| | | | |  | | By Matt Friedman | Good Wednesday morning! I hope you fared OK in last night's storm, and that the flooding isn't as bad as feared. Gov. Phil Murphy’s Chief of Staff Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti has been in the job for a little over three months, but her future there is uncertain. I’m told things have been turbulent in the front office, with Gutierrez-Scaccetti in and Chief Counsel Parimal Garg — have butted heads. Lame duck wasn’t very productive for Murphy’s priorities. The liquor legislation that passed at the end of the session was a faint echo of the ambitious plan Murphy announced in his State of the State speech one year ago. An effort to renew the Transportation Trust Fund sputtered. This all came to a head with a late-breaking attempt to fix Gutierrez-Scaccetti’s pension situation. Last week in committee, lawmakers introduced 15 new pages to a pension-related bill, loosening pension rules for dozens, perhaps hundreds of public officials, including the Gutierrez-Scaccetti, who since 2011 has collected a nearly $6,000 monthly pension from her previous career at the Turnpike Authority. She was able to keep collecting the pension during her time as commissioner. But she would have to put that pension on hold as chief of staff. The bill sought to change that. While the bill was put on the fast track, I’m told that the governor’s office ultimately told legislators they planned to veto it, and the Legislature held it. Last I checked late last night, no decision had been made on Gutierrez-Scaccetti’s future. But the people I talked to who are aware of the situation situation don’t really see hope for an easy resolution that keeps her in the job. Of course, only one person besides Gutierrez-Scaccetti — Phil Murphy — can really make that decision. . TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at mfriedman@politico.com QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Congratulations! Especially to those legislators who some predicted would not be sitting here today. I guess being in a picture with me wasn’t so bad after all.” — Gov. Phil Murphy in his State of the State address WHERE’S MURPHY? — Media: CBS NY at 8:45 am to discuss the storm, then “Ask Governor Murphy” at 7 p.m. on your local NPR affiliate |  | WHAT TRENTON MADE | | |
ABORTIABILITY — Phil Murphy pushes again for abortion access and New Jersey affordability in State of the State, by POLITICO’s Ry Rivard and Daniel Han: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat entering the final legislative session of his career but whose wife is trying to bring the family name to the U.S. Senate, used his annual State of the State address Tuesday to push back against attacks on abortion rights, champion the economic potential of artificial intelligence and hammer away at the state’s most stubborn issue, affordability. “We have seen a resurgent, radical, right-wing agenda that is hellbent on coming after our fundamental rights. Voting rights. LGBT rights. Reproductive rights, and explicitly, the right to an abortion,” Murphy said. “There is no sugarcoating it: Women’s health care in America is in a state of crisis. … Murphy didn’t announce many major new policy pushes, though he often saves those for a budget address that is also early in the year. But he teased some kind of criminal justice reform. “In the next few months, I will be announcing a new clemency initiative that will ensure we live up to our promise as the state for second chances,” he said, without more details. Murphy has not taken clemency actions, such as issuing pardons or commuting a person’s sentence, since taking office in 2018.
