As news continues to come out about the budget deal that has been reached, the question of where the votes will come from to pass it becomes even more important. Some of the initial reaction hasn't been terribly favorable. Senator Sacco won't be a supporter because of UEZ funds:
Sacco said North Bergen has raised UEZ funds his city has used to build a mall on a formerly blighted area, to fix roads and to create a turn lane on routes 1 and 9.
"I don't know how to get a reversal," Sacco said. "This is a major disappointment. I absolutely cannot support this budget."
"It's unlikely I'll vote for it as it's currently devised," Whelan told PolitickerNJ.com. "Whether there can be enough tweaks to get me there, it remains to be seen."
We did not run on the kind of deep cuts in property tax relief to suburban and rural communities that we see in the final budget bill.
If all Republicans in both bodies support the budget, they need 4 Democrats in the Senate and 8 in the Assembly to get things to the Governor's desk. If you've seen comments from your members of the Legislature, let us know in the thread. And if they're not on the record yet, give them a call. Here is a list of Legislators and their contact information.
"I wish I could tell you I'm here from the state and we have lots of money to give you," said Whelan, D-Atlantic. "But the reality is you know the reality."
In between making phone calls through BarackObama.com (it's easy!), I listened to a conference call in which Democrats discussed turnout in Atlantic County. Participants included Congressional candidate Dave Kurkowski, State Senator Jim Whelan, and Beth Schroeder of Atlantic County Democrats. Here's what I viewed as the takeaway messages:
Huge turnout is expected, and first time voters may slow lines. Voters should make arrangements to arrive early and have enough to time to vote, just as they make arrangements to deal with any other important thing they have to do. (Of course, if you listened to Blue Jersey, you already voted.)
If newly registered voters did not receive their card, and we know this will happen in many cases due to the huge number of recent registrations, they should still be able to vote. If they are not in the book, they should request a provisional ballot. Challengers should be trained to deal with this situation.
Whelan and Kurkwoski both believe South Jersey voters should be getting the message that if they support Barack Obama, they should also vote for Democrats in all the downballot races.
There is unprecedented intensity and interest in volunteering. Atlantic County had over 200 people sign up to volunteer, and over a thousand people show up.
Democratic volunteers will be encouraging the people in long lines.
Late this evening, State Senator Jim Whelan became the first elected official to publicly announce his support for a US Senate primary campaign by Congressman Rob Andrews.
"In light of today's news stories regarding Congressman Rob Andrews' interest in running for the U.S. Senate this year, I strongly encourage Rob to run," said Whelan in a statement.
Whelan continued: "Rob has been an outstanding Congressman and a part of our extended family here in Atlantic County. He has always been there for us throughout his tenure in the House and there's no doubt that his being at the top of our state's ballot this year would be a huge benefit to our local ticket. As Atlantic County's highest ranking Democratic official I urge Rob to consider getting in the race."
(Promoted by njdem: I don't know if I agree that Van Drew & Whelen shoudn't run, but this is certainly a seat we should pay attention to. 2008 could be a really big year. - promoted by njdem)
Promoted by njdem: I don't know if I agree about Van Drew or Whelan running (or not), but we should definitely pay attention to this seat. 2008 could be a big year.
In less than one year, voters will decide who will face Bush rubber-stamp Frank LoBiondo, and as of now, not a single Democrat has filed to run against him, to the best of my knowledge. While every other district in N.J. has strong Democratic challengers, there still isn't a strong challenger, let alone any challenger, for LoBiondo's seat.
You may not be aware of this, but there's a newly-elected state senator that goes by the name of Van Drew who may be a viable candidate. Kidding aside, both Van Drew and Jim Whelan, top tier candidates, should not be running for this seat in 2008 and instead should serve a few years in the state senate before gunning for congress. (After the recent death penalty vote, I wonder if I don't prefer Whelan at this point). Last month, after winning his seat, Van Drew even said:
"I want to enjoy my victory. It's been less than a week," Van Drew said. "I want to spend some time with my family and get reacquainted, organize my legislative offices and prepare for the state Legislature."
