The Jaffe Briefing - October 5, 2021

STATEWIDE – Wanna buy a cookie? Very soon, you can head over to someone’s home and purchase whatever baked goods are available. It’s all about easing some silly state law that banned people from selling pies, cakes, quiche, etc. prepared in a home. Perhaps the law was written at a time when many homes were unsanitary, and a “gourmet kitchen” was not the standard in any decent real estate listing. Bakers are just waiting for the final step in the new law, which calls for the state Department of Health to update its website. And then it’s home-baked cookie time, a great new revenue source for many.

TRENTON – It is called a “debt-relief fund,” and would any weary New Jersey taxpayer oppose it? Of course, not. Yet, despite the fact that New Jersey is flush with cash while also drowning in debt, and there are billions of dollars in a special fund to quickly pay off debts, nothing appears to be happening. NJ Spotlight reports the GOP has taken notice, asking the state treasurer why the cash has been sitting around for three months, while New Jersey pays heaps of interest on loans that can be paid down now. Good question. Treasury officials respond that they are hard at work on things, hiring consultants and drafting documents, as the experts figure how best to pay off the hefty debts. Here’s hoping checks will be written soon.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Jack Ciattarelli says he is a guy who is all about choices. And, as governor, he would want to ensure New Jersey’s families have plenty of them – if it is practical or not. Ciattarelli tells Politico that he would immediately create a virtual learning option for students. “I think it's the governor's job to give them that option. I'm all about providing choices,” he says. Great, but the gubernatorial candidate should spend some time talking to teachers about what it is like engaging masked kids in the classroom, while also trying to keep others on Zoom, as lesson plans fly everywhere. And, maybe he should talk to taxpayers, as well, regarding the cost. Yes, Ciattarelli wants to be everyone’s friend at the moment. But please add some reality to the rhetoric.

BRIEFING BREATHER

Hey kiddies, chalk is edible.

STATEWIDE – It’s the infamous “vaccine or out” policy, and it appears to be working in most hospital systems that require all employees to get a shot. The Record reports the large majority of health care workers in New Jersey are vaccinated, as they should be, and it appears that only a handful of them will ultimately be fired for flatly refusing to be safe. The effort has been boosted by Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order, stipulating those who are unvaccinated would have to undergo continual COVID testing. That seems to have prompted many of the vaccine-hesitant employees, among the 650,000 health care workers in New Jersey, to finally, finally get the obvious message. And perhaps there’s also been a heavy dose of peer pressure, delivered by medical workers questioning sanity and basic logic.

PATERSON – Perhaps you heard earsplitting belly laughs echoing from the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex’s 8th floor. Maybe that's what happened as the state Attorney General’s staff scoured news articles saying disgraced ex-mayor Joey Torres wants to run for that job again in 2022 and he plans to show up at a $75-a-plate Oct. 28 fundraiser in his honor. The AG reminds New Jersey Monitor that Torres “consented to and signed” a 2017 guilty plea that forever disqualifies him from ever holding public office again. It also put Torres behind bars for 17 months for official misconduct. So how can he possibly raise campaign cash?

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

COVENTRY, Conn. – At first, it seemed the clear winner: the largest white catfish ever caught off the shores of Connecticut. And that’s why the 25-year-old fisherman proudly presented the 21-pound fish to his grandfather, and there was then a grand feast, some drink and fun. One problem: the fish was eaten before the Connecticut Fish and Wildlife could examine it and, therefore, could not confirm a record. “Identification is left to still images and videos, which have proven to be ambiguous and inconclusive to definitively identify the species of catfish,” state officials said. The fisherman was enraged at state officials, telling the Journal Inquirer that it’s “such an embarrassment.”

WORD OF THE DAY

Intransigent – [in-TRAN-suh-junt] – adjective

Definition: Refusal to compromise or to abandon an extreme position or attitude.

Example: I still believe that Rutgers will make a bowl this year, somewhere. Call me intransigent.

WIT OF THE DAY

“One never realizes how much and how little he knows until he starts talking.”

-Louis L’Amour

BIDEN BLURB

“The White House isn't the place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power, war and peace, and the economic future of the next generation.”

– Joe Biden

WEATHER IN A WORD

Gloomy