News: POLITICO New Jersey Playbook: N.J. coronavirus cases keep going up

Monday, November 16, 2020

POLITICO New Jersey Playbook: N.J. coronavirus cases keep going up

Nov 16, 2020

Presented by Uber

Good Monday morning!

The second wave keeps battering New Jersey, with a record breaking number of newly-reported COVID-19 cases on both days of the weekend.

Obviously, that's bad news. And while mask-deniers push a conspiracy theory that Gov. Murphy wants things to look worse than they are — a theory sometimes amplified by elected officials and even one or two mainstream media figures— New Jersey reporters have been good about pointing out that the situation is not as bad as it was back in April. We have more testing, and hospitalizations and deaths aren't near what they were at the spring peak.

Hopefully this is the last big wave before a vaccine becomes widely available. And we're not part of an isolated region of the country experiencing this spike. It's pretty much everywhere. And unlike the spring, the White House appears less engaged.

We'll see how much better equipped nursing homes are to handle the virus , whether Murphy's going to have to make politically-unpopular decisions to significantly further lock down the state and if Thanksgiving makes things worse.

CORONAVIRUS TRACKER — 4,540 newly-reported cases for a total of 279,274. 18 more deaths for a total of 14,765 (and 1,801 presumed deaths).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Comms consultant Tony Ciavolella, Camco Assistant Counsel Ilene Lampitt, consultant Shai Goldstein

WHERE'S MURPHY? In Trenton for a noon coronavirus press conference. Media: MSNBC at 7:40 a.m., 6ABC at 8:15 a.m.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It's been said that the deepest part of Hell is reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, assume a position of neutrality. It's even worse for those who actively support policies and actions they know are repugnant." — Former Gov. Jim Florio

A message from Uber:

CA voters & app workers voted overwhelmingly to protect workers' flexibility and provide new benefits. Time for New Jersey to follow, see how here.

WHAT TRENTON MADE

REDISTRICTING — After waiting until almost the last possible minute, Democratic State Chair John Currie named the Democratic state legislative redistricting picks Sunday. Per Democratic State Committee Executive Director Saily Avelenda, the two big outstanding questions have been answered: Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) will get his wish to sit on the committee, and Democrats bent to pressure after months ago floating all male names for the committee and appointed a woman: Fairview Administrator Diane Testa. Essex County Democratic Chair LeRoy Jones will lead the Democratic delegation. Rounding it out broker Gary Taffet and West New York Commissioner Cosmo Cirillo . Avelenda will be the chief of staff. Republicans, led by Essex GOP Chair Al Barlas, named theri redistricting panel back in April. These commissioners will have plenty of time to plot strategy: It's more likely than not that redistricting will be put off for a year, per the constitutional amendment. Still, not everyone is happy , whether with the diversity of the commission or the lack of progressive movement members.

EDUCATION — "NJ school districts fear post-holiday COVID spike. Some will be remote well into January," by The Record's Hannan Adely: " Gov. Phil Murphy may be touting New Jersey's school reopenings as a success story, but some of the state's biggest districts are hitting the panic button. With the spike in COVID-19 cases and the potential for further spread over the holidays, a growing number of districts – Newark, Paterson, Clifton, Hackensack and Garfield among them – have canceled in-person learning until at least January, consigning thousands of students to remote classes. 'We are very concerned about the increase, the news that we are in Phase II of this pandemic,' said Marie Blistan, president of the New Jersey Education Association, a union representing teachers and other school professionals. If the state goes into another uptick as we did before, I don't think there's any question on what the state and governor will have to do with health and safety,' she said, noting that Murphy 'did put health and safety first back in March when schools shut down.' Blistan did not call for a statewide shutdown at this point but said that could change if the state reaches a 'critical mass' – like what New Jerseyans experienced in March."

—" Disability leaders condemn NJ's handling of COVID, worry about 2nd wave," by The Record's Gene Myers: "New Jersey residents with disabilities and their advocates are angry with the state and how it failed their high-risk community during the pandemic, shows a new report. The report outlines 23 ways in which the state failed to protect the disabled community during the crisis. People with disabilities, which make up 24% of the state's population according to the CDC, were left aside and outside of the planning process because of a lack of understanding of the community, how they live and the help they needed, the report states."

