Christie attacks ‘the haters’ for blocking his book deal

Members of the New Jersey Senate have a group photo taken.  Ed Murray photo for NJ.com
Claude Brodesser-Akner reports for NJ.com


Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday night attacked “the haters” he said allowed personal animus to deny him the ability to profit from a writing book while in office.

“People are asking as if this is a long-standing tradition,” Christie said during his monthly call-in radio show, “Ask the Governor,” on New Jersey 101.5-FM.
He then noted that the ethics law the prevents him from profiting from a book while still in office was only passed by his Democratic predecessor, Jon Corzine, in 2008.
It was at that time that Corzine, an independently wealthy former Wall Street banker, forbade compensation for work outside the governorship but allowed for passive income from investments.
“I wonder why Gov. Corzine passed that law, when he was a former Goldman Sachs executive?” Christie asked, with mock bafflement.
Corzine did not accept a salary while governor, living off his investments.
The governor then dismissed the legislative opposition to the book bill as “just the haters” who “made it personal about me.”
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>



Christie attacks ‘the haters’ for blocking his book deal Read More »

Don’t ditch that box! Goodwill and Amazon can use it

Matt Miller writes for Pennlive:


You might not want to toss that empty shipping box once Christmas is past.
Amazon and Goodwill are teaming up for a program to put that container to charitable use.
Under the Give Back Box program, participants can pack the leftover boxes with clothes and other items they want to donate to Goodwill. And Amazon will ship them to Goodwill for free.
Information on the program is available at GiveBackBox.com.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Don’t ditch that box! Goodwill and Amazon can use it Read More »

Big Marcellus driller in Pa. state forests, is pulling up stakes

Andrew Maykuth report for the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., has sold its Marcellus Shale operations in north-central Pennsylvania to a subsidiary of Alta Resources Development LLC for $1.24 billion, marking the exit of one of the larger shale gas developers in state forests.

The company’s assets include drilling rights in the Loyalsock State Forest in Lycoming County, where Anadarko’s controversial extraction plans have been blocked by legal and administrative obstacles.

Anadarko, which is based in The Woodlands, Texas, said its Marcellus Shale divestiture includes about 195,000 net acres, which produced about 470 million cubic feet of gas per day. The oil and gas company, which has international operations, has announced $5 billion in asset sales this year.

The sale to Alta Resources represents the return of a company that explored the Marcellus in Susquehanna County from 2008 to 2010, before divesting its holdings. The late George P. Mitchell, who was widely regarded as the father of shale gas for his development of hydraulic fracturing techniques, was an early partner in Alta.

The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017. Anadarko’s regional headquarters are in Williamsport.

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updatesSee popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Big Marcellus driller in Pa. state forests, is pulling up stakes Read More »

Delaware River conservation law may bring millions to NJ


Michelle Brunetti writes in the Atlantic City Press:
New Jersey Audubon is anticipating that millions of dollars in federal funds will soon be available for environmental restoration and protection in the Delaware River Basin after President Barack Obama signed a conservation law last week.
The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act authorized creation of a basin restoration program in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The program will identify, prioritize and run projects throughout the watershed, which makes up 40 percent of the state, said Eric Stiles, president and CEO of NJ Audubon.
“The ability to leverage private, state and now federal funding to protect and restore these critical habitats will have a major impact on water quality and special protection species in our state, including the red knot and Atlantic sturgeon,” Stiles said.
The watershed is made up of all the waterways that drain into the Delaware Bay and Delaware River. In South Jersey it encompasses substantial parts of Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, Camden and Burlington counties, as well as small parts of Atlantic and Ocean counties.
The program will bring funding for projects to protect water resources, especially in the Pinelands and Highlands, Stiles said, bolstering work to combat habitat degradation, invasive species and climate change.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
 See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Delaware River conservation law may bring millions to NJ Read More »

Pa. Commonwealth Court grants new argument to landowners battling eminent domain in pipeline case

Elllen Gerhart) with her daughter Elise Gerhart, in front of the family home,
are fighting eminent domain taking by Sunoco for the Mariner East 2 pipeline.
Susan Phillips reports for StateImpact:
Landowners battling pipeline companies over eminent domain takings got an early Christmas gift from the Commonwealth Court in the form of a new legal maneuver this week. An attorney representing a family fighting Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline in Huntingdon County will be able to use a recent Supreme Court ruling to try to strengthen their case.
In September, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Robinson Township case, which overturned aspects of the state’s new oil and gas law Act 13, that the legislature could not grant eminent domain authority to companies building gas storage facilities. The court’s decision hinged on the fact that the public was not the “primary and paramount” beneficiary, as the state had claimed.
“Instead, it advances the proposition that allowing such takings would somehow advance the development of infrastructure of the Commonwealth. Such a projected benefit is speculative, and, in any event, would be merely an incidental one and not the primary purpose for allowing these takings,” wrote Justice Debra McCloskey Todd for the majority.

