PolitickerNJ is reporting that according to "two sources with knowledge of the offer" say that DCCC offered a cool $1 million to Steve Rothman if he stayed in the 5th to challenge Scott Garrett. And that the offer would slide up to $2 mil if polling showed the matchup competitive.
The sources are unnamed.
What would be the motivation for somebody to tell politicker this?
DCCC? No. Rothman has already declared his intentions in the 9th, no reason to screw a 15-year House member. Even if the story's true, it doesn't serve DCCC to embarrass a congressional Dem.
Rothman's team? Obviously, no. Only hurts the boss.
There's a lot of anger directed at Rothman now from some corners. You can read it all over our pages, but not from me. Disappointment, even for some a sense of betrayal, that Rothman would "take the easy route" and compete with another Democrat in the district Pascrell now lives in, but with constituents the bulk of which Rothman represents. Resentment that Rothman declined to challenge a Tea Party love-object in a district with a clear GOP advantage.
I have no idea if the item is true or not. But I can't help thinking who gains in a story without evidence or confirmation from the players that makes Rothman look bad, or look like somebody DCCC might write off. Am I too cynical?
Yesterday, Rep. Steve Rothman made it official, that congressional redistricting will lead him to challenge not Tea Party darling Scott Garrett into whose district his home has been drawn, but Bill Pascrell, a fellow Dem elected to Congress the same year he was 15 years ago.
You can imagine the rending of garments at DCCC. And the state party. But given the imperative towards re-election hard-wired in House members, whose 2-year election cycle keeps them in perpetual re-elect, and the fact that much of the new district Pascrell now lives in is Rothman stomping ground, Rothman's move has some logic. He was mayor of Englewood 2 terms, and that's where he'll relocate back into district. He already reps nearly 55% of the people (61% of registered Dems) in the new 9th, he says. (hat/tip Daily Kos Elections for this chart, which shows Rothman 53.95%, Pascrell 42.90%).
Rothman v. Pascrell was immediate national news, a race between colleagues on the same side of most issues, sharing a party, supporting the same president in a presidential year. How awful will this race be? How personal their complaints against one another? How much will it divide the rest of us?
Mabe we have some clues in Rothman's first endorse list of 61 people; legislators, the Hudson & Bergen Dem Chairs, mayors, and municipal chairs, a Bergen-heavy list. Prominent are incoming Senate Majority Leader (and Blue Jerseyan) Loretta Weinberg, longtime Rothman ally, and both Assemblywoman Connie Wagner and Assemblyman-elect Tim Eustace, the two names with the most buzz as potential challengers to Scott Garrett in the contest Rothman passed on.
Pascrell, for his part has solid support from Passaic Chair John Currie, and gave no evidence of worry. Pascrell described himself as:
"a fighter who is ready for whatever may come. I will be as relentless in the election as I have been for my constituents. I do not know the meaning of the word quit.
Rothman's full endorsement list, after the jump. If Pascrell is developing a similar list, Blue Jersey would very much like to see it.
Some time tonight, according to an account in The Record, Congressman Steve Rothman called his Democratic colleague in the NJ congressional delegation and informed him of what has been rumored for days; he will challenge Pascrell in the newly redrawn district that now contains key towns they have both relied on for re-election.
It's got to be a good night to be Scott Garrett.
Rothman's going to move to Englewood, where he was once mayor, and make that a home base for his campaign. He'll make the formal announcement Tuesday.
Over the last year or so, Daily Kos has launched 3 verticals that pull out some of the best stuff in what can, for me, be a cacophony of posts competing for not only for the mind but for the eye. I know I've missed good stuff, just because there's so much stuff. Pulling those 3 new verticals - Comics, Labor & Elections - out as concentrations, with their own editors keeping watch, make Daily Kos a more readable site, at least for me. Particularly because NJ's election cycle means we have crucial contests every year, and some of the most important Labor news in the country's coming out of this state.
David Jarman (scroll for editor bio) is one of the editors of DK Elections. He's got a post on the outcome of NJ congressional redistricting that I missed just before Christmas, but popped up in my Google Alerts this morning. Thought you'd enjoy the view of NJ redistricting from outside NJ. From Daily Kos Elections:
Here's the new New Jersey, the GOP proposal for redrawing NJ's now-12 congressional districts, chosen by the NJ Congressional Redistricting Commission's tie-breaking member, John Farmer, Jr.
