With the swearing in of Dana Redd as the Mayor of Camden, the political changes continue. Her departure created the need for a new Senator and that choice has opened the door for another new member of the Assembly. South Jersey leaders put out a release this afternoon announcing support for Don Norcross to move up to the Senate, instead of the Assembly seat he was recently elected to and Camden City Councilman Gilbert "Whip" Wilson to be the next Assemblyman:
Among the supporters are U.S. Rep. Robert E. Andrews, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Camden Mayor Dana Redd and State Sen. President Stephen Sweeney. Also rallying behind Norcross and Wilson are Lloyd Henderson Esq., a prominent African-American leader; the Rev. Reginald Jackson, executive-director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey; Bishop David Evans of Bethany Baptist Church; Logan Township Mayor Frank Minor, chairman of the South Jersey Political Black Caucus; Camden Mayor Gwendolyn Faison; and Jeannine LaRue, vice-president of Rutgers University and former deputy chief-of-staff to Gov. Jon Corzine.
Wilson is a former police lieutenant who currently serves on the Camden Council. The list of supporters included elected officials, labor leaders, county chairs, municipal chairmen and religious leaders. Norcross was elected to the Assembly in November along with Angel Fuentes. PNJ says that Norcross will be sworn into the Assembly, but won't be there very long:
Norcross will serve in the state assembly for four days before Democratic committee members from the district hold a special election on Jan. 16 that will almost certainly send him on to the state senate.
I'll put the full list of supporters from the release below the fold. While it all appears to be a done deal, there is no doubt questions will continue to be asked about the process of selecting those new leaders. You will have a completely new slate of elected officials in the Legislature from the 5th as what was Redd, Roberts and Cruz-Perez, will now apparently be Norcross, Fuentes and Wilson.
Suffolk University has just released a new poll of New Jersey. This one has 400 likely voters (358 "very likely" and 42 "somewhat likely") and is the only one to include "all 12 candidates whose names are printed on the ballot." They find great numbers for Governor Corzine:
Though most polls are showing the New Jersey governor's race to be dead even between incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine and former U.S. Attorney and Republican challenger Chris Christie, a new poll by Suffolk University signals that Corzine (42 percent) leads comfortably over Christie (33 percent), with independent Chris Daggett trailing with 7 percent. Three percent of voters selected among the other nine independent candidates listed on the ballot, and 14 percent were undecided...
Undecided voters were breaking to Corzine as well. When initial undecided voters were asked whom they would vote for if they were standing in the voting booth right now, 25 percent chose Corzine, 15 percent Christie, 2 percent Daggett, and 55 percent remained undecided.
Daggett's 7% is significantly worse than other polls, which they suggest is due to the other names. This, after all, does reflect the actual ballot, so perhaps they are right. 56% of Daggett voters say they may change their minds, which is in line with other polls. Suffolk also notes that 66% of voters think Jersey is on the "wrong track" so it's not somehow picking up a odd group of optimists. Obama is at 62-30 favorable-unfavorable, but the question asks about Obama rather than job approval, so a higher score is not unexpected.
Looking at the numbers, we've seen 42% for Corzine before, but the big result is the Christie collapse. I'm sure we'll get a lot of polls this week (PPP and R2K, for sure) so we'll see if they also find Christie in the mid-30s. By the way, if you think asking all twelve candidate is annoying, apparently you're not alone:
When likely voters were asked if they preferred fewer choices on their ballot, 66 percent said yes, and 34 percent said no.
Suffolk also polled 350 additional voters in Gloucester County, and they again got great numbers for Corzine:
The 2009 New Jersey bellwether of Gloucester County showed Corzine leading Christie 41 percent to 30 percent, with Daggett getting 11 percent. However, Daggett is listed third on the Gloucester county ballots, right after Corzine and Christie, which may account for a slightly higher number than in the statewide poll, since Daggett is listed lower on the ballot in many of the other counties. In the 2005 New Jersey governor's race, each candidate's Gloucester County results were within 1 percent of their statewide numbers. Bellwether samples are designed to predict outcomes -- not margins -- and to supplement the Suffolk statewide polls.
In 2008, Suffolk University bellwethers were 95 percent accurate in predicting straight-up winners in both Democratic and Republican primaries, and, when in agreement with the statewide Suffolk polls of the respective states, were 100 percent accurate in predicting straight-up winners.
Bring your walking shoes. Coffee and Donuts provided. Give 3 hours of yoru time on election day.
Vans are provided. Bring a friend ,hop on a van,distribute literature.
