Talking points memo from Stein for Congress (Democrat) via Blue Jersey (a mini diary, thank ya)
A Romney win tomorrow ends Gingrich and Santorum's chances for success, assures dull debates in the fall and demands a 3rd party candidate get in the race.
My choice? Michael Bloomberg; billionaire. Someone comfortable in his own skin, articulate, who feels for folks and who's genuine. If looney Trump is making noises, and there's no progress on deficit reduction, mighten Bloomberg say tough luck Obama, and get in? It's unlikely, but somebody is going to spoil the affair, it might as well be a really, REALLY rich man.
(Seriously) the prospect of the clumsy, programmed Mitt Romney debating the very savvy and sophisticated President will leave folks like me very unsatisfied to say the least. That's folks like ME, inhabiting the middle ground politically and making up the majority of the electorate (and btw, very nervous about gridlock in Washington). Team Dennis M./Blue1234 what say you?
This past Saturday, I officially announced that I am a candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 5th District. Our priority as Democrats right now must be finding the best candidate to unseat this extremist and get real representation in Congress - someone fighting for middle class values, not right wing ideologies. I'm not afraid to fight Scott Garrett and his extreme positions that hurt middle class families across New Jersey and the 5th District. During my three terms on the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders I have worked across the aisle with Republicans and Democrats alike to get things done. I will bring that same type of leadership to the halls of Congress.
We need common sense solutions, not partisan bickering.
I know what it takes to win in Republican territory. In 2010, Democrats were swept out of office in record numbers across New Jersey and the nation. This wasn't the case in Passaic County. On a ticket led by Congressman Pascrell, we bucked the national trend and were reelected by a strong margin - even with a popular Sheriff dropping out of the race only two months before Election Day. We need a Democrat who can go into Republican territory and make a populist appeal to voters. And most importantly, expose Congressman Garrett's extreme record.
I know I am that candidate in 2012.
I want to join the ranks of giants like Senator Frank Lautenberg, Senator Bob Menendez and Congressman Bill Pascrell to put our nation back on track. I will work with Democrats across the 5th District to ensure victories up-and-down the ballot. Now more than ever we need to come together and beat Scott Garrett. I am going to need your help in the coming months talking to your neighbors, going door-to-door and exposing Scott Garrett's extreme record in Congress. And I hope you'll follow my campaign on Twitter and Facebook as we move forward.
While I would have loved to have seen Wagner run for a number of reasons, it seemed to me (just my gut feeling from some discussions and observations I had) that others were more enthusiastic about her running than she may have been. This is no knock against her - it is a huge undertaking and commitment to run for Congress, and Garrett has been known to play dirty against his opponents (recall he smeared former opponent and Rabbi Dennis Shulman as anti-Israel).
This creates a void in terms of big name NJ politicos who can raise the attention and money required to mount a successful run against a very well-funded Garrett. Whether this was in the works for a while, whether this clears the way for former NY Giant Harry Carson to make a run (which has a lot of appeal as well as some potential hurdles), or whether it opens the door for a primary fight among a number of already-declared other candidates remains to be seen.
Either way, this decision by Assemblywoman Wagner to not run (if confirmed) is too bad as it would have brought a different and more high profile seasoned politician to challenge Garrett with more built in and coordinated support from the Democratic Committee of Bergen County. Hopefully, whoever emerges as the challenger will receive coordinated support that will be needed up and down the ballot - especially with the Presidential and Senatorial races this coming year. It is a big opportunity for Democrats in Bergen County and hopefully it isn't a missed opportunity.
I have lived in Northwestern New Jersey in CD5 for over 30 years, but for the last 9+ years I have had the misfortune of having Scott Garrett as my Representative in Congress. Assemblywoman Connie Wagner would be my choice to unseat him. Having served in the Assembly since 2008, representing the 38th District, she has proven to be a champion of progressive ideals and values. I also think that Connie will be able to raise a significant amount of money in order to compete against Garrett and the Tea Party money.
Dr. Tom Sacks-Wilner lives in Medford, CD3. For several years I have been a donor to Tom's fundraising/bundling group. He is a person who raises money readily and efficiently. With an expansive donor base that he has fashioned, he can easily raise at least $6 million from now to November 6. His ability to fundraise will provide the mandatory funds needed to define Jon Runyan. He has been politically active behind the scenes, especially in progressive causes.
