"Fundraising by county committees has decreased by 28 percent since 2005, the last time there was an election for Governor and the General Assembly,'' said Jeff Brindle, Executive Director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. Over the same period, expenditures were down 30 percent, he said.
County party committees raised $13.7 million in 2009, a $5.2 million reduction from the $18.9 million raised four years ago, he said. Spending dropped from $19 million to $13.3 million, a $5.7 million reduction.
That's a pretty significant drop and the factors again most likely relate to the economy along with the tightening of pay to play laws. But ELEC director Jeff Brindle also offered another reason for less money at the county organizations:
Brindle said another local trend also could be curtailing amounts reported by county party officials. Several new political action committees have formed recently, some by county party members themselves, he said. "This activity may be drawing funds away from the county organizations,'' Brindle said.
It's a constant moving target tracking campaign fundraising. If you go back to 2003, ELEC says overall spending is down 51%. In addition it should be noted that while it's not expected to change the basic findings, there are still six counties that have not filed fundraising reports for the final quarter. I'll put the full breakdown of county party numbers below the fold.
I'm all for making more information available to those who seek to find it when it comes to the financing of campaigns. So it was good to see ELEC annouce yetserday that they have published municipal campaign contrubutions for the first time online at the ELEC website:
Initially, more than $5.5 million donated to 377 different primary fundraising committees last spring can be analyzed electronically. More than $11.5 million in general election funding will become available early next year.
Jeffrey Brindle, ELEC's executive director, said the new tool is part of the office's mission to provide "the fullest possible disclosure of candidate fundraising."
"More complete disclosure of municipal and county donations will enhance enforcement of pay-to-play laws, laws that are intended to discourage undue influence by public contractors," Brindle said. "If someone receives a public contract, any citizen can simply key in the person's name and a list of his or her contributions will appear."
Their analysis of the contributions and filings showed that five places saw fundrasing exceed $200,000:
Location
Receipts
Disbursements
Edison Township
$587,853
$590,837
East Orange
$408,725
$379,597
Atlantic City
$251,303
$248,142
Middlesex County
$234,216
$235,938
Bergen County
$228,245
$198,658
And eleven other places in the state saw over $100,000 raised for campaigns:
Location
Receipts
Disbursements
Ocean County
$183,269
$188,602
Englewood
$177,963
$163,162
Morristown
$160,981
$152,362
Atlantic County
$157,042
$124,185
Camden County
$152,874
$142,567
Plainfield
$129,128
$148,998
Burlington County
$124,300
$124,300
Gloucester County
$117,032
$97,463
Passaic County
$114,354
$86,837
Brick Township
$110,593
$29,095
Secaucus
$107,889
$106,561
ELEC says they are working to provide more information including general election numbers, school board, May and June Municipal races and fire commission in the near future. Safari and Firefox users are hoping fixes come for them too so they can find all this additional information. You can search for information about contributions, candidates and contributors by visiting ELEC's website.
ELEC reports today that even less money is being raised and spent on Assembly races this cycle than they anticipated:
Candidates for the General Assembly have raised $14.6 million and spent $10.2 million, according to 11-day pre-election reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission for the 2009 General Election.
"These figures represent an even more dramatic decrease in financial activity from four years ago than was reported at the 29-day reporting period," said Jeff Brindle, Executive Director of the Commission.
In 2005, the last time there were contests for Governor and Assembly, Assembly candidates had raised $19.4 million and spent $14.9 million by this time.
While they say that the Governor's race and tough economy have helped contribute to the 25% drop in fundraising and 32% drop in spending, they credit pay to play laws as an additional factor:
"What we have witnessed since Pay-to-Play laws were enacted and executive orders issued is a slowdown in campaign financial activity, culminating in the dramatic decrease at all levels this year," said Brindle.
"Potential donors are hesitant to give, fearing being in violation of the law, forfeiting a public contract, or being prohibited from negotiating and bidding on a contract."
"It is safe to say that Pay-to-Play laws are working with regard to reducing the amount in contributions going directly to candidates," he said.
Overall, the Assembly Democrats have more than their opponents:
Democratic candidates raised $10 million, spent $7.2 million and have $2.8 million cashon-hand. Republican candidates have raised $4.5 million, spent $2.9 million and have cash-onhand totaling $1.5 million. Independents have reported $118,081 raised and $60,971 in expenditures. Cash-on-hand for Independents amounts to $56,929.