BE PART OF A GREAT VICTORY FOR NEW JERSEY.
GET-OUT-THE-VOTE CAMPAIGN
ELECTION DAY 2009 - TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD
i i i
Camden & Gloucester Counties
9:00 AM
Garden State Pavilions
2240-15 Route 70 West, Cherry Hill
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Cumberland County
9:00 AM
The Old Five Points Diner
Landis Avenue & Route 47 (Delsea Drive), Vineland
The $250 billion port project is expected to create 2,500 jobs and 800 construction jobs and to impact approximately 20,000 other jobs in the area.
They are building a 190-acre general cargo terminal in the heart of the southern New Jersey. The new port will enable the State to capitalize on the increased demand for port facilities. Here's more on the breakdown of the plans and what they will mean for the region including the potential economic impact:
Overall, the project will feature a marine terminal with three 40-ft deep berths and a 20 ft. deep barge berth, warehouse space and an access overpass. Phase I will consist of building two 40-ft ship berths and 100,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space and an access road and bridge, for a total cost of $174 million. When fully complete in 2012, the terminal is expected to employ 2,500 full-time workers, including truck drivers, loaders, logistical technicians, warehouse workers, processors, billers and shippers.
Phase 2, scheduled for completion in 2017, will consist of building the third 40-ft ship berth, the 20-ft barge berth and additional warehouse space, at an estimated cost of $100 million.
In five years, the port is expected to generate $10 million to $15 million a year; in 10 years, it is expected to generate $20 million annually.
Governor Corzine had this reaction to the project:
"This is just one of the most successful concepts that I have seen put together in a very, very long time for economic development and expansion," Corzine said.
And here's some video from the groundbreaking:
I'll put more reaction from local elected officials below the fold.
From an email sent out by Chairman Angelini of Gloucester County and Beach of Camden County:
Donald W. Norcross was unanimously nominated today to be the Democratic candidate for the 5th District State Assembly seat being vacated by Speaker Joseph Roberts. Norcross, a longtime labor leader whose work on behalf of working families, charities and civic ventures has earned him the respect of ordinary citizens as well as government and community leaders, was chosen at a special meeting of the Camden and Gloucester Democratic county committees. A resident of Camden, Norcross will be seeking the position left open by Roberts' decision not to run for another term in the November election.
And a comment from the new Assembly candidate:
"I believe we must change the way business is done in Trenton," Norcross told hundreds of Democrats attending the meeting at Brooklawn American Legion Post # 72. "We must put our partisan differences and the special interests aside to do what is best for the ordinary, hard-working taxpayers of this state. The status quo is not working. The state government is wasting too much of our money."
Norcross called for a state-government spending freeze and a moratorium on tax increases. He said that if elected he will push initiatives to create jobs for the growing number of unemployed New Jerseyans, institute tax breaks and other economic incentives for small businesses and stimulate New Jersey's struggling economy."
Norcross will now run with Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes for the seats in November. The changes may not be done in the 5th however, as State Senator Dana Redd is expected to win Mayor of Camden. That would mean that a new Senator would be coming as well and Wally speculated about the implications of that change on a potential contest for Senate President. I'm sure there are varied opinions on this as always. Have at it, but let's try to keep it civil.
I am very grateful for the opportunity the voters gave me to represent them in Trenton," said Love. "It has been a wonderful and challenging experience, and there is still a great deal I want to accomplish in the year remaining in my term."
Love, 63, said she did not want to get into specifics about her condition, but assured it's "nothing that's life-threatening."
"There are other people who I'm sure would like to have a chance to serve," she said. "Whoever is chosen, I am willing to work with them and share my ideas to help them in any way that I can."
Love took the seat in 2007, when then Assemblyman Dave Mayer decided not to run for re-election. The move certainly makes things more interesting in the fourth legislative district. The district is split between Gloucester and Camden counties, with one seat typically representing each. With Paul Moriarty from Washington Township in Gloucester County, PolitickerNJ speculated about potential candidates from Camden County:
A long list of possible candidates to succeed Love include: Camden County Freeholder Rodney Greco (D-Gloucester Township); former Gloucester Township mayoral candidate Bill Collins; former Acting Camden County Sheriff William Fontanez; Lindenwold Mayor Frank DeLucca; and Gloucester Township Councilmembers Glen Bianchini, Orlando Mercado, Crystal Evans and Ken Garbowski. Sources say that the four local officials are not likely contenders for the Assembly.
If Democrats pick Greco, it would open up a seat on the Board of Freeholders. Greco is up for re-election this year.
