PolitickerNJ, which has a stupid policy of not linking to other sites that is against all that the Intertubes hold holy (we're better than that), is reporting that John Bramnick (R-21) is in line to be the new Republican minority leader in the Assembly.
He would join Tom Kean, Jr. (R-21) who holds the same position in the New Jersey Senate.
If you look very, very closely at the two names above you'll notice a commonality after them: R-21. Yep, they're both from Union County district 21!
You know who else has a lot of ties to Union County? Governor Chris Christie who cut his legal teeth as a partner at Dughi & Hewit in Cranford. Sure, we think of Christie as a Morris County guy, but still ...
Union County has an awful lot of power in the GOP right now, especially for a county that doesn't have one Republican elected to a county position.
President Obama spoke forcefully last night and announced a bold $447 billion plan which could help New Jersey put more people back to work, put more money in the pockets of those who already have a job, and incentivize employers. If fully implemented it would push sufficient money into our economy to reduce unemployment and grow our GDP in 2012. While Republicans appear more receptive than anticipated, it is questionable whether the entire plan will be enacted. The plan itself is a one-year shot-in-the arm to prime the pump and provide relief, but it is not a panacea. For Obama, New Jerseyans, and most Americans there is much in the balance. Our President appears determined to swim, not sink, but will have to negotiate the rough currents with all his wits and cunning.
Hey, Tom. If you don't want the legislature to hold an override vote on the Governor's egregious use of the line item veto on the budget, then tell the Governor not to be an ass in using it.
The easiest way to keep from having to make hard votes like supporting the abusive and draconian cuts made by your Governor is to stand up to the bully and tell him to stop it already.
First, a friendly welcome to the residents of Kenilworth, Chatham Borough, Bernards Township and Far Hills (all 919 of you in the last case) to the 21st Legislative District of New Jersey. I hope you find your accommodations comfortable, as you'll be staying here for the next 10 years. :)
Second, we in the 21st bid a fond farewell to Chatham Township, Madison and Millburn, which will now have a Democratic delegation to represent them in the form of Dick Codey, John McKeon and Mila Jasey. While this Berkeley Heights resident is more than a little jealous to be less than a mile away from having this awesome trio as my delegation, I take comfort in knowing that my friends at Drew University will get to know another awesome ex-Governor a lot better in the year ahead*.
With the usual fanfare in May Governor Chris Christie signed Executive Order 26 establishing the New Jersey Higher Education Task Force. After having several weeks to review the Task Force's recommendations, Governor Christie held a press conference on Tuesday. Christie's response was not to help "grow infrastructure, increase accessibility, or promote excellence." Rather, he simply put his own political signature on creating a Higher Education Council (Executive Order 52), and then kicked the can down the road by indicating the state can not afford additional investments in education now and by forming yet another advisory committee to develop recommendations for graduate medical education (Executive Order 51). He then diverted attention from the report by calling for passage of his own education "tool kit" proposals.
After all the effort of Tom Kean and his fellow members, we are left wondering why Christie established the task force in the first place, and what commitment if any he has to this cause. And we can also wonder about the timing of the press conference and whether it was designed to divert attention from his abdication of responsibility during the recent snow storm.
Tom Kean's approach was to empower a new council and a Higher Education Secretary to take on more leadership. The Council Christie created is to consist of five members, all appointed by him and reporting to him, and meeting as infrequently as 4 times a year. Christie so far has shown no interest in appointing a Secretary to this long vacant position.
The Task Force pointed out that New Jersey has the fewest post-secondary seats per high school graduate (page 138) and the lowest state appropriation in Higher Learning (page 126) than any other state. These long-known pressing concerns the governor ignored.
His press release following receipt of the task force's report spent almost as much space on promoting his Tool Kit as it did on the report itself. Hopefully the Legislature will pay more attention to the report's recommendations.
Some days I'm just happy Star-Ledger exists if only to transcribe conversations between governors emeritus Tom Kean & Brendan Byrne. As very often happens, Gov. Byrne makes the slapshot:
Q: Gov. Christie and Lt. Gov. Guadagno were both out of state when the blizzard hit this week. Should an effort be made to have at least one of our executives in-state at all times?
