Dear Scott's Lawn Service: Please stop calling me.

Not sure Scott's Lawn Service understands the meaning of the words "Do not call". See email trail, and the ensuing Twitter exchange:

From: jrpickens@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 8:33 AM
To: SLS-Runnemedebranch
Subject: Runnemede Customer Service Inquiry from JeffPickens

 The following information was submitted from the Scotts LawnService customer service page:
First Name:Jeff
Last Name:Pickens
Email: jrpickens@gmail.com
Message: I received a voice mail about an alleged service call. When I tried to call back 856-312-0480, I was put on hold, then prompted to leave a message. When I was transferred to the voicemail, I got another message that the voice mailbox was full. This is no way to run a business. My lawn is still an infestation of crabgrass and weeds, and you have the audacity to send me a bill? There is no evidence that you have done anything to my lawn, except leave some paperwork on the ground on the side of the house.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from: SLS-Runnemedebranch runnemedebranch@scotts.com
to: jrpickens@gmail.com
date: Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 9:20 AM
subject    RE: Runnemede Customer Service Inquiry from JeffPickens

I see we came out to do a service call for weeds on 8/10 but we don’t charge for service calls and this was a weed control the balance you see is from 6/30 we didn’t charge you for the service done on 8/10 please call customer service 856-312-0480
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from: Jeff Pickens jrpickens@gmail.com
to: SLS-Runnemedebranch
date: Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 10:13 AM
subject    Re: Runnemede Customer Service Inquiry from JeffPickens

There is no evidence that any service was performed on 6/30. There is also no evidence that any service was performed on 8/10. My lawn was and remains an infestation of crab grass and weeds, and is an eyesore in my neighborhood. Any reasonable person looking at my lawn would agree there is no rationale for paying one cent for this alleged service.

When I attempted to call, I was put hold for an interminable amount of time, then directed to a voice mail and a message that the mailbox was full and I was unable to leave a message.

I consider my business relationship with you terminated and I have no intention of paying you any more than I have already paid.

 - JRP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
from: SLS-Runnemedebranch runnemedebranch@scotts.com
to: Jeff Pickens
date: Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 8:52 AM
subject    RE: Runnemede Customer Service Inquiry from JeffPickens

I have cancelled the account as of today any questions please call office 856-312-0480
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from: Jeff Pickens jrpickens@gmail.com
to: SLS-Runnemedebranch
date: Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 5:46 AM
subject    Re: Runnemede Customer Service Inquiry from JeffPickens

What part of "cancelled the account" don't you understand? STOP CALLING ME!

NJ-CAN Organizes to "Dump the Christiecrats"

Today, I received the following email from a new organization called NJ-CAN. Their objective is to remove from power the so-called "Christiecrats", NJ Democrats in the State Legislature who have betrayed Democratic principals and sided with Governor Chris Christie's anti union, anti middle class, pro corporate agenda.

On Monday, August 8, 2011, NJ-CAN held a press conference at the Veterans Plaza in Trenton, New Jersey, to demonstrate democracy still works and the people have power.
This event marked the launch of a petition campaign demanding the removal of Senate President, Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker, Sheila Oliver, from their positions as leaders of New Jersey Senate and Assembly.

Spearheading both a Statewide petition and a “write-in” campaign, NJ-CAN, a newly formed Statewide organization comprised of  various community groups, labor organizations and unaffiliated concerned citizens, to mount a counterattack on those Democrats who voted for the disastrous pensions and benefits bill this summer, inflicting undue pain and suffering upon the working people in New Jersey. Their actions prompted the naming of the 22 Democrats, who voted to pass the bill, to be referred to as the Christiecrats.

Assembly and Senate Democrats, including Senate President, Stephen Sweeney and Speaker Sheila Oliver, have repeatedly spoken of their credentials as defenders of the working and middle classes. However, actions speak louder than words, and the surrender to Christie’s pension and benefit plan displays a traitorous betrayal of the Democratic party principles.

As stated by Labor Attorney, BENNET D. ZUROFSKY, “As Democrats, we are deeply ashamed.  If we sit still for this, we will be akin to those suffering from “battered spouse syndrome” – unable to summon the courage to break away from an abusive relationship despite knowing that we must end it for our own good.”
Therefore, citizens, through the formation of NJ-CAN, have taken it upon themselves to hold these Christiecrat Democrats accountable.

The petition and a “write-in” campaign are an outward expression of the outrage felt at such a betrayal to the people of New Jersey, and failure of the Christiecrats to remember that this is OUR government; a representative government: “OF the People, BY the People and FOR the People”.


NJ-CAN was formed to be a Statewide umbrella group for all unions, community organizations and involved residents of New Jersey  to work together now and in the future to build a strong network within the state to hold our elected representatives accountable, to actively seek  challengers when need be and to fight against destructive legislation that is detrimental to the residents of New Jersey in a unified manner.

