Coughlicts of interest?- POLITICO – POLITICO

Good Thursday morning!

Colleen ODea and John Reitmeyer recently reported that the Union County and Middlesex County improvement authorities each got $20 million in funding in the budget. Im sure youre aware of where Senate President Nick Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin live.

The previously-unreported detail I can add here is that the law firm co-founded by Coughlin one of the few politicians who has a real hand in crafting the budget is general counsel for both of those authorities. In 2021 it was paid about $360,000 from the Middlesex one and $407,000 from the Union County one.

Coughlins law firm started up five years ago, just as it became clear that he was in line to be speaker. Since then, its public sector billings have increased every year, from $1.8 million in 2017 to $6.6 million today. I suppose with that amount of public work its inevitable youll have situations like this, where the firms getting money from public entities that one of the firms named partners had a major hand in funding. I doubt this is the only public entity they represent that got money in the budget.

But at the very least, one could argue that this has the appearance of a conflict.

Speaker Coughlin is proud to have sponsored this years $50 billion budget, which included investments that will benefit millions of New Jerseyans and hundreds of localities throughout our state, Assembly Democratic spokesperson Gina Wilder said in a statement. The Speaker routinely confers with counsel for any potential ethical questions, and we are confident there are no conflicts in this year's budget.

It might be a tough sell politically to raise lawmakers salaries, but a full-time Legislature where members arent allowed to hold other jobs is one way to avoid this type of thing.

DAYS SINCE MURPHY REFUSED TO SAY WHETHER HIS WIFES NON-PROFIT SHOULD DISCLOSE DONORS: 142

WHERES MURPHY? Italy

QUOTE OF THE DAY #1: I am not a conspiracy theorist, but nonetheless the coincidence of errors seems to be statistically impossible. Based upon the nature of this matter, I believe there is something rotten in Denmark. Attorney Michael Hanafan, who represents Sussex County GOP commissioner candidate Bill Hayden in a defamation lawsuit against county Democrats, in a letter to judge William McGovern III.

QUOTE OF THE DAY #2: I cannot ignore Mr. Hanifans misquotation of Marcellus famous line, Something is rotten in the State of Denmark,' Plaintiffs counsels letter reminds me of a more appropriate line, also from Hamlet. Specifically, The lady doth protest too much, methinks, as stated by Queen Gertrude in Act 3, Scene 2. Attorney Christine Stripp in a response letter to McGovern

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Assemblymember Brian Bergen, Mercurys Mo Butler, Washington Posts Naomi Nix. Saturday for Ocean Dems Ken Bank, NJBACs Melanie Willoughby, Bergen Countys Christian Sforza, former Rep. Scott Garrett. Sunday for POLITICOs John Appezzatto, Plainsboro Committeeman David Bander, WSJs Heather Haddon, Porzios Beau Huch, 12th District staffer Synnove Bakke, friend Margaret Morgan, former assemblymember Jack Conners

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BOAT CHECKS STILL FLOATING New Jersey municipalities wasting 'many millions' on improper sick leave payouts, watchdog group says, by POLITICOs Carly Sitrin: New Jersey municipalities have wasted and are continuing to waste many millions of taxpayer dollars on improper sick leave payouts to public employees, according to a damning new report from the state comptroller's office. Of the 60 municipalities, the Office of the State Comptroller investigated, 57 of them, or 95 percent, are currently violating or have policies that will violate state laws that were enacted to protect taxpayers from wasteful and abusive sick leave payments

Investigators found examples of sick leave payments being permitted annually instead of just at retirement, municipalities simply not imposing the mandated $15,000 cap on sick leave payments, and policies and contracts that blatantly disregarded the states sick leave reform laws instituted in 2007 and expanded in 2010. While the report does not offer an accounting of how much money is estimated to have been wasted, the investigators cite the borough of Palisades Park in Bergen County as one example. According to the report, the local business administrator there collected unlawful sick leave payouts of nearly $10,000 in 2018 and 2019 and was entitled to a $360,000 payout when he retired including $160,000 in unlawful sick and vacation leave payouts. Thats just for one employee in one municipality, but Walsh said there are potentially hundreds if not thousands of similar examples across the state.

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POWER HOARDING DISORDER? George Gilmore wins race for Ocean GOP Chairman by 7 votes, by New Jersey Globes George Christopher and David Wildstein: George Gilmore will return to the helm of the states most powerful Republican organization, winning back his job as Ocean County Republican Chairman by seven votes, 330 to 323, a 50.5%-49.5% margin against Sheriff Michael Mastronardy. Gilmore had sought return to the post he held from 1996 to 2019 before a conviction on federal tax-related charges triggered his resignation. Frank B. Holman III, who succeeded Gilmore in 2019, endorsed Mastronardy, along with all five county commissioners and the Ocean Republican legislative delegation. Gilmore received a pardon from President Donald Trump before he served any jail time and has since become a thorn in the side of the Ocean County Republican establishment, backing challengers to local Republican incumbents and fundraising for a rival Republican organization.

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TIRED: COMPLAINING THAT TWITTER IS SHADOW BANNING YOU. WIRED: TRYING TO GET LIBRARIANS ARRESTED FOR BOOKS With rising book bans, librarians have come under attack, by The New York Times Elizabeth A. Harris And Alexandra Alter: Martha Hickson, a high school librarian in Annandale, N.J., heard last fall that some parents were going to call for her library to ban certain books A parent stood up and denounced two books, Lawn Boy and Gender Queer, calling them pornographic. Both books, award winners with L.G.B.T.Q. characters and frank depictions of sex, have been challenged around the country and were available at the North Hunterdon High School library. Then the woman called out Ms. Hickson, who is the librarian there, by name, for allowing her 16-year-old son to check out the books. This amounts to an effort to groom our kids to make them more willing to participate in the heinous acts described in these books, said the parent, Gina DeLusant, according to a video recording of the meeting. It grooms them to accept the inappropriate advances of an adult. Ms. Hicksons district in New Jersey, a complaint was made to the Clinton Township Police Department about obscene materials in a library book. The Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office said none of the information it received indicated criminal conduct

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A message from Rise Light & Power:

The Outerbridge Renewable Connector (Outerbridge) a proposal before the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities would enable the state to harness offshore wind energy by repurposing an abandoned brownfield, revitalizing an industrial-zoned waterfront, and supporting the local and state economy without impacting our beaches.

Outerbridge, proposed by Rise Light & Power, would be an underground electrical transmission project functioning as an extension cord and connecting energy generated by offshore wind farms to New Jerseys power grid. Outerbridge would support New Jerseys economic growth and resilience strategy. It is projected to deliver clean energy to 1.4 million homes and generate more than $1 billion in economic activity.

The project would minimize community disruption, protect environmentally sensitive areas and repurpose the past to power the future. Outerbridge would play a key role addressing the health and economic dangers of climate change while protecting the Jersey Shore we know and love.

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Coughlicts of interest?- POLITICO - POLITICO