In light of the Republican-favorable redistricting, Connie and Tom would each have a mountain to climb to defeat their respective opponent; however the challenge is certainly not insurmountable. I believe both would make their races interesting, should they choose to run.
As Blue Jersey readers who came to our site today have seen, we made the decision to "go dark" as part of a massive online protest against two Bills that would do great damage to internet freedom by allowing the Government to censor and block web sites that corporations don't like. The two bills are as follows:
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, H.R. 3261) is on the surface a bill that attempts to curb online piracy. Sadly, the proposed way it goes about doing this would devastate the online economy and the overall freedom of the web. It would particularly affect sites with heavy user generated content. Sites like Youtube, Reddit, Twitter, and others may cease to exist in their current form if this bill is passed.
Among the scores of Democratic politicians in today's crowded Marriage Equality press conference was one federal official, Congressman Rush Holt. Holt represented the entire New Jersey congressional delegation - all seven congressmen and both senators - in expressing their support for the Marriage Equality bill, S1. Holt's brief remarks are below; the text of the letter is after the fold.
A lot has been said, both here at Blue Jersey and in the traditional media, about the recent Congressional redistricting - and more specifically with an eye on the new Fifth and Ninth Districts. Here in the Fifth, where I (still) live, the District is better in terms of the ability to beat radical right winger Scott Garrett, but the District is still a fairly Republican district. Where things are very interesting in terms of just how serious the New Jersey Democratic Party is, not to mention the national Democratic Party, lies right here in Bergen County.
When Rep. Steve Rothman decided to run against Rep. Bill Pascrell in the Ninth as opposed to running against Garrett, my thought on the bigger picture is that there will be a lot of money spent on a Democratic Primary (assuming there is one) that could have been much better spent knocking down one of the worst Representatives in the truest sense of the word "representative" in that Garrett does not represent the best interest of most of his constituents.
This past week, we've seen a lot about the impact of congressional redistricting and the positioning of candidates in North Jersey for the upcoming election. Congressman Steve Rothman has declared that he will move and challenge his colleague Bill Pascrell in a primary rather than face incumbent Republican extremist Scott Garrett. Whether or not Rothman's decision is a good one, it hurts me to see two Democrats spending a million dollars to knock each other off when the money could be better spent in an all-out effort to oust Garrett, one of the worst members of Congress.
It also bothers me that the Fourth Estate has virtually ignored the important race in the Third District. Another member of the "worst congressman's club" is former NFL bad boy and current congressman Jon Runyan. Runyan's voting record is as bad as Garrett's, and over time if Runyan builds up seniority in the House, his impact will be just as deleterious.
U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.) is telling Democrats he plans to challenge Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.) in the June primary, according to two Democratic sources with knowledge of the congressman's thinking.
A few anonymous sources are quoted for the article. An announcement from Rothman is apparently due this week.
Needless to say, I am sorry to have found this out, and I hope a strong Democrat will come forward to take on Garrett. It's obviously going to be someone without a $1.5 million war chest, but we need to support them all the same.
Like other groups that focus on the economy, we at NJPP closely follow the ups and downs in the labor markets and use the data to paint broader pictures of New Jersey's well-being. Now, thanks to a new report by national nonprofit USAction, we can also share the human face of the state's ongoing employment problem.
When you think of pollsters in New Jersey, one of the first names that comes to mind is Patrick Murray of Monmouth University. Yet, even an iconic figure like Murray has succumbed to the Tea Party propaganda. Check out this video snippet from his interview on NJ Today:
"Republican voters are against any tax hikes. Democratic voters are against any cost cuts."
The first part of Murray's statement is true, as we have seen with the so-called "super committee" and Governor Christie's justifying his double veto of the millionaire's tax based on the false assertion that it would drive wealthy people out of the state. But stating that Democratic voters are against cost cutting is just plain wrong and Murray should know better.
First, many Democrats are in favor of cutting the bloated defense and homeland security budgets, but have been stymied by the Republican minority. But even ignoring this obvious fact, Democrats have long been willing to compromise (some say too willing) on social programs to get the Republican votes they need to unjam the Senate filibusters that have been crippling our economy.