If you wish to become a member of the group, go to our website  NJ-CAN [1]  and register. If you have any questions, or wish to sign up as a co-sponsor, there is a place to contact us on the website.

NJ-CAN’s statewide petition drive “Demand Removal of Sweeney and Oliver from Leadership Positions” is the first part of a three phase campaign named “Dump the Christiecrats”. You can sign the petition here [2] or on our website NJ-CAN.org [3] . Also on our site you can print out copies of the petition and help us to collect signatures, then return them to NJ-CAN, P.O. Box 54, Collingswood, NJ 08108

We are happy that for a change, we did receive some press coverage of the kick off , by the Courier Post [4]and it was also picked up by PolitickerNJ.

We are still receiving more inquiries from the press and other groups who want to know more about what NJ-CAN is trying to achieve.

You can play an important part in growing this movement, by telling others about it, by entering comments under articles about NJ-CAN or related news items, volunteer to secure signatures on the petition at events, shopping centers, or neighborhood corner.

New Jersey…Here is Your Chance to Fight Back Like Wisconsin !!!

[1] http://www.nj-can.org/
[2] http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dumpchristiecrats/
[3] http://www.nj-can.org/
[4] http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110809/NEWS02/108090337/Liberal-group-goes-after-Christie-crats- 

Walk Now for Autism Speaks - Please Help!

My friends, Melissa and Brian Bernardo, are participating in the South Jersey Walk Now for Autism Speaks event on May 21, 2011. Walk Now for Autism Speaks is a charity that raises money for Autism research. Please help them reach their fundraising goal of $200.00

Melissa and Brian are walking with Team Bancroft.  If you are not from the South Jersey area, Bancroft School is one of the leading providers of programs and support for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, and acquired brain injuries.

Please CLICK HERE to access Melissa and Brian's personal page to make a donation. Every little bit helps.

Thank you!

Another Weekday, Another "Town Hall"

This is getting old. I got the news late Saturday afternoon that Governor Chris Christie would be taking his "Town Hall" road show to Evesham, NJ this Tuesday, May 10th. Again on a weekday, again in the middle of the day.

I learned this through a Google alert, in a news site I hadn't heard of called southjerseylocalnews.com. Apparently I have once again been purged from the governor's email list. After a conversation with a Christie staffer a few weeks ago, in which he denied that non-supporters were being removed from the email lists, and denied the existence of a secret advance notice email list for supporters, the staffer promised to add me back to the list.

After that I got not one but two invites to last week's Manalapan event, one from the standard email distribution and one personally sent by my new "friend" from the governor's constituent relations office. I politely declined, citing the need to show up for my day job.

I was told by my friend from the governor's office that these events cannot be held in the evenings because the governor works very hard during the day, has four kids, and spends evenings with his family. Fair enough (I have four "kids" myself, but they're grown), but somehow the governor has had time to travel across the country last fall, campaigning for fellow Republicans, attend a White House state dinner, and attend the Time 100 Gala, after which he gloated about having the Lincoln Tunnel cleared by his State Police detail to facilitate his arrival at this mission-critical event.

So, here we go again, this time in Republican Burlington County, on a Tuesday afternoon, with a diverse crowd of white retirees who feel that they no longer need to support the public education system with their property taxes, now that their own children have been educated and graduated.

For what it's worth, here are the details:
Tuesday, May 10th. Doors open at 12:15pm   
The Blue Barn - Evesham Recreation Center
1004 Tuckerton Road
Marlton, New Jersey
Click here to RSVP:
http://goo.gl/CWulF

Elections Matter

They certainly matter to NJ Governor Chris Christie, who took a special interest in the election for State Senate in the 8th Legislative District, in which Olympic Gold Medalist and Willingboro native Carl Lewis had plans to run as a Democrat.

Now, it is hardly breaking news that the Governor is a petty, vindictive bully. By the time Lewis formally announced his candidacy on April 11, calling Christie a "good friend", Christie's plan to derail Lewis' candidacy was well underway, and the fate of the campaign had been all but sealed.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Christie sent one of his young thugs after Lewis, in a series of "increasingly tense phone calls", marked by attempted intimidation and implied threats:

(H)e received the first of increasingly tense phone calls from Frank Luna, a veteran political operative who performs constituent services for the governor.

Luna asked Walker, executive director of the Carl Lewis Foundation, whether Lewis was running for the Eighth District Senate seat. According to Walker, Luna told him: "The governor is concerned."

The two spoke daily the next two days, and on April 9, Walker said, Luna told him "the governor is very upset and disappointed, and Carl would be embarrassing himself by running."