—" Murphy won't close N.J. schools yet. He's not alone in his decision"

COMPANIES THAT BUILT HYDROPONIC WAREHOUSES SOLELY TO GROW LETTUCE SUDDENLY REALIZE THERE'S A NEW OPPORTUNITY — "Recreational pot industry preps for New Jersey debut," by The Wall Street Journal's Joseph De Avila: "Curaleaf Holdings Inc., a marijuana company that operates in 23 states and grows and sells both medical and recreational cannabis, has one cultivation facility and one medical dispensary in New Jersey. The company is already in the planning stages to increase production in New Jersey, said Boris Jordan, the company's executive chairman. 'We intend to expand dramatically, particularly on the cultivation side,' he said. Curaleaf is building a 120,000-square-foot indoor cultivation facility and later plans to build a 500,000-square-foot outdoor operation, Mr. Jordan said. The company also plans to add two additional retail locations, he said. Mr. Jordan said his company could be ready to sell recreational marijuana in New Jersey as early as the second quarter of 2021, although it is unknown if state regulations will be set by then. Once New Jersey's marijuana program is fully developed, the marketplace could generate at least $2.5 billion in sales, said Scott Rudder, chairman of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association"

—"NJ's hemp industry starts to grow"

—Mulshine: "The marijuana-legalization fight: It's Weedman vs. Greedman as Murphy makes a tax grab"

LEAST CUTE LAMB EVER — "Why Phil Murphy went from lion to lamb on the virus," by The Star-Ledger's Tom Moran: "He had the guts to impose a hard lockdown when that first wave hit, including schools, restaurants, beaches, malls, and even parks. He's been carefully loosening the noose since then, notch by data-driven notch. But he's reacting quite differently to this second wave, at least so far. He was a lion then, and he's a lamb now. Last week, facing a terrifying spike of cases in New Jersey, his response was meek: Restaurants must stop serving indoors after 10 p.m., no one can belly up to a bar, and youth sports can't play interstate games. That's it, despite the spike. Local governments can go beyond that, but that part of the executive order is meaningless, since Newark, Hoboken and Paterson had already imposed tighter restrictions on their own, and every mayor in the state saw that the governor allowed that. Now, he's explicitly leaving it to the locals to tighten the knot, the same approach he's taking with schools. He calls it a 'surgical' approach that will allow for regional differences. But it has the added benefit of shifting the political heat to mayors and school boards when businesses and stir-crazy families roar their protests at restrictions."

—" Covid surge in New Jersey prompting scientists to sound the alarm"

—"Citing Murphy's virus restrictions, Borgata cutting jobs, hours"

—" Atlantic City casinos report more than 250 COVID cases over several months, spike in October"

JOIN WEDNESDAY - CONFRONTING INEQUALITY TOWN HALL "BRIDGING THE ECONOMIC DIVIDE": Although pandemic job losses have been widespread, the economic blow has been especially devastating to Black workers and Black-owned businesses. POLITICO's third "Confronting Inequality in America" town hall will convene economists, scholars, private sector and city leaders to explore policies and strategies to deal with the disproportionate economic impact of the pandemic and the broader factors contributing to the persistent racial wealth and income gaps. REGISTER HERE.

TRUMP ERA

GUNNISONING FOR IT — "Malinowski campaign sues five counties for lists of rejected Naked Ballots," by New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein: "Rep. Tom Malinowski's (D-Ringoes) campaign filed suit Friday seeking to force five of the 7th congressional district's counties to release lists of voters who sent in rejected naked ballots as the incumbent's lead against State Sen. Minority Leader Tom Kean (R-Westfield) continues to narrow. The congressman's suit against elections boards, their chairs and county clerks in Somerset, Warren, Morris, Hunterdon and Essex counties asks that his campaign be provided with a list of ballot rejections and their justifications or that they be allowed to review rejected ballots under supervision to create their own list. The latter offer is meant to avoid burdening already strained election boards. Malinowski's team wants to contact voters who returned naked ballots — ones lacking an inner envelope bearing a voter's signature — so they can cure them ahead of the November 18 deadline."