What does that leave us for 2008? (Take the flip to find out!)
By more than a 2-1 margin, New Jersey voters support 100% smoke-free casinos.
The poll conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute (MoE +/- 3.7%) on behalf of NJBreathes found that 69% favor extending the statewide smoking ban to include casinos while only 28% are opposed. Further, 85% agree that "casino workers should be protected from exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace" while only 12% disagree.
The argument often made against extending such a ban is that it will hurt the economy, but according to the poll, only 7% say they would visit casinos less often if they were completely smoke free. On the other hand, 18% say they would go more often and 64% say it would make no difference.
New Jerseyans overwhelmingly believe that secondhand smoke is either a serious (66%) or moderate (20%) health hazard while only 9% say it's a minor health hazard and 5% say it is none at all. Likewise, 88% agree that casinos would be a healthier place for customers and employees if they were smoke-free.
The only reason this possibly unconstitutional casino exception to the smoking ban even exists is because certain legislators are subservient to the casino industry - not the people who voted them into office. There's no reason for the casinos to get special treatment while their employees suffer the effects of second-hand smoke. A loophole ban unanimously passed in the Senate in June, but it has yet to pass in the Assembly. Assemblyman Jim Whelan, whose district includes Atlantic City, introduced a measure to do exactly that, though has previously said that the casinos should be given time to adjust to the partial smoking ban. But what about the casino employees who keep suffering from the unhealthy work conditions? Whelan should push to close the loophole sooner rather than later.
I wanted to just do a quote of the day for today's stupid statement by 2nd District Republican Senate candidate Sonny McCullough, but decided to expand it and include some of his other wondeful moments throughout the campaign. Regarding the situation of the missing Atlantic City mayor, his opponent Jim Whelan was all over it calling for a resignation, but not Sonny...
"I have not heard any outrage," McCullough said. "In Atlantic City we have seen mayors go to jail, get indicted. It's an unfortunate thing, but we've lived with this stuff before.
"The only thing I hear is 'how could Whelan do this to his best buddy?'" he said. "That's what the locals are talking about."
"If somebody at a fundraiser hands me an envelope, I just turn it right over to the treasurer."
It's still unknown if he returned the cash. That's Sonny trying to say he's not responsible for the people who give him money and sees no conflict at all because .... he doesn't look at who gives him money. He just takes their checks and then just so happens to implement policies favorable to his contributors. Yep, forget the fact that they cash the checks and spend the money: that's see no evil, hear no evil, do no wrong Sonny for you. I wonder who else gave Sonny money that he "doesn't know about"?
"I have not heard any outrage," McCullough said. "In Atlantic City we have seen mayors go to jail, get indicted. It's an unfortunate thing, but we've lived with this stuff before.
"The only thing I hear is 'how could Whelan do this to his best buddy?'" he said. "That's what the locals are talking about."
So Sonny is the kind of legislator who says screw the people, I will stick by my corrupt friend. And his nonchalant comment about Atlantic City Mayors going to jail, well that's like driving by an accident and having the officer tell you to pay no attention to what you see, there's nothing going on there. In what world is it NOT something to take notice of if a Mayor disappears without a trace? Oh and his opponent, Jim Whelan: yeah, he was one of those boring Mayor's who just ran the city and didn't get indicted. Sonny must not like that.
Assemblyman Jim Whelan's 1st TV ad for the 2nd District Senate Seat is a positive bio piece talking about what he has done for his constituents.
I think the ad does it's job and I like him going with a positive introduction to the voters considering how ugly the campaigns have been. Your thoughts?
UPDATE: Assemblyman Whelan seems well on his way to the Senate, with a campaign of ethics reform, and strong support of labor. A great pickup opportunity, and a great guest.