Walker said that in that April 9 conversation, Luna told him, "How can you expect the governor to work hand-in-hand with Carl when Carl is working against him? You can forget about this program."

Christie and Lewis spoke April 10.

Christie knew that, should Lewis decide to declare anyway, the Republicans would challenge Lewis' NJ residency in court, and if the court punted, he could count on Lt Governor / Secretary of State Kim Guadagno to pull a Katherine Harris and rule against Lewis,

We get the government we deserve. For those Democrats who were disappointed with the Corzine campaign and decided to stay home in November 2009, or worse, voted for Christie thinking "how bad can he be?", consider this: It could have been Loretta Weinberg making the decision on Carl Lewis' eligibility to run in NJ.While we cannot know for sure how a Secretary of State Weinberg would have ruled, we can be reasonably sure that, stateswoman that she is, she would have given careful consideration to the facts of the case and ruled as Secretary of State, not as the Governor's sock puppet.

To paraphrase Bill Clinton: if you don't vote, you are, in fact, voting for the person you don't want. Let's not let that happen again.

Get out and vote today if your school district is holding elections today.

Get out and vote in November. We need a Democratic majority in the Legislature to hold this out-of-control Governor in check.

Remember, elections matter.
 

This Is Not Kosher - The Wall of Separation, Redux

Another week, another "town hall".

This time it's at the Westlake Golf and Country Club, an over-55 community  in Jackson, NJ. This event is about the same as all the others, held on a weekday morning, with little or no advance notice, except to Christie supporters, all but guaranteeing a homogeneous crowd, this time packed with retirees who feel they no longer should pay property taxes, now that they no longer have kids in school.

But what makes this "town hall" different from the others?

Because this event is being held on Tuesday, April 19th, the second day of Pesach, or Passover, when Jews are preparing for the second seder, and will be unable to attend. This is either a deliberate attempt to exclude Jews from the event, or at best, extreme, insensitive, political tone-deafness.

In March 9, Christie breached (in my opinion) the wall of separation between church and state by holding a "town hall" at a Catholic Church on Ash Wednesday, a Catholic holiday. An OPRA request that I filed to learn who paid for this event was blown-off by the governor's office, on a technicality, when I made the mistake of using the word "information" in my request. Although the governor's counsel understood full well the intent of my inquiry, he refused to answer.

About a week later, the governor held a "town hall" in Woodbridge, where he stacked the audience with parochial school students wearing t-shirts supporting the Opportunity Scholarship Act, a voucher program that would steer taxpayer funds into private schools.

There is no question, now, that the governor is using these "town hall" meetings as a tool to promote his anti-women's health, pro-voucher, papist agenda. This is further borne out by the timing of the latest "town hall", erecting a new wall of separation by making it difficult or impossible for Jews to attend.

If this bothers you, and it should, please write to the governor's office to express your outrage.
Contact Matt Mowers at the Office of the Governor: Matt.Mowers@gov.state.nj.us,
and cc Constituent Relations: Constituent.Relations@gov.state.nj.us

Remind Governor Christie he is he Governor of ALL the people of New Jersey.

My OPRA Request - Answered! (well, not quite)

A recent blog post I wrote, "The Wall of Separation?", which raised questions about the First Amendment implications of Chris Christie holding a "town hall" meeting at a Catholic church, on Ash Wednesday, a Catholic holiday, sparked an interesting comment thread about the appropriateness of holding such an event at such a place on such a date.

Some commenters were interested in how much was paid for the hall rental and by whom. So on March 9th I submitted OPRA request #W56799:

Requesting information as to how the $300.00 rental fee was paid to to Jude's Church for use of the parish hall for Governor Christie's town hall meeting on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Please provide a copy of the rental agreement, which should identify who were the parties to the agreement, and proof of payment, identifying who paid the $300.00.

I did not expect a timely response, actually I did not expect a response at all. So imagine my surprise when, less than two weeks later, I saw an email from the Governor's office on my cell phone. I could hardly wait to get back to my laptop and read the pdf, which I could not open on the phone.

Here is the non-response, from Assistant Counsel Raymond Brandes:

Please be advised that the first portion of your request is a request for information and not for a specific identifiable government record, and therefor is an invalid OPRA request, OPRA is a records law, not an "information" law. OPRA does not countenance "(w)holesale requests for general information" {..then some legalese..}

This was not a "two-portion" request. It was a request for documents; the first portion was simply the what-and-where, so the OPRA responder would know what documents I was requesting. Now, the response to the second portion:

Please be further advised that this office has reviewed its records in response to the second portion or your request, for a copy of a rental agreement and proof of payment. That search has not identified any documents responsive to your request. Accordingly this request is hereby closed.

