Cory Booker has a post up on the Huffington Post, which apparently has more reach than our little blog here.
Cory, you can always sign up for an account and post something here if you want! Consider this an open invitation. Besides, you are running for mayor of Newark, NJ right? Not Los Angeles!
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a taped segment on The Tonight Show last night where she tried to intervene in the ongoing war of words and banning that has gone on in the Conan vs. Newark Mayor Cory Booker Feud.Booker has gotten some great exposure for Newark as he tries to turn around public opinion of the city. Clinton was pretty funny about the whole thing as well. This is all leading up to a Booker appearance on the show himself.
Governor Jon Corzine is set to undertake the historic task of selecting an individual to run as the Democratic candidate to become the first Lieutenant Governor in New Jersey history.
On Monday, we looked at the potential Republican picks for Lieutenant Governor. Today, below the fold is a diverse list of ten possible Democratic contenders. It is subjective and, more than anything, written to solicit the opinions of Blue Jersey readers on the strengths and weaknesses of each potential pick.
Newark Public Schools had its annual convocation for full-time employees today. Except this time, at least in part because Prudential Center's opening means there's a large enough place to do it, it was really one convocation instead of different groups at different times.
Among the incidental facts I learned are that we have 42,000 students, 1000 of whom are homeless, and that we have 7000 or 7500 (depending on who's doing the speaking) full-time employees.
This year's convocation was new Superintendent Clifford Janey's introduction to us employees. His praises were briefly sung by others and he gave maybe a 20 or 30 minute speech. For the occasion, most of the City Council was there. Several state legislators were there. The Commissioner of Education was there and said Governor Corzine had wished he could have made it.
Cory Booker was not there. Nor, despite several points of opportunitiy such as explication of joint city-district programs, was Booker's name ever mentioned. To anyone even the slightest bit attuned to politics, his absence and non-personhood stuck out like a gigantic sore thumb.
A lot of media response about ex-Gov. McGreevy's paternity suit with his ex-wife. As a Gay American, I like what Monica Yant Kinney has to say about it all. Regarding McGreevy, part of me says everyone deserves the grace to ammend their life while the other half wonders WTF?
Hazy, hot and humid today! Ahhhh, summer in New Jersey.
Gov. Corzine yesterday confirmed that 45,000 state workers will be paid for time off during the state shutdown. The unions are happy about this, but critics such as State Senator Stephen Sweeny complained that it's just "more days off for state workers this year" while private sector workers who were affected will not recieve compensation.
Newark Mayor Corey Booker laid out his plan for the first 100 days of his administration, including plans to increase police patrols and a new office of child and family service.
The Gypsy Moths are back, estimated to infest over 125,000 acres in South and Central Jersey this year. Great.
While the Bush Administration refuses to do the same, the Meadowlands Commission has decided to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol in their district. The commission has plans for land use, renewable energy (go solar!), landfill-gas use, land preservation and transportation in order to comply with the treaty. Yay for the Meadowlands!!
March 16 is the deadline to file petitions for the non-partisan May 9 mayoral races in two of New Jersey's largest cities, Paterson and Newark, and while there is technically still no contested race in either city, that hasn't stopped the money from pouring in:
Only incumbent mayor Joey Torres has even filed in Paterson, yet:
The incumbent has already raised more than $700,000, with more than three months to go,
...[while] of the dozen potential candidates who are considering challenging Torres, none has filed the reports required under state law.
Meanwhile, in Newark, the much-anticipated rematch between incumbent mayor Sharpe James and challenger Corey Booker has yet to materialize because James has not yet declared. But that hasn't stopped donors from piling on to both camps, who report nearly $3 million cash on hand between them.
Good to hear there are still investments being made in our cities.