I can only assume that Murray has fallen victim to the biases about the economy that are pervasive within the mainstream corporate media.
Today's first public hearing of the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission was a disappointment. Similar meeting for the legislative districts were held earlier this year and spanned several hours with testimony from dozens of advocacy groups. By contrast, today's hearing was concluded in 45 minutes, including the introductory remarks.
Held in a mostly-empty auditorium on the Rutgers-Camden campus, the hearings were chaired by Rutgers-Newark Law School Dean and former State Attorney General John Farmer, Jr . On the stage, Farmer was flanked by the six Democratic and six Republican members of the Commission.
The half dozen witnesses were comprised of politicians, gadflies, and a solitary union leader. There were no representatives from the minority communities or even the ubiquitous Tea Party.
Perhaps the reason for the lack of public input was the fact that the venue was not formally announced until after Blue Jersey poked the Commission on Tuesday of this week, and the meeting was held during working hours.
While the rules for Congressional redistricting are generally stricter than those for the legislature, keep in mind that the work that this Commission does will determine district boundaries for the next five Congressional election cycles. And while redistricting probably won't correct the gender imbalance in our Congressional delegation, the lines that are drawn will have a big impact on minority representation.
Let's hope for a better turnout at the October 11 sessions in Newark and New Brunswick. The commission's web site is njredistrictingcommission.org.
Dean Farmer spoke with Blue Jersey after the session. His comments are below the fold.
You wouldn't know it by looking at their web site, but the first public meeting of the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission is scheduled for Thursday. They are supposed to receive input from the public, but the "public" will only show up if they know about the session. If you are astute enough to poke around the state legislative web site, you'll learn that the meeting is Thursday at the Gordon Theater on the campus of Rutgers-Camden at 2:00 PM. Blue Jersey will be there.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of catching up with one of the best public servants New Jersey has ever produced.
He is not well-known even in Democratic circles, let alone the state of New Jersey, and he last served in public office when Leonid Brezhnev was Premier of the USSR.
Frank Herbert, however is definitely not someone to forget, particularly if you're a New Jersey Democrat or - even more so - a progressive.
You see, Frank Herbert did 2 things that New Jerseyans and progressives should forever be grateful for:
1) He pushed for and got the Legislature to pass the law that created New Jersey Transit, a system that provides business and social lifelines for hundreds of thousands of our residents.
2) He is the only candidate in New Jersey history to win a Federal election as a write-in candidate. In doing so, he saved the Democratic Party from nominating a Holocaust-denying, KKK-loving extremist.
I wanted to spend my first blog post at BlueJersey thanking you for the coverage of NJ7, not just this year but since you started this site. You've been a vital voice in trying to turn this district over to the good side, and have been instrumental in my decision to run for the seat.
Things are going very wrong lately in America, as we can see with the "negotiations" over the debt ceiling limit. And it's representatives like Leonard Lance who are the problem, unable to stand up to the GOP bosses who refuse to compromise to solve America's big challenges or to let Republicans think for themselves.
Once upon a time, he was known as an independent thinker who was willing to buck his party in Trenton and challenged Governor Whitman who made the single worst fiscally irresponsible act in modern New Jersey history. But the move down the Amtrak route to DC has done nothing but turn the Congressman into a paper tiger who is willing to risk the good faith and credit of America, and by extension your family's economic security, because he is unwilling to stand up to the extreme right leadership of the House Republicans. I'm excited to be part of the effort to change the representation we have in DC, and have been working hard to be the nominee.
I announced that I was going to run on May 5th, and in less than two months had raised significantly more funds for the campaign than Lance did for the entire second quarter. But that's just the numbers from a single quarter.
What's most amazing is that after just two months, we are already almost equal with a sitting Congressman in cash on hand. He's got $215,000 on hand (after subtracting debt), while we have $160,000. Given that he's been in office and has raised half of that from PACs while we've raised almost nothing from PACs, that puts our campaign in a great position.
But it's about more than money, and more than getting distracted by the horse race of the campaign. It's about the people of New Jersey who need quality jobs, who need access to a world class education and affordable healthcare, who need a safe and healthy environment, and the opportunity to live out the American Dream. I want to work with the Blue Jersey community to make this a reality.