Uh, no, Mr. Brandes, the request is not closed. You have not answered the question.
Is there no purchase order?
No agreement?
No receipt?
No cancelled check?

This is either poor fiscal housekeeping or the hall was provided free of charge to the Governor.

If it's the former, and the Governor's office cannot account for a simple $300.00 hall rental payment, how can he be trusted with a $29.4 billion state budget?

If it's the latter, we have a Catholic church providing a free venue for a Catholic Governor to hold a political event on church property. What about that wall of separation?

An Open Letter to NJ Assemblyman Paul Moriarty - Has Governor Christie Violated Election Laws?

The Honorable Paul D. Moriarty
NJ State Assemblyman, Legislative District #4
129 Johnson Road
Suite 1
Turnersville, NJ 08012

Dear Mr. Moriarty:

As a citizen and taxpayer in the State of New Jersey, I applaud your recent remarks criticizing Governor Chris Christie for his partisan political rallies, masquerading as "Town Hall" meetings, at taxpayer expense. I am proud to be represented by such a dedicated public servant, looking out for the best interests of the citizens of New Jersey.

You stated:

These are taxpayer-funded events organized and promoted by the taxpayer-funded governor’s office. If the governor sticks to public policy, that’s fine. But if the governor wants to campaign, he must dip into his own wallet.

I agree with you 100%

These so-called “Town Hall” meetings are, in fact, political rallies to benefit the Governor’s political agenda, characterized by:

• The events are purportedly open to the public, but appear to be planned in stealth and supporters are notified in advance. Public notice is typically two days before the event.
• It appears the non-supporters have been identified and purged from the Governor’s email list.
• The events are always held during the day, on a weekday, making it difficult or impossible for working people to attend, and all but ensuring a homogenous pro-Christie crowd.
• Governor Christie has in the past used the Q&A section of the events to rudely berate constituents who do not agree with him, for the benefit of his taxpayer funded YouTube channel. This practice has recently subsided in favor of Q&A involving what appear to be planted questioners lobbing softballs, again to be promoted on the Governor’s taxpayer-funded YouTube channel.
• The Governor typically makes a show of referring at least one of the questioners to his Constituent Relations staffer to make the event appear to be non-political.
• His most recent egregious partisan move at a “town hall” was to conscript a group of students from St. James School in Woodbridge to support passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, a proposed school voucher program. The students appeared wearing t-shirts supporting the Act.

In light of the above, and other examples not listed of which you are certainly aware, I respectfully request that you initiate in the Assembly, hearings and investigations of possible violations of the Campaign Contributions and Expenditures Reporting Act, N.J.S.A. 19:44A-1, the Personal Financial Disclosure Act, N.J.S.A. 19:44B-1, and the Legislative and Governmental Processes Activities Disclosure Act, N.J.S.A. 52:13C-18, for the purposes of filing a complaint with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission ("ELEC") on behalf of the taxpayers of New Jersey.

Thank you for considering this request and your consistent excellent service to your constituents in the 4^th Legislative District.

Respectfully Submitted,
Jeffrey R. Pickens

Town Hall, Shmown Hall - Chris Christie's Taxpayer Funded Political Rallies

How about a moratorium on reporting on Governor Christie's so-called "town hall meetings" until one or more is held in the evening or on a weekend, when working people can attend? Now, if you are not on the Governor's coveted mailing list, you must scour the news websites for announcements, which typically come out with 1-2 days notice. By then, the Faithful have already been tipped off, and can make arrangements to attend, while the rest of us must either miss the event due to work, or jeopardize our jobs by calling in sick. There is a "town hall" scheduled for Woodbridge Tuesday morning. NJ.com dutifully announced the event on Thursday but managed to leave out the date and location. This has since been corrected in later versions of the post.

I have been to one of these, and from what I witnessed and have read about subsequent town hall meetings, they are routine, the same tired stories. The same script.

The Governor approaches the stage to wild applause, talks about "reform" (since when did "reform" become a synonym for "dismantling"?), blasts the usual scapegoats, the Legislature, public workers, and reminds us that his beef is not with teachers but the NJEA.

Then comes the Q&A, which may result in a "YouTube" moment, followed by his closing remarks, a heart-wrenching story about visiting his cancer-stricken mother on her deathbed, where she tells him to get back to work because "there's nothing left unsaid between us". Every town hall ends with this story, and there is barely a dry eye in the house.

Now, I am not in any way mocking Mrs. Christie's untimely death, but I cannot help but wonder, if she was the tough cookie he often describes, would she approve of her son cynically exploiting this intimate mother-son moment to score political points? I am sure my late mother would haunt my ass, big-time, if I pulled a stunt like that.

