ASSEMBLY APPROVES AMODEO LEGISLATION TO PRESERVE THE PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO EAT RAW SHELLFISH
Talk about finding new rights. Where was THAT one in the Constitution? And isn't the whole "people's right" just a tad... well... socialist?
Once you read the whole press release, their position seems pretty reasonable. I can't hold myself out there to be an expert on the whole raw shellfish consumption thing. But it seems like something we can all get behind - as opposed to, say, Assemblyman Amadeo's resolution expressing disappointment over President Obama's handling of the Golf oil spill (AR88). I am not sure what the Golf oil spill is. I think President Obama must be containing it pretty well given that our local links appear to be safe here in South Jersey, as far as I can see from a recent drive out to Marlton and Medford.
In fact, the Assembly passed the resolution today by a vote of 78-0.
Who were the two missing assembly votes? I am sure we are likely to hear some fish stories on this one come election time.
Today is a jubilant day for Christopher James Christie, the first Republican elected statewide in 12 years. Morris County's Christie is due to be inaugurated at 11:30am, New Jersey's 55th governor. State Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner will administer the oath at noon at Trenton's War Memorial.
We are all wistful about losing a governor who marshaled a more progressive populace than most states enjoy, and I think it's possible the full weight of the loss of a Democratic governor may be felt almost immediately. But it's inauguration day - and newbie governors get at least a one-day pass.
In Christie's inauguration speech, watch for the vectors of the change he intends to bring to the state, and - in a politician given to rants and speaking off the cuff - let's see if he sticks to his speech, or at least one of the several versions he asked be written for him.
This is an Open Thread. What are you seeing as you look forward, Blue Jersey?
Since the Primary Election, loyal Republicans have been baffled by the behavior of the GOP establishment in New Jersey. First, operatives in the campaign of our nominee for Governor, Chris Christie, monkeyed around with the social issues page on his website, gaining the attention of the media before resolving what they caused.
Then, at the meeting of the Republican State Committee - the men and women elected from each county to formulate and advance the party's principles - the party leadership blocked a move to formally adopt the platform of the national Republican Party, as well as blocking a resolution condemning Governor Corzine's tax hikes. At least one major newspaper, the Star-Ledger, linked the leadership's refusal to adopt our Party's platform to the fact it contains Pro-Life and Pro-Traditional Marriage planks.
We've talked plenty here at Blue Jersey about Christie's missing shared values and the state party has been all over him. I wrote about the party plank issue yesterday, but the only response Christie gave was to make a joke that the news was out and he was a Republican. Lonegan concluded his letter this way:
Republicans have a base vote who wants fiscal change. It is the hollow men who reject it, and they do so for the simple reason that it is in their financial interests to maintain the status quo. At the back of every seemingly inexplicable betrayal by a GOP "leader" sits a close personal advisor with his own personal reasons. And in a state GOP without principles - that fails to adopt its own party platform - this kind of venal corruption is rampant.
That's why it is so important for the New Jersey Republican State Committee to take a principled stand, adopt the party platform, and then use those principles when the hollow men come round with their personal agendas.
"I don't think Steve really means that. He probably just had a bad morning," he said.
It's unlikely many of these conservatives would support the Governor, but the numbers game for Christie to win the Governors mansion assumes that his base turns out as he tries to get more of the vote in the middle. Carl Golden did an op-ed that "sore-loser Lonegan could cost Christie the election" saying:
If the Lonegan wing boycotts the Christie candidacy, the candidate's task of overcoming the Democrats' registration advantage will be that much tougher. Christie will be forced to make up the difference by peeling off a greater number of unaffiliated voters - the very people who've demonstrated election after election that fringe ideology is unacceptable and their support will be given to the candidate of responsible and more centrist policies.
You wonder at what point the base gets tired of being kicked before they just stay home. If they don't see Christie as a better alternative for them, would they still give him their vote?
The Republican State Committee was quick to come to Christie's defense this afternoon, sending a statement on behalf of Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) criticizing the Democrats.
"Buono and Greenwald should direct their energy towards rebuilding the shattered lives of New Jersey families," Malone said. "Chris Christie did not build these budgets. Jim McGreevey and Jon Corzine, along with their fellow Democrats, did."
"The budgets that have been proposed over the last eight years...
Well that didn't last long. Christie may not have built the budgets, but he has no plan to fix it either and the party he wants to lead helped to create the problem. Even Joe Malone will acknowledge that, when he's not spouting the party line.
"I am not saying to Christian conservatives, 'There is no place for you.'. I am saying, 'Please stop saying there is no place for us.'
