Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo says the state is in for some difficult fiscal times ahead.

Reacting to yesterday’s release by the Treasury Department of an audit showing the final revenue figures for Fiscal Year 2012 were $123 million below projections, Sarlo says the real number for the fiscal year that ended last June is $288 million below projection for the three major taxes, $318 million for all taxes and that Treasury did some fuzzy math that draws funds from the current-year budget.

“So on day one of the new fiscal year when they were projecting 8 percent revenue growth, they were already stealing revenues and stealing dollars from the new fiscal year to balance their books for the previous fiscal year,” Sarlo said.

With revenues coming in below projections for the current fiscal year as well, Sarlo says the state is staring at a problem.

Once again, congratulations go to Lakewood's very own Blue Claws team. They have made the list once again as one of the top selling merchandisers of the minor league teams. 

For 11 years now they have topped the list, selling millions of dollars worth of merchandise out of the beautiful 2000+ Square foot store that they operate out of the stadium that Lakewood Township built for them with 24 million dollars of UEZ money that was allocated solely for them. 

Not only do they not pay any rent for the store, to add insult to injury they have removed the name Lakewood from most of their apparel and novelties. Most shirts and caps have the logo of the crab, and the word claws or blue claws. 

from www.everythinglakewood.com

"You know those ‘No Parking’ signs in front of many schools throughout Lakewood? Well they’re there for our children’s safety. No parking during school hours allows for safe drop-off and pickup of school children. It also permits buses to properly park rather than block traffic while loading and unloading at a school.

This week these ‘no parking’ signs in front of an elementary school on 6th street were removed, endangering school children and causing traffic issues. The Department of Public Works stated “we received orders from Committeeman Steven Langert to remove the signs”, sources say. 

From NJ101.5

We still don’t know if Jersey’s senior U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg will seek another term next year, but one man who wants his job is reminding everyone that as Lautenberg approaches his 89th birthday later this month, the Senator “has a decision to make. 

Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been nothing but complimentary to Lautenberg so far, but many political science experts think he’s following a carefully laid out strategy.

Booker told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien he has tried unsuccessfully to arrange a meeting with Lautenberg.

By: Elliot Resnick

In 2005 and 2006, Jack Abramoff’s name was all over the news – for the wrong reasons. A high-powered Capitol Hill lobbyist – and an Orthodox Jew to boot – Abramoff found himself at the center of a federal corruption investigation that ultimately landed him in jail. Among other things, Abramoff was accused of conspiracy, bribery, tax evasion, and attempting to defraud his clients of tens of millions of dollars.

Today, Abramoff is a free man. Out of prison since 2010, Abramoff today is committed to reforming the lobbying industry that he helped tarnish. In 2011, he wrote Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Corruption From America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist. The Jewish Press recently caught up with him.

It seems that the Blue Claws are attempting to renegotiate their contract to keep the sweetheart deal of paying only 25 thousand dollars a year to continue renting a 24 million dollar stadium that they didn't contribute towards the cost of construction, and we spend millions a year to maintain. 

In this article from Forbes magazine it mentions how much the owners of the Blue Claws make off of the obvious corrupt deal they were able to get with the help of our Senator Singer and his cronies on our Committee. 
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While even the top MiLB teams are worth a fraction of the $605 

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