Kristen Breitweiser supporters on Daily Kos again
More on Daily Kos in favor of appointing Kristen Breitweiser to Corzine’s seat.
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Codey snags 6th place
As reported in the Home News Tribune, Acting Governor Codey fared pretty well on election day:
According to unofficial election results compiled in a Gannett New Jersey survey involving all 21 county clerks’ offices, Codey received at least 9,668 write-in votes for governor in the Nov. 8 election.
That amounts to about one out of every 200 voters writing in Codey’s name, or 0.5 percent of the vote. That was good enough for a sixth-place finish, ahead of five of the eight third-party and independent candidates whose names were on the ballot.
So, while Codey was aggressively discouraging people from writing him in, he still beat 5 people actively campaigning for governor. What does that say about the viability of 3rd party candidates in NJ?
More on Lt. Hester
The five homophobic Ocean County freeholders (Gerry P. Little, John P. Kelly, James F. Lacey, Joseph H. Vicari, John C. Bartlett Jr.) denying Lt. Laurel Hester her pension benefits because she is a lesbian.
It’s a slow news day, but Lt. Laurel Hester’s simple request to pass on her pension benefits to her partner continues. In an editorial by Richard Schiff, Editor In Chief of the Greenwich Village Gazette, he writes on the next meeting of the Ocean County freeholders. Schiff notes that on December 7th, supporters of Lt. Hester will be out in force to hold their feet to the fire:
On December 7th a very vocal and determined force backed with Lawyers will attend the next meeting of the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders. These dedicated people are not prepared to take no for an answer.
I urge all citizens of conscience to be there to lend support and show the Freeholders that we value Lieutenant Hester’s 24 years of service to the community enough to treat her as equal in all ways with every other officer.
Let her die in the arms of someone who loves her. Who that is is none of anyone’s business. Choosing to turn Lt. Hester down and rejecting her basic rights should not be a decision the Freeholders get to make without a great uproar of injustice from the citizens.
From a few days ago – the Ocean County Reporter has video of the rally in support of Hester, where 200 supporters were joined by Congressman Frank Pallone.
Hester gave us justice; Give it to her in return
A powerful editorial in yesterday’s Ocean County Observer on Lt. Laurel Hester’s struggle to attain domestic partner benefits for her partner. I wouldn’t be doing it justice to just quote a portion of it, so go read the whole thing.
Happy Thanksgiving
Have a torturiffic Thanksgiving.
Unopposed NJ House Seats
The DCCC has put up a list of all the Congressional seats with the incumbents and challengers. New Jersey still has three Republican districts without challengers:
- NJ-02 Frank LoBiondo (R)
- NJ-04 Christopher Smith (R)
- NJ-11 Rodney Frelinghuysen (R)
Update: Robin Weinstein has an exploratory committee for the NJ-02 race.
Mercer County steps up
The Times of Trenton reported today that the Mercer County Freeholders passed a resolution last night to extend health coverage and pension benefits to cover same-sex domestic partners. County Executive Brian Hughes saw the storm brewing in Ocean County (over a police officer with a terminal illness whose request to leave her pension benefit to her legal domestic partner was denied,) and wanted to avoid ever having a similar scandal in Mercer.
Gotham Greens Strike Again!
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Green Party and its platform. I have even voted for Greens locally and nationally. I don’t even know Mr. Mayer and Mr. Afran. They could be good people for all I know.
However, when Greens do silly things like this, it rather irks me. Unless the law is behind you, which in this case, it is not:
The Seventeenth Amendment provides that vacancies in the Senate, however they arise, may be filled by special elections. A special election for a Senate seat need not be held immediately after the vacancy arises; instead, it is typically conducted at the same time as the next biennial congressional election. If a special election for one seat happens to coincide with a general election for the state’s other seat, then the two elections are not combined, but are instead contested separately. A senator elected in a special election serves until the original six-year term expires, and not for a full term of his or her own.
So perhaps the “Corruption Fighting Duo” could refrain from such blatently frivolous activity. The Senate is governed by the U.S. Constitution, and unfortunately for them, it is rather clear on the issue of vacancies.
Actions like these only bruise the reputation of the Green Party. A party that unfortunately cannot afford too many bruises upon its already sullied reputation.
Fight the good fight Greens, not the bad fight.
NJ for Dem Poll: Codey gets the numbers, but Rush Holt gets the hearts and minds
There’s s a guy named Dave who went to a great deal of trouble to write his own name in under the OTHER option in NJ for Democracy’s on-line poll asking who Corzine should pick for the Senate. And a few people really really like Bruce Springsteen (duh).
Other than that, we’re comfy the poll is pretty clean: 872 responses, open for one week, designed to discourage interference by accepting only one vote per IP address. We don’t claim it was scientific, because it was on-line. Full results here: www.njfordemocracy.org.
Codey – who may be dropping out today – was the numbers winner but is it Rush Holt who really scored here?
Dick Codey is OUT
UPDATE (2:50 PM): According to politicsnj.com, Codey has announced that he does not want to be considered for Corzine’s Senate seat. 101.5 news reports that Codey called Corzine earlier today to say he wasn’t interested in the job.
From the Inside Edge, via Patridiot Watch:
Acting Governor Richard Codey has called a 2PM news conference, presumably to say that he does not want to be considered for the United States Senate seat soon to be vacated by his successor, Jon Corzine. Several pundits say that this is probably a smart move for Codey — especially if he is not under serious consideration for the appointment anyway; his contact with the Governor-elect has been limited at best since the November 8th election. An announcement today allows Codey to say he’s not interested, rather than to have Corzine pick someone else first. Some Democratic sources close to Corzine say Rep. Bob Menendez remains the leading candidate.
Meanwhile, Congressman Pascrell thinks Menendez is the most likely choice:
Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. says that he met with Gov.-elect Jon Corzine on Tuesday to discuss his potential candidacy for the U.S. Senate and will meet with DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer next week. But Pascrell says that he believes Corzine is leaning toward appointing Rep. Bob Menendez to his Senate seat.