Finally: Social justice for public officials – Politico
Good Wednesday morning!
It was supposed to be a bill to reduce racial disparities in prison by eliminating a bunch of mandatory minimum sentences, mostly for non-violent drug and property crimes.
The bill, A4369, was based on recommendations from a report by the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission.
But when the Senate Judiciary Committee took it up Aug. 24, it quietly added one more type of crime for which to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences: Official misconduct. Unlike the other crimes in the bill, that one was not recommended by the commission.
The bill’s top Assembly sponsor, Yvonne Lopez (D-Middlesex), is not happy with the amendment, which she thinks doesn’t really square with the bill’s intention.
What I haven’t gotten an answer to is why the change was made. Read more about it here.
WHERE’S MURPHY?: In Trenton for a 1 p.m. coronavirus press conference followed by a 2:30 p.m. LTC reform bill signing. Media: CNN at 6 p.m.
CORONAVIRUS TRACKER: 498 newly-diagnosed cases for a total of 197,404. Nine more deaths for a total of 14,254 (not counting 1,789 probable deaths)
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Are you f***ing kidding? What is she out of her mind?” — Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora on council president Kathy McBride, who’s pushing legislation to appoint a controversial developer to redevelop Roebling Wire Works.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Capehart Scatchard’s Primo Cruz, GOP activist Anthony Del Pellegrino
FED UP — Labor commissioner challenges feds to rethink unemployment regulations, by POLITICO’s Katherine Landergan: New Jersey Labor Commissioner Rob Asaro-Angelo on Tuesday defended his department’s handling of unemployment claims during the pandemic and said the federal government needs to rethink some of its regulations that have complicated processing claims. “Make no mistake, this 100-year event has created a 50-state issue,” Asaro-Angelo told lawmakers during a Senate Budget Committee hearing in Trenton. “The struggles many workers face navigating a needlessly convoluted federal unemployment system are not unique to the Garden State, but unfortunately, they are unique to this country.”
— “New tax hike for businesses? NJ unemployment fund may need help,” by NJ Spotlight’s John Reitmeyer: “Employers across the state could be facing a tax hike next year to make sure the fund that pays out unemployment benefits in New Jersey remains solvent. A final review of the numbers is still months away, but Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo told lawmakers Tuesday an increase in the assessment the state requires employers contribute toward unemployment benefits is likely looming without federal intervention. ‘We are hopeful that there’s going to be (federal) relief for trust funds,’ Asaro-Angelo said during a Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing in Trenton.”
—“Up to 40,000 NJ unemployment claims still backlogged”
EDUCATION — Ruiz introduces budget resolution adding $311M for school funding, by POLITICO’s Carly Sitrin: Senate Education Chair Teresa Ruiz said Tuesday she has introduced a budget resolution to increase school funding by $311 million, claiming Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed spending plan “fails” to fund districts appropriately. According to a statement from the Senate Democrats‘ office, the resolution would continue the reallocation of aid under the NJ S2 (18R) changes to the school funding formula even with that additional $311 million. “We made a commitment with the passage of S2 to fully fund school districts within seven years. The proposed budget fails to keep that commitment,” Ruiz (D-Essex) said in the statement. “While it does reallocate some money from overfunded districts, it is simply not enough, as schools across the state face increased operating costs. Many are struggling to find a way to cover PPE, sanitizing supplies, and computers, on top of their typical expenses. “This resolution will provide underfunded districts with desperately needed relief and keep us on track to fully fund our schools at the state level by 2025,” she stated.
—“The breaking point: N.J.’s special education system buckled under the weight of the pandemic. Will this fall be better?” by NJ Advance Media’s Adam Clark: “Special education in New Jersey was already an imperfect system, replete with opportunities for students to slip through the cracks, many parents and advocates say. Then COVID-19 arrived and demolished it, jeopardizing the health, development and education of children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities. More than 200,000 students who receive special education services were sent home for the final three months of the 2019-2020 school year. Their opportunities to learn were often tied to their families’ ability to pay for private services or transform themselves into full-time support staff, parents and advocates said. Some students with special needs were unable to focus and gave up on virtual learning. Social and behavioral skills that took years to develop rapidly deteriorated. And in the absence of physical therapy, many children’s bodies suffered, a devastating backslide in their lifelong battle with disabilities … Special education students remain marginalized, advocates and parents say, as more than 230 districts begin the school year with remote-only instruction.”
