was sworn in as speaker in October. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said last week that the president hoped that they would have a chance to talk face-to-face “relatively soon.” The person who said the meeting may happen next week asked for anonymity because the timing hasn’t been settled.
It wasn’t clear whether other congressional leaders would take part. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, said that “nothing is currently scheduled.” Jen Friedman, deputy White House press secretary, declined to comment.
Obama, 54, and Ryan, 45, have enough in common personally and in some policy areas for the foundation of a relationship, if either of them desired one. They also have enough accrued tension to dissuade either from bothering in Obama’s final year in office.
JANUARY 9, 2016, 11:46 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2016, 12:04 AM
BY DUSTIN RACIOPPI
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Word bubbled up in November at a Democratic conclave in East Brunswick that state lawmakers were considering new rules on how to configure the state’s legislative map, but they offered no details and quickly moved on to other topics.
Then, just days before a harried year-end session in Trenton, a formal proposal to overhaul the process for redrawing New Jersey’s 40 legislative districts was circulated to Republican members of committees that would have to advance the plan. The proposal was to create at least 10 “competitive” districts using results from selected elections. An Assembly panel approved it in 20 minutes after hearing one public comment, and its chairman did not allow questions from any of its members.
The once-a-decade ritual required by the state constitution to redraw New Jersey’s legislative map has always been a political exercise. Democratic and Republican leaders each appoint five of their members to a commission to draw the maps; they always deadlock on which version is fairest and the deciding vote is cast by someone appointed by the state Supreme Court’s chief justice.
But this year’s push — the first in more than50 years — to significantly alter the process through a constitutional amendment has drawn the most criticism, if not sheer outrage, from the people who will be directly affected by any changes: the legislators themselves.
Depending on how it is drawn, the map could help to determine who is elected to the Legislature and which party holds power in Trenton. That would determine who controls what bills are posted, who gets assigned to what committees and who has final say over judicial and Cabinet-level nominations. Democrats have held the majority in the Legislature since 2004.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-plan-for-revamp-of-voting-districts-remains-vague-1.1488593
JANUARY 9, 2016, 10:30 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2016, 12:15 AM
BY MIKE KELLY
RECORD COLUMNIST |
THE RECORD
HAZLETON, Pa. — A few weeks ago, the phone rang at Jimmy’s Quick Lunch, a popular café that has dished out soup, sandwiches, eggs, neighborly advice and gossip in the center of this rugged former coal-mining town for almost seven decades.
The caller was not placing a takeout order for one of Jimmy’s legendary hot dogs with gravy fries and a milk shake. Instead, Paterson’s civilian police director, Jerry Speziale, was on the line asking if Jimmy’s longtime owner, James Grohol, could give him the name of a neighborhood crime watch activist.
“Maybe he just wanted to get a feel for things,” Grohol said the other day as he reflected on the phone call while flipping burgers in Jimmy’s kitchen.
That the top police administrator in New Jersey’s third-largest city, 115 miles away, would be interested in a neighborhood crime watch in Hazleton, Pa., may seem odd. But phone calls from Speziale are likely to become commonplace now that he has agreed to run Hazleton’s Police Department as its interim chief while he continues to supervise policing in Paterson.
Moonlighting during off-hours has long been a fact of police life. Some officers work nights as private security guards. Others offer advice as consultants or spend weekends as contractors, driving buses or doing other non-police jobs. Some teach college-level classes in policing and criminal justice.
But the idea of the top law enforcement administrator in one city running a department in another state may present a whole new twist on police moonlighting and raises potential conflicts, some experts say.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/kelly-jerry-speziale-s-new-beat-covers-two-states-1.1488391
McGreevey comes to Paterson to defend controversial prison reentry initiative
JANUARY 6, 2016, 9:57 AM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016, 10:02 AM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON — Former Gov. Jim McGreevey made a surprise appearance at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting in an attempt to defuse criticism aimed at the new prisoner reentry program he is launching in Paterson.
Speaking to the council members, McGreevey said a similar reentry initiative he oversees in Jersey City has achieved low recidivism rates and high employment among its participants by providing them with counseling, job training and other services to ease their transition to life outside prison.
Then the former governor addressed council members’ concerns about Paterson’s use of municipal public works department employees working overtime to complete renovations on the privately-owned Montgomery Street building where some of the post-prison services will be provided.
McGreevey said the “crazed drive to get this done quickly” stemmed from concerns that the city could lose the $180,000 federal grant paying for the work if it were not completed quickly. McGreevey’s explanation matched the one provided by Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres on Monday. The mayor has said the overtime costs would be covered by the federal grant.
In an interview after his presentation to the council, McGreevey said he expected the program to begin operation in the middle of this month with its first group of 11 to 15 participants. He said that it would serve between 175 and 250 released inmates per year. In an effort to dispel some residents’ concerns that parolees would be living at the Montgomery Street building, McGreevey said the site would only be used during business hours to provide services and referrals.
“I believe we’re changing lives through the process of reentry,” said McGreevey, chairman of the board of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, the nonprofit organization working on the project.
For the most part, council members seemed to show deference to the former governor as they complimented his efforts. Not until later in the night, long after McGreevey had left the building, did several council members sharply question administration officials about the project
