Thoughts on municipal mergers

It’s unfortunate — but not unexpected — that the mayors of Monroe and Jamesburg would feel as they do on legislation that could force some towns to merge. But there are a lot of reasons to go ahead with this — or some variant. The reality is that, no matter how much local residents complain about taxes, they will not do anything substantive to fix the system without being pushed.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Gutter sniping

Steve Adubato, a veteran of the New Jersey political scene, pretty much sums up the ugliness of this year’s Senate campaign, laying a large share of the blame (not all) at Tom Kean Jr.’s feet.

Ironically, many people felt that it would be Bob Menendez, a product of Hudson County — the bastion of dirty Democratic politics — who would drive this campaign into the gutter. And while Menendez has taken his share of potshots (including unfair criticisms of Kean as a “trust fund” kid from a wealthy family), it has been the young state Senator with the “golden” Kean name (and the unassuming face) who has savaged Bob Menendez. Kean has not only implied, but has said that Menendez is corrupt, dishonest and greedy.

As I’ve written before, corruption is a legitimate issue in New Jersey. But the Kean camp’s tactics have been hypocritical to the extreme. He has elevated legitimate questions about Mendenez’s role in an apartment scandal to the same level as the Lynch probe, which resulted in a guilty plea for the former state senator, even though there is no evidence that Menendez violated any laws. And Kean has climbed into bed with convicted felons to find dirt, all the while remaining quiet about the culture of corruption in Republican Washington.

If Kean were to take on his own party’s nefarious activities, then his attacks on Menendez might hold more water. As it is, he just comes off as another cynical politician who will do anything to win.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

The Playoffs: A view from Los Angeles

Always interesting to see what the papers from the otherside have to say. Here we have the Los Angeles Times focusing on the failures of the Dodgers to hit in the clutch or get the job done in the field.

What it doesn’t say, however, is that the Mets have managed to take advantage of the miscues and turn them into runs. The sixth inning is an example.

David Wright and Cliff Floyd led off the Mets’ sixth with back-to-back singles, and Jose Valentin dropped a bunt down the third-base line.

Garciaparra had just left the game, remember, and Little scrambled his infield by inserting Wilson Betemit at third base, moving Julio Lugo from third base to second and Kent from second base to first. Betemit took a step toward the ball, then retreated to cover third base. Reliever Brett Tomko took a step toward first base, then reversed direction to retrieve the ball. By that time, he had no chance to throw out Wright at third, and his throw to first appeared to pull Lugo off the bag.

Little said Lugo should have been charged with the error, not Tomko, because Lugo got the ball in time and dropped it. But he also said Betemit and Tomko initially broke the wrong way on the ball, costing the Dodgers a chance at forcing the lead runner.”

It was just a botched-up play,” Little said.

Endy Chavez bounced into a force play at home plate against Mark Hendrickson, so the Mets had the bases loaded and one out. Julio Franco then grounded into an apparent 6-4-3 double play, but the 48-year-old Franco somehow beat the relay.

“We thought we had a good shot to get Franco,” Little said. “The ball was hit just slowly enough.”

Forgotten in this account — or missed, at any rate — was the lack of aggression that Rafael Furcal showed on the grounder (or Lugo’s inexperience at the position), holding back and letting it play him. If he had charged it, it is likely that the Dodgers would have gotten Franco, ending the inning. Instead, the Mets followed the failed DP with a two-out Reyes hit and the game was won for the Mets.

Stay tuned for game three.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.