Joe Kyrillos' Glass House

by: vincent solomeno

Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 01:15:00 PM EDT

Yesterday, CQPolitics changed their estimate of the New Jersey gubernatorial race from Toss-Up to Leans Republican.  The story on the ratings change included a quote from State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown), State Chairman of Chris Christie for Governor, who was quick to link Democrats to the latest round of indictments:

"I think that the New Jersey Democratic party is a major embarrassment, not just to people here at home, but should be to Democrats all over this country," said Christie campaign chairman Joe Kyrillos, a state senator.

"There's a culture and an enabling of people and care and feeding of the wrong kinds of actors and a looking the other way that has a allowed this kind of episode - and it's not the first one - to take place," he said.

Kyrillos is right that there is a culture that enables corruption in New Jersey politics.  What he neglected to acknowledge is the bipartisan nature of the problem.  Which is interesting, considering he actively supported every one of the Republican elected officials nabbed in the 2005 wave of Operation Bid Rig.  He even counted some among his friends.  As Jackson's report makes clear, Kyrillos also accepted $5,200 from Dwek, notwithstanding the $51,000 given over to the Republican State Committee.

No one is saying Kyrillos is crooked.  Dwek also donated to the re-election campaign of Congressman Frank Pallone and to the Democratic State Committee.  Like Pallone, Kyrillos is giving the contributions over to charity.  And while there was nothing wrong with accepting the contributions in the first place, Dwek's inroads demonstrate that the permanent quest for cash inherent in New Jersey's political culture is a problem for both Democrats and Republicans.

Corruption has nothing to do with political party.  Chris Christie has said as much himself.  It's a fact that his campaign chairman, with his own ties to corrupt politicians and dirty money, would be wise to remember. Because really, Joe, people in glass houses should never throw stones.

Scott Garrett, Maybe the Worst Congressman in the United States

by: Matthew Jordan

Wed Feb 04, 2009 at 08:51:39 PM EST

Cross Posted on Retire Garrett

Since the start of the 111th Congress Representative Scott Garrett has managed to show his constituents 3 major points.  First, if you are a woman you don't deserve (nor are entitled) to make the same amount as your male counterparts.  Secondly, American children do not have the right to free healthcare.  Finally, and possibly the worst of all, the SEC did nothing wrong in overseeing the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme and more oversight isn't necessary.  This is what Garrett had to say regarding Madoff and the role of the SEC (per Herb Jackson):

But Rep. Scott Garrett, the top-ranking Republican on the subcommittee, said he did not think more government regulation was needed.

"Each and every one of Mr. Madoff's relevant business fell under the jurisdiction of one or more financial regulators," Garrett, R-Wantage, said at the start of the hearing. "Given what we currently know about this situation, I do not believe there was a regulatory gap that needs to be filled with more, often excessive regulation.

"Rather, we should be focused on ensuring that current regulations are being met and that proper oversight is occurring... We cannot end all fraud nor guarantee these changes would have prevented it."

Excessive Regulation?  Nearly $50 billion dollars have been stolen and our Congressman doesn't think we need anymore "excessive regulation?"  This is the kind of representation constituents of New Jersey's 5th Congressional District get.

If a Democrat in NJ-5 cannot rally together a coalition of voters who think that women should be paid the same as men, that all children are entitled to healthcare, and that the Bernie Madoff scandal didn't warrant a rethinking of our regulation policies, then we do not deserve to beat Garrett.

These votes need to be used against Garrett in 2010, but they need to be coupled with a  message of new policies that would better benefit the residents of NJ-5.  Simply heaving negative press at Garrett does not work.  It needs to be clearly expressed that the Democratic nominee thinks and how his/her policies diverge from Garretts.

Democrats, Republicans, and Independents from Warren County to Bergen County need to realize the positions our Congressman is taking and need to start the work right now to unseat him in 2010.  

Fact Checking the Fact Checker

by: Juan Melli

Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 10:41:58 PM EDT

That may be true, but I think he made a mistake in his fact-checking of Senator Menendez's statement:

Not true: "President Bush has told millions of children who have nowhere else to turn that the greatest country in the world refuses to look out for their health."-- Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

True: "If the program is not reauthorized, these children and their families might lose their coverage or alternatively New Jersey taxpayers will be forced to pick up the tab." -- Governor Corzine

These children are in addition to those already covered by the program.

In New Jersey, those already covered may retain their coverage if the state funds FamilyCare on its own. If other states don't do the same, children currently covered under SCHIP will lose health care coverage. But regardless of what New Jersey or any other state does, it is true that by his veto Bush has "told millions of children who have nowhere else to turn that the greatest country in the world refuses to look out for their health."

