Insider NJ’s Morning Intelligence Briefing: 9/16/2019 – InsiderNJ

Below is Insider NJ’s Morning Intelligence Briefing for 9/16/2019:

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Doesn’t character count for anything when you want a job with the Murphy team?” – LD40 Senator Corrado calling for the reconvening of the Legislative Select Oversight Committee into the hiring practices of the Murphy Administration

TOP STORY: LD21 Flashpoint: Brindle ‘Disappointed’ by Bramnick And Kean

Here’s what happened under the Gold Dome on Thursday.

Governor Murphy signed A5463 into law on Friday.

Should Assembly Minority Leader Bramnick lose his re-election bid in November, several names are in the mix with the best chance of succeeding him as leader of the Assembly GOP caucus.

Senator Corrado is calling for the Select Legislative Oversight Committee to reconvene in the aftermath of the firing of Jeffrey Dye.

Senator O’Scanlon released a statement saying that the recent $54M subsidy for child care is due to rising labor costs that are the result of the increased minimum wage.

Assemblyman Conaway released a statement calling for ‘necessary steps’ to be taken to combat vaping.

Senate President Sweeney spoke at the duel groundbreaking of Rowan University’s Economic Department Center and Medical Center.

NJ Cares and the NJSIAA released an opioid educational video for students featuring advice from former pro athletes.

ICYMI: Quinn says only 2% of tax break jobs went to Camden residents (see the NJEDA memo, Murphy reacted ‘these numbers speak to what we’ve said all along’; Pennacchio condemned Dems’ ‘selective outrage’; Murphy reacted tax incentive hearing; Sweeney says Coughlin pension-benefits bill is a nonstarter; Smith says incentive programs can be improved

Vote in Insider NJ Poll: Which President’s Political Skills Most Closely Resemble Senate President Sweeney’s?

AROUND THE WEB:

A doctor calls on his fellow physicians to serve – as politicians

Brad J. Cohen

• While a long time ago, I recall the sleepless nights on-call during my OB GYN residency. It was such a happy place filled with flowers, candy, gifts… Attending a birth is a true miracle. Afterwards I would often make my way to the infant nursery, pick up one of the little angels I delivered and sit in the corner rocking chair.

Outlawing vape sales will just lead to more risks with black-market products | Mulshine

Paul Mulshine, Star-Ledger

• When I take my dog for walks in the park I sometimes find beer cans on the ground. But the other day I came upon a piece of litter of a type I’d never encountered before. It was a device about the size of a thumb drive for a computer. But it didn’t have a USB connection. What was it?

An environmental group loses its way | Moran

Tom Moran, Star-Ledger

• On this much, all sides agree: Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker is an ardent environmentalist and a leader in the fight against climate change. A nuclear physicist at Princeton by day, his chief motive for enduring the trials of politics is to protect the environment.

Two mysteries of the vape phenom

JD Mullane, Burlington County Times

• Medical marijuana and fun weed enthusiasts aren’t going to like what has emerged as the prime suspect in vaping illnesses, their old pal THC.

Teague defends Paterson councilman Jackson

Corey Teague

• It is true, we don’t need racially motivated slurs or speeches in this city. But let’s dig deeper into this issue. Ask yourselves this question, would councilman Michael Jackson be so fiercely targeted if he had been backing a certain agenda? I wish that the amount of energy being used to attack councilman Jackson was used to seek justice for Jameek Lowery and to address the elevated level of violence, poverty, hunger, unemployment, mental health issues, drug abuse within our city.

Nothing anti-Semitic about Lakewood school board editorial

Asbury Park Press

• Instead of addressing the issues raised in the Sept. 10 editorial “Who will take the lead on tackling Lakewood’s school issues?” the writer of the Sept. 11 letter “Lakewood schools: Call for changes to board representation anti-Semitic” chose to play a gratuitous anti-Semitic card.

At 125, N.J. women’s club celebrates — and recalibrates

Kevin Riordan, Philadelphia Inquirer

• A women’s club founded decades before women could vote, the Haddon Fortnightly is having a birthday party and everyone is welcome. Club leaders want the public to know the 125-year-old South Jersey institution is alive, well, and eager for new members.