Basically, this is just a list of all the potential Democrats. Depending on who the Democrats go with, the domino's could continue to fall. Let's not forget that they are already seeking a new Clerk in Camden County, with the departure of now Senator Jim Beach taking the former Adler seat in the sixth district. Choosing Greco would mean a new Freeholder and Clerk would be running with current Freeholders Nash and Ripa in November.
The fourth district has been one of the more competitive districts in the past with Senator Fred Madden winning his election in 2003 by just 63 votes. The Senate however isn't on the ballot again this year leaving the Assembly seats and the Governor at the top of the ticket in an off year election. Another factor in the race, with a potential candidate joining the ticket from Gloucester Township will be the local election for mayor, where will be that former Assemblyman Dave Mayer is running for the office. A competitive local election could help to drive turnout in Gloucester Township and Mayer is very well known in town. He will take on the current Mayor, Republican Cindy Rau Hatton. This will be a district that gets more attention now than it would have gotten yesterday for sure.
If Doug Fisher becomes Agriculture Secretary, we will need a replacement in the Assembly for LD3. LD3 covers part of Gloucester County, all of Salem County, and part of Cumberland County:
"We haven't had representation in Salem County for a long time, and we need representation up there,"
Beth Timberman and David Lindenmuth are both popular Freeholders who would do a great job. But instead, we get this outrageous quote from a foolish Democrat
"Cherry Hill has more people than Salem County," said one influential Democratic insider.
Cherry Hill is not in our district, and frankly I can only take this remark as a "screw you" with a hint that Norcross is more important than the people of our district. I'm as partisan as they come, but when I feel this way I know people here won't stand for it.
The paper tiger , that is CWA, for the last two elections, has openly threatened State Senator Sweeney with a massive cash infusion to " run him out of office". However in tytpical fashion for a union that is more talk than action they backed off in his State Senate campaign and now have refused to honor an agreement they had with the Gloucester County GOP in helping to defeat Sweeney in his Freeholder race.
Here is a synopsis of the money race as written in today's Gloucester County Times:
Saturday, October 25, 2008
By Pete McCarthy
pmccarthy@sjnewsco.com
The Republican Party in Gloucester County has not yet met its lofty goal of raising $100,000 for the 2008 freeholder campaign.
In fact, since the last campaign finance report was filed 18 days ago, the candidates have only been able to collect an additional $2,476. That brings their grand total to a little more than $30,000.
Their Democrat opponents, on the other hand, brought in more than $180,000 during that same two-week period, according to contribution and expenditure reports released on Friday.
"People who committed early on said they rethought it at the last minute and decided that they don't want to make an enemy of (Freeholder Director and state Senator) Steve Sweeney because they have to deal with him in Trenton," said Steve Kush, communications director for the county Republicans.
Kush had previously stated that the party was looking to get substantial financial support from all around the state.
Sweeney, who is seeking re-election to the freeholder board, said he had heard that there were some unions in Trenton "threatening" to unload between $800,000 and $1 million on attack ads against him. The freeholder said it was because of the pension reform legislation that he sponsored in his role as Senate majority leader.
"My labor friends were responding to threats being made by state unions," said Sweeney. "When these other unions heard about it, they responded pretty strongly to balance it out."
As more politicians catch on to CWA and discover that their political leadership team is all bark and no bite the " myth" of the " powerful" state worker union will be destroyed.
New Jersey needs more good government progressives like Josh. Promoted from the diaries -- Juan
Josh Aronovitch, running for Mayor of Washington Township (the one in Gloucester County), has a pretty cool diary up right now at Daily Kos about progressive local government. It definitely will give you some good background on Josh, why he's running for Mayor, and what has driven him into politics.
They say there is not a Democratic or Republican way to pick up trash.
However, there IS a progressive way to govern. It means open honest transparent government. It means building consensus in the community, not imposing a vision on the town. It means not kowtowing to a county democratic party that seems to be more about rewarding contributors and amassing power than about doing right by the people.
Local government isn't as sexy as the latest Obama vs Hillary diary, but it is crucial to the future success (or lack thereof) of our experiment in democratic self government.
Josh is someone I work with, and he's also someone I support wholeheartedly. So head over to dKos and show some love to someone who's been a good friend to Blue Jersey and who will make a great Mayor of Washington Township.
Assemblyman John Burzichelli and State Senator Steve Sweeney are calling for new negotiations with Delaware to replace the current Interstate Compact that gives New Jersey only limited rights on our side of the Delaware River.