JOE D WONDERS IF THERE’S STILL ROOM FOR HIM AT ELEC — “Retired Associate Supreme Court Justice lands at law firm of former prosecutors,” by NJ Advance Media’s Ted Sherman: “Retirement did not last long for Associate Justice Walter Timpone. After stepping down from the New Jersey Supreme Court last month, Timpone, 69, is heading back to work as a lawyer at the Newark- and New York City-based firm of Calcagni & Kanefsky, where he will serve as senior counsel. While he actually does not reach the court’s mandatory retirement age of 70 in November, Timpone decided to leave early because he did not want to start a new term with the court and begin hearing oral arguments, only to step down in November before it began issuing opinions on those cases.”
YOU CAN LISTEN TO SCIENCE OR JAMEL HOLLEY AND DENNIS & JUDY. WE REPORT YOU DECIDE — “Contemplating Assemblyman Jamel Holley, Trenton’s loudest anti-vaxxer,” by InsiderNJ’s Jay Lassiter: “Jamel Holley is currently Trenton’s biggest peddler of anti-vaccine propaganda. To Mr Holley, vaccines represent an evil, furtive government conspiracy to allow pharmaceutical companies to get rich by harming people. And so, in the name of ‘medical freedom’ Mr Holley has devoted his many considerable talents into becoming the leader of NJ’s anti-vaccine brigade. His new anti-vax cohorts view Mr Holley as a hero and a martyr. But to his former friends and supporters (and to his colleagues) Mr Holley became a headache whose histrionics come with very little upside. Mr Holley might not get the ‘party line’ next year in Union County when he’s up for re-election … The conversations about replacing Jamel Holley on next year’s ballot are already happening in Union County, mostly behind the scenes. The goal here is to nudge that conversation into the open where it belongs.”
HER CAREER IS IN A PERIOD OF FULL STOP — “Screaming, threats and an unanswered letter to Phil Murphy: Lawsuit details SDA disorder,” by The Record’s Dustin Racioppi: “In more than a dozen years working for the Schools Development Authority, Kristen MacLean helped secure nearly $4 billion in funding for projects, had a
‘pristine’ record and was ‘beyond loyal’ to the agency, according to her attorney. Then she found herself one afternoon last summer being escorted by State Police troopers out of the agency’s building in downtown Trenton. But unlike the dozens of others who were fired that day, MacLean had not been one of the friends and family members improperly hired by the chief executive officer selected by Gov. Phil Murphy to lead the agency. She was, however, witness to verbal threats and ‘screaming,’ suspected of leaking damaging information about the improper practices and was cooperating in an independent investigation into the authority, according to court documents.”
R.I.P. — “Tuskegee Airman from N.J. who was awarded Congressional Gold medal dies at 101,” by NJ Advance Media’s Bill Duhart: “Malcolm Nettingham didn’t think he was a hero. Many others who knew him, and the public officials who awarded him a Congressional Gold Medal, thought otherwise. Nettingham, 101, of Scotch Plains, died Monday. He would have been 102 on Oct. 1. Former New Jersey U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg presented Nettingham with the gold medal for his service starting in 1944 as a member of the 617th Squadron, 477th Composite Group, the unit was also known for the Tuskegee Airmen. The Army unit was famous for fearlessly defending bombers with their fighter planes … ‘He said he was not a hero and didn’t do anything special,’ his daughter Deborah Nettingham said. ‘I said ‘dad, you’re living history. You kind of owe it to the younger generation, African Americans and everyone to let us know your story.’”
ME TOO — “Cannabis influencers: An optimistic leader on the choppy waters of legalization,” by NJ Advance Media’s Jonathan D. Salant: “Long before New Jersey lawmakers ever thought of legalizing marijuana, Bill Caruso was involved in cannabis … was trying to calm an obviously agitated Jim Miller, a New Jersey resident. Miller had been going from congressional office to congressional office in Washington, wheeling a gurney with his wife Cheryl, who had multiple sclerosis and used marijuana to ease her pain…. [Rob] Andrews and Caruso met with the Millers for 45 minutes, ignoring a vote on the House floor. ‘He sat intent and watched the love of this family,’ Caruso said, referring to Andrews. ‘We were in tears at the end. He said, ‘I’ve been wrong about this. I’m changing my position.’”
—New Jersey lawmakers weigh staffing ratios for nursing homes
—“Former New Jersey governors celebrate 100 years of [League of Women Voters]”
— “Long lines, frustrated drivers and maybe higher fees — lawmakers challenge NJ motor vehicle agency”
—Work begins on replacement of 112-year-old Raritan River Bridge
—“N.J. has a big shortage of substitute teachers. Could college students help?”
—“The O’Toole Chronicles: Carpe diem — seize the day”
—Sumter: “’Baby Bonds’ can build equity for New Jersey’s kids. Here’s why”
—“Too many women in NJ are dying at childbirth: What first lady is doing about it”
—“Affordable Care Act NJ: Will new subsidies offset premium increase?”