Pam's House Blend points us to comments made to the Christian News Service that Whitman wants the "Preserving Traditional Marriage" plank deleted altogether:
"Well, I am somebody who believes in the separation of church and state and that the government, frankly, ought to be out of the business of marriage entirely," Whitman told CNSNews.com after her speech.
"It ought to be everybody - heterosexual, homosexual. When you go down and register to get married, that's when the legal transfer of everything occurs and that's a legal recognition of a relationship - and if you want to get married in a church, a temple, whatever, and you find one, great!" she said.
..."I would like them to take it out. I just don't think it's an issue that ought to be in a party platform. It's a personal issue, not a political one."
While speaking with CNSNews.com, Whitman also called for the open acceptance of homosexuals and lesbians in the U.S. military.
"I don't care if he is straight," said Whitman, in reference to a soldier's sexuality. "I care if he can shoot straight."
There definitely is a battle in the Republican party right now over what they will stand for and who will lead them. We'll have to see whether they actually get rid of the plank, but these are certainly some bold words from the former Governor.
"For seven years now, two governors and a Democratic legislature have succeeded in making New Jersey the worst place in the nation for private sector employment. That's beyond dispute and it's going to take a number of years for us to restore the state's image," said Christie, the former U.S. Attorney.
Uh, beyond dispute? Some would beg to differ. You can't dispute that two governors and a Democratic legislature have been in charge. And on the "worst place in the nation" comment, our unemployment has been below the national average and our income level is above the national average. Is Christie actually naive enough to say that all of the problems plaguing our fair state only developed in the last seven years? And that the current state of the economy as a whole doesn't exacerbate the problems we are experiencing at the state level?
More likely, he's just trying to score some political points, while neglecting to point out that these problems also came about under the watchful eye of the same people who gave Christie his job and platform. In fact, under Christie's boss and a Republican Congress the Dow is lower, unemployment is higher, the deficit is higher, our debt is higher, and the economy is worse -- but if he wants to point fingers at Democrats, that's just AOK. Steve Ayscue reminded us, through his many twitter posts on Thursday, about the history of the NJ GOP being in power and their inability to make the needed changes.
Everyone shares some responsibility for how we got here. The question is how are we going to fix the problems? The NJ GOP's answers have been to further demonize Abbott and COAH, while taking pot shots and trying to place blame. The difficulty of governing through these economic struggles is only compounded by the posturing of those trying to take or keep the reigns of power.
Well look at how Pete Sessions, the Chair of the NRCC is advising his members to fight the stimulus package. I don't know if this is the most effective messaging ever (Emphasis mine):
"Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban," Sessions said during a meeting yesterday with Hotline editors. "And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person's entire processes. And these Taliban -- I'm not trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. No, that's not what we're saying. I'm saying an example of how you go about [sic] is to change a person from their messaging to their operations to their frontline message. And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with."
Nope, of course he's not saying the Republicans are like the Taliban. He's just saying Congressional Republicans will study the Taliban to develop their strategy. As head of the NRCC, is he advising Lance, LoBiondo, Smith, Frelinghuysen and Garrett plan to sign up for insurgency training? Is the NJ GOP planning to study the Taliban for tips and tricks too? So much for toning down the rhetoric.
Republican leaders are trying to clear the field for Chris Christie and give him the clearest path possible. But not everyone wants to cooperate, as Ocean County Chair George Gilmore found out:
Sources say Gilmore would ask Lonegan if the Republican underdog would commit to not running slates against organizational lines in those counties where Lonegan fails to win the party's backing. There might be opportunities in Burlington and Ocean counties, for example, where renegade Republican factions are fighting the power.
Lonegan reportedly told Gilmore he couldn't make that commitment, likening such a promise to unilateral disarmament.
Not only won't he unilaterally disarm, but he turned around and went after Corzine and Christie in the process:
Any money the state gets from the federal government should go to re-establish an already pilfered unemployment trust fund and pension fund, Lonegan argued.
"But unfortunately, Corzine will use money from a federal stimulus package to grow government,? he said, before taking a second crack at Corzine?s pension deferral plan, which he called "worse than Christie Whitman's pension bonds. It will bite us worse in a couple of years. Instead of deferring pensions, we ought to end COAH. I'll do that. Chris Christie? How can he take on the Supreme Court when he was the greatest cheerleader for (Chief Justice) Stuart Rabner?"
Once it's over, Lonegan says he'll do his best to be a team player. But we can enjoy the show until they all come together. Good thing for Chris Christie, he got the support of someone he plea bargained with for the contest. Bring in the reinforcements.
"If our party publicly expressed satisfaction with New Jersey and National Republican results in Tuesday's election, all they were doing was reinforcing rank and file Republican cynicism for our party's leadership," he said. "Once again Republicans find themselves with no message, no money and no direction going into next year's gubernatorial election. To say our Republicans 'Ship of State' was run aground by our captain, would imply that it had a direction. That simply was not so."
