The Morning Briefing - December 9, 2015
BERNARDS – We can’t confirm the issues behind the unanimous decision of the local planning board to reject a proposal last night to build a mosque. We have to take their word about the “lack of details” regarding parking, traffic safety and buffer zones for the homes bordering the site of the proposed mosque. The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge has been trying for four years to get approvals for the mosque, the Courier News reports. The hope is the planning board is voting based on real issues, not the current anti-Muslim fervor prompted by hate mongers, such as the would-be demagogue who owns the national golf club seven miles down the road.
TRENTON – Strong words from Gov. Chris Christie before the NJBIA yesterday, saying business leaders need to “get a spine” and fight against “crazy and liberal” Democrats with policies that kill business and job growth. Hard to tell if his audience was the state’s business community or conservative voters in New Hampshire, with such comments as, “We’re six years and 430 vetoes into this governorship, and yet I still keep getting sent job-killing tax increases, job-killing regulatory increases and other types of legislation that…would make the business environment even worse and worse.” And another gem from the Presidential candidate: “It’s hard for people around the country to truly understand what it’s like to be a pro-growth, pro-business Republican in a state like this, where every day you have the next idiotic idea coming out of the majority of this Legislature.” Gov. Christie: Victim.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – If you really want to know how a candidate is doing, don’t waste your time polling voters. Rather, go to the bettors, who now have Gov. Chris Christie with 16 to 1 odds of clinching the GOP nomination. NJ.com reports William Hill bookmakers in London had the governor at 29 to 1 in June, so he is certainly gaining traction among the people who have the most to lose.
NEW BRUNSWICK – There’s another multi-millionaire on the state payroll, and we should be relieved. That’s because the five-year, $11 million deal handed to Rutgers football head coach Chris Ash is a downright bargain, compared to the average $3.2 million a year that Big 10 head coaches reap. RU considers the expense a “measured and reasonable” investment for a football program swimming in red ink, the Record reports. Because if Ash can create a national contender, then the expense is irrelevant.
ATLANTIC CITY v. NORTH JERSEY – North Jersey politicians have been banging the drum for casinos as a way to capture all those gamblers who don’t want to travel to Atlantic City. Now, it looks like there is some serious traction, with talks of two casinos constructed in North Jersey if voters approve a public question in November, Politicker reports. It will be fascinating to see which towns actually would win this competition, as the politicking and positioning will be fierce. Figure one casino goes to the Meadowlands, perhaps the other would go to Jersey City or maybe even Newark airport, where the state we can easily suck dry any traveler passing through with a 15-minute layover.
FORT LEE – It's got views to-die-for and it's own “slaughter room.” But yesterday's auction for the 25-room, Mediterranean-style mansion that New York mafia don Albert Anastasia built in 1947 on the Palisade Cliffs was abruptly canceled. Bids were to start at $5.5 million, but the auction house handling the property told the Record the mansion needs more renovations because it hasn't changed much since Anastasia got gunned down in 1957 and his comedian-pal Buddy Hackett bought it. Its most startling feature is an empty room with thick walls and a floor drain supposedly used to clean deer.
PERTH AMBOY – It's no surprise, but at least now it's official. Wilda Diaz formally announced last night she will seek a third, four-year term as mayor of the historic “City by the Bay.” Flanked by Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, Diaz – the state's only Latina mayor – declared her 2016 candidacy to nearly 300 supporters who ponied up a hundred bucks a piece for a cocktail reception at Sebra's Armory.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
SYRACUSE, NY – Two wingnuts – a father and son – have been busted for stealing more than $40,000 in chicken wings and then selling these hot wings on the streets and on the thriving chicken wing Black Market. The pair worked as cooks at the Twin Trees Too Restaurant in Syracuse, where they had one managerial job: to order the wings from the wholesaler. Poppa and Chicken Little would order extra and resell the wings at reduced prices over 10 months, with the madness ending Nov. 21.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1803 that the 12th Amendment passed – forcing voters to decide on a President/VP ticket, as opposed to voting for two choices for President. Bad news for a potential Trump/Christie ticket, as they will have to fight out who takes top.
WORD OF THE DAY
Loam (LOM) – noun
Definition: A soil composed of a mixture of sand, clay, silt, and organic matter.
Example: Kids, get off the loam!