The Morning Briefing February 2, 2012

SEASIDE - One may surmise the yellowed newspaper that the Jersey Shore's Snooki was sleeping under must've been dated from last year. How else can you explain her sudden tweet yesterday announcing she will not be voting for Gov. Chris Christie for President? Explaining to Politico that "someone just told me he's running for president," Snooki knocked Christie for "calling us names when he's never met us." Using that logic, there's probably not one politician in the U.S. she could vote for.

DENVILLE - While an Assembly committee holds its first hearing on legalizing gay marriage in Trenton, Christie thinks it's a good day to work from home. He won't be straying far from Mendham, holding his fifth "Jersey Comeback" forum at the Morris County School of Technology in Denville. Expect him to be asked to further apologize for his now-infamous gaffe, in which he said "people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South."

NEW BRUNSWICK - With the departure of Greg Schiano and the frenzy to replace him as the Rutgers football coach, it's the perfect timing for the university's faculty to kick the program in the face. Hundreds of professors submitted a resolution calling for Rutgers to slash the amount of subsidies for the athletic department, which overspent by about $26.8 million in 2010. The cash to balance the books was covered through student fees and pulling from the general fund. That money, professors say, is supposed to support academics, not all these professional-grade productions at Rutgers Stadium.

BALTIMORE - There is plenty of anticipation this morning in Baltimore, where Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce a major step in developing wind energy off the shore of New Jersey, as well as other Mid-Atlantic states. Apparently, the feds have completed all of their "environmental impact assessments" just in time for the Presidential election and are ready to push forward a plan. Expect it all to be a prime Obama talking point this summer and early fall.

PLAINFIELD - Some residents say the city's utilities authority is flushing more than water down the drain, circulating a petition to fight against a $1 million payment to two former employees who resigned June 30. Ticked-off residents allege the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority has approved $725,000 on top of the $275,000 already paid to the former employees. Residents told us they want the Governor to intervene, highlighting all the waste in Plainfield's 110-mile sewer system. Eager to hear the authority's take on all this.

ON THE AIR - When you are ahead, sometimes it's better to just keep quiet. Expect any competitor of Mitt Romney to rejoice over this on-air quote on CNN: "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." The somewhat stunned reporter, Soledad O'Brien, thought she must have wax in her ears and asked him to clarify. "Well, you had to finish the sentence, Soledad," Romney responded. "I said, I'm not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, then I will repair it." Looks like Newt is reborn .... again.

TRENTON - Charter school advocates will be at the Assembly Education Committee hearing today fighting senseless legislation which would impede the creation of innovative schools in both urban and suburban communities. The bills call for a voter referendum and automatically enroll children in charter schools. This legislation would turn the charter approval process into a political campaign, diverting scarce resources intended for children.

PASCRELL v. ROTHMAN - Score one for Rep. Steve Rothman, after the Bergen County Democratic chair slapped Rep Bill Pascrell for "baseless personal attacks," PolitickerNJ reports. Pascrell has been calling Rothman a wimp for avoiding a contest against entrenched Republican Rep. Scott Garrett, whose reconfigured district includes Rothman's hometown of Fair Lawn. Pascrell says Rothman is taking on a fellow incumbent Democrat to avoid one of the most conservative Republicans in the country. Meanwhile, Bergen's Democratic chair, Lou Stellato, says no one fights harder for Democratic values than Steve Rothman. Expect this all to get uglier and uglier.

LATE BREAKING NEWS: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow for the 100th time this morning, indicating six more weeks of winter. Sixteen times there has been no shadow, meaning an early spring. Today is the 126th-annual day in which Punxsutawney Phil has made his prediction. The legend was invented by the editor of a local newspaper who called Phil the only weather prognosticating groundhog. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club is missing the other 10 years of these critically-important records. We recommend they just make it up.