EXTRA SPECIAL SURPRISE BONUS: Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle calls in to wish her colleague well, and of course, makes our day.
Thanks to both!
Saturday morning can only mean one thing: live radio with your calls, 10:30a-11. In addition to the best coffeetalk in town, Jeff and I will be joined by Jim Whelan who's running for state senate in Atlantic County. A Whelan victory would flip the 2nd district blue and how cool would that be?
Live radio with your calls! (646) 652-2773
In the meantime, in case you missed it, you can still catch last week's show with Senator Loretta Weinberg:
And when you're finished, you can surf through ALL our shows on our BlogTalkRadio page. Or download them all here:
Sonny McCullough has a history of blaming Bill Gormley for his own problems. When development overran Egg Harbor Township, Mayor McCullough pointed the finger at Gormley. When Atlantic County Republicans defected to the Democratic party, McCullough accused Gormley of forcing them out. Now, as he tries and fails to find support from the moderate wing of the Atlantic County Republican party, Sonny McCullough tells us once again that it is all Bill Gormley's fault.
In a recent interview with the Press of Atlantic City, appointed State Senator McCullough complained about the lack of help from retired Senator Gormley and his supporters. But McCullough has only himself to thank for the rift in the Atlantic County Republican party. Before he spoke of unifying the party at the special election convention to fill Gormley's Senate seat in February, McCullough had the Egg Harbor Township Republican club cleansed of Frank Blee's supporters. At the convention, he trashed Gormley, accusing the retiring Senator of forcing his political enemies out of the Republican party.
Many of the moderates who backed Assemblyman Blee in the special election convention saw little reason to support the man who had shown no respect for them and their longtime leader, Bill Gormley. Blee himself endorsed McCullough's opponent, fellow Assemblyman Jim Whelan, while Gormley has remained neutral, refusing to endorse McCullough.
At the same time Atlantic County Republicans find themselves unable to bridge an intractable divide in their shrinking party, Atlantic County Democrats are energized behind their strongest State Senate candidate in a long time. In 2005, then-Assembly candidate Jim Whelan won more votes in the second district than Jon Corzine, while outpacing Blee by over 2,000 votes and thrashing incumbent Republican Assemblyman Kirk Conover by 7,000.
I'm usually not one to give political advice to Republicans, but if Sonny McCullough is going to be more than a ten-month Senator, he might want to stop worrying about what Bill Gormley and his friends are up to, and start worrying about himself, his big mouth, and his opponent.
"The elected officials named in today's indictment should resign immediately" said Whelan, a longtime opponent of the Callaway organization. "This type of deplorable behavior cannot be tolerated. We need to send a clear message that these actions will not be accepted. The officials involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law. If convicted, their pensions should be seized, and any money illegally obtained should be returned to the taxpayers."
Assemblyman Panter and his running mate are also calling for their immediate resignation:
"Regardless of conviction, we call on these individuals to resign their public positions immediately, to focus on their impending trials without access to public tax dollars."
The 11th district Democratic candidates are calling for the suspension of all those charged.
Maybe it's implied, but I haven't seen yet any Republicans calling for their resignations. I'm sure I've missed some of their statements, but none of the ones I've seen say anything along those lines.
I want to take the opportunity to introduce myself in what I hope will be the first of several conversations with the Blue Jersey community. I'm Blondell Spellman and I'm running for the Assembly in the 2nd district. I'm running on a ticket with a true reformer, former Atlantic City mayor and Assemblyman Jim Whelan, who is stepping up to take the Senate seat, and my Assembly running mate, Joe Wilkins, a respected and distinguished labor leader in the state. I am making my foray into politics because the stakes are too high for me to sit on the sidelines.
When I graduated from Temple Law School, I was proud to work at the Women Against Abuse Legal Center, where I fought to protect underprivileged women and children from abuse. Later on, I worked at the Claridge casino, where I was proud to lead the compliance team that helped the Claridge become the first casino in Atlantic City to meet recruiting and hiring guidelines for women and minorities. I've been a dedicated community servant during my life, but until now, I've done it outside the public arena.
