Christiecism of Murphy continues – Politico
Good Monday morning! I’m back from vacation. Thanks to Katherine Landergan for helming Playbook.
As I came out of my self-imposed isolation from New Jersey politics over the weekend, I noticed that former Gov. Chris Christie is in the news again with more criticism of Gov. Phil Murphy, this time over the thousands of coronavirus deaths in New Jersey nursing homes.
The nursing home deaths are a serious and complicated issue that can’t be done justice in a few paragraphs. But the politics of it are much more simple. So I’ll stick to those for now.
Despite saying that he wouldn’t constantly comment on his successor, Christie has been more of a persistent critic of the current administration than any former governor since I started covering New Jersey politics 13 years ago. It’s not close.
But there’s more to it than that. Christie world still exerts influence in New Jersey. Look at the Port Authority, which has a bigger budget than some states, still under the control of Chairman Kevin O’Toole, who was arguably Christie’s most loyal Republican ally in the Legislature. His former chief of staff runs Garden State Initiative, the right’s answer to New Jersey Policy Perspective. Christie vacations with George Norcross and his friends. And even removing one of Christie’s close friends from her $70,000 patronage position at Horizon and replacing her with a Murphy ally wasn’t easy, despite a Democratic Senate supermajority.
Former state Sen. Ray Lesniak is convinced Christie’s running for governor again next year, which he could do under the constitution. “As I’ve been saying, he’s running for Governor,” Lesniak wrote in an email with the latest Christie story.
I doubt that. But I also doubt Murphy would mind running against a man who left office as the most unpopular New Jersey governor since the advent of polling.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Every time we make that payment, you have no idea how angry I get. The $2.8 [billion] we borrowed in 1997 will cost us about $11 billion in the end. Think about that.”” — Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) on former Gov. Christie Whitman’s borrowing
WHERE’S MURPHY? — In Trenton for a coronavirus press conference at 1 p.m.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Former Record reporter Michael Linhorst, former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Maya Rao
CORONAVIRUS TRACKER — 378 newly-diagnosed cases for a total of 184,773. Five more deaths for a total of 14,021 (not including presumed coronavirus deaths)
DO THAT MANY PEOPLE LISTEN TO 101.5? — Almost half of New Jersey’s Covid-19 cases aren’t cooperating with contact tracers, by POLITICO’s Sam Sutton: Almost half of the New Jersey residents who’ve tested positive for Covid-19 are refusing to assist with contact tracing efforts, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday during a coronavirus press conference. Just 55 percent of newly positive patients are providing health officials with information about their recent activity and contacts, Murphy said. Of the contacts provided by those patients, tracers have successfully contacted 63 percent of those who may have been exposed to the virus.
2.6 MASTROS —“State Pays Private Contractor $23.5M for Coronavirus Work Rutgers Already Doing,” by NJ Spotlight’s Lilo H. Stainton: “New Jersey has committed to spend some $23.5 million over three months to beef up the state’s contact-tracing capacity under a deal signed last week with a Boston-based consulting group doing similar work in New York state. But it is not clear how the work of the company, Public Consulting Group — as outlined in a purchase order provided to NJ Spotlight under the state’s open records law — will align with efforts already underway at Rutgers University’s School of Public Health to hire, train and deploy up to 1,000 graduate students as contact tracers. New Jersey officials said Thursday that some aspects of the deal with PCG are still being finalized, but noted the company was one of 64 that applied for the role and it was the ‘most advantageous’ to the state. For the time being, Rutgers will continue to manage the contact tracers it hires, according to the state. But School of Public Health Dean Perry Halkitis, who joined administration officials in June to talk about Rutgers’ role in contact tracing, questioned the choice of an out-of-state contractor and said he has been unable to get clarity from the state on how the two contractors are supposed to work together.
WHERE’S MARK PITERSKI’S CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN? — “Murphy wants ‘full accounting’ at Paramus veterans home where 81 residents died during pandemic,” by The Record’s Lindy Washburn and Scott Fallon: “A scathing federal inspection report and emails among administrators showed that COVID-19 likely spread rapidly through the New Jersey Veterans Home at Paramus this spring due to lax infection control, bad decisions and poorly trained staff. But on Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy suggested a much more benign reason for the high death toll and infection rate at the facility that his administration runs. He said the home’s location near the epicenter of New Jersey’s COVID-19 outbreak may have had more to do with the virus’ spread that killed 81 residents and a caregiver than a series of disturbing deficiencies published in a NorthJersey.com report. Murphy reiterated that he wants a ‘full accounting’ of why the Paramus veterans home had the highest death toll in New Jersey but offered no details on how that will be done.”
