Want To Be A School Board Member? Gloucester Township Might Want You.

Thanks to the “sudden resignation” of Gloucester Township School Board member Brian Reagan after only a month into his term the “Gloucester Township Board of Education has a vacancy on the Board of Education to be filled by a resident of Gloucester Township. The appointed term shall be from date of appointment through December 31, 2019.”

Patch.com reported on the resignation. Here’s part of what they had to say:

The Gloucester Township Board of Education is looking to fill a vacancy after a newly-elected board member resigned one month into his term. Brian Reagan has resigned from the K-8 school district's board of education, the board announced at its meeting Monday night. No reason was given for his sudden resignation. He was not in attendance.

Reagan has been the subject of some controversy shortly after the election. The Bob and Steve Show reports that he lied in his online biography he posted while running for school board and that he allegedly wore black face in a social media post. 

Reagan was elected along with Carolyn Grace and Anthony Marks in the November elections. He earned 4,523 votes in the 15-person race, making him the second highest vote-getter.

According to the Gloucester Township BOE website:

Those eligible residents of Gloucester Township having an interest in filling the position shall send a letter providing information about themselves and summarizing their interest in the position.  All letters must be received by 4:00 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2019.

Letters should be sent to:

Mrs. Jean Grubb, School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, c/o Gloucester Township Board of Education, 17 Erial Rd. Blackwood, NJ 08012.

Legal requirements:

• ·          is a citizen of the United States of America

• ·          must be at least 18 (eighteen) years of age

• ·          must be able to read and write

• ·          be a resident of Gloucester Township for at least one year preceding the date of the appointment

• ·          is not disqualified as a voter pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:4-1

• ·          is a registered voter in the district

• ·          is not disqualified from membership for the conviction of crimes pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:12-1*​​​​​​​

*Within 30 days of appointment to the board, a member must undergo a criminal history background check through the New Jersey Department of Education.

If you should decide to submit your name for consideration please be sure to meet the criteria. We really don’t feel like having to investigate where someone lives again.

Hopefully, this brings at least some of the controversy within Gloucester Township to an end.

Murphy’s Second Budget Address: At Least “More Than 80,000 STD Tests Were Provided Free-of-Charge.”

Phil Murphy

Much like his State of the State address earlier this year, Governor Phil Murphy’s Budget Address today sounded more like a campaign speech.

He stuck with his familiar BS line, “Stronger and fairer,” saying it four times in today’s speech.

In a nutshell, the Governor wants to spend more money. He claimed he wants to spend more money by taxing millionaires. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that isn’t going to work, so let’s see who else he tries to tax.

Then there was all of the Governor’s talk of a budget surplus:

We are building a stronger fiscal house for New Jersey. We are replacing gimmicks with stability. 

For example, the projected surplus of the budget I signed last year was $765 million – a vast improvement over prior budgets. But, through careful management and keeping an eye on every dollar, we have grown our surplus by one-third over the year and are now set to close Fiscal 2019 with a surplus of over $1 billion.

This budget will grow our surplus even more in Fiscal 2020, to nearly $1.2 billion.

I ask you to find the last time we had consecutive years of billion-dollar-plus surpluses.

Here’s the thing. Surpluses are nice, but surpluses also mean that the government took more of your money than it needed. I’m thinking if the Governor really wanted to make New Jersey “stronger and fairer” he might use some of that surplus for a little tax relief for someone, maybe seniors.

But, no matter what, I guess Murphy can be proud that, “More than 80,000 STD tests were provided free-of-charge.” He must be proud of it, he worked it into the speech.

Money Can’t Buy Love But Maybe It Buys A US House Seat

David Richter (from Facebook)

Republicans gathered in Atlantic City over the weekend for their 2019 Statewide Leadership Summit. I didn’t go, I generally don’t go to these type events. Honestly, I considered it after several people asked me to, but my brother had surgery Friday and family comes first.

Everyone I spoke with who attended said it was a good event, so kudos to Chairman Doug Steinhardt and his team on a good event.

One thing happened at the event that seems to have a lot of folks talking. David Wildstein at the New Jersey Globe broke the news that Millionaire David Richter is considering a self-funded run for Congress in CD2 against Congressman Jeff Van Drew.

And, based on his Facebook page, it appears Mr. Richter really is considering a run:

Always the pessimistic anti-establishment guy my first thought on hearing the news Richter is considering a run for Congress was, “Here we go again,” establishment Republicans are falling in love with a candidate because he has a lot of money, no vetting, no nothing, just money.

Don’t get me wrong, Richter might be a nice guy, he might even be a good candidate, but he’s never lived in CD2. He lives in Princeton, his Facebook page says he’s from Cherry Hill and the New Jersey Globe piece says he grew up in Burlington County. So, what does he know about CD2?

All things being equal, I’d rather have Hirsh Singh. Singh may not have the kind of money folks thought he had, but at least he’s from the district, knows the district and has a little bit of name ID.

Then there’s Seth Grossman, another guy from the district who knows the district and held the race against Van Drew closer than most expected. While Grossman lacks a big bank account, he still has some organizational strength and name ID.

Brian Fitzherbert didn’t take his ball and go home after taking a shot at Congress last year. Quite the opposite, he’s built an active Young Republican organization, he’s well-liked, smart and folks know his name. There are folks who want to see him run.

I don’t know if Singh, Grossman or Fitzherbert want to run, but their names have been talked about throughout the district.

There is a real estate guy, John Andrie, who wants to run. He’s been making phone calls, but I don’t know much about him. Does he have money? One source says he has a little, another says he doesn’t. So, who knows?

So, back to Richter. Why does a guy with a sizeable bankroll who lives in CD12 want to run in CD2? Is he afraid to take a shot against U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman? Personally, I would like to see someone with lots of money challenge her. If nothing else, her money would have to stay in her district.

Unfortunately, what I would like to see doesn’t matter, it rarely does. What I do know is that if Mr. Richter is serious about running in CD2 he has a lot of convincing to do and it’s going to take more than, “I have a lot of money in the bank” to convince me.

So, Mr. Richter, consider this an invitation to call-in to the Bob & Steve Show and introduce yourself to the voters of CD2. We have 50,000 listeners and 30,000 something monthly readers who would love to hear from you.

Until then, in the words of the Beatles:

“Tell me that you want the kind of thing that money just can't buy
I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love

Can't buy me love, love
Can't buy me love”

But maybe, it can buy a US House seat.