Note that, ever since the fiasco in Parsippany, where the Governor invited a questioner to the stage, berated him, and had him expelled from the meeting by his State Police detail, there have been no more reports of confrontations at these town halls. Is this the sign of a new, mellowed, improved Chris Christie, or has his staff become more adept at packing the hall with sycophants? Lately the format has featured the Governor performing in-the-round, in a roped-off area resembling a pro wrestling ring.

In my last post about possible 1st amendment issues with holding one of these town halls at a Catholic church facility, on Ash Wednesday, a Catholic holiday, Blue Jersey staff writer Deciminyan posted the following comment:

Is it time yet to post a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that these "Town Hall' meetings are really political events and should be funded by Christie's shadow campaign organizations instead of the taxpayer?

Good question. As long as these events continue to be held at a time to maximize a pro-Christie crowd, when it is difficult or impossible for working people to attend, the question remains, are they really "town hall meetings" or partisan campaign events?

If they are the latter, and each one follows the same predictable script, why bother covering them, other than to raise this question and explore possible FEC violations?

The Wall of Separation?

If you are one of the lucky few who have not been booted off Governor Christie's email list, or if you scour NJ.com as I do, you should know by now that the Governor is holding one of his "Town Hall" meetings at St Jude's Catholic Church in Hopatcong, NJ.

As a lapsed Catholic, it had only occurred to me yesterday that today is Ash Wednesday, a Catholic holiday (disclosure: my brother is a priest with the Diocese of Paterson).

How appropriate is it for the Governor to conduct State business on Catholic property, on a Catholic holiday? Will there be a photo-op of him receiving his ashes at St Jude's church before entering the parish hall to shill for vouchers, that will subsidize Catholic schools, like the ones his kids attend?

At worst, this is a blatant First Amendment violation, at best it is plain bad optics. I wonder if he plans future Town Hall meetings at other places of worship like a synagogue or a mosque.

If this troubles you, write to the Governor's office to object. Do not bother with the "Contact us" page on the Governor's website; you will not get a response.Go directly to Constituent Relations:

Constituent.Relations@gov.state.nj.us

If you're lucky, he just may answer you.

Or, maybe you do not see a problem with this. What do you think?

"Supersized Republican Governor" Gets Animated

"Big Luv for Big Guv" on NMA World Edition -

The Sound of Silence in Trenton

A Republican governor is elected in a traditionally "blue" state on the platform of restoring fiscal sanity. Upon taking office, he declares war on the public unions, including the teachers' union, firefighters, police. He scapegoats public sector workers and attempts to turn public opinion against the state workers, because, after all, their outrageously bloated salaries, benefits, and pensions are to blame for the state's fiscal woes.

Outraged, teachers, police, firefighters, and other public workers storm the State Capital by the tens of thousands, protesting the governor's attempts to balance the state budget on the backs of public sector workers.

The whole world is watching! Why is the Liberal Media not in Trenton covering this?

Because it's not happening in Trenton, it's happening in Madison, WI. Unlike their brothers and sisters in NJ, the state unions in Wisconsin decided not to wait. Perhaps they looked east and saw what happens when you have a governor run amok, storming the state, and now the country, ramrodding his anti middle class agenda and getting fawning coverage by the press while he's at it, and the people do nothing. The story in Wisconsin is fluid and it remains to be seen how this will play out. However, I'm certain there will be no "Scott Walker for President" movements anytime soon.

Barbara Keshishian, are you listening?
Hetty Rosenstein, are you listening?

The people of Wisconsin took a lesson from the complacency in New Jersey and decided to fight back now.

It's time the people of New Jersey take a lesson from Wisconsin.

Have You Written to Your Elected Officials Lately?

Have You Written to Your Elected Officials Lately? I have.

Recently I wrote to the triumvirate who represent  my Legislative District, #4: Senator Fred Madden (D), Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D), Assemblyman Domenick DiCicco Jr (R), along with Washington Twp Mayor Matthew Lyons (D). The subject was the growing number of once-thriving, now vacant, retail properties in the Township (which will be a topic for a future blog).

I received two responses: one from Mayor Lyons, who suggested that I attend the next planning meeting . The other was from Assemblyman DiCicco, the sole Republican Legislator in my District, who expressed that he shared my concerns, and included the usual Republican boilerplate about making NJ more business-friendly. I believe he was sincere. I am disappointed by the silence form the two Democrats who represent my District, especially Mr. Moriarty, who is a Township resident and former mayor. At least Mr. DiCicco had the decency to respond. Perhaps he is the only one who realizes that he is up for re-election this year, and re-election is not a given. 

I also wrote to the Governors office, one sentence:
"When can we expect the Governor to unveil his 2012 budget proposal?"

