The Morning Briefing - February 9, 2016
ROSELLE – Jesse Holley – the retired NFL wide receiver, reality TV star and brother of Assemblyman Jamel Holley – is publicly calling for his brother to resign his 20th legislative district seat and join him down in Texas. Why? Because Crystal City, TX, is desperately in need of a mayor, after the mayor, the mayor pro tempore and a council member were busted on charges for taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes. There appears to be only one council member not under indictment in this town of 7,500 people, 130 miles southwest of San Antonio. “This is a perfect project for my brother,” Holley said. “He should come down here and clean this place up.” Response from the assemblyman? Uh, thanks, but he’s sticking in Roselle.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – If Gov. Chris Christie can somehow score fourth place or higher in today’s New Hampshire primary, maybe his struggling campaign will have the juice to survive into the next primary state, South Carolina. That could mean more classic exchanges with Sen. Marco Rubio, which have quickly made the highlight reel on the “Christie for President” bus. If you haven’t yet seen the highlight from the last GOP debate, this clip is worth a minute or two. The New Yorker, for one, loves it, concocting this quote from Christie: “Asked what his first stop would be after leaving the campaign trail, Christie said, `I want to reconnect with my family, hug my kids, and tell them what a douche Marco is.’”
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – As the first votes were cast in the pre-dawn hours of the frozen New Hampshire tundra, and Gov. Chris Christie describing himself as “incredibly relaxed,” it’s amazing that up to half of Granite State voters are still undecided after months of 24-hour, seven-day-a-week ad blitzes. Yes, it looks like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders will win this thing, but all eyes are on the undercard. Who is up, who is not, etc. Because many are quick to note that New Hampshire means nothing. Dwight Eisenhower never campaigned there, but won. Meanwhile, voters gave the thumbs up to the likes of Gary Hart, Pat Buchanan, Eugene McCarthy and John McCain. And we all know what happened there.
TRENTON – Lawmakers want to tack a tax on luck. A bill to add a half-percent tax on lottery winnings of $600 or more cleared a Senate committee yesterday. Not a big deal for the small stuff; just $3 on a $600 payout. (The same cost as the Slurpee you bought with the ticket.) But if you happen to win, say, $3 million, the tax would be $150,000, on top of all the other taxes the “winner” gets hit with. This new proposed tax would fund not-for-profit groups that run after-school programs in really poor districts, Politico says, which would be the real winners.
WEST CALDWELL — Kids here are standing up for education. Third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at four Caldwell-West Caldwell elementary schools are among New Jersey's first to tryout “stand-up desks.” District officials told the Caldwell Progress their 50 or so stand-up desks offer more work space and help restless kids cause fewer distractions because they can busy their feet on “fidget bars” underneath. So, desks without chairs must be a real bargain for taxpayers, right? Nope. “They are almost three times more (expensive) than regular desks,” a district spokeswoman says. And if kids get tired, each comes with a stool. Next step: treadmills.
IN THE MEDIA
Lord knows we are rarely on the same side as the ACLU, but are oddly together to blast the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Why? Because this board is actually considering regulations that would require PR people to publicly disclose their clients and who they are communicating with. Apparently, if you talk to a reporter on behalf of a client, that should be publicly reported as if there are some clandestine shenanigans afoot. If this New York commission is seeking the biased opinion of an out-of-state PR firm, our comment would be: A reporter works for a private company. A PR firm communicating with a reporter is private business communicating with private business. Meanwhile, rightfully registered lobbyists are speaking with publicly elected officials, who are representing the public trust. See the obvious difference?
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
SOMEWHERE IN ALASKA – A local mom wanted to prove a point, purchasing a Happy Meal on January 8, 2010 and leaving it untouched for six years. Yahoo News reports she recently opened the box; many would be amazed, shocked and perhaps disgusted that the food did not decompose. Actually, it kinda looked as you expected it would look on Jan. 8, 2010. She writes on Facebook, that the fries and four nuggets “has not rotted, molded, or decomposed at all!!! It smells only of cardboard.” Her message to the kiddies: Avoid the chemicals. “Eat apples, bananas, carrots, celery….those are real fast food.”
TIME TO CELEBRATE
Happy “Read in the Bathtub Day”
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Hard to imagine the boredom at the first college basketball game, played on this day in 1895, with a final score of only 9-3. But what else can you expect when the Minnesota State School of Agriculture takes on “The Porkers” of Hamline College?
WORD OF THE DAY
Yesternight (YES-ter-nite) — noun
Definition: last night
Example: If we are all so quick to say “yesterday,” how come we never say “yesternight”?