The Supreme Court's divided decision shows that an agreement New Jersey and Delaware struck at a time when much of our modern world would be considered science fiction is showing signs of age" said Burzichelli (D-Gloucester). "Now that the Court has rendered its decision, officials from Delaware and New Jersey need to come together to produce a new, modern agreement between our two states."
"We should not be making 21st Century decisions based on a 103-year-old agreement based in-turn on a three-century-old map," said Sweeney (D-Gloucester). "Let's not push this issue off for yet another century."
You'll recall that the proposed BP LNG terminal is the cause of the dispute. Actually, I agree with Sweeney and Burzichelli.
I have decided to respond to Mayor Moriarty's arguments against our proposed pay to play ban point by point. I look forward to the feedback of the Blue Jersey community and hope the Mayor continues the dialogue.
A state appeals court has ruled that the NJ Meadowlands Commission is required to plan and zone for affordable housing, as it has "complete control over the planning and zoning of a vast amount of land" in the in the 14 towns in the district. The ruling may affect the Pinelands and the Highlands councils as well.
In yet another plan to revamp Camden's image, the state and county prisons may be relocated out of the city. The governor's office just confirmed they are looking at other, better uses of the riverfront property where the state facility is located.
The natural beauty of Our Fair State is worth about $20 billion, according to a study by the University of Vermont along with state officials. The study puts a dollar amount on natural land in order to make it easier to weigh environmental benefits while making policy decisions. The most valuable areas: the Pine Barrens and the shore.
Good news for tourism: the condition of our beaches this year is excellent, according to the New Jersey Marine Science Consortium. A mild winter with few big storms has helped the beaches of Our Fair State avoid any damage going into the busy summer season.
Open Thread Time! What do you want to talk about today, Blue Jersey?
We've just formed a Gloucester County chapter of DFA. If you are anywhere near South Jersey, we'd love to have you! Our first event is going to be Thursday March 1st.
Among other issues and projects, we'll be working on banning pay-to-play. I've been coordinating with the Citizen's Campaign to develop an effective pay to play ban for my home town of Washington Township. If the town council doesn't want to join us in ending legalized bribery, we only need 1311 signatures to get it on the ballot in November.
We will also be looking into an important local issue, the County's plan to move the courthouse from Woodbury to somewhere else. Washington township and 3 other towns have expressed interest, but many are worried that this would devastate the economy of Woodbury, and provide little to no benefit to the town that got the new courthouse. We will be exploring the pros and cons, and deciding if we should, and if so how we would, oppose the plan.
Longer term, we will be actively engaging our neighbors on issues and informing them of what is going on. Our goal is to make the grassroots more organized and more effective than the machine. Please join us, if not in Gloucester County, by working with (or starting) a DFA chapter in your own county.
Salem County Freeholder Sue Bestwick has resigned from office, fueling wide speculation that she's preparing for a run against entrenched state Sen. Stephen Sweeney in the Third Legislative District.
Bestwick was the last of our Republican freeholders in Salem County. She has not said she is running for other office. She'll be replaced by a Republican as freeholder, so that person will be running in November as an incumbent.
The paper says that Gloucester County Republicans would support her run. Everything seems to depend on whether she can raise enough money.
Earlier this month, a Washington Township School Board Meeting was turned into a political spectacle because of a proposed bill that would create a county administrative school district pilot program.
The idea for this bill came as a result of the legislature's special session on property taxes held last year. The committee that studied public school funding found that, on average, 55 percent of a homeowner's property taxes go to fund schools. Furthermore, New Jersey has among the highest administrative, non-classroom school spending in the country, and these expenses are a major contributing factor to our highest-in-the-nation property taxes. That said, we as public officials would be remiss if we did not seriously review well-intentioned legislation aimed at reforming the system.
Unfortunately, those attempts at reform suffered a serious setback at the Jan. 16 meeting. I was greatly disturbed by the spread of misinformation which preceded the meeting. This effort - orchestrated by various special interests groups intent on derailing any reform effort - alarmed parents and children and created panic within our community. Most disturbing of all, their scare tactics look to be succeeding in depriving us all of much-needed property tax reform.
The bill at issue would enable one county in our State to consolidate the various administrative functions that are currently carried out separately by its component school districts. So, for instance, instead of Gloucester County's 28 school districts all purchasing food and supplies separately and negotiating for insurance, transportation and professional services like lawyers and engineers individually, those functions would be carried out centrally by the county administration.
The Senate passed a bill to create a commission to study town mergers and a bill to eliminate (at least partially) pensions for elected officials convicted of corruption charges. Action on the proposed 20% propTax cut and the 4% cap on propTax increases stalled. Voting on the comptroller bill also stalled when, according to Senate Pres. Codey, the Republicans refused to vote for it. Sen. Barbara Buono also refused support because it had been too watered down.
