NEW FAVORITES Gov. Chris Christie made clear Tuesday he doesn’t think much of elected officials who don’t do their jobs because they spend so much of their time running for president. And, no, it wasn’t a moment of self-reflec- tion. At a town hall event in Iowa, Christie said rival U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was wrong to miss a recent vote on the federal spending bill Rubio said he opposed. “Well, dude, show up to work and vote no, right?” Christie said. “Just show up to work and vote no, and if you don’t want to, then quit.” “I’m not saying he has to be there every day. I know he’s running for president. That’s fine. Just tell us that, ‘I’m running for president so I’m not going.’ But be hon- est about it.” AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK Gov. Chris Christie jokes with visitors to Elly's Tea and Coffee House in Muscatine, Iowa, Tuesday. Oft missing from N.J., Christie calls out absenteeism BOB JORDAN @BOBJORDANAPP See CHRISTIE, Page 5A ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION APP.COM $1.00 WEDNESDAY 12.30.15 VOLUME 136 NUMBER 312 SINCE 1879 ADVICE 5D CLASSIFIED 1E COMICS 4D LOCAL 3A OBITUARIES 10A OPINION 13A SPORTS 1C TABLE 1D WEATHER 8C YOUR MONEY 6A Airstrike killed senior Islamic State fighter linked to Paris attacks, Pentagon says. 1B The ocean’s currents carry pollutants called microplastics, like a smog, which is threatening marine life and our food supply. WHAT’S IN OUR FISH? Microbeads are tiny particles of plastic less than 1mm in size that can be spherical or irregular in shape and produced in a multitude of colors. An estimated 2.2 million pounds of microplastics, in- cluding microbeads, are floating on the surface of the North Atlantic. That’s the equivalent of 79 million water bottles lingering atop inter- national waters between the East Coast and Europe and northern Africa. Under New Jersey law, production of substances containing microbeads would be outlawed by January 2018 and the sale of those products would be prohibited by January 2020. RUSS ZIMMER @RUSSZIMMER N ear the surface of the waters off the Jersey Shore is a drifting veil of smog, of the sort that threatens the health of oceans the world over. ¶ Scientists say the debris arises from plastics, including items commonly stored in the typical home bathroom or kitchen cabinet. Chances are, according to these observers, the dan- gerous toxins in the materials could eventually make their way to your dinner table. You know the next stop after that. ¶ Forget those images of island-like garbage patches con- gealing on the water’s surface, the earth’s oceans are under attack from man-made debris practically impossible to see with the naked eye. Currents carry these pollutants, like a slow-moving cloud stretching across the sky. ¶ Millions of pounds of these microscopic plastic fragments are floating off New Jersey’s shore, absorbing toxins and infiltrating the food chain, according to government researchers. See POLLUTE, Page 4A ROBERT COHN/ASBURY PARK DESIGN STUDIO ILLUSTRATIONAND GRAPHIC Belmar, joining an ever-growing list of towns, has decided to opt out of Monmouth County’s troubled prop- erty tax pilot program, which has drawn the attention of law enforcement authorities and complaints from homeowners faced with heftier tax bills. The Belmar Borough Council voted 4-0, with one council member absent, in favor of a resolution to pull out of the program. “It’s a flawed program,” Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty said Tuesday. “It’s got too many issues.” The Assessment Demonstration Program requires municipalities to perform a town-wide reassessment each year and to inspect 20 percent of all properties an- nually for the five-year program period. The county Board of Taxation allowed towns to opt out of the program on Nov. 30. But the opt-out would not affect the new assessments property owners received this year, including tens of thousands who saw double- digit percentage increases in their local property taxes. Each of the county’s 53 towns has until April 29 to PRESS INVESTIGATION Belmar wants out of troubled tax program KEN SERRANO @KENSERRANOAPP INSIDE » Belmar will build pavilions on its own. STORY, 3A See BELMAR, Page 5A What restaurants did you miss this year? Table, 1D