BYRNE: I never thought we needed a lieutenant governor, but we've got one, so we have to live with it. And maybe living with it means we need to anticipate what's coming up. Still, (then-Acting Gov. Stephen) Sweeney has done a masterful job.
KEAN: Luckily, we had no big problems as a result of the storm. But, like any corporation, either our No. 1 or No. 2 person should always be on duty.
BYRNE: I think 30 inches of snow is a big problem.
KEAN: I meant we didn't have any major problems beyond the snow. ... nothing that would have required the presence of the governor.
BYRNE: Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
Governor Chris Christie, LG Kim Guadagno, and Senate President Steve Sweeney have just finished a press conference to announce an agreement on the property tax cap agreement reached this afternoon. Also at the podium were Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. and Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce.
Notably absent was Speaker Sheila Oliver, who all day via a spokesman signaled her distance from the agreement, including a release today saying she was "not part of any closed door deal." In fact, to a reporter's question about the Speaker's absence from the kumbaya moment - if indeed it really was one - the Governor said she had left the state house.
The agreement, announced at the Governor's office, is being called a "hard cap," but there are exemptions: health care costs, pension costs, debt service and capital expenditures, and emergency allocations. I'm also told that increase in school enrollment is exempt. Local voters can overturn and exceed the cap by 50% plus one vote - a simple majority vote.
Here's the way they're going to get there: Sweeney's own 2.9% cap legislation, the already passed S-29, will be the starting point. There will be a conditional veto of that by the Governor and the rate will be statutorially capped at 2%. Sweeney will post the Governor's conditional veto for a vote in the Senate on Thursday, July 8.
Local officials who budget beneath the cap would be able to "bank" the difference for three years. All other exemptions in the current 4% cap law would be eliminated under the new legislation.
An avalanche of press releases began arriving even before the press conference ended, with the jubilant Republicans definitely speaking out first. I'll post some of the statements in Comments, below.
Speaker Oliver will apparently be meeting with her caucus. Nobody wants to infer more drama than there actually already has been. But I imagine there may be shoes yet to drop.
Tom Kean Jr. was a frequent critic of the Corzine administration, particularly on the issue of transparency. But he seems to have taken a healthy dose of patience now that his man is in the Governor's office. Let's hop in the way back machine:
Consider 2008, when then-Gov. Jon Corzine created a nonprofit organization to promote his signature plan to pay down state debt through higher tolls. Kean (R-Union), the Senate minority leader, urged the Democratic governor to "immediately" disclose information about donors to "Save Our State NJ Inc.," saying it should be made public before the Legislature voted on Corzine's plan.
Corzine's effort never got off the ground, but they still disclosed who supported the effort. Now back to today:
So The Auditor wondered how Republican Kean felt about "Reform Jersey Now," the nonprofit launched last week by leading Republicans and allies of GOP Gov. Chris Christie to support Christie's agenda. It is structured exactly the same as the group that pitched Corzine's plan.
"The leaders of Reform Jersey Now should voluntarily follow Gov. Christie's continued commitment to a more transparent Trenton in a timely manner," Kean said. But he declined to say exactly how "timely" it should be.
Hopeful wrote about the Governor's new pay to play organization last week. I'm guessing a timely manner means no time soon, I'm sure it's longer than immediate. Clearly contributions to support Governor Christie aren't as important as those to Corzine. Way to be consistent Junior.
You'll notice that at the heart of it is Kean's love of his lost childhood, being raised as the son of a Congressman in a long line of elected officials. How wonderful it was when his father could be endorsed by other powerful officials out of "friendship." I bet that lovely tradition never hurt Tom Kean Sr. or Tom Kean Jr. Kean's outrage comes when he considers that voters might (gasp!) vote against someone who's already made it in to the club. Why, how could Republican voters even think of not re-electing Senator McCain, the son of Admiral McCain, the son of Admiral McCain? It's enough to make me cry. I certainly broke into tears when I learned Governor Hughes's stepson lost a primary to get his father's post.
The reality is that no one under the age of 40 can remember the days of self-identified Liberal Republicans, so the era of bipartisan voting is long gone. Whether the new era in which the parties are aligned by political beliefs, instead of being jumbled by different regional traditions related to the Civil War, works well or not remains to be seen. But Kean shouldn't worry too much. The Keans, Bushes, Kennedys, and Frelinghuysens will keep their power, and that's what "civility" was really about.