—“New details reveal how Paramus veterans home became the worst of the worst during pandemic”
A GROWING CHORUS? CHOIRS CAN SPREAD CORONAVIRUS — “Pressure increases on Murphy to start N.J. schools remote-only,” by NJ Advance Media’s Kelly Heyboer: “The mayor of Newark, the Jersey City school board, a South Jersey teachers’ union and the state association of principals joined the growing chorus of people and organizations calling on the state to keep public schools closed as the coronavirus crisis continues. Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment Friday on whether his administration is rethinking the state’s plan to have more than 2,500 public schools to reopen with at least some in-person classes in late August and early September. The state’s nearly 600 school districts have begun submitting reopening plans to the state Department of Education under the state’s reopening guidelines calling for students and teachers wearing masks in socially-distant classrooms. But pressure has been mounting on the state to reconsider reopening schools. Several teachers’ unions, including large unions in Paterson and Essex County, have called on the governor to start the school year all remote for all of New Jersey’s 1.4 million students because teachers don’t think it’s safe to return to the classroom.”
—“Jersey City students won’t be returning to classrooms in September, superintendent and board say”
IF YOU’RE GOING TO DIFRANCESCO — “GOP tried to stop Democratic redistricting delay — but they’ve used the tactic, too,” by The Record’s Charles Stile: “The gubernatorial campaign in 2001 offers an example. That April, the majority Republicans voted to postpone the June primary by about three weeks. Their official reason was to allow their own party lawyers more time to wage a court challenge to a newly-approved legislative plan drawn up by the resurgent Democrats. But everyone in Trenton understood that the law challenge explanation was a ‘cover story’ for the GOP’s real concern — acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco of Scotch Plains, the putative front-runner for the GOP nomination for governor that year. An almost daily drip of negative news stories that spring chronicled DiFrancesco’s private business dealings and ethical problem… So party chairmen, donors and operatives reasoned that extending the primary an extra three weeks would possibly allow for more skeletons to come out of DiFrancesco’s closet — and force him to drop out. And, indeed, DiFrancesco did withdraw from the race on April 25, 2001.”
THE ONE THING REPUBLICANS LIKE ABOUT MURPHY’S BORROWING PLAN — “Why Murphy’s borrowing plan scares me to death,” by The Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran: “This is not just about coping with the pandemic. Murphy is using the pandemic to claim new authority to spend borrowed money on anything he wants, leaving the bill to his successors. The design of this thing is badly flawed, and our best hope now is that the Court rides to the rescue by putting up some boundaries. My moment of clarity came 1 hour and 58 minutes into the hearing when Chief Justice Stuart Rabner pressed Murphy’s attorney to describe what type of spending might be justified, on an emergency basis, with the borrowed funds. ‘Could the money be used to subsidize a sports arena to the tune of $1 billion?’ Rabner asked. ‘Yes, your honor,’ said the state’s lawyer, Jane Reilly. ‘If the Legislature, who has a wider view than I do of the economic needs of the state and the best means to remediate that, if they were able to come up with an explanation of why the sports arena was necessary to meet the fiscal emergency the pandemic caused, then yes, that would be acceptable.’ Uh-oh. If you can use the pandemic to justify spending money on a shiny new sports stadium, then where’s the limit?”
—“Murphy, legislative leaders in talks on early voting”
—“Vote by mail: Lessons from the 2020 Primary Election in South Jersey”
—“Coronavirus testing delay already ‘sucks,’ according to Murphy. It could get worse”
—Murphy announces $25M emergency grant for landlords
—Opinion: “How can New Jersey end police misconduct? Stop keeping it secret”
—“Powerless, frustrated N.J. residents ‘keep thinking today will be the day’ after 5 days in dark”
—Mulshine: “Storm shows yet again that New Jersey’s power grid is shockingly outmoded”
—“Owner: 50,000 out of work with gyms still closed in NJ”
—“2 N.J. state parks will close indefinitely, staff moving to other sites”
—“NJ Planned to Help People Buy Electric Cars With a $5,000 Rebate. Now, Not So Much
—“Murphy still raising millions to elect Democratic governors despite coronavirus crisis”
ELITE MEDIA MOCKS SALT OF THE EARTH MEMBERS OF GOLF CLUB WITH $300K+ INITIATION FEE — “Trump N.J. golf club guests ignore social distancing at press conference. He calls it ‘peaceful protest’” by NJ Advance Media’s Jonathan D. Salant: “Members of President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club ignored Gov. Phil Murphy’s constant calls to social distance as they watched the president’s press conference Saturday and booed reporters who asked questions he didn’t like. The Bedminster guests came in to watch the press conference, called by Trump at the last minute, and stood together in the back of the room. A Washington Post White House reporter tweeted that the guests were told to keep their distance because reports were going out that they were not social distancing or wearing masks.”
