Bob Hugin
Matt Friedman of Politico leads the Playbook with the Menendez-Hugin race, where Democrats are nervous and Hugin people say they have internal polling that shows their guy up 2 points.
“Democrats not on the Menendez campaign are convinced Hugin has a significant chance at winning,” Matt says, while noting that people talking, “about internal polls but not providing them should be treated the same as anecdotal evidence.” Thank you, Matt.
Elsewhere in Hugin, wait, Bob Hugin has spent $36 million of his own money on this race? We’re doomed.
Bigfoot
Claude Brodesser-Akner heroically watched the “sex with Bigfoot” movie starring a Brick school board candidate (and directed by a Millville native) and he (Claude) survived to report that the “ultra-low budget horror movie” was even worse than it sounded.
“We’re only 4 minutes in, and this film is already causing me to re-think my career and life choices.”
Does this Seem like a Bad Idea?
The ACPD union is having a $40 a ticket fund-raiser at the Wonder Bar for Sterling Wheaten, who was indicted recently for falsifying police reports, etc., though the police spokesperson and the union president, Matt Rogers, did not comment on the precise purpose of the party, and flyers for the party don’t mention Wheaten by name.
The flyers do instruct attendees to make checks out to the “811 Legal and Welfare” fund, 811 being Wheaten’s badge number.
Wheaten has, reportedly, been “linked” to $4.5 million in excessive force payouts by the City of Atlantic City, which was selling the office furniture a few years ago to keep the lights on.
For some perspective, the entire library budget was $933,000 in 2018. The lifeguard pension system that everyone from The New York Times to Bloomberg got their knickers in a twist over a few years back cost $1.23 million in 2018.
Politicians as diverse (sorry) as Steve Sweeney, Chris Christie and Seth Grossman publicly decried the lifeguard pension system, with Grossman calling out “the lifeguard mafia” and Sweeney saying the payouts were “symbolic of the budget practices that have long plagued the city and led it to the verge of a financial disaster.”
Yet you could cut off all the lifeguards and shut down all the libraries, and you’d still need $2.3 million to cover a subset of police liability payouts. Am I reading that right?
So to recap, David Castellani, who is from Linwood, fought with with Sterling Wheaten, who is from Mays Landing, outside the Tropicana, which was owned by Carl Icahn, and the response is a buffet at the Wonder Bar.
Maybe they’ll follow-up with a panel discussion on how Atlantic City people need to get their fiscal sh*t together afterward.
Cookie Till
Cookie Till won Dancing Under the Stars at the Hard Rock Saturday.
“She scored four 10s and one 9 from judge Howard Eskin, who may now find it challenging to get a reservation at Steve & Cookies on a Saturday night in summer,” Nanette LoBiondo reports.
For more feats of journalism from across your region, see below:
South Jersey first-time voters on why they’re headed to the polls–Historically, voter turnout among younger age groups has been lacking, perhaps until now. www.pressofatlanticcity.com
PLEASANTVILLE RACKS UP 57 POINTS, SCORES FIRST STATE PLAYOFF WIN IN 15 YEARS–PLEASANTVILLE — When current head coach Chris Sacco took over the Pleasantville football team, the Greyhounds went 0-10 his first season. glorydaysonline.com
N.J. hotel workers will head to polls on paid time off, thanks to union–JERSEY CITY — Ruth Gavino, who works the front desk at Candlewood Suites hotel in Downtown Jersey City, is voting for the very first time this November. www.nj.com
NEW NJ TRANSIT DIVISION TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HEFTY REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO–New Jersey Transit is among the mass-transit agencies that rely the most on fare revenues, according to a recent audit, which suggested a hefty real-estate portfolio could be better leveraged to bring in more for the operating budget. www.njspotlight.com