My focus is to change the way Trenton does business by making government more accountable and New Jersey more affordable. When I talk to voters on the campaign trail, they express grave concerns about being taxed out of their homes. Families are finding it more difficult to afford health care, college tuition for their kids, and cost-of-living expenses. I believe that we all need to do our part to make sure that Trenton lives within its means just like our families do each and every day.
We must also restore trust in our government. It's time to end special insider deals that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars - and demand that our government answer to the people. We must pass rigid ethics reforms and open up government to make it more transparent. Let's start by putting all of our public records online to shed light on the actions of government.
We're all aware of the tough challenges we face as a state, but I'm confident that by working together we can once again point New Jersey in the right direction.
My parents taught me the value of hard work and perseverance. No matter how big the obstacle, they told me to never quit - and never slow down. They showed me the way to become a leader and made me believe that even one person can make a difference.I hope to make that difference in the State Assembly.
I've worked hard to positively impact the lives of ordinary people with my time as a lawyer for underprivileged women and children, my work in the casino industry, and my participation in civic organizations. Now I want to fight for the citizens of New Jersey and for the 2nd district in the Assembly.
It turns out it's not just a bunch of liberals criticizing Representative Frank LoBiondo. Wally Edge is reporting that Republicans are grumbling about LoBiondo's failure (or inability?) to help their state legislators. The NJ2 congressional district is likely to have two more Democratic state senators, Jeff Van Drew and Jim Whelan:
Internal polls in both districts show the Democratic challengers with a lead against the GOP incumbents.
With a "major Republican player" badmouthing LoBiondo anonymously, and Republican Francis Blee supporting Whelan, the wheels are coming off the Republican party in South Jersey. Meanwhile, everyone understands that Van Drew or Whelan will sooner or later be a strong challenger for Congress.
Disclaimer: The content and ideas represented by this post are entirely my own and no connection should be made between this statement and my position at Rothman for New Jersey
When I worked at a half-way house in Texas I learned the term "White Knuckle Alcoholic". The term refers to someone who knows they are an alcoholic and tries to give up the juice on their own - no support system, no medical or counseling help, nothing. They are trying to simply stop being an alcoholic by willing it away. Sometimes people can hold their addiction at bay through sheer force of will for years. More often, their addiction catches up with them - and often at the worst possible time.
I've come to believe that racism is merely an outward symptom of an inward addiction to supremacy. Like a drug, the feeling of superiority over entire classes of people gives a false image of being in control, of being powerful. Like an addiction, this core supremacy can be confronted, controlled, and ultimately defeated if a person is willing to learn the humility necessary to do so.
Earlier this week, State Senator Sonny McCullough was reported to have shared a racist joke with a reporter. On the heels of Senator George Allen's "macacca" comment and Don Imus' "nappy headed hoes" uproar, you would think that a public official would be a bit more careful of what they were saying. But that neglects the power of an addiction to bend the perception of reality so that denial can whisper its lies into the conscience.
McCullough's reaction to the uproar over his slip shows that he has been white-knuckling it. Like an alcoholic uncle who beligerantly tells his wife, "It's only one drink!" McCullough asks us to believe that a joke built on racial stereotypes was not meant as an ethnic slur.
You can spot the problem by the symptom - and the symptom is the unapologetic apology. McCullough tells us, "It was never said in a slanderous way toward African-Americans or the Chinese. If they took it that way, I certainly would apologize. I never took it that way." Don Imus told us, "I'm not a bad person, I just said a bad thing." George Allen told us, "I didn't know macacca was an ethnic slur."
That is the cry of denial, coming from someone who desperately doesn't want to be a racist, but who can't find the courage to face the core of supremacy from which the original statements spring. You can bet as surely as Sonny McCullough has told such jokes before that he would also not tell it in a room full of black or asian americans. At some deep level, he knows that it's wrong. He just can't admit it to himself, much less to us.
