Gov. Christie Must Fire NJ Transit Officials For Failing To Follow Rail Plan Before Sandy

Governor Chris Christie has given his blessing and backing to NJ Transit officials in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated NJ Transit's rail fleet. 343 railcars and locomotives were flooded and damaged. A portion of the fleet remains out of service due to flood damage.

The costs are in the hundreds of millions, and yet NJ Transit officials have skated by despite incontrovertible

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Gov. Christie Must Fire NJ Transit Officials Over Gross Incompetence Before Hurricane Sandy

I am once again reiterating my call on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to fire NJ Transit officials, starting with Executive Director Jim Weinstein.

Weinstein appeared before the State Legislature once again and admitted that the agency not only stored rail equipment in Kearny and Hoboken before Hurricane Sandy, but purposefully moved still more equipment into both low-lying areas before

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Gov. Christie Takes House GOP and Rep. Boehner to Task For Screwing Sandy Victims

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gave a press conference today following sending a letter to Congressional leaders along with Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York.

It was a real barn burner and the focus of his righteous ire was the mess created by House Republicans. Members of his own political party, and specifically, Speaker John Boehner, screwed victims of Hurricane Sandy in the name of

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NJ Transit and Port Authority Fail Commuters During Crisis Yet Again

The disaster response by NJ Transit and PATH is beyond deplorable. It's atrocious and defies common sense. The agency seems to think that it's done a good job in providing information to its customers, and yet there is a daily crush of thousands of commuters attempting to get home by way of one of the three rail lines servicing New Jersey other than the Atlantic City Line or the bus service that

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Making Hash of the Commute

I'm so glad I'm not commuting into NYC this morning.

NJ Transit is an absolute mess. They claimed that they had service restored on a couple of lines, but here's what that meant.

For Main/Port Jervis, it was 7 trains inbound in the morning, and 3 would get to New York City after what's normally considered rush hour (10-11am). No reverse commute trains. In the PM, you'd have the same situation -

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Governor's Demanded Audit of Port Authority Finds Need For Toll Hikes

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently underwent an outside audit as required by Governors Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo. They did so because of the fallout over a major toll and fare increase that went into effect earlier this year and follow-on hikes set for the next three Decembers as well as complaints that the agency was diverting funds for transportation projects to finish

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NCAA, Pro Sports Leagues Suing New Jersey Over Sports Betting Law

There are four states where sports gambling is legal: Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana. That seems to be unfair to other states that have later legalized gambling, such as New Jersey. This year, Gov. Chris Christie and the legislature sought to overcome federal law authorizing only Nevada to allow sports betting by enacting a sports betting law for the state.

Now, the NCAA and the major pro

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So Much For Openness: Gov. Christie Blocks Bill That Would Require Port Authority To Hold Hearings Before Toll Hikes

In the wake of an outcry from commuters around the New York City metro area about proposed toll hikes at Port Authority of New York and New Jersey bridges and tolls, both Governors Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo acted swiftly to force the agency to pare back the increases.

Both also claimed that they would push for more accountability and fiscal responsibility from the bistate agency.

Well, it

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The Star Ledger Doesn't Get It On ARC/Gateway Tunnel

The Star Ledger's editorial page doesn't get it when it comes to talking about the ARC tunnel and its successor, the Gateway Project.

It laments the billions that Gov. Chris Christie supposedly left on the table by killing the project because overruns would have been a multibillion dollar hit on New Jersey taxpayers. Plans for a new rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan took a nasty PR

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Gov. Christie Seems Fine With Feds Managing New Jersey's Health Exchanges

So much for states' rights in Gov. Christie's eyes - he's open to the idea of letting the feds run the NJ health exchange. Gov. Chris Christie said he is exploring letting the federal government set up the state health insurance exchange required by the federal health care overhaul to allow individuals to buy coverage.

He also said he is not sure that New Jersey needs to expand Medicaid under

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New Jersey's Legislature Takes Up Tax Relief In Special Session

Gov. Chris Christie addressed the state legislature in Trenton this afternoon and called on them to enact tax relief along the lines of the proposal he first offered earlier this year.

Senate Democrats countered that they provided tax relief to the tune of $183 million only if the state met the Governor's revenue projections. The contingency is a sound policy choice, but that isn't stopping

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The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 165

There's been little movement on the resumption of construction of the National 9/11 Museum, despite a visit from President Obama last week and the principal politicians and bureaucrats involved in the museum and memorial process all present at the same time.

New York and New Jersey Governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie have called on the National Park Service to get involved in the memorial

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The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 164

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be visiting the World Trade Center site this afternoon to view progress at the site as part of a trip to New York City that includes two fundraisers for the 2012 campaign.

The trip will disrupt the commutes of tens of thousands of people who use the PATH station at the WTC (myself included), but the President needs to do more than just

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New Jersey Bipartisan Budget Idiocy Abounds

NJ politics and you - screwed up together. The OLS issues a budget notice finding that the state will end with a deficit of more than $600 million, and yet Gov. Christie (a Republican) and State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (Democrat) are pushing ahead with a compromise tax cut plan that the two hashed out that will cost even more money and requires one-shot borrowing from the state's nearly

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Gov. Christie Wont Scale Back Tax Cuts Even As Deficit Mounts

The New Jersey budget is required to be balanced pursuant to the State Constitution. How it gets to that point is up to the Governor and the legislature.

Gov. Chris Christie is determined to make good on his plan to cut income taxes, even though the latest budget projections are showing a much larger deficit than anyone had expected. It's now up to $668 million, which would normally call for a

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Cory Booker and Chris Christie Show Off Their Comedy Chops

Every once in a while it's nice to see politicians not taking themselves too seriously and to have some fun with each other. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker put together this video as part of the NJ Press Association Dinner festivities. There's some sly references to Booker's heroic actions of saving neighbors from a fire and a few Seinfeld references as well.

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New Jersey Revenues Coming In $300 Million Below Projections

The New Jersey Department of Treasury announced that revenues were coming in about $300 million below projections, which isn't nearly as bad as the Office of Legislative Services estimates, but it still puts a crimp on Gov. Chris Christie's plans for tax relief. He’s also banking on a huge economic upswing during the budget year that begins on July 1, using that growth to support his “Jersey

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New Jersey Moving Ahead On Proposals To Revamp Drug Incarcerations

Governor Chris Christie had been calling for a revamping of the state's drug incarceration laws because the criminal justice system simply couldn't afford the costs associated with the incarceration of so many people. He proffered an alternative - drug courts combined with drug treatment in lieu of incarceration and it's something that the state Assembly has taken up.The Assembly's Judiciary

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New Jersey Budget Projects Will Hamper Gov. Christie's Chances To Keep Promised Tax Cuts

As I've been warning for quite some time, budget projections have been far too rosy and assuming growth when one should take a far more conservative outlook on the figures.

By assuming growth in excess of what one should reasonably expect, you set up the potential for budget deficits and that's precisely the situation that Gov. Chris Christie is facing in New Jersey. He offered up a more rosy

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Drop the Hammer on NJ State Police For "Death Race 2012" Actions

Governor Chris Christie has to do more, much more, than shrug his shoulders over the alleged misdeed by New Jersey state troopers who escorted drivers of several high end cars along the Garden State Parkway. Those drivers include former New York Giant Brandon Jacobs who apparently asked for the escort in the first place.

Two state troopers have been suspended thus far, and while the State Police

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