BEEN A WHILE SINCE A PENNACCHIO PRESS RELEASE PROMOTING HCQ — "Feds sue to stop N.J. company from selling unproven COVID-19 treatment," by The Record's Rodrigo Torrejon: "The U.S. Department of Justice went to court Friday seeking to block a New Jersey company from selling a product officials said falsely claimed to cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent COVID-19, even as the deadly pandemic — which has no known cure — continues to spread wildly out of control across much of the country. Attorneys for the government requested a restraining order to stop the sale and recommendation of what they said was an unapproved 'nano silver' product that a Newton-based company 'Natural Solutions Foundation' has been pushing as a cure to COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, the department said."

SURELY THEN PASCRELL WON'T ASK ABOUT TRUMP'S TAXES— IRS chief to appear before Pascrell's committee, by POLITICO's Aaron Lorenzo: IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig has agreed to a virtual hearing with the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee on Nov. 20. The panel's chair, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), tried to get Rettig to testify a month ago, but Rettig requested a hearing in November instead. Rettig, in response to Pascrell's initial outreach, said he wouldn't discuss President Donald Trump's tax returns, a subject of intense focus for Ways and Means Democrats since they demanded Rettig turn over the records last year. Rettig and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused, and the matter has been tied up in courts ever since. Pascrell originally requested Rettig testify on tax compliance issues, including news reports that Trump paid hardly any federal income tax in recent years.

MATT'S CATS — "Glen Ridge woman's paintings of Biden family dogs may be heading to Washington, D.C." by The Record's Julia Martin: "When Erika Bleiberg lost her job in July in the midst of a pandemic, she turned to her favorite form of stress-reduction: Painting dog pictures … Though most of her subjects are pets of friends and neighbors, Bleiberg's most recent subjects are national celebrities: Major and Champ, the Biden family dogs … The first couple wouldn't be the first recipients of Bleiberg's portraits. After running out of local subjects a few months ago, she began painting pet portraits for her favorite journalists, including Soledad O'Brien, Matt Katz, Sarah McCammon, Sean Sullivan and Dave Jorgenson. She knew some of them from years as a public relations executive in Montclair, others she simply admired, reaching out to them on her Twitter feed with the hashtag #journalismmatters."

—Florio: "In defeating Donald Trump, America just dodged a bullet. Can we learn from it?"

—"Julie & Mike talk Biden transition and Christie '24"

—Porrino: "Now that the election is over, can we fix our federal courts?"

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LOCAL

BECAUSE THAT DECADES-LONG GAMBLING MONOPOLY REALLY HELPED YOUR CITY — "Atlantic City bids for exclusive rights to marijuana sales in New Jersey," by The AP's Wayne Parry: "It may be just a pipe dream, but Atlantic City's mayor is ready to delve into high finance. Now that New Jersey voters have approved recreational marijuana, Mayor Marty Small wants his city to be the only place in the state where it can be sold for three to five years. Small says the city should get first dibs on tax money that recreational marijuana would generate because it currently gets nothing from state-imposed parking, luxury, hotel and sports betting taxes. 'This is the perfect opportunity to rectify that,' Small told The Associated Press Wednesday. 'We are constantly looking for new revenue streams to offset the impact of property taxes … The state Legislature would need to act before Small's proposal could be enacted - and the likelihood of that happening appears small. 'There's no way,' Senate President Steve Sweeney said bluntly"

HOMELESSNESS — Legal Aid sues over Newark ordinance blocking homeless relocations, by POLITICO's Janaki Chadha: The Legal Aid Society is suing the city of Newark over an ordinance blocking the de Blasio administration from relocating homeless New Yorkers there — the latest in an ongoing legal fight around the practice between the two cities. Legal Aid and the firm Lowenstein Sandler filed a federal class action lawsuit Thursday on behalf of tenants who have moved or seek to move to Newark through a de Blasio administration program for people in the shelter system that pays for one year of rent in apartments outside the five boroughs. New Jersey's largest city passed an ordinance in November 2019 blocking the program, called Special One-Time Assistance, and later filed a lawsuit against the de Blasio administration over the practice. Newark alleged the program violates federal commerce laws and pointed to examples of homeless New Yorkers being placed in substandard and at-times illegal housing.