He may want to talk to his State Chairman Tom Wilson, who thought election night was like New Year's because once the clock struck midnight they were all ready for the 2009 elections. Wilson must not have many fun New Year's celebrations if he enjoyed Tuesday night.
Tom Wilson may just be preparing himself for the inevitable. It seems like he's going through the stages of grief over possibly losing 2 GOP held Congressional seats. It looks like he's currently floating between denial and anger. When asked how he'd feel if the NRCC didn't invest in Chris Myers after Jim Saxton gave 400K to the national party, Wilson said this:
"If they don't, I'll be more than disappointed. I'll be sickened, and I'll be pissed," he said. "I can tell them to. They don't have to listen to me. Once the money is in their treasury it's theirs to do what they will with, but hopefully his colleagues will be respectful of his commitment to the caucus and make sure that his seat stays in Republican hands."
His colleagues will look out for their own self interests and he knows it. That's why he's making the statement. I was torn over whether to make that the QOTD or this response in the thread to his comment in the story:
I would be sickened, too, if I had on my resume that I was the state Chairman, the year Republicans lost two historically red districts.
Other than the fact that Tom Wilson doesn't want to lose a seat, is there a logical reason why the GOP should invest in NJ-3 or NJ-7 when they have so many other seats to defend? With 2 rounds of NRCC investments down, neither seat has made the list of ad buys meaning they're not even 2nd tier races for the national party, so apparently they don't see any reason to invest in them either.
"I wouldn't consider it a long shot. A number of times already he's shown his willingness to come to New Jersey and Jersey City on two or three occasions," said Czaplicki.
When asked if he has thought about the prospects of an Obama return to Jersey City, Czaplicki seemed to endorse Senator Biden's efforts as well:
"Of course we have. It all depends on how this goes here. The guy has a lot of work ahead of him. We've got a good neighbor to the south now in Joe Biden."
Sounds like we have our first NJ GOP leader for Obama/Biden.
In chess, a spite check is a checking move played with no purpose other than to delay inevitable defeat. Since the recipient of the check must then make a move to defend against it, the game is prolonged without the result being affected. This somewhat unsportsmanlike behaviour is probably more common in amateur play, however it is not unheard of for a master to throw in a spite check as his last defiant action before resigning a game.
If that sounds familiar, here's a description and comment on the Assembly GOP's actions yesterday which caused the vote on pension billls to be held open for over 4 hours...
The scene was partly surreal, partly role reversal as the minority party in the lower house grabbed the spotlight and reveled in Democrats' inability to push the measure through. "They give us a hard time, all the time," said Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Morris), as GOP leaders blasted the bill as watered- down reform. "It's kind of nice once in a while."
Eventually the measure passed overwhelmingly because Speaker Roberts didn't give in to their stunt. Apparently he threatened to gavel closed the session leaving the GOP holding the bag exposing their ploy for what it was. They never intended to stop the bill; they just wanted to make a scene because remember boys and girls, they are for good government. I know some will say that's just politics, but that doesn't mean we can't call them on their games.
New Jersey Republican Congressmen Scott Garrett, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Mike Ferguson, and Jim Saxton sent a resounding message to the unemployed yesterday. That message is, "This ain't 2003!!!"
So there are two possible explanations for Ferguson, Frelinghuysen, and Saxton: Either the economy just isn't bad enough or the bill isn't Republican enough. Either way, they owe it to their constituents to explain their action. Something that was right in 2003 can't just be wrong in 2008.
UPDATE by huntsu: PoliticsNJ is reporting that they got it wrong, but we suspect that there was some outrage generated by this post and comments on PNJ.
In a correction to an earlier report, Senate Republican Executive Director John Samerjan will leave his post after the conclusion of the current legislative session. Samerjan was not rehired by the new Senate Minority Leader, Thomas Kean, Jr., and according to sources, was not offered, nor did he request, a different assignment in the Senate.
They talk a good game about ending pension padding, double dipping and the like, but give them the levers of power and the Republicans pull the same old garbage.
Harkness replaces John Samerjan, who had held the post under John Bennett and Leonard Lance. Kean chose not to retain Samerjan, who is expected to remain as a senior advisor until he becomes fully vested in the state public employee pension system.
That's very nice of Kean to let Samerjan get vested in the system at taxpayer expense, by holding a made up job at taxpayer expense until he's eligible to collect. Especially since Samerjan is being fired for failing at his job. Instead of giving him a pink slip, Kean is giving a little political payback which has the potential to give guy a huge payout.
