Remember when the rumor fever was all about Chris Christie’s chances of being Mitt Romney’s running mate. Like, on Tuesday?
The front pages of today’s copies of The Record and Star-Ledger focus on Christie as keynote speaker at the Republican convention. Trenton bureau reporter Melissa Hayes found sources to confirm it would happen, while the Ledger reports the rumor and highlights the denials.
Notable about the denials is no one says it’s false. The Romney camp says it’s “premature,” and Christie is quoted saying he hasn’t been invited. Can’t say for sure what’s going on, but being keynoter definitely rules out being running mate, and perhaps Romney wants to nail that key choice down first. Of course, once he does, he has to prepare for the call from Christie saying, “What makes THAT guy better than me?”
And if you missed my trip down memory lane, you can read about how the last New Jersey governor to deliver a convention keynote address was called a “baby killer.”
Also worth noting: In his speech at a fund-raiser in Washington yesterday morning, Christie was railing against the failed promise of Barack Obama, and just happened to note that he was the keynote speaker at the Democratic convention in 2004. Hmmm. A keynoter who becomes president in four years? Was Christie trying to drop a hint there?
Speaking of Obama, while yesterday’s Qunnipiac University poll shows the Democratic president comfortably ahead in New Jersey, a new CBS/New York Times poll says economic fears are undercutting his support nationally. That’s the primary message from Romney’s campaign, and not coincidentally the campaign of Joe Kyrillos, who is running far behind in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez.
The Times also found that public opinion of the Supreme Court dropped after it upheld the Affordable Care Act.
Back in New Jersey, Rutgers University kept its streak going and voted to raise tuition yesterday, this time by 2.5 percent yesterday. Along with a room and board cost increase, it now will cost $24,043 for an in-state student to attend school and live on New Brunswick/Piscataway campus, education writer Pat Alex reports. Most jarring is the chart that accompanied her story, showing the rise of tuition with the decline of state funding. According figures provided by Rutgers, in 2000-01, tuition for an in-state student for one semester was $5,000, and state aid was $338 million. For 2012-13, tuition for a semester will be $10,356, with state aid $263 million.
Oh yeah, and enrollment keeps rising.
Tuesday’s report by the state comptroller that towns are letting professionals such as engineers and lawyers pad their public pensions despite a state law against it continued to reverberate yesterday. The state League of Municipalities and the School Boards Association sent messages to all their members telling them about the report, which concludes that millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted, according to a report by The Record’s John Reitmeyer.
Rep. Rob Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, hotly denies he’s done anything wrong, but the House ethics committee is taking a look at his use of campaign funds. The Star-Ledger’s Matt Freidman reported last year on some notable expenditures, including $7,725 for a trip with his family to Scotland for a donor’s wedding, and $10,000 for a high school graduation party for his daughter. Andrews said he’s always followed the rules for using campaign funds. Here’s the report from The AP on the probe, and Friedman’s take in the Ledger.
Finally, there’s the never-ending issue of New Jersey trying to break out New York City’s shadow. As Bruno Tedeschi, a former Trenton bureau chief for The Record, notes on today’s op-ed page, an ironman triathlon being run almost exclusively in New Jersey is being billed as a New York competition. His piece takes you through the full course, and notes: “Maybe we’ve all just become numb to being snubbed.”