Our Lazy Media

by: Juan Melli

Sun Nov 05, 2006 at 09:08:32 PM EST

The outcome of the race could help determine which party will control the Senate. It has been dominated by negative charges, with Menendez linking Kean with President Bush and Kean portraying Menendez as a corrupt politician.

God forbid they actually examined those two claims and gave us the objective facts. That might require them to do some work, otherwise known as their "job".

It's so easy to point out the lazy reporters since there's so many of them, but it's equally important to recognize the good ones. We're lucky in New Jersey to have a couple who stand far above the rest by simply doing their jobs. Two of those are Josh Gohlke and Herb Jackson who have been writing the Reality Check series for The Record. It's a rare objective analysis of claims made by both campaigns. They deserve recognition for doing the work most of their colleagues are too lazy to do.

Ferguson Dragged Into Astroturf-Gate

by: blue7thpac

Sat Sep 23, 2006 at 09:30:51 AM EDT

There's been a bit of silliness over at the Tom Kean Jr. campaign this past week.  Xpatriated Texan of Blue Jersey discovered that a Kean Jr. attack on Senator Bob Menendez was patently untrue by unearthing a Jersey Journal article from 1996.  Turns out that Menendez did get ethics committee approval for renting his property to a non-profit group he championed in Congress.  Turns out that Menendez even rented it to them at less than market rate, costing him money.

The Kean Jr. folks were not happy about the truth coming out.  To combat the evidence they started posting comments on Blue Jersey under made up names pretending to be former Democrats and liberals.  Juan Melli -- the founder of Blue Jersey -- caught them by matching the IP address of the commenters to the IP address of Kean Jr. press secreatary Jill Hazelbaker's e-mail account.

That's been a front page newspaper, TV and radio story for a few days.  Ooops.

But Hazelbaker wasn't done making mistakes.  She also tried to paint Ellen Weintraub -- the ethics officer named in the Jersey Journal article as the one who cleared the rental -- as a partisan nut whose word could not be trusted.  Unfortunately, Herb Jackson of the Bergen Record learned that in Weintraub's new job as a Federal Election Commissioner she had backed Kean Jr. in his complaint against Mike Ferguson based on cheating in the 2000 primary election for NJ7's Congressional seat.

BUSTED: Why is the Kean-Jr. campaign lying to the media?

by: AdamGreen

Thu Sep 21, 2006 at 07:14:32 AM EDT

First, some quick background, courtesy of Thursday’s New York Times:

The Internet postings came from people calling themselves “cleanupnj,” “usedtobeblue” and “AmadeusNJ.” They  said they were concerned Democrats, “lifelong liberals,” and they were troubled  by the United States senator  from New Jersey,  Robert Menendez…

But the liberal Democratic hosts of BlueJersey.com, the Web log where such comments were posted, smelled something fishy about the postings, and said they traced them to a computer inside the  campaign headquarters of Mr. Menendez’s Republican opponent, Thomas H. Kean Jr.

Now on to the three Hazelbaker lies to the media...plus two “bonus Hazelbaker deceits that are really funny” at the end.

The News Cycle 101

by: Juan Melli

Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 09:56:01 AM EDT

Come Fly With Me

by: Juan Melli

Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 02:56:54 PM EDT

See the pattern? Me neither, but Herb Jackson found one. They're all warm and sunny places Bob Menendez and his staff took privately funded trips to. Especially if you can ignore the fact that half of those places aren't exactly warm and sunny, then you can see a pretty disturbing pattern forming.

I have no doubt that if current climate patterns persist, within a few decades each of those places could become prime sunbathing real estate, but for now, there's about a one week period per year when Chicago is that nice.

It's a clever title (Menendez warmed to trips taken to sunny destinations), but it has little to do with the rest of the article, which seems to disprove the thesis. That might explain why the trips to Boston, Chicago and Denver weren't mentioned until the end of the article.

Media fun

by: Media In Trouble

Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 01:07:25 PM EDT

Now I didn't tell anyone at PoliticsNJ that I was getting married, but they gave me a gift anyway.

They used to have a link under "Reporter Blogs" to the oft-tosser Bob Ingle there. In honor of my wedding, they took it down! When I saw it, I thought one better would be to have Bob Ingle stop blogging. Alas t'was not to be.  Anyway Kudos to PoliticsNJ. Ingle doesn't deserve to be put up there with real reporter bloggers like Snowflack and Jackson.

Speaking of Herb Jackson. Apparently, the DC media is so screwed up they can't even get the basics of reporting right. Go read how Herb Jackson edits George Will. Yes that George Will. The one that gets all that face time on TV. Pesky things those facts.

Anyway I will try not to let my newly acquired subsidies get in the way of my opinions on government.