The Christie campaign has Tom Kean Sr. in their latest ad talking about how Chris Christie and New Jersey are perfect together:It's not really anything new from the Christie campaign, just a different person saying it in front of the camera. They're banking more on the messenger being the selling point because the message continues to lack any substance. Christie said that Kean will be out there campaiging with him on the trail next week. They seem to be hoping his popularity rubs off on Christie, do you think it will work?
Q: Will the resignation of first assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown put to rest the unreported loan Chris Christie made to her, or does her resignation raise more questions?
BYRNE: I think it raises more questions. The Brown situation has been trivialized by Christie. Now this lady resigns you can't trivialize it anymore.
KEAN: It's sad. This is a public servant whose work has been praised by everybody from people serving now in the Corzine administration to people outside government. The fact that she felt she had to resign is sad. I think the governor - or maybe his campaign people - should be ashamed. The only people who are happy today are the crooks she helped put in jail. This was a case of taking politics one step too far.
BYRNE: Tom, you're good at this. You take an issue that Christie created and make it the Democrats' fault. That's a successful formula, and you're good at it.
KEAN: This is not a successful formula for anything. We need a good governor and good people in the prosecutor's office. That Michele Brown was hounded out of office by unscrupulous campaign operatives because she sought a loan to save her home when her husband was out of a job is outrageous. Nobody has criticized her or her work except those convicted of major crimes.
BYRNE: There you go again, Tom, taking something Christie did and blaming the Democrats.
KEAN: Having compassion for a friend and co-worker and helping them save their home is something he should have done - and we would have done it also.
BYRNE: Yes, and reported it.
KEAN: I don't think everyone knows you're supposed to report interest on a loan to a friend. When he found that out he corrected it.
BYRNE: Are you just the honorary chairman of his campaign? You're doing a good job.
Byrne is exactly right. Christie created this issue by not reporting the loan and filing it in the first place. The issue wasn't uncovered by the Democrats, it was first reported by NJN. Then the NY Times followed up with news that it wasn't filed on ethics reports and the Star Ledger reported the lack of filing for tax purposes. And for those who want to say the media is biased, the facts laid out in these stories haven't been disputed. Instead, Christie and his supporters are trying to deflect attention from this latest self inflicted wound. For Christie, the buck always stops with someone else because it's one set of rules for him, another set for the rest of us.
As the final weeks of the Republican primary unfold, Chris Christie and Steve Lonegan will be busy campaigning, trading criticisms of one another, and making the case on the air waves and the internet that they alone are best suited to take on Jon Corzine in this November's gubernatorial election.
Corzine, and whoever wins the GOP nomination on Primary Day, will also undertake the historic task of selecting an individual to run as their respective party's candidate to be the first Lieutenant Governor in New Jersey history. Below the fold is a list of ten possible Republican contenders. It is subjective and, more than anything, written to solicit the opinions of Blue Jersey readers on the strengths and weaknesses of each potential pick.
Please click the headline, read on, comment away, and look out this Thursday for an analysis of potential Democratic choices for Lieutenant Governor.
Here is a video version of the Kean-Byrne dialogue from NJ Voices over at the Star Ledger where the former Governors discuss the upcoming race. Editor Fran Wood led the discussion:
Byrne says Jon Corzine should stay in office. "This is a governor who is getting us through the shoals of tough economic times," he says.
Kean disagrees: "Jon Corzine is a nice guy. But four years is enough."
They went back and forth on the borrowing that has been done and who was responsible for it with Byrne pointing to the Whitman administration for their share of the blame. Byrne talked about the similarities to his own re-election situation back in 1977. Here's the video:
This should be the immediate response to republican critics like Tom Kean and Chris Christie, the "Jersey Jindal", as well as the myriad of republican Assemblymen (and women) that think it is only their job to (as Christie said specifically) "criticize the Governor's budget".
Well, if that is the case, then I guess the current Governor will have to continue being the responsible adult who understands he has to make tough choices when the NJ (and national) economy is at its worst point in decades. And that is how it needs to be framed - especially when republicans haven't offered up a shred of anything detailed, specific or even the least bit thought out when it comes to how they would envision a budget.