NJ Congressional Redistricting Map (North Section):
Jay Lassiter's Blue Jersey diary, Paging Bill Pascrell, posted at 09:43:28am today, is already out-of-date.
And that's good news.
Garden State Equality just announced a few minutes ago, that the Respect for Marriage Act, intended to repeal DOMA, is now a clean sweep of support by NJ Democratic members of Congress:
BREAKING NEWS: Every Democrat in the New Jersey Congressional delegation is now a sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act to repeal DOMA. That includes Senator Lautenberg and Senator Menendez, and Congressmen Andrews, Holt, Pallone, Payne, Rothman and Sires - and Congressman Pascrell just told us that he, too, will sponsor. (To facebook supporters, it urges): Click LIKE to thank our unanimous Democratic Congressional delegation.
I don't know if Jay's diary helped edge Rep. Pascrell into our column on this, or if his decision was already made. Doesn't matter. His support on this issue is very welcome.
Just yesterday, Jeff Gardner wrote about Senator Bob Menendez joining the marriage equality efforts, long in coming, and gratifying.
For disclosure's sake, as I've said here before, I'm a member of GSE's board. I'd be writing about this anyway. It's exciting stuff.
UPDATE: We know a little more now about how this video was compiled. Senator Lautenberg with his staff took the initiative, in recognition of National Bullying Prevention Month, which is October. To accommodate busy schedules, blocks of time over two weeks were reserved at the Capitol Visitor Center Recording Studio, with invitations to members of NJ's congressional delegation to record. There are a few faces missing - it would be even better with Reps. Andrews, Garrett, Frelinghuysen, Pallone and Smith. And we must point out that Lance & LoBiondo voted NO on DADT repeal, as Runyan might have but he wasn't sworn in yet. But the effort, and especially Senator Lautenberg's initiative, are much appreciated.
BTW - I'm told this is the first-ever It Gets Better video that includes elected Republicans.
The New Jersey suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi and other other young gay people prompted the It Gets Better Project, a labor of love from columnist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller. The project took off like wildfire; over the last year celebrities, sports teams, and ordinary people have turned their webcams on themselves to give encouragement to teens and kids of a welcoming future for themselves. And those videos, some of them simple and low-tech, made by ordinary people, are bouncing all over the internet.
Last month, an upstate New York 14-year-old named Jamey Rodemeyer killed himself outside his house. A smart kid, with supportive parents, and friends who cared about him. A kid whose NY state senator had led other Republicans to reverse course and help pass marriage equality in New York State, in part after Jamey's hero Lady Gaga had asked her Buffalo audience to ask him to. Jamey's last message was a thank you to Lady Gaga for her message of self-worth to gay kids. And Jamey had himself just months earlier made an 'It Gets Better' video to give confidence to other kids. Jamey himself died last month, after a particularly rough bout of online bullying.
Proof if ever there was any that there's work still to be done. This is the 'It Gets Better' video that's going to the press later today, with our thanks to Senator Frank Lautenberg's office for the advance heads-up:
Found this 1-minute floor statement by Rep. Rush Holt at the website RH Reality Check (that's RH as in prescription, not for Holt's initials).
Holt reminds us the GOP-majority House is still short on jobs creation and once again indulging themselves in yet another version of their legislative assault on women's health rights, with the Orwellian-titled "Protect Life Act" (H.R. 358).
CREDO Action's pointed out the hypocrisy of the DCCC using H.R. 358 as a fundraising tool (calling it the "Let Women Die" Act, then giving money to 15 Dem candidates, 3 of whom in fact voted to "Let Women Die" - voting for H.R. 358.
Thanks for keeping us up to date on ENDA, Babs. I'm calling both Rep. Pascrell and Rep. Adler by the end of the day. Hope I have company - - Rosi
Today, Representative Barney Frank, joined by Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis, introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill which would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees from workplace discrimination. The bill would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal employment non-discrimination laws
The bill has 121 original co-sponsors including seven from New Jersey. They are Rob Andrews D-1, Frank Pallone D-6, Leonard Lance R-7, Steve Rothman D-9, Donald Payne D-10, Rush Holt D-12, and Albio Sires D-13. Noticeably absent on the bill were both John Adler D-3 and Bill Pascrell D-8.
I would have hoped that ALL the NJ Democrats would have signed on to this. For those folks in the districts where their Congressmen signed on, it would be nice to thank them. I would ask those folks whose Reps did not do so, and especially folks here who have a relationship with Adler and Pascrell, please urge, push them to co-sponsor!
