New JErsey needs a real clean-elections law. And it needs it now.
By: Hank Kalet
The Asbury Park Press on Saturday hit the nail on the head with its editorial on "clean elections" in New Jersey.
As the editorial points out, the problems with the recent experiment in public financing were with the way the legislation was crafted, setting contribution thresholds that were too high and not providing equal funding for third-party candidates.
Real campaign reform requires a real attempt at making public financing work then, maybe, the tangle of connections that have ensnared Mayor Richard Pucci in Monroe might be prevented in the future.
Read the full legislative committee report here.
Not sure what to make of this
news, but really, does it matter?
Larry Brown is not what’s wrong with the Knicks or, at least, he’s not the only thing or even the most significant reason the team was a putrid 23-59.
The Knicks are bad because:
1. Isaiah Thomas has no plan and no patience. He understands young talent, but is too quick to pull the trigger on ill-advised trades and to change direction and to collect big names without a sense of how the parts might fit. So, the names change over and over and the team ends up with two coach-killer, no-defense, selfish point guards, a center with a world of talent and a bad rep and no work ethic, a mishmash of overpaid spare parts and a Hall-of-Fame coach who has no use for the players he must coach. Ugh.
2. James Dolan refuses to hold Isaiah Thomas accountable.(Thomas failed to lottery protect his first-round pick, which should be grounds for automatic dismissal.)
3. The players are not very good. Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis are the same player, selfish, no-defense types who like to shoot. Jalen Rose is over the hill and was vastly overrated when he wasn’t. Quentin Richardson, a nice role player on a good team, has no role here. Malik Rose is an over-the-hill role player without a role. Maurice Taylor is a contract waiting for expiration. Eddy Curry could be a star or a stiff; it’s up to him and how hard he is willing to work. I would take the three rookies, Jamaal Crawford and Curry, jettison the rest and see what happens.
4. Scott Layden’s legacy of bad decisions created a salary-cap hole so deep that even the best of GMs might not be able to extricate the Knicks, but Thomas has proven to be the worst of decision-makers.
At what point do the suits at Madison Square Garden realize that this is costing the organization real dollars and put a stop to it?