Here is the robo-response I received, which included a self-congratulatory link to a YouTube video from the recent Union City town hall:

Dear Friend:
As we continue our push for fiscal sanity, meaningful education reform and a lasting fix to our broken pension and benefits system, we've launched a website to detail the reforms and track our progress.  You can find it here:
http://www.state.nj.us/governor/reformagenda
As we continue to hold open town hall forums up and down the state, I'll do my best to share them with you.  Here's a clip from our latest town hall in Union City last week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg19I46IDuM

Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Governor Chris Christie

My response was:

That's not what I asked.
I asked:
"When can we expect the Governor to unveil his 2012 budget proposal?"
 - JRP

I'll keep you posted.

No room at the inn for the Westboro Baptist Church

My blood pressure would shoot up off the charts any time I heard about the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) protesting at a funeral. They started at funerals of soldiers killed in the line of duty, but have now branched out to others, like Elizabeth Edwards and Christina Green (although they were gracious enough to avoid the nine-year-old girl's funeral in exchange for air time on Phoenix and Toronto radio, how nice). I swore that if they ever set foot in New Jersey I would be there.

Unfortunately I got the opportunity, when 23 year old Benjamin Moore of Bordentown, NJ, was killed by an IED in Afghanistan on January 12. The WBC announced they would be there. I decided I would be there too. I learned through a Facebook Group that people were planning on surrounding the area in order to shield the grieving family from the "God Hates Fags" protesters.

When I arrived in Bordentown at around 7:00am, Farnsworth Ave was relatively quiet. I asked a police officer what he knew about the possible appearance of the WBC. He told me there was a designated spot for them and "they would be dealt with accordingly".

I parked my car and joined a small gathering of people at the corner of Farnsworth and Crosswicks St, all there for the same reason. A woman walked by and passed out American flags, provided by an anonymous donor.

Later I walked over to the church where a large crowd had gathered and lined up along Farnsworth: police, firefighters, military, veterans, and civilians. By that time every road surrounding the church had been cordoned off and there was no sign of the WBC people. The people I spoke with mentioned that the WBC had tried to check into some local hotels but were turned away. I also heard that they were at the firehouse. I walked around the area to see if I could find them, but could not. By 10:00 I got back in my car and drove around the surrounding area, past the firehouse, and still saw none of them.

It was apparent by then that the outpouring of support from the community, including people from all over the state, had succeeded in keeping the WBC away. I learned when I got home that the WBC arrived, saw their designated area, didn't like it, and left. They then headed for the cemetery, didn't like their designated area there either, and left for good. Most of us never saw them. I did not get the photo op I had hoped for, but this time I was not at all disappointed.

This time, the Westboro Baptist Church picked the wrong state to mess with. Law enforcement and firefighters from all over the state, veterans and active military, and ordinary folks like me had all played a part in keeping these monsters away. Bordentown's fallen soldier had the dignified send-off he deserved. May he rest in peace.

There were no incidents, other than the swift departure of the Westboro Baptist Church. Good riddance.

Westboro Baptist Church - Unwelcome in New Jersey

(thanks to deciminyan for tipping me off to this story)

As if it weren't bad enough that NJ lost another soldier in Afghanistan - U.S. Army Spc. Benjamin Moore, 23, of Bordentown, was one of three soldiers killed in an IED (improvised explosive device) attack in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province on Jan. 12.

Now comes the disturbing news that the Westboro Baptist Church is planning to protest Spc Moore's funeral in Bordentown, NJ this Saturday, January 22. Regardless of your religious or political beliefs or affiliations, no person on this planet, with the possible exception of members of the Phelps family, would be able to justify the despicable actions of these monsters.

If there can be any good news here, the community has mobilized and and is planning a non-violent demonstration to shield the family of Benjamin Moore from the presence of the WBC protesters. 

The following is from the Facebook wall of William Brown, of Mt Laurel, one of the leaders of the protest: 

"Hope I see you Saturday morning at 0800 at Trinity Church 300 block, Farnsworth Ave, Bordentown, NJ. Westboro Baptist church is planning one of their despicable protests at the funeral of Ben Moore, who passed away in Afghanistan last week. Let's join the non-violent blockade of that piece of crap who desecrates our heroes funerals and honor our brother Ben Moore and his family."

There is always the possibility that the Westboro Baptist Church is bluffing, or will change their minds and not make the trip to Bordentown. 

But if they do, New Jersey will be ready and waiting.

 

Is it too soon to start thinking about 2013? No!

No, it's not too soon, considering:
1.) Christie began running for re-election the day he was inaugurated (as do all incumbents)
2.) No potential Democratic candidate (as far as I know) has stepped forward
3.) We can draw important lessons from 2009 and the shoddy campaign run by Jon Corzine, as illustrated by my experience with a clueless Corzine campaign worker:

Late in 2009 gubernatorial campaign, a Corzine canvasser knocked on my door. I answered, and told him right off the bat we had five registered Democrats in my household; no need to give me a sales pitch. However, I told him three of us would be out of town on Election Day, myself on business, and two of my sons away at college, and we needed absentee ballots.

