Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/2018/01/page/2/)
Chris Christie leaves office officially today and they didn’t call him the historically unpopular lame-duck governor (HUL-DG) for nothing. The Republican Man Baby pocket-vetoed a bill that would have created tax incentives for businesses around the Atlantic City International Airport, John DeRosier at the Press of AC reports (h/t to Jim Kennedy).
Fix Our Infrastructure
The Federal Railroad Administration recommended a $12,000 fine for NJ Transit for failing to install “positive train control” a system that helps trains avoid collisions and derailments like the ones that kill and injure commuters. Twelve thousand dollars might not sound like a lot of money for a big state agency, but as the increasingly outstanding NorthJersey.com reports, “railroads often pay less than the proposed penalty.” Who knows how small the actual fine will be! Anyway. It’s some public pressure.
The valuable NJSpotlight reports that the Christie administration paid $33.89 million in consulting fees to Bank of America Merrill Lynch for work it did last year on the governor’s plan to shift assets from the state lottery system so they’d go into the public-pension system instead of into the general budget. Doesn’t seem too terribly complicated but what do I know. Anyway. That’s $33.89 million.
The governor gave his State of the State speech yesterday afternoon at 3:00pm, and at 4:00pm, County Prosecutor Damon Tyner announced charges against James Kauffman over the 2012 murder of his wife, the radio host, April Kauffman.
The state sold $375.7 million in bonds to build those office buildings in Trenton no one seems to want, “brushing off critics who insisted that voters have the right to approve or reject such debt.” Silly critics! What’s a voter?
This publication has been as guilty as anyone of punching on the Glenn Straub punching bag over the years, but in our heart of hearts we were pulling for the man.
Wayne Parry at the Associated Press is reporting Glenn Straub has at last sold the Revel to Bruce Deifik, which should not surprise you if you’ve been reading this space. But Parry talked to Deifik who said the deal was “finalized” Thursday during the blizzard at a price of $200 million.
The decision to hold up that $300 million subsidy bill for PSE&G prompted a cat fight yesterday between Vince Prieto and his wider, more southerly colleague Steve Sweeney, who said he was “downright angry” the bill wasn’t posted.
Nothing weird about that, right? Sweeney just really, really feels very strongly that a bill to give a profitable company $300 million in subsidies should be signed during lame-duck/iceberg season so we can “stabilize” nuclear.
There’s an update on the $300 million PSE&G subsidy bill. It’s on pause after Speaker Vince Prieto in the Assembly declined to “post” it or something, the valuable NJ Spotlight reports. The bill will be back “in a much different form in the next legislative term, featuring new incentives to boost renewable energy and other clean-energy programs in New Jersey,” they say.
It’s a balmy 57 degrees here in the beach house that doubles as our Route 40 newsroom. Meaning inside the house. Apparently our vintage heating system is not designed for January. Also the “walls” aren’t “insulated?” Something like that.