AWKWARD — “Inside Trump’s debate prep,” by Axios’ Jonathan Swan: “In the room with Trump were his son-in-law Jared Kushner, campaign manager Bill Stepien, senior adviser Jason Miller, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who role-played Hillary Clinton in Trump’s 2016 debate prep sessions. The team agreed to meet at least every 10 days or so between now and the first debate, according to two sources familiar with the results of the meeting.”
—Kelly: “A ‘glorious’ birthday, gunshots and a plea from a federal judge”
—“Trump fundraiser: President meets with campaign donors in Long Branch”
SICK CITY — “Our contract with N.J. city is so bad, I worked while sick with coronavirus, DPW employee says,” by NJ Advance Media’s Rebecca Panico: “When Muta El-amin got sick with the coronavirus in March, he had already used up his 40 hours of sick time as a per diem garbage truck driver for Newark. So he had to make a tough choice: miss work and not get paid, or just work through it. His wife also became ill and they had two young children to feed. ‘They said your sick days are up, so I came back in and I worked sick,’ El-amin told NJ Advance Media, adding that he doesn’t have health benefits even though he was promised two years ago he would get them once he became permanent after 90 days. A city spokesperson said Newark administrators were instructed to tell workers about a coronavirus sick leave policy that began March 10 that allows employees, including per diems, to receive pay for essentially two weeks. Still, El-amin and other Workers United SEIU Local 617 union members who rallied in front of city hall on Thursday say several other city sanitation, public works and utility employees became sick with the virus and even died. Now, they want a new contract with pay increases, hazard pay and a guarantee of no furloughs in the future.”
19.7 MASTROS — “Coronavirus aid leads to massive spending hike in 2020 Bergen County budget,” by The Record’s Terrence T. McDonald: “Bergen County’s coronavirus outbreak led to a whopping 31% increase in spending in the county’s 2020 budget, which comes with a 4% hike in the county tax levy. The county plans to shell out $741,887,685 this year, a $177.7 million increase from last year’s total appropriations. Most of that amount — $172.7 million — is being reimbursed by the federal government, largely with CARES Act stimulus dollars.”
TRUMP’S FAVORITE LOCAL RACE — “Judge suggests special election in Paterson voter fraud case,” by The Paterson Press’ Joe Malinconico: “The court battle over allegations of voter fraud in Paterson’s 3rd Ward may be settled with a special election to fill the vacant City Council seat, according to the two lawyers involved in the litigation. Superior Court Judge Ernest Caposela on Friday morning cited the widespread irregularities in the May mail-in-ballot election and asked the two sides to consider having the issue decided by the voters instead of through litigation, the lawyers said. A decision is expected sometime next week, the lawyers said.”
TRENTON CAN’T TAKE — “Trenton to foreclose on Lafayette Park hotel, but lacks attorney to initiate proceedings,” by The Trentonian’s Isaac Avilucea: “The city’s long-shuttered hotel may finally be getting new owners soon enough if city officials can work out a contract rub. The council voted Thursday night to begin the process of foreclosing on the Lafayette Park Hotel & Suites, which has faced a string of well-documented financial and management issues over the years. The hotel hasn’t reopened since state officials shut it down in fall 2017, citing more than 100 safety violations. It was the second time that year the hotel was forced to close due to safety concerns that went unaddressed by owner Deepak Viswanath. The stick is the city doesn’t have attorneys in place to initiate the foreclosure proceeding on the dormant hotel, which has turned into a hang-out spot for squatters, city officials said.”
TRENTON — “With murders mounting, Trenton puts more cops in criminal hotspots,” by NJ Advance Media’s Kevin Shea: “With homicides a nearly weekly occurrence in Trenton, and two city teengers the latest victims Sunday, Trenton’s mayor and police director say they will deploy additional officers to areas that have seen surges in violence. Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said in a statement he met with his police director, Sheilah Coley, and Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri and came up with this plan: more cops on the streets.”
—“Cyber harassment charges dismissed against tweeters, retweeters of Nutley cop photo”
—“Long Branch restaurant owner: Afraid of COVID-19? ‘Stay the f— home’”
—“Feds charge 2 more protesters with trying to torch Trenton cop car”
—“Sparta officer charged with shoving woman at VFW bar”
—“South Jersey cop gets probation after plea to bribery charge”
—“Elizabeth councilwoman is new acting Perth Amboy administrator”
HACKEDENSACK — “Hackensack Meridian Health group alerts donors of data breach,” by The Record’s Nicholas Katzban: “Hackensack Meridian Health group, which runs Hackensack University Medical Center and other health complexes across Bergen County, acknowledged Friday that a cyber attack in May against one of their technology vendors may have compromised the personal information of its donors. Blackbaud, which facilitates a system for managing the health group’s donor information, was the victim of a ransomware attack, by which a hacker locked Blackbaud out of its data until the tech company paid for the stolen information’s release, according to an announcement from both organizations.”
—Comptroller: TCNJ needs to increase transparency of student fees
