Candidate Happenings in Hamilton Township (Mercer)

by: djkeelan

Tue Jul 12, 2011 at 04:51:44 PM EDT

Please support these candidates by attending their Campaign Events.

Check to see if donations are required in order to attend.

Sun, July 24 12:30pm - 4:30pm
Assemblyman Dan Benson's 7th Annual Back Yard Bash @ 81 Hempstead Road Hamilton, NJ

Sat, July 30, 12:30pm - 5:00pm
Sheriff Jack Kemler's Annual Family Outing @ Tall Cedars Picnic Grove

http://hamiltondemocratsnj.com...

August 4th 5:30PM
Evening Mixer with Council Candidate Tennille McCoy @ Hamilton Manor at The Cellar

http://www.facebook.com/pages/...

August 17th All Day
Connie Carella Dalton for Hamilton Mayor
Ice Cream Social @ The Brown Dog in Mercerville (Carella's Hallmark)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/...

Saturday, August 27 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Daniel Keelan for Hamilton Twp Council @ Trenton Thunder

http://www.facebook.com/pages/...

NJ Republicans love corrupt Dwek money

by: Adam L

Tue Aug 17, 2010 at 08:47:54 AM EDT

Here we are one year later, and the State Republican Party is still holding onto the corrupt donations from a criminal.

And interestingly, one of Dwek's contributions during the 2000 presidential campaign went right through Chris Christie.  And as I said last year:

Follow me through this timeline of "coincidences":

• 2000: Dwek donates $500 to Bush through Christie's organization.
• 2006: Dwek gets busted for bad checks worth tens of millions
• He then becomes an informant who bribes Democratic politicians - who knows if this was going on from before mid 2006 or if it had to do with Christie's getting on and then off "the list" of US Attorneys to be fired - recall that Christie and Rove also spoke around this time about a potential run for Governor
• Dwek busts are announced in the middle of Christie's campaign for Governor, when they can do the most to build his reputation. And the timing raises objections from most in the US Attorney's office, except Michele Brown, whose relationship with Christie raises many questions including obvious conflict of interest, in her professional conduct and his.

There's a lot of smoke here. Too many coincidences and artful timing in the way Christie found Dwek, molded Dwek, and used Dwek to entrap politicians in a way that seems too carefully orchestrated to build a political reputation for a man who looks like he was using the United States Attorney's Office to build himself a political reputation, which is a thing the United States Dept. of Justice forbids expressly, because of potential miscarriage of justice.

Now, both the Democrats and Republicans pledged to donate their contributions from Dwek to various charities, and here we are over a year later with much of Dwek's corrupt $51,000 is still in the State Republican Party's coffers.  As the Asbury Park Press noted the other day, the Democratic State Committee, Republican State Senator Jennifer Beck and Democratic Senator Menendez all donated their entire amount of donations to various charities.

I guess the State Republican Party (and Governor Christie) is just a-ok with corrupt criminal money as long as it is for their benefit and as long as they can use it for their political gain.

29% drop in donations from public contractors in the last 4 years

by: Jason Springer

Wed Apr 07, 2010 at 01:30:00 PM EDT

Contractors last year acknowledged $10.7 million in political contributions, down from $15.1 million in 2006.

"It appears that a growing number of contractors simply have stopped making donations due to pay-to-play restrictions,'' said Brindle.  "Many firms apparently are fearful of losing government business by making a wrong donation."  

A shot across the bow

by: Adam L

Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 12:52:39 PM EST

Personally, this is a great thing to see, as the Democratic Party (both on the local, state and national levels) have taken progressives for granted - using us as an ATM (or in this instance as coined by someone who I will certainly credit when I remember, a gAyTM) to elect their candidates because "the other party is worse" but then offering little in the way of real change.  

"Better than the alternative" has gotten real old real quick - we have had large majorities as well as the Governorship here in NJ for quite some time now - and a good number of progressive issues and causes have gotten little traction.  On the Federal level, this is the same story - first it was "we need a majority", then it was "we need a bigger House majority and 60 Senate seats", and even then it took a shitstorm to even get the repeal of DADT on the agenda.

The Democratic Party (again, here in NJ as well as on a national level) should see this as yet another sign of a wake up call.  No longer are progressives happy to work and donate to the party structure only to get pushed aside.  The rise of the national netroots has given progressives the ability to donate and promote individual candidates based on views, support of issues or to reward for "going to bat" for progressive causes.

Amazingly, equality is one that has to be pushed for over and over and over again - and is one that is pushed aside or given half-hearted "separate but equal" actions.

On the issue of marriage equality, AmericaBlog has already initiated a Don't Ask, Don't Give initiative, and as noted by Pam's House Blend (where you can also see the entire text of the resolution), this could lead to support for Republican Party candidates who support marriage equality.

National and State Democratic Party leaders should sit up and take notice - the progressive netroots and grassroots has been kicked around for long enough, and has been able to organize in one of the few ways that elected officials react to - money and donations.  The tired excuses and lack of support by those who made promises in order to gain support and election will most certainly come back and bite them over time.

It may not be this November, but you can bet this is more of a blueprint for future netroots and grassroots campaigns and less of an aberration.  The state and national Democratic Parties can ignore this or write it off, but they do so at their own peril.

Building Blue for John Edwards - and America

by: Thurman Hart

Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 02:31:31 PM EDT

Shortly after I left the Navy, I discovered exactly what it means to have health insurance.  A sinus infection had developed into pneumonia, and I was trying everything from huffing Vick's Vapor Rub to eating half my weight (of course, I was thinner back then) in onions and hot peppers.  I could have easily gone to the doctor and gotten a shot of antibiotic - but that would cost $75 for an office visit, not to mention the cost of getting a shot and the cost of the medicine.  I was working four part-time jobs at $6.50 an hour.  It took everything I made to almost pay our bills.

The truth was, as my health eroded, so did my ability to earn the money to earn the money I needed to go to the doctor.  I finally hit upon a plan - I found out the Plasma Center would give you $20 for your first donation and $15 for subsequent donations - with a $5 bonus for every fifth one (technically, it isn't a donation if you're getting paid).  Since I was running a fever, though, they wouldn't let me donate.  So I'd run the last six blocks (it isn't easy to run with pneumonia, let me tell you - but if you enjoy being dizzy and unable to catch your breath, it's fine).  Then I could get checked in and blame everything on the run instead of my health.

It took almost four weeks of this (you can donate plasma about every third day or so) for me to save up enough to see the Dr.  Thankfully, when he saw the shape I was in and he noted that I didn't have insurance, he offered to give me a shot of penicillin at no cost.  The most frustrating thing in the world is to hear, "Yes, you're sick and we could heal you - but we aren't going to because you can't pay."

I could have, of course, not worked at all for six months and gone on charity care.  I'm not sure my lungs would have taken that strain, though.

That would never happen to me now.  You see, when I heard John Edwards talk about "Two Americas", I knew at a visceral level what he was talking about.  I've lived it.  I've watched friends and relatives suffer without medical care because the only hospital in the area wouldn't take you unless you could prove you could pay.  No insurance?  Drive to Lubbock (120 miles away and out of state).

I'm not naive enough to think this doesn't go on right here in New Jersey either.  There are over one million people in New Jersey without health insurance - you think it's because they don't want it?