—“GOP responds to Murphy’s State of The State: ‘Pie in the sky’” —“NJ Governor Murphy wants 16-year-olds to vote in school board elections” —“Wiping out NJ medical debt: Can Murphy's plan make a dent in millions in unpaid bills?” WAYNE’S WORLD OR WATERWORLD? — “NJ officials won't open gates at Pompton Lakes Dam before rainstorm,” by The Record’s Philip DeVencentis: “State officials turned down a request Monday for the release of water from the spillway at Pompton Lakes Dam before this week’s forecast rainstorm. Mayors from four communities downstream of the dam had pleaded with the state to manually open its floodgates, believing that doing so in advance of the storm would prevent the piled-up water from deluging their weary residents. The gates open automatically when the lake held by the dam reaches a certain level. But Shawn LaTourette, the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said in a three-page letter to the mayors that ‘volume reduction’ in lakes is not an effective solution to stop the risk of flooding. ‘The storage volume created by lowering the lake prior to an impending storm provides no downstream benefits,’ LaTourette wrote. … Wayne Mayor Christopher Vergano responded by saying he was “truly disappointed” by the decision. ‘It is unfortunate that the state of New Jersey was unwilling to help those communities below the floodgates,’ Vergano wrote in a Facebook post. ‘No harm would have come to anyone with the early release of water.’” —“N.J. weather: 13 towns where serious river flooding is predicted as dangerous storm hits region” —“Live updates: Rain arrives in North Jersey as region prepares for flooding” COUGHGEVITY — “This N.J. Democrat just made history, and the state Legislature just got a big makeover,” by NJ Advance Media’s Brent Johnson: “One of New Jersey’s highest-ranking politicians set a longevity record Tuesday atop his perch in the state Legislature, on the same day Trenton got got an infusion of fresh blood as more than two dozen new members took the oath of office. State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, was sworn in to his fourth term as leader of the lower house of the Legislature, the governing body in Trenton that writes the state’s laws and passes its budget. That makes the 65-year-old attorney from Woodbridge the longest serving Assembly speaker in New Jersey history after a rise in power even he admits he never expected. ‘Anybody asks me who I am, I’ll tell you I’m the luckiest guy in the world,’ Coughlin told NJ Advance Media during an interview inside his office the Statehouse in Trenton.” —“Coughlin names new Assembly committee chairs” MURPHY REFUSES $50 FINE FOR KIDS WHO PARTICIPATE IN BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH — “Plan to give 51K more N.J. kids free breakfast and lunch is now up to Murphy,” by NJ Advance Media’s Tina Kelley and Brent Johnson: “Another 51,000 students in New Jersey are in line to become eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch under the latest proposed expansion of the program, which state lawmakers on Monday sent to Gov. Phil Murphy for final approval. The bill (A5684) would extend eligibility for government-funded meal programs to families making no more than $67,200 a year, or 224% of the federal poverty level, up from $59,700, or 199%. Families of four with an annual income of $30,000 are at the poverty level under 2023 federal guidelines.” EDUCATION — “Facing pushback, NJ legislators decide not to block online learning amid teacher shortage,” by The Record’s Mary Ann Koruth: “New Jersey’s education advocates heaved a sigh of relief when lawmakers on Monday walked back measures that advocates said would have affected K-12 teacher quality and access to online lessons in schools. Among the last votes in the lame-duck legislative session, lawmakers passed a resolution that urges the Department of Education to examine the rising trend of remote instruction in school classrooms — rather than blocking districts from contracting for online courses. And a bill that would have eliminated annual teacher evaluations was modified but failed to pass.” —“NJ legislature opts out police review board legislation. Activists vow new effort in 2024” —“Advocates celebrate passage of NJ bill for domestic worker rights. Here's what it includes” —“Brian Bergen will be new Assembly minority whip” —“NJ Supreme Court limits 'mugshot exposure' in ruling on Willingboro shooting” —“Fulop addresses police misconduct, crime reporting, & migrants during virtual Town Hall” —“Governor Murphy vetoes bill to battle invasive plant species in New Jersey” | | BIDEN TIME | |
HE’S ALREADY LOST IN THAT COURT — Menendez: Government trying to convict me in 'court of public opinion', by POLITICO’s Ursula Perano: Sen. Bob Menendez addressed the multiple indictments against him in a Tuesday floor speech, claiming the government has conspired against him to poison public opinion and a potential jury pool. Menendez (D-N.J.) has maintained his innocence in all of the indictments against him, the latest of which alleges he acted as a foreign agent on behalf of Qatar … “Why did the government not proceed with all of these accusations from the beginning? The answer is clear to me,” Menendez said. “By filing three indictments — one in late September, a second one a few weeks later in mid-October and a third one last week in early January — it allows the government to keep the sensational story in the press and seeks to convict me in the court of public opinion.” Menendez also forecasted his case will go to trial, saying there is “no evidence of the giving or receiving of cash or gold bars” and that there will “be at trial a full explanation of what is the truth about those issues.”