Put it this way, if Samerjan gets a $25,000 per year pesion at 60 and he lives until he's 90, that would potentially be an extra $750,000 for staying on an extra month or so. That's one hell of a golden parachute on the taxpayer dime.
It appears Kean and the Republican minority are following the poor example of corporations who fire their CEO's, but give them a huge payoff at the shareholder's expense on the way out the door. The only problem is that this time those shareholder's are the taxpayers.
I think a commenter on pnj put it best...
Heaven forbid anyone attempt to pull the tick off the dog until it has completely engorged itself.
"Why is it that the New Jersey GOP isn't following the Democratic State Committee's lead in holding an open draw for presidential candidates?" Republican counsel Brian Nelson asked State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson. "Why are the Republicans still following the process the Democrats are abandoning?"
We know that President George W. Bush doesn't give a rat's ass about veterans - unless, of course, he's getting some bad press about it. And we know that the NJGOP has had nary a whisper in protest about balancing the budget running up an irresponsible deficit on the backs of those it sends into harm's way (yes, we are looking at you, Mr. Scott Garrett of Grinch Mountain Wantage).
But what about our own home-grown veterans? Does the NJGOP think that wearing a uniform entitles you to an ounce of respect and consideration? We'll soon find out.
The site-that-used-to-be-politicsnj is reporting that a 30 year old Army Reservist named Mario Boernio wants to run for Congress down in Ocean County. No, he's never held office and he's never gone into combat, but he has faithfully served as a trainer for those who have put their lives on the line. While we don't have to doff our hat and scrape the ground with a sweeping bow for him, it would be nice if his service was considered grounds for inclusion in New Jersey politics. Boernio says:
his experience training soldiers in how to respond to blasts from improvised explosive devices is just as strong of a leadership qualification.
as learning how to cut deals in the backrooms of Trenton.
Does the Ocean County GOP have the guts to let someone onto the stage that could just blow them all away, or will they shoulder him aside because he hasn't made his bribes bones?
CNN is reporting the hilarious news that President Bush is actually comparing Iraq to Vietnam - and, no, the comparison isn't that he "didn't fight in either place":
Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president said.
We'll move beyond the hypocrisy of a man who hid behind his father's influence to stay out of Vietnam lecturing the American people on the results of ending that war - but I'll say it is something akin to hearing Jeffrey Dahmer talk about the pleasures of vegetarianism - and look at the bad historical reasoning he is exhibiting.
(Our Republican Congressmen continue voting to send more lives into the Iraqi meatgrinder. - promoted by Juan Melli)
The Entire NJGOP Congressional Delegation (slated to be reduced ASAP).
The Star-Ledger wannabe/clone Gloucester County Times says that the Sunshine Patriot caucus didn't rush to support Bush - but they didn't rush to support our troops either. Get this statement from Lurch LoBiondo:
I am extremely disturbed and increasingly impatient that the political will of the Iraqi Prime Minister and his government does not match the military will and unwavering dedication of our servicemen and women.
Right - so what does the Bush Apologist/Robot do? He votes to keep our troops in harm's way where the Iraqi government can enjoy the view. How does a person acknowledge that a vote to "stay the course" is a vote to do nothing but get more Americans killed - and then vote that way anyhow?
What happened to Lurch's backbone? Did he leave it with Mortisha?
Not one single NJGOP member had the guts to take to the House floor and defend their stance. In my mind, that means that they realize their stance is indefensible. Instead of knowing what they think of things now, we must go back to the last time such a measure was debated - and it's a safe bet to say that they haven't changed their minds, because they are doing the same things.
Make the jump with me to see these Gutless Wonders twist in the wind of their own words.
State Senator Joseph Kyrillos Jr., a Republican based in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, says he doesn't want to see the death penalty rescinded because it is "appropriate" for terrorism cases.
Would somebody please ask the senator why he thinks a suicide bomber would be deterred by the death penalty?
Republican State Chairman Thomas Wilson could lose his job following the guilty plea of his former business partner, according to four different Republican County Chairmen who say party leaders are actively discussing Wilson's political future. Wilson's term expires in June.
The Burlington County Dem's Chairman Rick Perr today said Tom Wilson should return fees his old lobbying firm received from the Burlington County Bridge Authority.
"I was astonished by your unwillingness to accept even the slightest responsibility for your firm's malfeasance," Perr wrote in a letter to Wilson. "The facts are clear: Bob Stears billed the Burlington County Bridge Commission as an employee and partner of the Strategy Group, and your firm profited from his illegal actions. Your disingenuous claims that Mr. Stears carried on a scheme that was bringing in such large amounts of money to the firm - and that no one else knew about it - defies credibility. In fact, it is an insult to the taxpayers who were bilked in this sordid deal."