KUSHY DIGS — "Affordable housing site by Kushner in wealthy N.J. town is suing next town to pay for utilities," by NJ Advance Media's Steve Strunsky: " One of the state's wealthiest communities, its less affluent neighbor, and the Kushner development company are entangled in a legal triangle in Monmouth County. Kushner is suing Freehold Township to make its water and sewer lines available for high-density apartment complex with an affordable component just across the border in Colts Neck. Freehold, in turn, has filed a counter-claim bringing Colts Neck into the lawsuit, charging the toney township with shirking its responsibility to provide affordable housing for baristas, teachers and firefighters by trying to force Freehold and other nearby communities to pay for the $40 million in infrastructure necessary to accommodate it."

CONLON EXAM — "Trenton hires law firm to investigate clerk Matthew Conlon's claim he passed NJ bar exam," by The Trentonian's Isaac Avilucea : "Is he who he says he is? The city law department tapped an outside law firm to investigate whether clerk Matthew Conlon has the credentials he listed on his resume, law director John Morelli confirmed. Parsippany-based law firm Inglesino, Webster, Wyciskala & Taylor is conducting the credential check, Morelli said. The city has a $50,000 contract with the firm and will pay $175 an hour for any work done by the firm as part of the Conlon investigation. The city outsourced the investigation to the law firm to avoid the appearance of a conflict as there's been friction between Morelli and the clerk."

LEGALIZE IT — "Morristown family forced to give up pet hens, fined for violating town code," by The Daily Record's Jessie Gomez: "The Sudol family has lost its long fight to keep its pet hens in the backyard coop. After receiving a fine for violating the town code, the family must now say goodbye to its feathered friends. The family will bring the chickens to a hen therapy center in Camden County and keep fighting to change the town ordinance. Family members hope to be reunited with Xena, Trixie, Alice and Penelope in the future. In August, the Sudols were cited by health officials for keeping their 'Hen Den' chicken coop in the yard, which violated the town's chicken ordinance. Peter Sudol reached out to local officials for help, but his time ran out after the court ordered him to rehome his hens by Monday."

—"Middletown redistricting: It was DOA in 2017. Is it still on the table now?"

—"Hamilton nursing home faces $13K fine for COVID-19 workplace violations"

TRACK THE TRANSITION, SUBSCRIBE TO TRANSITION PLAYBOOK: As states certify their election results, President-elect Biden is building an administration. The staffing decisions made in the coming days, weeks, and months will send clear-cut signals about his administration's agenda and priorities. Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to what could be one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, it tracks the appointments, people, and the emerging power centers of the new administration. Stay in the know, subscribe today.

EVERYTHING ELSE

UNION HAS A MORE WINNING RECORD THAN RUTGERS FOOTBALL — "Judge orders Rutgers to turn over athletics' finance documents," by The Courier-News' Bob Makin: "A Superior Court judge has ordered Rutgers University to turn over information about tens of millions of dollars lost annually by its Big Ten athletics program. In a ruling last month, Judge Michael Toto found that Rutgers violated the state Open Public Records Act (OPRA) by withholding in-depth data sought by the university chapter of the AAUP-AFT union. In the wake of more than 1,000 layoffs since April, the union said that it wanted to know why Rutgers' Athletics Department is allowed to remain a "financial drain" on a university that has declared a fiscal emergency that has led to pay cuts, furloughs and wage and hiring freezes. While the union will not get all the information requested, Rutgers must turn over a substantial number of documents electronically by Nov. 20, according to Toto's order. The judge also ordered the university to pay the union's attorneys' fees and court costs."

R.I.P. — "James Holleran, who worked to prevent suicide after his daughter's death, dies at 59"

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