The canvasser told me about NJ's new vote-by-mail option, and had a stack of applications in his hand. I asked for three forms, and the canvasser refused to give them to me. I asked for the website so I could download my own, he said, no, he did not know the website. Just as I was telling him to get lost, as he was no use to me, he asked if I wanted a yard sign. I said, sure, put as many as you want on my lawn.

As soon as I slammed the door, I immediately fired off a nasty-gram to the campaign, informing them of the behavior of the canvasser and his refusal to help me out with absentee voting. A few days later a representative called me, apologizing, and explaining that this particular canvasser "doesn't believe in vote-by-mail" (!) and that is why he refused to give me the applications. I asked, how can you expect anyone to vote for your candidate if this is how you are running your campaign. I then asked if it was possible to vote at the County Store, and the person said no (this turned out not to be true). I also asked where's my yard  sign and was promised I would get one (I never did). 


County Stores, by the way, are these nifty one-stop shops for just about any government service. The service is friendly and effective. We have them in most malls in South Jersey. I am not sure if every County has one. 

Infuriated, and despite my temptation to sit the election out or vote for a third party candidate, I went to the County Store at the Deptford Mall, held my nose, and voted for Corzine,

I have a feeling I was not alone in my disappointment with the way the Corzine campaign was run, and Christie did not so much win as Corzine lost. He broke the cardinal rule of any job-hunter: Act like you want the job.

Let's not let this happen again.

NJ News Roundup for Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Of course the big news is yesterday’s State-of-The-State Message
Read reactions from the Bergen Record,  Asbury Park Press, Star Ledger (Mulshine), the Inquirer (Riordan), NJ Dems, and our own Deciminyan.
And, high praise from the other side.
What was Michelle Rhee doing there?

More snow
Up to a foot expected in some parts of the state, old hat by now. At least we know the Governor is in the State. Let’s see if he can do what he said he could have done from Orlando, but didn’t.

New Jersey Assembly to vote on film tax credits
Could this mean the next season of “Boardwalk Empire” will be filmed in New Jersey?

Meet the NJ Republican Party’s new state chairman
Saddle River Mayor Sam Raia, sworn in last night.

Who should pay for the $1.25B Christie squandered on the ARC tunnel?
Not the toll-payers, say the Democrats

Privatize the PATCO line?
Why mess with something that works?

Making college less affordable
Christie says he wants to do away with the 4 percent cap in tuition increases at the state's public universities, and let the market determine tuition.

Upcoming Events

Governor Christie Town Hall Meeting
Thursday, January 13
Paramus Elks B.P.O.E. 2001
200 Route 17 North
Paramus, NJ
Doors open at 10:00am

Public hearing on the impact of Gov Christie’s state education cuts
Hosted by Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex)
Thursday, January 20
6:00pm - 8:30pm
Edison High School Auditorium
50 Boulevard of the Eagles
Edison, NJ

Jury Duty - YEAH!

Most people go to great lengths trying to avoid jury duty. For me, it has been the opposite. The jury system seemed to be avoiding me. Until now.

At last, the Long Arm of the Law has caught with me, and after a 32 year dry spell, I finally got a Jury Duty summons yesterday.

Not that I've been trying to hide. Washington Township, Gloucester County, despite being "South Jersey's Premier Community" with a population of over 48,000, does not have its own  zip code. My part of town, Turnersville, shares a zip code with neighboring Blackwood, which happens to be on Camden County. So, from time to time, one of us gets a summons to appear for Camden County Jury. We fill out the form, saying we do not live in Camden County, end of story.

I thought I would never get called. I thought maybe I was disqualified due to my Jersey City birth certificate.

I don't know how they finally figured out I lived in Gloucester County. Maybe when I was photographed sitting on my hands while the rest of the crowd was applauding wildly at Governor Christie's town hall meeting here, they identified me through some facial recognition process and nailed me.

The last time I served on a jury, back in the Days of Yore, the mandate was a two week commitment, show up every day, and wait. On the last day of my two week stint at the Hackensack court house, I was picked to be on a panel. The case was a personal injury lawsuit, a three-way battle involving a plaintiff, defendant, and an insurance company. Not too interesting, but it got me out of work for an extra week. More interesting was the trial going on across the hall, the notorious case of Mario Jascalevich, also known as "Dr X", on trial for murdering an undetermined number of patients at the now defunct River Dell Hospital in Oradell, NJ. I tried to take a peek in the court room any chance I could get.

So, I'm looking forward to performing my civic duty by serving as a Petit Juror in the Gloucester County court system. One catch - I was scheduled for Monday, February 7, when I will be on vacation.

