Stuart Rabner 
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Mon Oct 02, 2006 at 09:49:33 AM EDT
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The New Jersey minimum wage went up by a dollar yesterday to $7.15/hour. That rate is an two dollars higher than the federal rate of $5.15. The new payraise means that a minimum wage worker in NJ grosses $14,300 for a forty hour work week. If you ask me, this is hardly a living wage, but as retail worker Kobby Hayford noted yesterday, "More money is always good. I will feel it, definitely. It's going to help because everything costs more now." He should know. And Kobby Hayford is just the type of New Jerseyan Gov. Corzine is trying to help out with the increase.However, it's worth noting that According to Carl Van Horn, who directs the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, it would take a $12 hourly minimum wage to lift New Jersey's workers out of poverty. Ouch.
Herb Jackson debunks Tom Kean Junior's lies about being a centrist or "independent." The Record: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. says bipartisan cooperation is the key to solving problems in Washington. But Kean's record as a legislator shows he may not be the independent fighter he says he is. Not only does he serve in the Republican leadership in Trenton, a database analysis by The Record found that Kean voted the same way most of his GOP colleagues did at least 93 percent of the time. Naturally Junior is whining that this isn't the whole story. So I'll fill in the gaps: not only is this guy not an independent, but he's also a scumbag. Just look at the riffraf Junior has working on his campaign. (Note to Jill Hazelbaker, this means you too!) For those of you keeping score, there is a detailed, itemized list of Junior's Rovian, radical, rightwing record in today's Record article.
Today's Trenton Times challenges the new Attrorney General Stuart Rabner to get tough on corruption in Trenton. The article cites Wayne Bryant "a notorious grazer at the public trough" as the posterboy for all that's wrong in the state legislature. No argument here. It seems like Sen. Bryant punctuates every change of direction with (yet) another scandal. I guess that's what happens to men like Bryant who have one hand on their pants and the other in the cookie jar at all times. If you ask me, Wayne Bryant would make a perfect addition for Tom Kean Junior's campaign team.
In other NJ news, Garden State farmers are hurting.
Tensions are at an all time high in Mercer County.
NJ Superior Court judge busted for driving tipsy.
Death toll in Iraq continues to rise.
Did I miss something? What's on your mind today?
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Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 07:59:01 AM EDT
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- Right after stepping down as chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee amid a scandal about a sham part-time job, State Senator Wayne Bryant was praised in Camden yesterday as ground was broken for a new Law School building for Rutgers. Bryant helped the school receive $11 million in state funding; he also had a part-time job there as an adjunct professor.
- Republicans in the legislature demanded a special session on ethics reform, while the one on property taxes is still in session. Assembly Republicans issued an 11-point ethics reform package of bills, while Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman observed that "it is the height of absurdity for Assembly Republicans to point fingers on ethics reform."
- The Real Estate bubble is bursting, with new data released yesterday. Both home prices and home sales fell in the last year, for the first time in eleven years.
- The Senate unanimously confirmed Stuart Rabner as the new Attorney General.
- Newton has backed down from their proposed bill to punish landlords and businesses for involvement with illegal immigrants. A similar plan in Riverside has drawn sharp criticism and a big ol' lawsuit filed by The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders.
- Franklin Twp. (Gloucester County) has become a Democrat-controlled town, as deputy mayor Peter Scapellato has changed parties.
- The earth is getting warmer! How about that? Who woulda thunk it?
- Thousands of soldiers in the U.S. Army will have their combat tours extended.
- Lt. Ashley Henderson Huff was killed in a suicide bomber attack in Iraq. She graduated from Montgomery High School. Lt. Huff had been married for just over a year, and was due to come home in six weeks. She becomes the first woman from New Jersey to be killed in this war.
Open Thread: What's on your mind today, Blue Jersey?
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Mon Aug 28, 2006 at 08:22:14 AM EDT
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Good morning Blue Jersey and happy Monday.
It's not every day that Rep. Jim Saxton does something consistant with my own values, but I should give credit where credit is due. Saxton was joined by House colleagues Rob Andrews and Frank LoBiondo in opposition to slot machine-like video games being set up all over the state. So far, the Corzine Administration has sent "mixed signals" about the so-called "VLT's" getting a toe hold outside Atlantic City in places like the Meadowlands for example.