—“Murphy just trash-talked another governor over pizza. May this feud live forever”
VEGGING FOR IT — “‘A savagely broken food system’: Cory Booker wants radical reform … now,” by The Guardian’s Lisa Elaine Held: “From a viral pandemic to the movement for racial justice to the worsening climate crisis, Senator Cory Booker says the massive challenges facing the US right now are all tied to a ‘savagely broken food system.’ And last week, his most recent challenge to that system gained new momentum, when a coalition of 300 farm, food, and environmental advocacy organizations sent a letter to Congress urging legislators to pass a bill that would eventually eliminate the country’s largest concentrated animal feeding operations (Cafos) … ‘Nobody seems to be calling out how multinational, vertically integrated industrial agricultural companies are threatening American wellbeing, and I just think that the more people learn about these practices, the more shocked they are.”
OH NO YUDIDN’T — “I’m a lifelong Republican. I will not vote to re-elect Donald Trump,” by Robert B. Yudin for The Record: “I was chairman of the Bergen County Republican Party between 2008 and 2016. We had many successes in at all levels. We had a majority of the freeholders for two of those years; we won the sheriff’s race, the county executive race and the governor’s race. We did lose some contests but when we lost, we were competitive. Then came Trump — and everything changed.”
DUMBBELLMAWR — “Mehta claims state suit against Atilis Gym an effort to undermine his campaign,” by New Jersey Globe’s Nikita Biryukov: “U.S. Senate Candidate Rik Mehta claimed the Office of the Attorney General was attempting to spike his run for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-Newark) seat by going after an infamous gym now being used as a campaign headquarters by a Republican. In a brief filed last week and first-reported by Law360, Deputy Attorney General Stephen Slocum argued the facility was clearly still operating as a gym but was ignoring 25% indoor capacity limits imposed on such facilities … The state argues its attempt to rebrand as a political facility — there are exceptions for political activities in active virus restrictions — in an attempt to circumvent capacity limits.”
—“NJ veteran and victim of sex assault pushed to take action after Vanessa Guillen case”
WOODCLIFF LAKE BREWERY TO RELEASE NEW RLU-IPA — “N.J. town agrees to let Jewish congregation build worship center after feds sue,” by NJ Advance Media’s Joe Atmonavage: “A Bergen County borough has entered into a resolution with federal authorities after it was sued for allegedly denying zoning approval for an Orthodox Jewish congregation to construct a worship center on its property. The consent decree comes more than two years after the U.S. Attorney’s office sued Woodcliff Lake for violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) after the borough allegedly imposed a ‘substantial burden on Valley Chabad’s religious exercise’ when it continually denied applications to build a Jewish center from 2006 to 2013.”
YOUTUBERS TAKE SOMETHING FROM ‘JERSEY SHORE’ AND MAKE IT EVEN DUMBER — “YouTube pranksters draw large maskless crowd, get kicked out of ‘Jersey Shore’ house in Seaside Heights,” by NJ Advance Media’s Amy Kuperinsky: “Every Monday night, the Nelk Boys post a new video, sharing their latest exploits with their 5.7 million followers on YouTube … After the YouTube personalities teased they would be at the Shore Monday — staying in Seaside Heights at the ‘Jersey Shore’ house made popular by the MTV reality show — fans showed up en masse, forming a maskless crowd.
THERE’S ONLY ROOM FOR ONE OF THEM IN THIS TOWN. LITERALLY, BECAUSE IT’S 83 ACRES — “East Newark mayor says emails show misunderstanding caused BOE conflict, supt. disagrees,” by Hudson County View’s John Heinis: “East Newark Mayor Dina Grilo says emails from May show that a simple misunderstanding is what caused the now ongoing conflict between Borough Hall and the board of education, but Superintendent of Schools Richard Corbett still isn’t convinced that’s the case.”
—“Ridgewood administrators and parents rally behind outgoing superintendent”
—“Ex-Morris Plains cop pleads guilty to stealing at least $85,000 from local PBA”
—“Local officials create group to fight NJDOT project”
SPOCK ATTACKS, VULCANIZING MILLIONS OF NEW JERSEYANS — “‘UFO’ seen over New Jersey was really Goodyear Blimp,” by The New York Post’s Lia Eustachewich: “An unidentified flying object in the skies of New Jersey Monday had residents believing aliens were about to beam down to the Garden State until it was actually identified — as a Goodyear Blimp. The floored witnesses flooded social media with posts showing the iconic blimp resembling a flattened spaceship with a light shining from it.”
—“Blood suckers in the attic? Bat ticks discovered in NJ”
—Opinion: “We must end educational neglect in ultra-Orthodox schools. Here’s why”