Due to the magic of modern technology, I went to the website, filled out the online form and expressed my willingness to serve, just not at that time. About an hour later I received an email from the Court, advising me that my time had been rescheduled to June 6. The ease with which that switch was made, I must admit, surprised me.

So, I'm looking forward to showing up at the Gloucester County court house in Woodbury on the morning of June 6, ready, willing, and able to serve.

Tuesday Night Football - The Politics of Snow Removal

"Vince Lombardi would be spinning in his grave", said Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell, in an on-air rant about the NFL's decision to postpone the Vikings/Eagles game, scheduled for Sunday night, to Tuesday. Rendell and Fox-29's John Bolaris even went at it about the actual number of inches of snow (paging Dr. Freud) that actually fell on and around Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Eagles.

Here in the Mid-Atlantic states, a major snowstorm is almost always a no-win situation for local government and their limited resources. Places like Buffalo experience storms like this on a regular basis and are able to justify ample snow-removal capabilities in their budgets. In places like the Philadelphia area, it is impossible to predict, on a winter-by-winter basis, what the snow removal needs will be, so they do their best when budgeting for snow emergencies.

On Sunday morning, after careful review of all the meteorology available to him, Mayor Michael Nutter urged the NFL to postpone the game. NFL diehards immediately cried "wimp!", but the Mayor's decision, in this writer's opinion, has merit. Imagine the outcry if the full force of Philly's snow removal efforts was focused on getting ready for a football game, while the neighborhoods were neglected, snowed in, and residents were unable to get out of their homes.

It would not only have been necessary to clear all the snow from the parking lots and surrounding roads, but every flake would have had to be removed from the inside of the stadium. Did we really need another spectacle of snowball-throwing Eagles fans on national TV?

Here in New Jersey, such a decision did not need to be made, as the Jets and Giants were both away on Sunday. NJ State Senate President and acting NJ Governor Stephen Sweeney, who is currently holding the position after the Governor and Lt Governor both got out of  Dodge for simultaneous vacations, called a state of emergency in NJ due to the blizzard.

Back to the Eagles - Interesting that they are scheduled to play the Vikings, a team from a city well-prepared to deal with snow emergencies, except when the roof collapses on their domed stadium. The Birds managed to clinch the NFC East title anyway, thanks to the Giants' horrific loss to Green Bay Sunday. 

And so, after more than a bit of griping, Eagles fans will head to the Linc or tune in to NBC-TV Tuesday night to enjoy the game, with visions of an NFC Conference title once again dancing in their heads. And life will go on.

Go Ahead, Senator Sweeney, Make My Day

Talk about "below the fold".

On Christmas Day, 1:00pm, when most people were not reading the Star Ledger or NJ.com, came the news that Governor Chris Christie and Lt Governor Kim Guadagno are both taking vacation out of state, leaving Senate President Stephen Sweeney as acting governor while both are away. Maybe I missed something, but wasn't the position of Lt. Governor created to provide for continuity in the NJ Executive branch while the Governor was unavailable to discharge his duties? How do they get away with leaving the state at the same time?

While we know that the Governor will be in Disney World in Florida with his family, it has not been released (not to this writer, at least) where Lt Gov. Guadagno will be, other than that she will be out of state. Perhaps she will be in Disney World with the governor, standing behind him, gazing longingly, Nancy-Reagan-like, while Christie hob-nobs with Mickey and watches his kids enjoy the rides.

According to the Star Ledger:
"Theoretically, Sweeney could sign legislation Christie hasn’t acted on or even file nominations Christie would never dream of filing. Sweeney could even re-nominate former state Supreme Court Justice John Wallace Jr. to the bench, whose pass-over by Christie in favor of attorney Anne Patterson angered Sweeney. But he won’t."

Says Sweeney:
“I wouldn’t do that to him. The guy is going on vacation with his family, and I’m not going to ruin it by creating mischief. The governor’s office is something that people shouldn’t think is a toy. It’s a serious responsibility.”

It speaks volumes that the governor has left the State government in hands of Sweeney, with full confidence that there will be no "mischief", where "mischief" may be defined as reinstating Justice John Wallace, or signing the "Back To Work NJ" and the anti-bullying bills.

While we're on the subject of missed opportunities, since this is a time when teachers, and many others, have the week off, this would have been the ideal time for the governor to defer his vacation and hold some "Town Hall" meetings at a time when his audience would include members of his constituency who typically cannot attend such meetings on normal weekdays. After all, if his "Reform" is so urgent, why leave the state now? Certainly a Disney vacation can wait until the next school break in the spring.

So, how about it, Senator Sweeney? You're right, the governor's office is a serious responsibility. So how about some mischief? .