Kean doesn't want funding for the arts cut. Well, neither does Corzine. Christie wants government waste cut. So does Corzine, who is cutting government waste substantially. Other republicans criticize the property tax rebates (many of which were kept in tact). And guess what, so does Corzine.
It's interesting that a former Governor like Kean would come out and say that this was about "electoral politics" - as he couldn't be further from the truth while at the same time being right on point. The only thing "electoral politics" related is what Jason Springer says below.
This is about tough choices - none of which are good ones. But when you have to choose between "bad" and "worse", the better option is "bad".
And no matter how "bad" some think that Corzine's proposed budget is, not proposing anything and just random criticizing without any thought as to what an alternative plan would be is certainly "worse".
If republicans, especially prominent ones like Christie or Kean are going to criticize Corzine's budget and cuts - let them step up and be responsible adults as well. Let the state know specifically what you would cut instead.
For a former Governor and a Governor wannabe, these two should know better. And should be ashamed at their transparent pandering and whining.
Former Governor Tom Kean said yesterday he would consider suing over the cuts in arts funding proposed in the Governor's budget. That prompted this response:
Brigid Harrison, a political scientist at Montclair State University, said it is remarkable that Kean has decided to go to war with a sitting governor over arts funding since he has remained silent on many other issues since leaving office.
Harrison noted that Kean kept his own counsel about the 2006 shutdown of state government, the scandals that besieged former Gov. James E. McGreevey during his administration and even the series of cuts to higher-education funding while Kean was president of Drew University.
"Over the past 20 years, there have been so many larger fish to fry," she said "This is not about arts funding, this is not about statutory minimums. This is about electoral politics."
On the electoral politics angle, there was that minor fact of the Governor helping Senator Menendez defeat Kean's son in 2006. He also serves as Honorary Chairman of the Chris Christie for Governor Campaign. Senator Vitale offered this response on the merits of the cuts:
State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge), who served on the Senate Appropriations Committee, says that while the arts are important, ?the ability to appreciate the arts is going to come as little consolation to a child who doesn?t receive adequate health coverage, doesn?t have a safe place to grow up, or doesn?t get a proper education.?
I don't think anyone wants to see cuts to arts funding, but again this is a question of what else should go in it's place?
Republican State Senator Tom Kean, Jr. and Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez debate during their 2006 match up.
Former Bush Administration aides Karl Rove and Harriet Miers have reached an agreement with the House Judiciary Committee to comply with a subpoena seeking their testimony regarding the 2006 dismissal of eleven U.S. Attorneys. For nearly two years now the committee has sought their appearance to determine whether the firings were politically motivated. There are several questions that need to be answered about that process. Of import to the voters of New Jersey is how and why Chris Christie's name was removed from the list of those recommended for dismissal.
In September 2006, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and Republican State Senator Tom Kean, Jr. were engaged in a bitter campaign to determine who would represent New Jersey in the United States Senate. Many will recall the daily news reports detailing acts of official corruption by members of Congress. For several months, Kean's campaign had dovetailed their message to that national narrative, consistently calling Menendez "Boss Bob" and a product of corrupt Hudson County machine politics.
There was one significant challenge to that message: Bob Menendez had never been accused of official misconduct and there was no evidence to support such a claim. No evidence, that is, until then U.S. Attorney Chris Christie subpoenaed the records of the North Hudson Community Action Corporation, a recipient of federal grant dollars and a tenant in a Union City building owned by Menendez. The subpoenas served as a lifeline to Kean's flailing campaign. Finally, he had something to back his charges up. For the rest of the campaign he would note that he had "an opponent under federal investigation."
Menendez defeated Junior in the November election, and in the weeks following, the U.S. Attorney quietly laid the matter of North Hudson Community Action Corporation to rest. It became clear that there was no federal investigation and that the information gathered by the subpoenas proved Menenedez was innocent of any wrongdoing.
That same month, Michael Elston, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, included Christie's name on a list of U.S. Attorneys slated for firing. Among the names of those ultimately dismissed was New Mexico's U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias, who alleged that he received pressure from Republican U.S. Senator Pete Domenici and Representative Heather Wilson to take action in a corruption probe of a local Democrat shortly before the 2006 election. Within weeks, he was fired, and he has stated he believes it was because he refused to involve his office in politics. Additionally, documents released by the Justice Department indicate that Karl Rove, a political adviser, was involved in the conversations relating to all of the dismissals.