—“Fetterman dares Menendez to run for reelection, doubles down on call for his expulsion” ICE ICE MAYBE — “NJ says judge erred in allowing ICE detention center in Elizabeth to stay open,” by The Record’s Ricardo Kaullessar: “The 66-page brief, filed Thursday in the Third District U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, seeks to reverse the decision in August by federal District Judge Robert Kirsch. The judge upheld a preliminary injunction sought by prison company CoreCivic against a state ban that would have forced it to close the Elizabeth Detention Center … In the brief, lawyers for the state said that the district court ‘erred’ in ruling that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives CoreCivic ‘freestanding constitutional immunity’ from the statute that New Jersey has cited in seeking to close the Elizabeth center down. … Kirsch ruled that the New Jersey statute was "unconstitutional" when applied to the federal government's operation of the Elizabeth Detention Center. He also said in his ruling that if the New Jersey facility was closed due to the state law and a neighboring state passed a similar law, it ‘would result in nothing short of chaos’ for immigration enforcement.” —Moran: “On foreign affairs, Andy Kim is pro. Tammy Murphy is an amateur” —“‘The View’ Chris Christie Interview Scores 2.5 Million Viewers, a 2-Month High” —Haley holds second place in New Hampshire behind Trump, polls show | | LOCAL | |
WEEWORKHAWKEN — “As Hudson rents skyrocket, Weehawken devises plan to keep public employees in the township,” by The Jersey Journal’s Mark Koosau: “Put your home on the market in Weehawken, and the township itself just might want to buy it. That’s the municipality’s current solution to an emergency it has seen gradually unfolding: government employees being priced out of the municipality that employs them. With the goal of keeping them local and improving employee retention, Weehawken is directly providing housing for some city workers who would otherwise have to move away. The logistics of the plan are being worked out as it unfolds, an indication that the township is moving with a sense of urgency to address a crisis that is already in motion countywide. The township is seeking to bond for $4.7 million to have money on hand to purchase more buildings when they enter the market.”
CARRYING WATTERMAN — “Watterman senate endorsement was salvo fired in Fulop-Stack behind-the-scenes battle, some insiders say,” by The Jersey Journal’s Joshua Rosario: “The endorsement of a South Jersey congressman by Jersey City’s city council president for Bob Menendez’s U.S. Senate seat may have come as a surprise to many, but some political insiders say it was just one chess piece being moved in a quietly intense dispute between Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Union City Mayor/state Sen. Brian Stack. Last week, Council President Joyce Watterman surprisingly endorsed U.S. Rep. Andy Kim … Two Hudson County insiders say Tom Bertoli, who pleaded guilty to federal tax charges and has remained loyal to Fulop, has been advising Watterman and is behind the endorsement … Some believe Fulop, who is running for governor in 2025, doesn’t want to support Murphy, but needs to do so after shunning Rep. Rob Menendez Jr. in his upcoming reelection race. In other words, Fulop will silently back Murphy, but has Watterman — one of Fulop’s most loyal allies on the council since being first elected in 2013 — boosting Kim’s chances in Hudson County. …. Insiders say Stack has fired back at Fulop by removing Peter Baker, Jersey City’s corporation counsel, as a potential superior court judge. Baker was set to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Stack, on Monday but was removed before the weekend, a day after Watterman supported Kim.” MAYOR ALSO VOWS TO BRING SPICES, SILK TO TOWN —“Branchburg will fight new affordable housing quotas, mayor say,” by MyCentralJersey’s Mike Deak: “The township's new mayor has vowed that Branchburg will oppose new affordable housing mandates when they are handed down in 2025. ‘We'll be battling again on behalf of the residents,’ said Anna Columbus after she was selected by her fellow Township Committee members to serve a one-year term as mayor at last week’s reorganization meeting.” —“Montgomery's new mayor blazes the trail for Sikh and Indian American women in New Jersey” —“More ‘Hope’ for [Newark’s] unsheltered homeless” | | EVERYTHING ELSE | |
—“Coast Guard looks for answers in tragic Port Newark shipboard blaze that killed 2 firefighters”
One note: Yesterday I mixed up shock jock Craig Carton’s name with his former co-host Ray Rossi
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