Redistricting Opacity

by: deciminyan

Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 08:58:42 AM EDT

Remembering a Progressive hero: Frank Herbert's story

by: Stephen Yellin

Mon Aug 08, 2011 at 09:32:32 AM EDT

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.

His story is in the extended section below.  

Thanks for Covering the NJ7 Race

by: junchoi

Thu Jul 28, 2011 at 07:18:04 PM EDT

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.  

Extending the PATRIOT Act: Why I Said No

by: Congressman Rush Holt

Tue Feb 08, 2011 at 05:04:51 PM EST

- promoted by Rosi

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.  

What Do You Mean It's Not Rape?

by: Jeanette Friedman

Fri Feb 04, 2011 at 10:18:47 AM EST

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

Here 'tis, come and get it.

Welcome to the State of the Union - Have a seat!

by: jeffpickens

Tue Jan 25, 2011 at 08:46:29 AM EST

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.

Jobs. That's what we need.

Rep. Rush Holt talks to Blue Jersey about the Health Care law and House vote

by: Adam L

Thu Jan 20, 2011 at 08:42:07 AM EST

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):

Reading the Constitution Marred by Yelling Idiots

by: Rosi Efthim

Thu Jan 06, 2011 at 11:59:05 AM EST

Turn on C-SPAN (live feed link). This is a reading of the US Constitution, uh ... well, the current Constitution, by the House GOP, which invited Democrats to join with them in reading aloud one of our founding documents. Clearly, they anticipated Democratic disinterest, given that this is an obvious pander to corral the Tea Party, which assumes none of the rest of us have a clue about the Constitution.

But in fact, this morning the Consitution reading was a bi-partisan affair.

But some of the GOPers, flush with new power, can't seem to rein in the disrespect for duly-elected Members of Congress from the other party. During Rep. Frank Pallone's reading, some asshat shouted:

Get Obama Out!

Also, during a reciting of the requirement that Presidents must be natural-born citizens, another jackwagon yelled out:

Not Obama!

I don't know if visitors in the Gallery or newly-elected Members did the yelling, because I'm listen-only. Anyone have any info?  

And then there were 12

by: Jeff Doshna

Tue Dec 21, 2010 at 03:42:20 PM EST

It's not that our population has declined between 2000 and 2010.  In fact, New Jersey's population rose 4.5%, from 8,414,350 to 8,791,894 over the previous decade.

What has happened is that other states have grown faster.  Primarily in the south and in the west.  The only places where population actually decreased was Michigan (-0.6%) and Puerto Rico (-2.2%)

-- more on sources and data for the geeks below --

It's My Christmas, and I'll Cry If I Want To

by: jeffpickens

Mon Dec 20, 2010 at 09:29:04 PM EST

It is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out without doing — frankly, without disrespecting the institution and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and the families of all of the Senate, not just the senators themselves but all of the staff

• Members of the military, especially those stationed overseas
• Police, firefighters, EMTs - yes, those same ones who came to the World Trade Center site to help and were told by our own Christie Whitman that the air was safe, and are now being denied health benefits for illnesses contracted from breathing the "safe" air.
• Health workers: doctors, nurses, orderlies, maintenance crews. Hospitals have no days off.
• Pilots, flights attendants, air traffic controllers, other airport crew members (how many are flying members of Congress home for Christmas?)
• Food service workers, cooks, waitstaff, caterers (how many are working on Christmas to feed members of Congress who can afford paid help for their holiday meals?)
• Workers at 24/7 convenience stores, who help us out when we forgot to pick up a container of egg nog or whipped cream for our desserts.
• Workers at 24/7 gas stations, who, here in New Jersey, stand out in the cold because we don't pump our own gas.

Are there more? You bet. Let's not forget members of the press, who are charged with keeping these public servants honest.

If these pious Senators are so concerned about their holy holiday, especially one whose motto includes "Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Men", why can't they take the time to work out a peace treaty before Christmas?

Stop whining and get to work.

Today in Congress

by: Hopeful

Thu Dec 09, 2010 at 06:12:57 PM EST

A minority of Republican senators blocked the Defense Authorization Act. Senator Lautenberg tells it like it is:

"Senate Republicans refuse to even begin debating a repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy.  The other side has run out of excuses.  Eliminating 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is the right thing to do and would ensure that our military policy reflects the values of our nation.  

"The fact that Republican Senators are willing to hold up a bill that provides vital resources to our troops and ends discrimination in our military is deplorable.  I will continue working to pass a Defense Authorization bill that provides our military with the equipment and services they need while also bringing an end to discrimination within the ranks."

Of course, Democrats letting Republicans takes "hostages" will go on as long as our Senators and our President let them. Why did they add DADT to the bill if they give up anyway? What was the point?

More below on the Anthrax investigation, water supplies for the Delaware River Basin, 9/11 Responders, and Iran.