The pot calling the kettle: also in the Star-Ledger article, Sen. Sharpe James, who held the office of mayor of Newark for six of his seven years serving in the Senate, will re-introduce a bill to ban the holding of two elected offices at once.
A compromise is being proposed so that Atlantic City could ban smoking in casinos but allow up to 25% of the gambling floor to be designated a smoking section, enclosed and with separate ventilation. Councilman Bruce Ward pointed out that there will still have to be people who have to work in the smoking sections.
The mayor and two councilmen of Logan Twp. left the Republican party and became Democrats due to dissatisfaction with their local party leaders. Apparently the move was a surprise to Gloucester County Dem officials.
The Corporation for Enterprise Development, an economic development research group, has given Our Fair State a grade of B for quality of life and work for 2006. We ranked high in education, personal income and job quality, but lower in pay growth, income distribution, and the number of people moving away.
But starting this year, you can get divorced quickly! Irreconcilable differences divorces can be completed in six months, according to a new law signed by Gov. Corzine yesterday. The AP reports that "It was supported by the New Jersey Bar Association and opposed by the New Jersey Catholic Conference." No kidding!
You're on candid camera: new buses which NJ Transit plans to purchase will come equipped with security cameras. Big Brother is always watching.
Open Thread: What's on your mind today, Blue Jersey?
The Third Legislative District is in the southwest corner of New Jersey. It includes all of Salem County (known as "The Garden Spot of the Garden State"), part of Gloucester County, and part of Cumberland County. 48% of the registered voters are in Gloucester County, 31% in Salem, and 21% in Cumberland (based on 2005 statistics). North Jersey residents may think of it as Exits One and Two on the New Jersey Turnpike. Much of the district remains rural, but suburban development is increasingly taking over the farmland, especially in Gloucester County. The geography includes significant wetlands and marshes along the Delaware River.
The Census 2000 State Legislative District Summary File (see factfinder.census.gov) reports a 2000 population of 209,230. Compared to the average for all of New Jersey, the district has less expensive houses ($109,100 vs. $170,800) and lower income ($47,535 vs. $55,146). 1.7% of the employed civilians 16 years or older are employed in agriculture/forestry/fishing/hunting, which is the highest of any New Jersey district. 15.6% of workers are in manufacturing. On the other hand, only 16.8% of those 25 or older have a bachelor's degree (or higher), well below New Jersey's 29.8% average. Only 3.7% of the population is foreign born, the lowest of any New Jersey district, and only 8.3% speak a language other than English at home. The population is 79.0% white, 15.3% black, and only 0.8% Asian, in contrast to New Jersey's overall values of 72.6, 13.6, and 5.7%. Latinos make up 5.7% of the population, again below New Jersey's 13.3%, at least in 2000. 7.1% of the population was below the poverty line in 1999.
This overall demographic picture of this district -- more whites, fewer immigrants, rural, less education -- suggests a more culturally conservative district but with "blue collar" economic concerns. In fact, Democrats (25.5% of registered voters) outnumber Republicans (17.3%), but as usual in New Jersey, unaffiliated voters are a majority. The district is represented by three Democrats. Gloucester County is dominated by Democrats, and Salem County has been trending Democratic in recent freeholder elections.
Kicking off the "Better know a Legislative District" series, I will take a look at the fightin fourth.
New Jersey's 4th Legislative District contains 10 towns across the counties of Camden and Gloucester including Clementon Borough, Franklin Township, Glassboro Borough, Gloucester Township, Laurel Springs Borough, Lindenwold Borough, Monroe Township, Newfield Borough, Pitman Borough and Washington Township.
As of last count, there were 188,830 voters registered in the 4th district with the majority, 56% as independents, 28.5% Democrat and 15.5% registered Republican. There are Democratic mayors in 7 of 10 towns and the county has been trending Democratic even though it has historically been a very close swing district. Gloucester Township elected its first Republican Mayor in decades last cycle and Newfield now has a Republican mayor; however Democrats took control in Franklin Township and now hold all seats on council in Washington Township. Democrats hold many county offices in Camden and Gloucester counties, but this district has had historically close elections including the 2003 contest in which Senator Madden won his seat by 63 votes. In 2005, Assemblymen Mayer and Moriarty faced Republicans Frank Winters and Corey Ahart defeating them handily 63% to 37%. There are no clear challengers to any of the seats as of this time.