Did Chris Christie prove his worth to the White House by subpoenaing the records of North Hudson Community Action Corporation? Who removed his name from the list? Rove and Miers will no doubt face a torrent of questions when they sit down before the Judiciary Committee. However, questions about Christie politicizing his role as federal prosecutor have immediate bearing on the current campaign in New Jersey. As November approaches, Christie will continue to tell voters he is a corruption busting lawman prepared to clean up government. Yet the testimony of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers may demonstrate to New Jerseyans what some suspected all along: Chris Christie was a loyal Bush appointee who allowed politics to interfere with prosecutions.
The Eleventh Commandment was a phrase used by former President of the United States Ronald Reagan during his 1966 campaign for Governor of California. The Commandment reads:
"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."
"With all due respect to Tom Kean, I did not seek his endorsement," said Lonegan, former mayor of Bogota. "I'm not a Tom Kean Republican. As governor, Tom Kean raised the sales from five to six percent, increased the gas tax, the income tax from two and a half to three and a half percent, and a number of corporate taxes. The state budget increased 118 percent under Gov. Kean."
So he's not going after the Kean or Reagan vote? Not like I really care either way, but it's certainly an entertaining strategy.
It's amazing what has happened to Tom Kean, Jr. At one point he was a moderate, reasonable politician and a good person who was interested in doing the right thing. Over the past couple years he has become a parody of a right wing flamethrower who will say anything to win no matter the truth or who it hurts.
"Republican Senators are ready to move forward forging a State budget that cuts spending without taking more from the pockets of working families."
Taking more from the pockets of working families is an allusion to tax increases or toll increases. It's idiotic rhetoric that pretends there is no benefit for working families from government services, and the only thing that counts when looking at a budget is how many dollars are collected.
But Kean Jr. is more than happy to lay off state workers in order to achieve his budget goals, conveniently forgetting that state employees are part of "working families."
The fact is that working families benefit greatly from state and local government, and would be sorely hurt by reduction in services sought by Republicans such as environmental protections, public transportation, road improvements, and the like.
A perfect example is the fact that the Plainfield area is losing it's hospital because the state cannot afford to subsidize charity care any more. The federal and state governments require hospitals to care for anyone who walks in the door, but won't pay for it. As a result, no one in Plainfield whether they have insurance or not will have a hospital within easy travel distance.
But Kean Jr. never complained when charity care dollars were cut, and never stood up to demand that these hospitals be made whole for the state laws he is responsible for creating and changing. But working families are going to have money taken from their pockets in increased travel costs, more negative health outcomes due to missed appointments, and other costs to having no local, quality health care.
But that doesn't matter, Tom, because it's not coming out of their pockets in taxes.
The only people who will be hurt by reduction in services and government programs will be the poor and working families. The rich will be fine, and may even be better because there will be less oversight of their companies so they can screw workers and the environment without worrying about some government employee finding out.
The Republicans only care about taxes, because they only care about people who pay more in taxes than they receive from the government. It is an unAmerican and disgusting viewpoint, and now the "moderate" Tom Kean Jr. is parroting it as well as any Rush Limbaugh dittohead.
Our old friend, Jill Hazelbaker, http://www.bluejersey.com/show... (former spokesperson for Tom Kean Jr) is back in the news. It seems that Mike Huckabee handily won the Kansas caucases today!
Asked if he saw any cost to staying in the race, Mr. Huckabee thought for a moment before answering: no.
?I have nothing else to do,? he said with a smile.
A likely story....the Huckster can't lose at this point; he's primed to be the VP or maybe even pull off some kind of "miracle". Worst case scenario (for him) he emerges as the "go to guy" for the right wing fundamentalist evangelicals....who are the grass roots core of the Republican party. He sure couldn't do much worse than Pat Robertson.
So, what does our old pal Hazelbaker have to say...
Mr. McCain?s campaign said the results on Saturday made little difference. ?Our campaign fully expected to fall short in the Kansas caucus,? said a spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbaker. ?John McCain is the presumptive nominee in this race and our path forward is unchanged by today?s results. Our focus remains the same: uniting the Republican Party to defeat Democrats in 2008.?