Pols and pundits of both political stripes are heaping praise on the Garden State's brand new Attorney General nominee Stuart Rabner. Says Sen. John Adler, (D-Cherry Hill) "I've greatly enjoyed working with him as the governor's counsel. If he brings the same integrity and intelligence to the Attorney General's Office, then the people of New Jersey will be much better off."
Sen Tom Kean Junior was equally effusive: "(Rabner's) got a stellar reputation for independence and a nonpartisan respect for the law." Of course standing in contrast with Zulima Farber is about enough to make anyone look damn good, but it's still nice to hear some agreement coming out of Trenton.
It's bizarre and ironic that clowns like Charles Epps and Sharpe James can hold down multiple posts within state government but Antonio Latona is forbidden to do the same. Latona was elected to the Clifton City Council last spring, he was advised by the city that he would have to leave his job as (get this!) a fireman.
NY Times: After he was sworn in on July 1, he took a leave of absence from the fire department, where he had worked for six years, and where his annual salary was about $75,000. While he awaits a court ruling on whether he can do both jobs at once, he is drawing the princely wages of a councilman: $4,000 a year.
Having to choose one public job over another seems an odd dilemma in a state that has enshrined a practice that most other states have outlawed: dual office-holding. Of the 120 members of the State Legislature, 20 are also elected municipal or county officials and many others collect either a paycheck or a pension from some other public job. So why can’t Antonio Latona be both a fireman and a councilman?
Looks like that pesky racial profiling issue has reared its ugly head again and Governor Corzine, "suddenly finds himself sitting at the intersection of Race and Politics."
It's been a year since Katrina had her way on the Gulf Coast. If you remember the sinking feeling of helplessness, the anger, the frustration, the horror -- that's a good thing. Don't forget. A vigil is scheduled for tomorrow in New Brunswick at 6pm. Kinda makes last night's flooding in greater Camden Co. look like a picnic.
On the topic of Katrina's wrath, the Camden Roman Catholic Archdiocese is sending a team of 450 volunteers to aid the ongoing cleanup effort. The Camden Diocese has been committed to the cause since the hurricane hit, sending over a million dollars for relief to the victims. "One year later, it is easy to forget. It is easy to let complacency set in," Bishop Joseph Galante said yesterday in a statement. "But the need there is still immense."
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Thu Aug 24, 2006 at 07:39:53 PM EDT
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 You know you've done something right when you have Republican Party Chairman Tom Wilson and Senator Joe Kyrillos openly agreeing and gushing with top Democrats in the State, Such is the case with the Governors choice for Attorney General, Stuart Rabner.Said Kyrillos... "The Governor got it right this time. Stuart Rabner has impeccable credentials and the qualities needed to reinvigorate a department badly mismanaged for the last four years. This is the nomination that should have been made in the first place last January." Of course he'd get that dig in on Corzine's 1st choice, but we'll excuse that. From Wikipedia...Rabner graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University and cum laude from Harvard Law School. The Passaic native resides in Caldwell. He was married in 1989 to Dr. Deborah Ann Wiener and has three children. Tom Moran has some great things to say about Rabner, who apparently was in line to be the next Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court.Walk the halls of the capitol in Trenton looking for a dissenting view, and you won't find it. The praise for Rabner is syrupy. And it is universal. Everything i've seen and heard is that Mr. Rabner is a great choice for the position. He still has to be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but judging from bi-partisan approval of the choice, it appears he will be NJ's next Attorney General.
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Mon Dec 19, 2005 at 12:57:13 PM EST
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Joe Roberts says that his top priority when he assumes the role of Assembly speaker will be property tax reform. He's also committed to improving bipartisanship in the Assembly.
Legislative districts give Democrats a disproportionate amount of representation - holding 61% of seats in the Assembly, but only receiving 55% of the total vote this year.
Stuart Rabner, Corzine's new chief counsel, is drawing rave reviews from across the political spectrum.
Monica Yant Kinney writes on the death penalty that "only in New Jersey would we need to pass a law to stop doing something we don't do, yet spend a fortune not doing."
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