RELATED

POSTS
TOPICS
Mariner East

Although neither the Supreme Court decision, nor the Robinson Township case, addressed pipelines, many wonder if the same argument could be applied in the hundreds of cases pending before county level courts. In case after case, for those challenging eminent domain takings by Sunoco across the 350-mile route, the courts have ruled against landowners. But this decision appears to open the door a bit for the Gerhart family, and possibly others, through the use of a new argument.

Ellen Gerhart and her daughter Elise have become vocal opponents of Sunoco’s plans. In efforts to prevent tree-clearing this year Elise Gerhart camped out in a tree, and Ellen Gerhart was arrested for trespassing on her own land. The charges were recently dropped. The Gerharts had lost their eminent domain case against Sunoco in Huntingdon County Court of Common Pleas, but appealed to the Commonwealth Court where the case is still pending.
The family’s lawyer Rich Raiders had already filed the appropriate briefs, and the deadline for submitting more arguments to the court had passed before the Supreme Court ruled against eminent domain for gas storage in September. But Raiders asked the court for the opportunity to file new information based on the Supreme Court’s Robinson Township decision, and he found out Monday that his motion was granted. Raiders says he thinks the Supreme Court justices may be interested in looking at the issue of eminent domain and pipelines.
“If the Commonwealth Court is letting me brief this issue, it is a hint that there’s interest above,” Raiders told StateImpact.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Pa. Commonwealth Court grants new argument to landowners battling eminent domain in pipeline case Read More »

Public closes Gov’s book deal; newspapers win a reprieve

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
It was the overwhelmingly negative public reaction–phones ringing off the hook in many legislators’ offices–that killed linked bills on Monday in the New Jersey Assembly that would have allowed Gov. Chris Christie to profit from a book deal while in office and also eliminate the long-required printing of public legal notices in newspapers–a revenue source vital to the daily and weekly publications. 



David Cruz puts it all together in this NJTV NEWS report.





Republican Gov. Christie’s unprecedented working relationship with Democratic party bosses (the mostly hidden figures who really call the shots in the State House) allowed the so-called ‘revenge bill’ to fly down the pre-Christmas fast track until newspaper publishers and open-government groups fought back and incited the public reaction.


The Governor who rarely loses in the Legislature didn’t take this one well. Witness the Asbury Park Press by Bob Jordan: Chris Christie in Twitter storm after bill defeats 


Star-Ledger editorial writer and columnist Tom Moran, who has been an pebble in the governor’s shoe for most of Christie’s two terms in office, wrote in Christie & Dem bosses get public spanking they deserve:

In the end, no damage was done, except to the reputations of the politicians who tried to pull off this dirty stunt.

This time, they couldn’t get the votes. The players were all in the regular seats, with Gov. Chris Christie playing the tune, and the three chieftains of the Democratic Party dancing with him. Just like the old days.

This time, though, the followers didn’t follow. This time, on a memorable Monday in Trenton, they revolted.  

The Ledger followed up with an editorial: Dear Gov. Christie: Your priorities are cockeyed. Sincerely, N.J.  It read, in part:

Chris Christie has priorities, and he’s sticking by them. Never mind that they are irrational and that almost no one else shares them: He is convinced that his support of 18 percent is such an ironclad mandate, he could go around kicking kittens each day for the next 12 months and still be applauded for his authenticity. 

So with a resolve that borders on psychosis, our governor continues to ignore New Jersey’s most urgent concerns, authorizing a spokesman to affirm that the effort to eliminate legal notices from newspapers is neither dead nor buried. In fact, he vowed that it will be “a top priority when we return from the holidays.”

Really, you have to give the guy credit for trying, just like you gave credit to Sisyphus for getting pancaked by a boulder for all of eternity.

It would be immodest for a newspaper to rank its own concerns among governmental priorities, so we won’t try – judging by countless calls and emails from our wonderful readers to lawmakers since Friday, that argument has already been made with gratifying gusto.

But we can make this observation: When a governor engages in revenge politics – which is the best way to define this effort to destroy newspapers – he makes it too easy for everyone to question his so-called “priorities.”

As we’ve long noted, Politics is New Jersey’s favorite spectator sport. 


We wish you all a wonderful holiday but almost can’t wait to get back to the Legislature in January. Oh, such fun to ride.

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates

See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Public closes Gov’s book deal; newspapers win a reprieve Read More »