It's also the confused cry of someone the world has passed by. George Allen, who kept a noose on his desk and a confederate flag pin on his hat, couldn't understand what the sudden fuss was about. Don Imus, who had built a media presence by insulting and demeaning people, couldn't understand what the sudden fuss was about. I don't know what Sonny McCullough's personal background is like, but I'm almost certain that this joke didn't come from a vaccuum. Once, such humor was a means of showing comraderie. Now, it's just mean.
This isn't the 1st time Sonny has had problems and it does not mean that Sonny McCullough is unfit for office - no more or less than it meant George Allen was unfit for office or Don Imus was unfit for the airwaves. But it does mean that he is out of touch with the world around him. If he has the courage to confront the ugliness within himself - something neither Imus nor Allen had - then he could still issue a heartfelt apology and regain his footing in a world that never rests. If, for whatever reason, he is unable to see the beam in the world's eye for the mote in his own, then it is time for his constituents to ask if someone who is stuck in a quickly receding past can possibly lead them into the future.
Maybe one day the powers-that-be will turn Petty's Island into the next locale for the reality show Survivor. They can vote contestants off one at a time and the winner gets to choose the island's future. But that's just my morning fantasy. Find out what the real plan is here.
Way down in South Jersey, Whelan joins race for state Senate and provides the Dems with the best chance to flip that particular disctict in decades. More from South Jersey here and here.
That's all until next time. This is an open thread so fire at will!
Christie's Christmas-tree grant investigation widens: Sen. Nicholas Scutari, Sen. Joseph Coniglio, and Assemblyman Brian Stack were subpoenaed because they had some sort of connection to recipients of state grants. Also, investigators are questioning contributions to Democratic chairman and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan's re-election fund by non-profit groups.
James "Sonny" McCullough, a conservative who has spent eighteen years as Mayor of Egg Harbor Township, won Bill Gormley's State Senate seat tonight, defeating seven-term Assemblyman Frank Blee by a wide margin.
Gormley was supporting Blee and McCullough was supported by Congressman LoBiondo. The Democratic County chairman promptly welcomed the Senator Elect/Mayor to the race by calling on him to give up his 2nd seat...
Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Ronald Ruff called on McCullough to step down as Mayor. "It would be inconceivable for him to take the oath of office to a second position at the very time the state legislature is trying to put an end to the practice of dual office holding," said Ruff. "Why turn back the clock?"
No word on if he will re-sign from his Mayor's seat but he will face Assemblyman Jim Whelan in the November Election in what will be one of the hottest races in the state most likely.
Legislation introduced last week by Assemblyman Gusciora urging Congress to oppose the escalation in Iraq is followed up today by legislation sponsored by Assemblymembers Linda Stender, Mike Panter and Jim Whelan that puts the legislature on the record as opposing the plan:
Assembly members Linda Stender, Mike Panter, and Jim Whelan have introduced legislation in an effort to demonstrate the state Legislature's bipartisan opposition to President Bush's plans to send more U.S. troops into Iraq.
"Even with the recent power shift in Congress, it's frightfully apparent that the President has not gotten the message on Iraq," said Assemblywoman Stender (D-Union). "More than ever, we need to pull out the stops to deliver the message that the President's approach in Iraq is wrong for the men and women in military uniform, it is wrong for our nation, and it is wrong for our state."
The Stender/Panter/Whelan measure (AJR-132) comes amid rising public opposition nationwide against the President's Iraq policies. The Iraq conflict has cost the nation over $350 billion and resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 military service personnel and the wounding and disabling of more than 22,000 American men and woman.
The resolution would put the General Assembly on record in voicing "overwhelming opposition" to the President's planned troop escalation. The lawmakers said they will push to have the resolution posted for a floor vote at a future Assembly floor session. Panter said the measure deserves bipartisan support.