Here's a great idea for redistricting

by: Adam L

Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 09:42:07 PM EST

Disappointed at seeing state lawmakers gerrymandering their own districts behind closed doors in ways that protect them from challengers, California voters approved an initiative in 2008 that transfers the job to the Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Using bingo balls and a hand-cranked bingo cage, State Auditor Elaine Howle conducted random drawings of names from three pools of applicants to select three Democrats, three Republicans and two people who don't belong to the either of those parties.

We generally have very noncompetitive Congressional elections in most of the 13 and soon to be 12 districts here in NJ.  And that is by design.  This is a year that Congressional districts will be redrawn, and the last time solidified that there will not be a change in political party representation in the districts.  In fact, other than John Adler winning in 2008 and losing in 2010, not one of New Jersey's Congressional districts changed party control since 1999, when Congressman Holt won the 12th District.

more below the fold

A check that's got stuff written on it

by: Alefa_Zegota

Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 05:44:22 AM EDT

This was a referendum on Christie's short months in office, and it didn't break his way. And that's damn gratifying.

It's especially gratifying to contrast it with the national media's hollow assertions last year about What Christie's Election Meant for America. Even with the country's honeymoon with our governor and our state's Tea Party invasion (why couldn't it be the British Invasion instead?), New Jersey has shown that its requirements in a leader and individual needs are hardly monolithic.
continue below the fold

Cory Booker's Other BFF

by: deciminyan

Sat Oct 23, 2010 at 10:31:26 PM EDT

The event was well-attended by the party faithful with a slew of local Democratic celebrities on the dais.  Local candidates were well-represented including Aimee Belgard, candidate for Burlington County Freeholder, and Jay Coltre, candidate for Burlington County Sheriff.

After the introductions, John Adler addressed the crowd of about 150 supporters.  I've heard Adler speak many times, and this was by far his best performance.  In the past, he has seemed a bit stiff to me, but today he was on top of his game.  His ten-minute extemporaneous presentation was lively and he delivered a very positive message.  The congressman reminded the crowd that he was there to serve them, not necessarily the party, and that he hoped to have another two years to help the President with his agenda.  (I'm not sure how this is in accord with Adler's health care position, but this was a "feel good" rally and the audience seemed to buy it.)

The popular Newark mayor was the highlight of the afternoon.  He spoke from the heart, telling the audience about his childhood in North Carolina, the influence that his father had on him, and the need to be partisan during elections, but non-partisan in governing.  My favorite line was about Democrats' "sedentary agitation" - getting all worked up about Fox "News" and other demagoguery, but not proactively working toward fixing the system.  Booker reminded me of another young politician - John F. Kennedy.  His remarks were passionate and sincere.  But unlike JFK, Booker was not born into wealth and his story was inspiring.  When talking about the election of Governor Christie, he lamented about the low voter turnout in his own Newark election district, and implored the audience not only to vote this year, but to get the message out to their friends and co-workers.

The mayor concluded with excerpts from Langston Hughes' poem Let America Be America Again:

O, let America be America again-
The land that never has been yet-
And yet must be-
The land where everyone is free.
The land that's mine-
The poor man's, Indian's, Negro's,
ME-

Chris Christie's Absence In NJ 8th Congressional Race

by: johnleesandiego

Thu Oct 21, 2010 at 10:11:35 AM EDT

With nary a fortnight until the critical midterm election the biggest man in Republican politics seems absent in the race for New Jersey's 8th Congressional District. But Bret Schundler will be there.

The 8th congressional district spans portions of Passaic and Essex Counties and included communities a braod sprectrum of communities including Montclair, Wayne, Paterson, and Nutley. The district is currently represented by Democrat William Pascrell Jr who is seeking his eighth term in office. His Republican challenger is small business owner Roland Straten.

After attending an eye-opening Town Hall meeting sponsored by the Straten campaign (where same-sex marriage was viewed as a threat to national security and the false claim of illegal immigrants beheading people in Arizona was made) I attempted to find out more about Straten and came away with more questions that answers.

Later this week the Straten campaign is scheduled to hold an event with "special guest Bret Schundler". Schundler as you may recall is the former education chieft who left his position after the Christie adminitration flushed $400 million of federal education funding down the crapper. Its a pretty fair assumption that Christie and Schundler are not going to exchange Christmas cards this year.

So my questions are, if Christie, whose popularity in the GOP is only dwarfed by dancing sensation Bristol Palin, is the biggest man in conservative politics, why do we see someone he fired stumping for Straten? Does Christie view the 8th District as unwinnable? Or is Christie aware of the racially charged views of other "special guests" of the Straten campaign? (Of course Christie may have made a statement somewhere along the way but with Bristol stealing all the headlines maybe I missed them)

How many jobs could corporate ad spending pay for?

by: Adam L

Tue Oct 19, 2010 at 12:45:00 PM EDT

Instead of spending millions and millions on Republican political attack ads, why aren't these corporations using the money to hire more workers?