They said that even in prior tough economic times, campaign spending would still increase and sometimes significantly, seeming to discount the economy's influence. Do you agree with their assessment? What do you think has caused the drop in fundraising and spending?
Tonight at a special meeting held in response to our grassroots petition, the Citizens' Campaign Model Ordinance against Pay-to-Play was passed by the Parsippany Town Council.
Thanks to all who helped in this effort and who came tonight to show your support!
The council passed the ordinance 3-1 with the council members up for re-election voting in support of the measure. The council member opposing said the problem should be solved in Trenton and he feels that town-to-town regulations would be "chaotic" as if each town has it's own DMV.
The Morristown Town Council balked last year at approving an ordinance limiting pay-to-play for municipal elections. Supporters started a petition drive, got the ordinance on the ballot and voters, not surprisingly, approved it. We may see the same thing happen in Parsippany.
After being rebuffed by the council, a petition drive has garnered enough signatures to get an anti pay-to-play ordinance on the ballot this fall. The ordinance would limit contributions from vendors or "professional business'' entities to $300 for local candidates and to $500 for county political committees. Total contributions from professional firms would be capped at $2,500.
The council has refused to adopt the ordinance. Its reluctance is hard to understand. Why would the council not want to make a public condemnation of pay-to-play? That would be both good policy and good politics.
Now that the petition in Parsippany has enough signatures to get on the ballot, the council has another chance to do the right thing.
Ah, but the difficult thing is bringing the changes about. You know there will be push back, perhaps even from his own party
For instance, its clean image notwithstanding, even Republican Morris County is not immune to the problems Christie wants to end. There are always,
it seems, a number of freeholders (there are currently two of them) who retain their municipal jobs, and thereby, put themself in potential conflict. There are also Morris County elected officials who hold full-time public jobs. And as for pay-to-play
- the practice of vendors and professionals getting government contracts by making campaign donations ... we just saw the all-Republican council in
Parsippany refuse to adopt an ordinance that seeks to control
it. The council, of course, is not alone. The freeholders have refused to ban the practice as well, arguing, oddly, that it does not exist in Morris County. The observer is left to wonder why something that does not exist can't be banned.
Last night, Chris Christie was on the original agenda to attend the swearing in of the newly elected council candidates in Evesham. Up until around 2pm yesterday, he was even listed on the public agenda on the township website:
But magically between 2pm and 3pm yesterday, the agenda was was taken down from the website. The page was no more. And Chris Christie did not attend the swearing in of the new Evesham council candidates. He decided not to swear in the GOP candidates as they took control of council in the largest municipality in Burlington County. So what changed? Why did Christie not go?
The only difference between last week when his appearance was confirmed and the swearing in yesterday were the campaign finance allegations that became public earlier this week. I wrote about it on Monday and an article appeared in the Courier Post on Tuesday.
This guy Chris Christie is just not ready for prime time. "Pay-to-play" is basically legalized corruption and New Jersey reformers have worked hard to limit the practice. So I was surprised when Chris Christie complains he can't accept pay-to-play money in today's Philadelphia Inquirer:
McGreevey's executive order banned the state from awarding contracts of more than $17,500 to companies in which high-ranking officials contributed more than $300 to a gubernatorial candidate or state or county party organization... McGreevey's order covered contributors who controlled 10 percent or more of companies getting state contracts. Corzine included any partner, officer, or principal of a vendor firm, further limiting the number of people who would be willing to contribute to gubernatorial campaigns.
...And that has Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher J. Christie in a lather.
"This governor is a hypocrite. He signs this executive order which he doesn't live by, yet he forces everybody else in the race to live by it," he said.
Let's get this straight:
Democrat Jon Corzine took no corrupt pay-for-play money in 2005 and will not in 2009.
Republican Doug Forrester took no corrupt pay-for-play money.
A number of excellent diaries have been written on BlueJersey.com illustrating the hypocrisy, ineptitude and downright foolishness of the Christie campaign.
As I've been saying for years, Chris Christie is a partisan political hack who is a corrupt (de facto, at this point) absolute hypocrite.
If he were REALLY smart/gutsy he would simply admit the reality and the truth that pay to play IS New Jersey politics and that that's a game he has indeed played......then he could go about proposing serious root to branch reforms that would truly clean up the problem (for a period of time, then the weeds would have to be cut back again).
