The Morning Briefing - February 23, 2015
NOT IN YOUR KITCHEN – Are these Girl Scouts geniuses or what? These little cookie peddlers, in their cute sashes and big smiles, are now telling us there is suddenly “a shortage” on Thin Mints. What?!? These kids – purveyors of such well-known cookies as Samoas and Tagalongs – know that we love Thin Mints the best, so BOOM – a shortage! Right in the middle of prime cookie-eating time! Only 6 percent of the nation’s 112 Girl Scout councils are affected. And, wouldn’t you know, all 2,000 troops in the Heart of New Jersey Council — which covers Hudson, Essex, Union, Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties — are affected. Is there a special badge for such marketing skill? Huh? Thank the lord this cabal does not control Mallomars.
TRENTON – If you are a political junkie – or someone who could not give a flyin’ hoot who happens to be governor at the moment – tomorrow’s budget message from Gov. Chris Christie affects you. For the first time in a long time, we have a governor forced to appease liberal voters in New Jersey, while also trying to show he is Presidential material to all those cloth-wearing Republicans demanding some good, old-fashioned conservatism. It is a ridiculous balancing act. What does it this all mean for you? Well, plenty.
TRENTON – Here’s why: The roads and bridges you travel on are crumbling. Anyone with at least 20/80 vision can see chunks of concrete dissolving off our century-old bridges as a stream of 18-wheel trucks pound away every day and every night. The state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which is supposed to fix this mess, is hopelessly broke – thanks to all the former governors who raided it like a fallen pinata. The only way out of this jam is for an extra tax on gas. (See? We said this affects you.) But that needs an OK for Christie. And how would that look to all those cigar-chomping conservatives, who can’t stomach a nickel more in taxes – even if London Bridge keeps falling down?
TRENTON – And that’s not even half of it. All that Alka-Seltzer the governor is guzzling has nothing to do with a new fad diet. He happens to be the guy who earned some national credibility in 2011 for “solving” the state’s state pension mess. Only he didn’t solve the mess and – like his predecessors – continues to shortchange the fund, now $37 billion in the hole. And in tomorrow’s budget message, the labor unions are going to want to know Christie’s thoughts on the matter, while the unions pursue a lawsuit to force a $1.5 billion payment – sure to send the rest of the governor’s budget into a tizzy. Especially when the national conservatives expect “NO NEW TAXES.”
TRENTON – A busload of Roselle residents, as well as friends, supporters and one proud mom, will be on hand today when Jamel Holley is sworn-in as an assemblyman representing the 20th District, the first African-American to hold the seat, hailing from the first town in the nation to use the light bulb. We wish him well.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
STAMFORD, Conn. – Sure, your $50 haircut is ridiculous, but that does not mean you can go into a fit of rage and kick a hole in the salon wall. That’s what the cops are telling a middle-aged man who went apoplectic after getting an awful haircut and then told to fork over $50. Cops say he came back later and demanded that his hair “be fixed,” but the salon owner told him to get lost. Cops caught up, charged him with criminal mischief and then got a good laugh at his haircut, a mix between the Beaver, Alfalfa and Mr. T.
IN THE MEDIA
It used to be in the not-so-distant past that reporters would get experience in the news business working for a startup online publication then move to an established newspaper. But njspotlight.com, the online publication started in 2009 following the exodus of reporters from The Star-Ledger, is turning that model upside down. NJSpotlight.com just hired John Reitmeyer, an experienced and well-sourced Statehouse budget reporter from the Bergen Record. NJSpotlight also hired away Andrew Kitchenman from NJBiz, the weekly paper that covers New Jersey's business community. The hires suggest that reporters, at least, have confidence that web-only publications like NJSpotlight have a secure future in New Jersey.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1993 that actor Gary Coleman won $1.28 million from his parents for high consulting fees. “Wow, that’s a tall order,” his parents reply.