WyBlog

The Howard Stern Rest Stop may make a comeback

Remember when former Governor Christine Todd Whitman named an I-295 rest stop after Howard Stern? Prior to being elected in 1995 she joked with Stern on the air and said she'd name a rest stop after him in exchange for his endorsement. She won, and made good on her promise.

Some years later Jim McGreevey shut that rest stop down, citing fiscal woes.

Our fiscal woes have, of course, gotten worse. So now Governor Chris Christie is floating the idea of selling the naming rights to all of New Jersey's rest stops. There are 20 rest areas on the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. A consultant estimates the naming rights for all of them could bring in $1 million a year.

On paper it sounds like a good idea. Until the first ninnies show up to complain about the sponsors. Constitution Arms, a licensed gun dealer, found out the hard way that the citizens of South Orange and Maplewood don't want him sponsoring a little league baseball team. They rejected his application citing "potential controversy".

Yeah, those ultra-tolerant progressive types don't tolerate them no Second Amendment rights. And there's a whole ton of other businesses which just might run afoul of the PC crowd too.

I'm guessing a Bud Lite rest stop would bring out legions of MADD mothers even before the ink was dry on the sign. PapaJohns.com? We can't encourage our kids to eat bad food! Exxon-Mobil? The econuts probably have pre-printed protest signs ready to roll. Wal*Mart? Unionized turnpike employees might refuse to work there.

So they'll play it safe and we'll get Geico and Ralph Lauren and Whole Foods and Government Motors as rest stop sponsors.

Maybe I need to set up a tip jar. If you guys can cough up fifty grand I can buy me a WyBlog Rest Stop! Gotta be one on the Turnpike though; the Parkway rest areas are all left exits and I don't do left turns. :-)

Posted at 17:21 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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