New Jersey’s big idea to impose gun control: Follow the money | Kelly

Mike Kelly, North Jersey Record

• Could New Jersey actually lead the way toward nationwide gun control? The question seems strange perhaps. New Jersey, as a leader? Fugetaboutit!  But when Gov. Phil Murphy traveled to Morristown earlier this week and signed an executive order about how the State Police buys its guns and bullets, he threw a political spotlight on an innovative strategy of monitoring who can buy guns in America and why.

Businesses high on the future of medical marijuana at A.C. convention

Claire Lowe, Press of Atlantic City

• If you didn’t know what was happening inside the Atlantic City Convention Center this weekend, you might guess right by the smell of it. It would be easy to make jokes about Atlantic City hosting the first state cannabis convention if the attendees weren’t so serious about what they do.

The Surge

Slate.com

• Soooooooo let’s say you’re a mainstream Democrat who’s been loosely supportive of Biden because you remember Barack Obama fondly and want to nominate someone normal to beat Trump. Maybe you watch the latter half of the Democratic debate, in which Biden’s never-great ability to string together coherent sentences devolves into this, and you start to panic about his durability in a lengthy campaign against Trump and, potentially, four to eight years as president.

On 9/11, furor over Sussex County GOP chair’s retweets about Islam flares again

Eric Obernauer, NJ Herald

• The Sussex County freeholder board received an earful Wednesday night regarding the ongoing furor over a county college trustee’s retweets criticizing Islam and lampooning Democrats, with some likening calls for his removal to a politically motivated witch hunt and others saying anything less than removal would amount to an admission that Sussex County is a racist county.

Mercer County Prosecutor charges one contractor in illegal dumping case

Krystal Knapp, Planet Princeton

• The owner of an Edison-based construction company has been charged with bribing a supervisor for the municipality of Princeton in exchange for dumping dirt at the River Road sewer department site.

PSE&G’s Scaled-Back Proposal for Upgrading Gas and Power Grids OK’d

Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight

• The state yesterday approved a scaled-back proposal by Public Service Electric & Gas to upgrade its gas and power grids, accepting a $842 million, four-year program that is considerably less than the $2.5 billion originally sought by the Newark utility.

Trying to Reduce ‘Costly Public Health Crisis’ of Senior Falls

Lilo H. Stainton, NJ Spotlight

• Every seven minutes, another New Jersey resident over 60 falls, according to state figures, resulting in more than 200 emergency room visits each day and at least 400 deaths a year in the Garden State. The falls “constitute a costly public health crisis for New Jersey,” note two state lawmakers who are involved in an effort to reduce them.

American Dream job seekers concerned over transportation, pay

Brenda Flanagan, NJTV

• With its scheduled soft opening just six weeks away, American Dream Meadowlands held another in a series of job fairs Friday designed to enroll the army of workers the complex will need. Recruiters used megaphones to entice jobseekers as applicants circulated amongst decorated booths at Bergen Community College in Paramus, hoping to snag one of some 1,200 openings at retailers like Eddie Bauer, UGG, and Love Pop — an origami greeting-card company — that will be based at the sprawling complex in the Meadowland Sports Complex in East Rutherford.

Democrats Point to Sound Borough Finances

David B. Luber, TAPinto Madison

• In a joint prepared statement, Madison Mayor Bob Conley, Councilwoman Maureen Byrne and Madison Planning Board member Rachel Ehrlich point to a solid 2019 municipal budget and the borough’s record of sound fiscal management under Mayor Conley’s leadership. Bob Conley and Maureen Byrne are running for reelection in 2019; Rachel Ehrlich is running for her first term on the borough council.

Activists rally in NJ demanding budget cuts to ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Monsy Alvarado, North Jersey Record

• While lawmakers in the nation’s capital negotiate a spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year, activists in Bergen and Hudson counties on Friday joined others across the country in demanding that Congress cut funds to federal immigration enforcement agencies.

Teaneck council set to vote to raise Pride flag, but not before guarding against lawsuits

Megan Burrow, North Jersey Record

• The Township Council plans to vote this month on whether to raise the rainbow Pride flag, but already, one resident has threatened to sue if the town does not fly an anti-abortion flag. Hector Ferrer has asked the township to form a “pro-life” advisory board and raise an anti-abortion flag on the municipal green in October, which the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has marked as Respect Life Month.

Vice president’s nephew, Conway’s cousin marry in Atlantic City

Ahmad Austin, Press of Atlantic City

• The resort played host to a wedding of political royalty Saturday, as Vice President Mike Pence’s nephew and Kellyanne Conway’s cousin married at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church.

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