By admitting/confessing that he was/is a creature of the de facto corrupt system and getting down to a truly serious/comprehensive proposal to actually clean up the shit...he would defuse the attacks on him....and get credit for actually proposing real solutions. That would leave Jon Corzine looking like a flat footed fool.
Fortunately for Jon Corzine and our Democratic party, Christie, so far, is way too much of a prideful chickenshit asshole to take the high road I proposed. Christie is so wedded to the absolutely corrupt Bush administration that he would have to virtually renounce his whole career to sincerely pull off the tactic I suggested....so far there is no indication that Christie is that smart or that he has the guts to do it.
At some point, New Jersey politics will be cleaned up. I'm not sure any of the current players from either "mainstream" party have the balls or the integrity to propose and implement radical solutions to a radical problem; but hope springs eternal.
Pay to play is a systemic cancer that permeates the very DNA of New Jersey politics at the cellular level.....anyone who has been involved in, or informed about, politics in NJ knows just how deeply and thoroughly dirty it is. There is no shortage of data that makes the case airtight.
My hope was/is that Jon Corzine would step up to the plate and "betray" some of the folks that "brung him to the dance"......Corzine must come to realize that his primary obligation is to the people of New Jersey and not to the power brokers that have guided his political career.
I have no doubt that Corzine has the intelligence and the political skills to do what Christie won't/can't do (propose/embrace radical reforms) but I don't see him as having a sufficiently courageous "profile" to go against the NJ political establishment and take the side of the actual working PEOPLE of the state.
So, yes...Christie is blowing it big time...and yes, Corzine is still wayyyyyy better than Cristie so I'll support and vote for him in November; but if Jon Corzine wants to win by 25 points (or MORE) and become the greatest governor the state has ever had.......he would embrace a far more progressive (and yes, populist) agenda...and make some real/profound changes that would set a transformative tone for the whole nation!
As it stands now...Corzine catches up to Christie and wins by 4 to 7 points in a conventional race. Why? Because he, warts and all, is a better candidate with a better agenda.......but, frankly, just being be superor to a jackass like Chris Christie isn't good enough.
New Jersey needs and deserves real, deep, and thorough/systemic reforms. We can do better, lots better.
Before leaving office as U.S. Attorney last year, Christopher Christie hired Samuel Stern, the son of former U.S. District Court Judge Herbert Stern, to work as a federal prosecutor. Samuel Stern started work last month in the Appeals Division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Newark.
Hand out contract, check. Hand out job, check. Take money in return for your campaign, check. The US Attorney's office had no comment, but confirmed the hiring. This is what the American Spectator had to say before this latest news of family ties was added:
But there's no law that says you can't take a STATE contribution from someone you gave a FEDERAL no bid contract to. And that's exactly what Chris Christie, the GOP favorite to get the nod to take on Jon Corzine in the Fall has done. As U.S. Attorney, Christie gave the firm of Stern and Kilcullen a 7 million dollar no-bid contract. Now that Christie's running for Governor, the partners and their wives contributed $23,800 to Christie's campaign. Since New Jersey has 2-1 matching funds, it's more like they gave him over $70,000.
While this is not illegal, it sure looks terrible, especially when you consider that Christie has based his entire campaign on ethics and cleaning up New Jersey.
Move along, nothing to see here. Aside from the actual issue of the job and contributions, that line does point to the glaring hypocrisy of the issue when you compare it to the rhetoric of his campaign language. I would love to see the Republican reaction to a story like this if it was a Democrat and these details came out. It must just be ok if you are a Republican.
Promoted by Jason Springer: The Christie campaign probably won't be highlighting these connections.
Senator Joe Kyrillos, 2008 New Jersey Chairman of Mitt Romney for President.
Republican Chris Christie's selection of State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) as his campaign chairman proves that the newly minted candidate remembers his friends. However, it may also undermine the one time lawman's reputation as a corruption buster unswayed by pay to play politics and influence peddling.
The two are longtime friends. In 1997, Kyrillos presided over Christie's swearing-in as Morris County Freeholder. A former Republican State Chair, he was a key player in the behind the scenes maneuvering in the run up to Christie's candidacy. As a veteran legislator and card carrying member of Middletown's Navesink Country Club, he embodies the moderate GOP establishment that rallied to Christie's side following last week's announcement that he would seek the gubernatorial nomination. More than that, Joe Kyrillos has been one of Christie's biggest boosters over the course of the last decade. He sung his praises to fellow Republicans and the media, and as a party leader he used Christie family campaign contributions to lay the foundation for the present campaign.
