Jim Whelan 
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Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 10:38:38 PM EST
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We have a new Senator in the 2nd District...James "Sonny" McCullough, a conservative who has spent eighteen years as Mayor of Egg Harbor Township, won Bill Gormley's State Senate seat tonight, defeating seven-term Assemblyman Frank Blee by a wide margin.
Gormley was supporting Blee and McCullough was supported by Congressman LoBiondo. The Democratic County chairman promptly welcomed the Senator Elect/Mayor to the race by calling on him to give up his 2nd seat...Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Ronald Ruff called on McCullough to step down as Mayor. "It would be inconceivable for him to take the oath of office to a second position at the very time the state legislature is trying to put an end to the practice of dual office holding," said Ruff. "Why turn back the clock?" No word on if he will re-sign from his Mayor's seat but he will face Assemblyman Jim Whelan in the November Election in what will be one of the hottest races in the state most likely.
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Wed Jan 31, 2007 at 02:21:22 PM EST
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Legislation introduced last week by Assemblyman Gusciora urging Congress to oppose the escalation in Iraq is followed up today by legislation sponsored by Assemblymembers Linda Stender, Mike Panter and Jim Whelan that puts the legislature on the record as opposing the plan:Assembly members Linda Stender, Mike Panter, and Jim Whelan have introduced legislation in an effort to demonstrate the state Legislature's bipartisan opposition to President Bush's plans to send more U.S. troops into Iraq.
"Even with the recent power shift in Congress, it's frightfully apparent that the President has not gotten the message on Iraq," said Assemblywoman Stender (D-Union). "More than ever, we need to pull out the stops to deliver the message that the President's approach in Iraq is wrong for the men and women in military uniform, it is wrong for our nation, and it is wrong for our state."
The Stender/Panter/Whelan measure (AJR-132) comes amid rising public opposition nationwide against the President's Iraq policies. The Iraq conflict has cost the nation over $350 billion and resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 military service personnel and the wounding and disabling of more than 22,000 American men and woman.
The resolution would put the General Assembly on record in voicing "overwhelming opposition" to the President's planned troop escalation. The lawmakers said they will push to have the resolution posted for a floor vote at a future Assembly floor session. Panter said the measure deserves bipartisan support.
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Tue Jan 02, 2007 at 05:42:08 PM EST
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According to PoliticsNJ...State Sen. William L. Gormley, one of New Jersey's most powerful and talented legislators, and the de facto leader of the Atlantic County Republican machine, will announce this week that he will not seek re-election in 2007. Gormley has informed Senate leaders of his decision not to run for a ninth term.
His retirement sets up a highly competitive race for the 2nd district State Senate seat, possibly between Republican Frank Blee, the Assembly Minority Whip, and James Whelan, a freshman Democratic Assemblyman and former Mayor of Atlantic City. That will be an interesting Senate race and would also allow for some new candidates to seek the Assembly seat. The Democrats unsuccessfully ran Damon Tyner who captured almost 49% of the vote with Jim Whelan for this seat in 2004.NJVoterinfo.org shows the majority of voters, almost 54% in the 2nd district are Independent, with 25.5% registered Republican and 20.6% registered Democrat. Also, with the Democrats holding a 22-18 edge in the Senate, this seat could be important to maintaining and possibly increasing the majority.
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Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 11:08:35 PM EDT
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Live from the Trenton State House Comedy Club...
I'll give away the punchline first: "...so, the rational solution was to declare that ALL state workers are essential."
It all began when Assemblyman (and former Atlantic City mayor) Jim Whelan introduced a bill in the budget committee tonight declaring that casino workers are essential state workers.
Only casino workers (not lottery workers or anyone else). Ignoring the fact that the lottery brings in $2 million/day, while AC brings in only $1.6 million/day, does anyone believe that casino workers are critical? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume someone told him it was opposite day.
Anyway, this didn't fly with the budget committee. It's such an absurd concept, but not for reasons you or I would think. No, they didn't like it because the workers in their own districts were excluded. The obvious solution? Amend the bill to declare ALL state workers essential. That bill cleared the committee.
They couldn't be bothered to clear a budget proposal, but they found the time to make clowns of themselves by redefining the meaning of "essential". They were doing better when they weren't doing anything at all.
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Wed May 31, 2006 at 09:13:08 AM EDT
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Assemblyman Jim Whelan and the American Cancer Society will kick off an effort tonight to ban smoking in casinos.
A study concluded that Governor Corzine's proposal to insure 50,000 kids in the state will actually cost two to three times what he had predicted.
There will be no water tax.
Ocean Township sixth graders might have same-sex classes next year. The rationale? Principal Scott Read: “A lot of schools do it in different states because of the discipline issue. That's not really our main focus. We want to see if it will improve test scores.â€
Fewer tolls and high-speed EZ-pass lanes on the Parkway seem to be improving traffic flow.
Former Hazlet mayor Paul Coughline is the latest to plead guilty to bribery in an FBI operation that snagged 13 Monmouth County officials last year.
Through GPS technology, a sex offender was caught violating Megan's Law, which requires that authorities be notified when they move to a new address.
The September 2nd Rutgers football season opening game against North Carolina will be nationally televised on ABC.
Verizon has no explanation yet for yesterday's network outage from 7:30 - 11:30pm last night.
The cause of a train derailment in Paterson last night is still being investigated. A business was damaged and natural gas line ruptured, but no injuries were reported.
New Jersey asparagus farmers are hopeful that high gas prices will give them a leg up against west coast competitors, but no luck so far.
Blue Jersey has a MySpace page. If you've got an account, add us to your friends list.
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Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 02:18:16 PM EST
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A coalition of bars, restaurants and bowling alleys is suing the state because of what they consider to be an unconstitutional exemption for casinos in the state's new smoking ban."What's happening here is that the state of New Jersey is giving an unfair advantage to the Atlantic City casinos," said Armando Frallicciardi Jr., proprietor of Lorenzo's Restaurant, a Trenton landmark known for its cigar-friendly atmosphere, and one of the plaintiffs. State Senator John Adler (D-Camden), who sponsored the original bill, shot back:“It’s pathetic that these restaurant and bar owners have the gall to try and keep poisoning the bodies of their workers and customers...They should take the money they’re spending on lawyers and lobbyists and put it into health care for their workers.â€
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