The powers of intelligence and enforcement are the most important powers of government - but also the most fearsome. These powers must be wielded very, very carefully.
For decades, our government has routinely collected information on potential foreign threats through various forms of surveillance. These intelligence collection activities enjoy broad, bipartisan support in our country because of their value in helping to protect America's citizens and interests. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, these collection capabilities were turned on the American people, and executive branch agencies engaged in spying on the American public - sometimes even for political purposes.
Jeanette Friedman is journalist living in north Jersey. She's never talked publicly about her rape. - promoted by Rosi Cross posted at newjerseynewsroom
Soul or Pocketbook? You Decide.
It doesn't really matter that these men have removed the word "forcible" from this bill. It still changes the meaning of incest, still intimidates private health insurance companies, still pushes church over state and is designed to deprive women of their right to choose.
Thirty-seven years ago, this very week, there was a snowstorm swirling outside my kitchen window, but my sixth floor apartment was so hot and dry I cracked the window facing the fire escape before I went to bed. It was about 3 a.m., and I had just fallen asleep when I woke up to find a man cutting the wires to the phone on my bedside table. Next thing I knew, I was blindfolded with my bathrobe, and could feel the point of a knife pushing into the top of my scalp. I kept thinking that what was happening couldn't be happening, and remembered what my cop friends had taught me. "Don't fight back, give them what they want or they won't think twice about hurting or killing you."
So I did as I was told, and about half-an-hour later, wrapped in a blanket, I went pounding on my neighbors' doors, begging them to call the cops. One of my big kitchen knives was laying on the third step of the staircase.
I was not bruised or battered physically, but I demanded to be taken to a hospital for a rape kit. (I was the editor of my college paper and had access to information most women didn't have. It was 1973 and women were starting to learn how to take care of themselves because, generally, men proved unequal to the task. Mostly I wanted a massive dose of penicillin, just in case I'd caught something disgusting.)
The first question these police officers asked me was what I had done to encourage my attacker. I thought that only happened in movies! I was so furious, I shot back that at 3 a.m., as the snowstorm raged across the city, I had climbed out on the fire escape, and while swinging my panties in the air, had yelled
How stupid/naive are the Democrats? a.) Very b.) Extremely c.) Quite a bit d.) All of the above.
As you know by now, much ado is being made about the Democrats and Republicans sitting amongst each other rather than separately. Some Democrats are absolutely giddy about the prospect of sitting next to their Republican colleagues.
Does anyone know who will be sitting next to Senator Lautenberg or Senator Menendez? Does anyone care?
Will this usher in a new spirit of bipartisanship? Don't bet on it.
When will they ever learn that the Republicans are not interested in working with the Democrats on anything? As soon as the President is finished with his speech, by tomorrow the Republicans will be getting back to work on their agenda, beginning with attempting to chip away at Roe v Wade and further restrict reproductive rights. Economic recovery can wait, because the economy is working quite well for the real Republican base, thank you.
What about jobs? How about removing the word "bipartisanship" from the vocabulary and replacing it with "jobs"? The President and his Democratic cohorts in Congress can take a lesson from the Republicans, and name every bill they introduce "The Job-Creating {insert name of bill here}".
It's about JOBS, Mr. President. Not "stimulus", not "bipartisanship", not a new spirit of cooperation and national unity.
Late yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to speak with Rep. Rush Holt about the then-upcoming vote in the House to repeal the Health Care bill passed and signed into law last year. In addition to thanking the Congressman on behalf of Blue Jersey, we discussed a few things about the vote to repeal, and also noted that it was a good day for New Jersey Democratic Congressmen - Rep. Pallone took a high profile role in denouncing the political theater that the House Republicans were performing and Rep. Andrews not only spoke out as well but also had a very entertaining discussion with a Republican Congressman on Tuesday night's Hardball.
Rep. Holt's floor speech from yesterday afternoon can be seen here, and below the fold is a flavor for what we discussed during a roughly 20 minute discussion (I tried to get exact quotes but since I couldn't type that fast, assume that below is roughly what was said but maybe not exact):