And we know that Koch Industries' owners are regular and heavy donors to the RGA and Republican Party candidates/chapters.  But they also laid off 150 people in their Wichita headquarters last year as well as another 115 in North Carolina just last month.

Here in New Jersey, the Chamber of Commerce is running ads against House incumbents in at least one District - on top of a number of other House and Senate races.  While this is based on donations whose source does not have to generally be disclosed, Chamber of Commerce "dues" can be well over $100,000, and used at the discretion of the Chamber (which has reportedly run around 8,000 ads this cycle alone - just on behalf of Republican Senate Candidates.

News Corp, as we also know, donated $1 million to the RGA and another $1 million to the Chamber of Commerce just this past year (not to mention the major investment in the Fox News as the propaganda and misinformation machine that it is.  On the flip side, maybe if it focused less on buying elections and more on its businesses, it wouldn't have sold Beliefnet and caused "a great number" of layoffs.  Or the layoffs at IGN Entertainment.  Or 100 or so last year at Fox Interactive Media.

I could go on and on and on.  But the point is clear - the Republican Party and its candidates like to claim that they care about job creation and the "free market" helping the economy.  But the truth is, they take in record profits and funnel them to the executives, generate huge losses and still funnel huge bonuses to their executives or - in this case - cut jobs instead of adding or saving them while wasting hundreds of millions of dollars which could be spent on their core business or helping the economy as opposed to buying elections.

Adler's (Other) Tea Party Problem

by: deciminyan

Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 06:32:17 AM EDT

Monday night's debate between John Adler and Jon Runyan had its share of Tea Party folks posing their wedge issues during the question and answer session.  One person asked each candidate if he would vote for their current House leader (Nancy Pelosi for Adler, John Boehner for Runyan) as Speaker if their party were in the majority.  Luckily for Runyan, the answer was a no-brainer.  But I was surprised at John Adler's response.

Adler is a skilled attorney and politician, and did not give a direct "yes" or "no" answer.  Playing into the propaganda propagated by the Tea Party and Fox News, he stated that he felt that Speaker Pelosi was "divisive", and that troubled him.  Where has he been?

The capstone legislation of the 111th Congress is, of course, the Affordable Care Act.  The House Republicans were just a dead weight in its passage through the labyrinth of legislation.  All GOP members abided by their loyalty oath and publicly stated that they would vote "no" on every one of the president's initiatives and obstruct this important bill, even though it is essentially the same bill that the Republicans promoted as an alternative to Hillary Clinton's health care initiative in the '90s.  So, as leader, Speaker Pelosi needed to corral all of the Democrats - Liberals, Centrists, and Blue Dogs - to cobble together a bill that they could collectively support.  Pelosi is a masterful politician and got the compromises necessary to pass the bill, despite 34 Democrats (including Adler) voting against it.  Her ability to bring this diverse group of Democrats under the "big tent" is by no means divisive - on the contrary it is close to miraculous.

Adler's pandering to the right wing's anti-Pelosi (possibly anti-powerful woman) mantra indicates his willingness to swing toward what is required to be re-elected rather than toward what is right and decent.  His remarks will encourage other conservative Democrats to mount a challenge to the leadership of one of the most effective Speakers in my lifetime.

Tyler Clementi and the Fight for Civil Rights

by: Congressman Rush Holt

Thu Oct 07, 2010 at 09:40:41 AM EDT

The fight for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals is the next front in America's struggle for civil rights.

The milestones of America's progress have marked fights for equal rights, liberty, and justice for all.  The enduring struggle - to grant women the right to vote, to end Jim Crow, to provide opportunity and accessibility to individuals with disabilities - helps define who we are as a nation.

The tragedy of Tyler Clementi's death - like the suicides of three other teens in three other states whose deaths reportedly are linked to anti-gay bullying and abuse - is part of that struggle.

Adler-Runyan race is a toss-up

by: Hopeful

Wed Sep 29, 2010 at 04:12:15 PM EDT

Professor Redlawsk tells us on his blog:

Still, as the release below shows, Adler is in reasonable position for an incumbent Democrat in a marginal seat given the prevailing winds of 2010. He seems to be so because most likely voters in the district actually say they prefer experience over an outsider and because he is seen somewhat more favorably than is his opponent Republican Jon Runyan.

He has a detailed discussion of the likely voter screen. The likely voter sample is 41-39-6 for Adler-Runyan-DeStafano. Adler has a nine point lead 40-31-6 with registered voters. Turnout looks to be killing Democrats, as Obama's twitter feed suggested yesterday:

The other side is counting on you staying home this Nov. They're counting on your silence. They are betting on your apathy. Prove them wrong

Stephen Colbert to testify before Congress Friday

by: Rosi Efthim

Thu Sep 23, 2010 at 06:07:00 PM EDT

He's expected to talk about illegal immigrants and in case C-SPAN doesn't cover that (and really, what are the chances?) that testimony might go something like this conversation with a very patient United Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez.