News broke today of Gov. Chris Christie's remarks - with audio - claiming he protected Sheila Oliver's position as Speaker with the promise of GOP votes if she couldn't get Democrats, in exchange for her support to post the Christie-Sweeney-Oliver pen-ben bill and shepherd votes. His remarks came at a meeting in Colorado Christie took pains to cover up - failing to disclose it, its hosts (far-right oil billionaire Koch brothers) or even his out-of-state travel that day. No matter which account you believe - if either - what we learned today confirms something is very wrong in the way decisions are made in New Jersey.
The 4 hour-plus time lag before an Oliver denial of Christie's story concerns me. If Christie's story was bullshit, you'd expect her to say so immediately. First, Oliver's late-day statement - a humdinger:
"The assertions that Gov. Christie has made, they are outright lies. Outright lies. I am beginning to wonder if Gov. Christie is mentally deranged," Oliver said. "At no time did I ever, ever pick up the telephone, call Gov. Christie and ask him to quote 'save my leadership.' " The governor was engaged in a chest-thumping vaudeville entertainment session in front of the Republican donors, she said. "I don't expect to call him at all," she said. "I think it's disgraceful."
Mentally deranged, she calls Christie. This story may unleash a war of words between the GOP governor and the Democratic Speaker, a breaking of the confederacy between them that has infuriated so many Democrats. And it may mean that the compliance Christie counts on from Oliver may be cracking as Oliver attempts to save herself from political embarrassment. Though, it's impossible to miss that Oliver expended her energy distancing herself from political allegations from the Governor; she still hasn't said anything worth reporting about her role pushing pen-ben, in defiance of core principles. The possibility that Oliver may now wiggle out from under Christie's thumb and begin to lead as she was elected to do, keeps us from calling for her ouster from leadership.
And when many top NJ lawyers pointed out that Christiedidn't have any experience in criminal law and his appointment was directly connected to the above hundreds of thousands in donations for Bush, that was just a coincidence.
Is John Adler actually literally letting financial industry lobbyists write his copy now? That's what a letter Adler's shopping around to Democrats reads like. From TPM we learn that NJ-3's Democratic congressman is trying to generate signatures from his colleagues on a letter to Nancy Pelosi to extend more taxes to wealthy folks.
The letter to Democratic leadership promotes the extension of Bush-era dividends and capital gains tax rates, passed in 2003 and due to expire at the end of this year. And again, caving to Republicans is foolish when there is an actual Republican option to vote for. And besides any political calculation that may be present, extending this is plainly wrong. I cannot imagine any other Democratic congressman in the NJ delegation signing this. Text of Rep. Adler's letter is after the jump.
Like George Bush, Chris Christie got it right on one issue. The Governor has accused his fellow Republicans of "overreacting" to the proposed construction of the Burlington Coat Factory Islamic Cultural Center (incorrectly referred to in most of the mainstream media as the "Ground Zero Mosque.") After the 9/11 attacks, President Bush reminded us to continue to treat Muslims as we treat all citizens, since moderate Muslims were not responsible for the attack, and indeed many were killed in the towers.
Yet, even as we applaud Governor Christie for being on the right side of this issue, let's remember that in his short time in office so far, he is harming New Jersey by emulating the Worst President Ever. This video is such a reminder.
The catastrophic proportions of one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history with more than 210,000 gallons of oil is continuing to leak daily from a ruptured oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is continuing to threaten the shores of Louisiana and Florida. The unprecedented underwater leak has led to hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil spewing unchecked into the Gulf and moving to the coast, between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida.
The "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster," as President Obama describes the Gulf of Mexico oil spill which was caused by an explosion and fire on the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig followed by a ruptured well. It is sadly noted that 11 workers were killed in the explosion. In addition, the total bill to include clean-up and compensation for damages could exceed $14 billion.
Environmental scientists estimate the ecological and biological consequences could last for years, if not decades. These include, oil remaining in the sediment of a marsh for 20 years, complete plant and animal species being wiped out, and oyster reefs being endangered. Several attempts to contain it have been unsuccessful and only estimated 15 to 20 percent of oil can be recovered from water.
Then, there is the question of corporate responsibility of the London-based BP Plc that owned the oil involved in the recent spill as well as the regulatory environment that oversees the offshore drilling. Three years ago, BP was reeling from accusations of putting profits before safety because of the high incidence of on-the-job accidents in its Texas City refinery, including a deadly explosion. That was turned around by new management, but, it appears that accidents still continue.
Chris Christie appeared yesterday on Your World with Neil Cavuto on FoxNews. They opened the segment showing compilation of the ads that have been run against Christie. Cavuto focused on the advertising disparity between the campaigns saying Christie was campaigning on facebook and twitter. Christie said they conserved their money over the summer and thats why there was such a difference.
There was this exchange:
Christie- I am going to cut taxes in my 4 years as Governor.
Cavuto- Would you rule out ever raising them?
Christie- I will not raise taxes as Governor
Cavuto- Is this like a Bush moment?
Christie- Well... it's a Christie moment.
He talked about how new State workers will need to have a 401k and not go into the pension. When Cavuto said given the current state fiscal situation that you almost have to raise taxes, Christie said no we have to stop spending and Cavuto replied, "but every Governor says that... no offense to you." Have a look:
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush, turned up to a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie tonight.
"He was invited by one of the host committee members," said Christie spokeswoman Maria Comella.
The host committee member reached out to Bush directly and did not check with the Christie campaign.
I love the way the story is written. They make it sound like Jeb Bush just turned up at the fundraiser, SURPRISE!
A few things. First, I flat out do not believe that you invite the brother of the former President/former Governor in his own right without running it by the campaign. Second, not checking doesn't mean they didn't notify the campaign of Bush's potential attendance. I can't believe that Jeb Bush just walks into a fundraiser by himself without the campaign knowing and preparing. And it doesn't matter who invited him, he was there for Christie. By this measure, if it was George Bush they'd probably say the parking attendant brought him.
We had plenty of coverage of the Governor at Netroots Nation yesterday. Yesterday while there for the panel, he met with a group of progressive bloggers and sharply criticized Christie's discussions with Rove: (Via Think Progress)
It is hard to understand how a lawbreaker gets the reputation of being the king of law enforcement, and uses that as a platform. It's the Hatch Act.
The Corzine campaign came out with their new television ad today, Pioneer, which ties Chris Christie to George Bush. Here's what the campaign had to say about the 30 second ad that will run on cable and network TV across the state.:
Pioneer clarifies the connections between Chris Christie, his massive political contributions to George Bush, and his subsequently being named as U.S. Attorney - a classic example of pay to play. Once he purchased his office, Christie brazenly awarded his political allies and fellow Bush cronies millions in no bid contracts.
The commercial shows Christie clapping as they run through the laundry list of things he has done, while standing in front of a picture of George Bush. The ad concludes saying "Bush's friend, Bush's policies, Bad for New Jersey." Here's the video:This ad follows up on the positive spot featuring President Obama at the Holmdel rally released this past Monday. I've also still been seeing the Christie just walked out ad.
News broke earlier today that when he was U.S. Attorney, Chris Christie authorized the monitoring and tracking New Jersey's citizens through their cell phones without obtaining a warrant. That is, pinpointing them within feet, wherever they were, homing in on their personal cell phones carried on their person.
So, let's see. What kind of a day is Chris Christie having today?
Christie, the Republican front-runner in the race for New Jersey governor, says he can't comment while the case is in the courts.
Hmmmm... Maybe Christie forgot he was running for Governor and actually has to account for himself now, and answer questions, now that he's not U.S. Attorney anymore.
"There was no action of the U.S. Attorney's Office that was done without the consultation and approval of the court," Christie said Thursday. "Any suggestion to the contrary is ill-informed."
That's some good tapdancing. But if you look carefully, Christie appears to acknowledge he didn't always get a warrant. And it's a warrant he was supposed to get, nothing less. Here's the difference:
The less rigorous standard of obtaining a court order rather than a warrant was used in 98 New Jersey cases since Sept. 11, 2001, resulting in 83 prosecutions, according to the documents. Two other New Jersey cases remain under seal.
Here's the bottom line. Chris Christie authorized the warrantless monitoring of cell phones in almost 100 cases. Knowing he did not have a warrant, he chose to follow the Bush administration's lead to monitor and track New Jersey citizens. And now, he doesn't want to answer questions about it (another quality he learned at the knee of his Bush/Cheney mentors). Both the wireless monitoring and the refusal to discuss his possibly illegal actions to the voters are unacceptable. Chris Christie has some serious explaining to do. The argument they use to justify monitoring is that if you're not guilty you have nothing to hide. I would say that rationale applies here too.
Appearing on Fox 5 NY in studio, Republican candidate for Governor said he doesn't want the help of his former boss:
"I wouldn't be comfortable with Alberto Gonzales coming and campaigning for me," said Christie. "I had some serious disagreements with the attorney general about the way things were run when he was attorney general and so I would not ask and wouldn't want him to come and campaign for me because we just had some serious philosophical disagreements with each other."
I wonder what exactly Christie disagreed with? Was it the politicizing of the justice department? Or perhaps the torture? And where were these concerns when these practices Christie disagreed with were going on? Conveniently, Christie also took a pass on answering whether he wants the help of Fmr President Bush or John Ashcroft, a non-answer that got the attention of at least one State Senator:
"He should answer the question," said Vitale, the Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.
I agree with Murray Sabrin. Yup, you read that right. And it doesn't happen often. Here's his conclusion:
George W. Bush's presidential epithet can now be written: He really, really screwed us.
Now personally, I could have called that one years ago. We will be referring to the legacy of George Bush, and most often not fondly, for many years to come. And these are just the problems we already know about. What else is just waiting to be discovered?
On the Senate side, both of New Jersey's senators, Democrats Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, were rated among the 10 senators most likely to oppose Bush. Menendez tied for 4th highest, accounting for 71.7% of the votes. Lautenberg tied with five other senators just behind that at 70.4% of votes.
On the House side of the Congress, none of New Jersey's 13 representatives were among their party's members most likely to vote with the president. None of the state's seven Democrats were among their party's most consistent opponents of Bush, either. But two of New Jersey's six Republicans were among the GOP's members most likely to oppose Bush's position. They were Rep. Chris Smith, in 67.9% of votes, and Rep. Frank LoBiondo in 60.8%.
Here's the full story. Menendez ranked 4th and Lautenberg was the 9th most likely Senator to oppose the President. Smith ranked 2nd and Lobiondo 6th most likely to oppose the President in the House. The numbers next year will be interesting to compare with these to see the change under an Obama agenda.
Not a good day for the President in Iraq as he had to do some shoe dodging:The President had good reflexes avoiding the shoes, but his press secretary Dana Perino wasn't so lucky. She's sporting a black eye from taking a microphone to the face in the skirmish. A little more about shoe throwing from Wikipedia:
In the Arab world, shoe flinging is a gesture of extreme disrespect. A notable occurrence of this gesture happened in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003. When U.S. forces pulled down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, many Iraqi detractors of Hussein threw their shoes at the fallen statue.
Is this what they meant by greeted as liberators? Maybe we should start throwing shoes at our convicted officials.
To make ends meet, Forte spun one night a week at the Manhattan nightclub Veruka, as a celebrity DJ. It was there, one Thursday in 2000, that Forte met a bald-headed thirty-five-year-old drug dealer named Chris Thompson. A native of Jamaica, Thompson needed some new, reliable couriers, preferably female, to handle what he called "stuff." John Forte knew many females.
Alerted by a tipster at a local hotel, police in Harlingen, Texas, stopped two of those young women on July 12th, 2000, as they made their way back to New York. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Houston opened their suitcases and discovered thirty eight-by-ten freezer packs filled with a bluish-green liquid -- liquid cocaine, a form of the drug favored in the trade because it is difficult for both dogs and X-ray machines to detect.
The DEA made a deal with the couriers, who called Forte in New York. "Put the ice cream in the tub," he said, and told them to fly to Newark International Airport. Cell-phone records show twenty-two calls between Thompson and Forte that day. Agents arrested Forte the next morning at Newark, after he dropped the "ice cream"-filled cases into the trunk of a taxi.
Forte always maintained that he thought it was cash, but the fact remains that he was convicted for the cocaine rap. As our readers pointed out in the thread earlier, not everyone would get this treatment. It's gotta be good to know people so that your time served could be halved after having 31 pounds of liquid cocaine. I know I didn't go to the right schools and I don't think my friends would be too helpful, so I better steer clear of those suitcases.
Grammy Award-winning rap artist John E. Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., will be released after serving about half of a 14-year sentence for aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Forte, whose clemency bid was supported by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), has been scheduled for release Dec. 22. He had performed with the Fugees and is a friend of and former backup singer for Carly Simon, who lobbied senior lawmakers, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), for his early release.
John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., a graduate of the elite Phillips Exeter Academy prep school who later became a producer for the rap group The Fugees and released two albums on his own, was caught in 2000 at Newark International Airport with two briefcases filled with $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine, according to court documents.
Forte, 33, a first-time offender, was convicted of possessing the 31 pounds of cocaine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years at Fort Dix, N.J.
George Bush, the Fugees, Orrin Hatch, Ted Kennedy and Carly Simon make some combination. Forte will still have to serve 5 years probation. And because it's just to much fun to watch the President's follies, I wonder if George Bush did another dance when signing the pardon:
Capital One Financial Corp said on Friday it will stop financing vehicle inventory for auto dealers in the states of New York and New Jersey, starting November.
The decision comes at a time when the global credit crunch has put a squeeze on auto dealers, who face more expensive credit to finance consumer purchases as well as their own inventory amid a steep plunge in U.S. vehicle sales.
Capital One spokeswoman Tatiana Stead said that it was a business decision based on a variety of factors.
They say this only deals with inventory financing and won't affect auto loans, but this certainly isn't going to help the already struggling auto dealerships. And for a reminder, less than a month ago before they converted into crisis mode, John McCain, George Bush and Chris Myers were still trying to convince people the economy was basically strong:
Congressman Frank Pallone and I hosted a conference call earlier today to discuss what the war in Iraq has cost New Jersey and why New Jersey can?t afford another four years of the failed Bush policies in Iraq that Chris Smith and John McCain want to continue. To see exactly what the war in Iraq has cost New Jersey, go to National Priorities.org.
On the call I emphasized the following:
· I support a responsible end to the war in Iraq so that we can invest in America?s urgent domestic priorities like renewable energy, and break our addiction to foreign oil as well as lower gas and electricity costs.
· Chris Smith and John McCain have supported George Bush every step of the way on Iraq, from believing faulty intelligence, to believing we would be greeted as liberators, to believing the war will pay for itself with Iraqi oil.
· Each month, the United States spends $10 billion a month in Iraq ? money which could be used to address domestic priorities like ensuring affordable health care, rebuilding our infrastructure or hiring more teachers or public safety officers.
· Incredibly, Iraq is right now holding onto $79 billion in excess oil revenues. We?re spending $10 billion a month to rebuild Iraq instead of using that money to create jobs here in America.
· The citizens of the 4th Congressional district have paid $2.2 billion for the war effort. That money could have been used to provide every home in the 4th Congressional District with Renewable Electricity, with enough money left over to help provide affordable health coverage for our residents.
That $2.2 billion could:
· Provide 203,137 People with Health Care for One Year
· Power 3,096,562 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year
· Hire 37,775 Public Safety Officers for One Year
· Provide 724,756 Children with Health Care for One Year
· Provide 28,856 Port Container Inspectors for One Year
· We can?t keep doing what we?re doing. We need change at all levels of government.
· Chris Smith and John McCain have no plan to bring our troops home.
· We need to elect a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress to bring our troops home and invest in our country?s future.
The campaign is entering a critical phase and I need your support. You can contribute at my ActBlue page. If you'd like to volunteer, please contact ian_at_joshzeitz_dot_com. Please visit my website to learn more about what I stand for.
We've gotten press releases from many of the campaigns "welcoming" President Bush to NJ on behalf of Chris Myers and Leonard Lance. Here is a sampling:
First we have the Stender Campaign:
The Bush-Lance Economy: Failed Record Causes Meltdown After eight years of failed economic policies, Wall Street's collapse under the Bush Administration has now left thousands of New Jerseyans' jobs at risk and imperiled the pensions and savings of many more. The last eight years show why New Jersey families desperately need change as workers fear losing their jobs, homes, and retirement funds. Fiscally irresponsible Republicans in Washington have left our economy in shambles. Leonard Lance offers only more of the same, even agreeing with George Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. Today, the President comes to New Jersey to bail out his latest troubled victim: Leonard Lance's campaign.
Myers Welcomes "Modern-Day Herbert Hoover" Into District, Adler said that Myers, given the severity and immediacy of the crisis rocking the economy, should have told Bush it would be inappropriate to go ahead with today's high-priced event to raise money for his campaign. But like everything else about his campaign, Adler said, Myers has put his own political needs, as well as his absolute allegiance to President Bush and his eight years of failed policies, ahead of the people in the 3rd District. Adler said the fundraiser "is all about payback" from the White House for Myers' steadfast support for Bush's legacy of failure, including the Iraq War, the damaged economy and the staggering costs of education and health care.
Finally, we get a welcome courtesy of the Zeitz campaign:
The Bush-Chris Smith Economy Chris Smith and the Republican Party's philosophy of deregulation, laissez faire, trickle-down economics is to blame for the current crisis. They continually fought for tax cuts for the rich while gutting consumer protections for the middle class and they let Wall Street run amok.
President Bush and Chris Smith are leaving us with a record $500 billion deficit for 2009. The Republican Party and Chris Smith have turned a record surplus into a record deficit.
President Bush and Chris Smith have failed to present any conditions for their proposed $1 Trillion Bailout for Wall Street and Financial Sector
54,000 New Jersey jobs are at stake. About 54,000 New Jerseyans are employed with securities, commodity and brokerage firms.
NJ taxpayers will suffer the impacts. The loss of jobs, and resulting loss of state tax revenue will damage our state budget, further placing burdens on already enormously high property taxes.
I know you will all be shocked to hear there is nothing welcoming the President from any of the Republicans. It's almost like they don't want you to know he's here, until you see their FEC reports of course.
