The Morning Briefing - June 29, 2016
TRENTON – Hard to imagine how this crazy deal between Gov. Chris Christie and the Assembly will have any life in the state Senate, as the bean counters say it would cost $1.6 billion or so each year to roll back the sales tax to 6 percent. This midnight sausage-fest, hashed out between Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, would hike the gas tax from 23 cents to 37.5 cents a gallon to pay for the sales tax cut, beginning in 2018. Such a plan, if somehow enacted, would blow a huge hole in the state budget, year after year, and cause the state’s bond rating to plummet. Amazing that any sane lawmakers could concoct this plan, or any others would vote for it.
TRENTON – Speaking of stunning, the Assembly moved forward with a plan to cut the sales tax just hours after supporting a ballot question that – if passed by voters in November – would require the state to kick in an estimated $2.4 billion pension payment next year, as well as larger contributions in future years. So, $4 billion or so in new funding requirements in just a few hours; could be a state record. Even for New Jersey. Bring on the coupon-clipping moms; they seem like the only people who know how to budget.
DEAL – The COBRA may be out again tonight. That’s a community group called “Citizens in Opposition to Beach Restrictive Access,” and it blocked an ordinance last October to ban the public from parking on streets with easy access to the beach. The rich, exclusive people of Deal are at it again, as the borough council is expected to introduce a similar ordinance tonight, ensuring the riff-raff stays away from this glorious waterfront enclave. The borough clerk tells NJ.com the proposed ban “has nothing to do with restricting public access.” Yeah, sure. Parking restrictions would only be Thursday to Sunday and holidays, when beaches are in peak use. Reminder to beach towns: The public spends billions of dollars to preserve the shoreline and safeguard your inflated real estate; we can’t be kept out. Sorry.
OLD BRIDGE – Getting chosen to lead Middlesex County's Republican Party is about as chancy as being skipper of the S.S. Minnow. Political waters get rough in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans 176,500–62,220. Nevertheless, township Councilwoman Lucille Panos succeeds state Sen. Sam Thompson, who ended a 12-year stint as county GOP chairman, the Home News Tribune says. Thompson’s decision not to seek another term is fueling speculation that the longtime politician, who turns 81 in July, may soon retire from politics. Meanwhile, Panos will captain this year's campaigns for sheriff, three freeholder seats, and two special elections for 18th District Senate and Assembly seats. Expect another shipwreck.
SEASIDE HEIGHTS – Summer rentals can be pricey, but it gets really expensive if you want to hang in the home where the likes of Snooki, JWoww and “The Situation,” repeatedly embarrassed themselves on national television. For the not-so-modest price of $1,200 a night, you can live the authentic “Jersey Shore” lifestyle, renting their very same furnished six-bedroom, three-bath Ocean Terrace house. It's listed with a Keyport realtor and The Record says it looks much like it did when the six-season TV misadventure folded in 2011. It still has lots of wood paneling, a graffiti-covered wall (signed by Snooki), most of the same furniture and that tacky duck-shaped phone the cast apparently used. Canned beer and tan sprays, not included.
SEASIDE HEIGHTS – While we're talkin’ Snooki and JWoww, any would-be tenants who happened to give the infamous address a look-see Monday would have spotted Nicole Polizzi and Jenni Farley visiting their old Ocean Terrace digs, Wetpaint reports. The party-girls-turned-moms brought their kids along (they each have two) to visit the house and hit the boardwalk, the entertainment news site says. We assume Snooki, now 28, and JWoww, now 30, just wanted to impress upon their youngsters the kind of place they should never, never, ever go … even if some big TV network offers them enough cold hard cash to buy a gazillion vodka shots. (Happy Hour only.)
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
HARRISBURG, Pa. – “Hello, this is the Governor calling to saaaay …” Click! That's what keeps happening to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf who likes to dial his own phone calls. But, receptionist, secretaries and some state officials keep hanging up in disbelief, thinking he's some prankster. One skeptical lawmaker recently shouted: “Bullshit!” into the receiver before slamming it down, the Philly Daily News says. So, an email got blasted to all state workers last week asking them not to hang up on anyone claiming to be the governor: It might really be him. At least in Jersey, our governor keeps giving us good reasons to hang up on him. (Yet he never calls …)
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 2011 that the Vatican thrust itself into the digital world, with Pope Benedict XVI announcing a fancy new website (news.va) on the Official Vatican Network. The Pope also performed the very first papal tweet.
WORD OF THE DAY
Heliolatry (hee-lee-AH-luh-tree) - noun
Definition: Worshipping the sun
Example: Wanna come over this weekend, crack open some cold ones and practice heliolatry?
WEATHER IN A WORD
Summery.