Even Christie has alluded to the fact there were some who questioned his qualifications when President George W. Bush named him U.S. Attorney in 2001. Joe Kyrillos was instrumental in quashing that speculation.
The then Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee (NJRSC) told The New York Times, "There's a lot of good feeling for Chris at the White House ... He's worked very hard for the president and has been recommended by virtually all the key leaders from state government and political circles.''
By working hard, Kyrillos may have been referring to the hundreds of thousands of dollars Christie raised for Bush/Cheney 2000. Or he could also have meant the $5,200 he and his wife had contributed to Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco, who recommended his name to the White House.
Christie won the support of Kyrillos, DiFriancesco, and most importantly, the White House, but as a failed Assembly candidate and one term Freeholder who waged legal war on members of his own party, there were still lingering feelings among some activists who felt he had jumped the line without waiting his turn.
Upon assuming office, with his friend Joe as Chairman in Trenton, he set out to rectify that. According to reports filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), prior to 2002 the Christie family contributed $800 to New Jersey Republicans. During the period Kyrillos was Chairman (2001-2004), they contributed a staggering $144,000. The money went toward Republican legislative and municipal campaigns throughout the state. While the U.S. Attorney railed against the practice of pay to play at press conferences, he generated good will by engaging in it himself as he had prior to his appointment, this time quietly, behind the scenes.
No one questions the success Chris Christie enjoyed as a federal prosecutor. He contributed a great deal to cleaning up the culture of corruption in New Jersey. However, as he begins his campaign for Governor he may be tempted to lean too heavily on the convictions he's won and the reputation he's been given by media outlets who have all but ignored these backdoor contributions. In doing so, he neglects to recall that it was pay to play that got him a shot at the limelight in the first place. If he forgets, his old friend Joe Kyrillos should remind him of that. Even if he doesn't, the sight of this ultimate insider as Chairman of Christie for New Jersey should remind us all.
Today's Bergen Record has an interesting headline in a story, by Michael Gartland, http://www.northjersey.com/new... that boldly proclaims...
Kasparian: Pay-to-play must end
Here's a bit of the story...
Michael Kasparian is advocating public financing for political campaigns as a remedy to political patronage.
"If there was a level playing field, then I think this idea of pay-to-play goes away," the newly minted chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization said Wednesday night. "Until you stem the demand for dollars, the desire for dollars is not going to ebb."
The statements came at his first appearance before Bergen Grassroots, a reformist wing of the party that advocated opposition to Kasparian's run for chairman.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the meeting last night with my trusty little Casio recorder. It would have been great to have had this apparent epiphany/conversion fully recorded!
Kasparian, let us not forget, is the guy that Joseph Ferriero hand picked to be his successor. Why would Joe Ferriero do all in his power to get this guy into his seat so he could implement reformist policies to which Joe Ferriero was/is opposed???
This is somewhat in response to our friend Chip's recent diary: No such thing as too big: Congress should pass a strong stimulus bill ASAP http://www.bluejersey.com/show...
What is quoted below is a cross post from something I submitted to the NYT yesterday (before I got around to reading Chip's diary).
On the one hand we all must support Barack Obama and back him, on the other we also need to take care not to blindly/robotically march in lockstep when the administration may be doing too little, too late and/or going in the wrong direction. Obama needs to be constructively critiqued also. It's a delicate balance, that is required.
Frankly, the Republican's have now publicly adopted Rush line
"I hope he fails."
as their modus operandi. (They've been sabotaging/raping the economy from September on in as it became clear that McCain would lose....none of this is accidental.)
The Republican agenda is to put the American people through hell just so their big business patrons can keep on stashin their cash and buying up cheap assets until 2012 when the country is in such a shambles that they can then make their "big con" a complete "success" when they blame it all on Barack and pick up the pieces (which they'll own at bargain basements rates). That's their script.
We don't have to let that happen.
Obama needs to understand that he's not dealing with honest decent people. He needs to seize the bully pulpit and lead a couple of hundred million Americans in a radically new direction. He has that potential. But, frankly, I don't see him doing it unless there is a call for it from the ground up.
Passing this bill is, at best, marginally better than doing nothing at all, but that's about it.
The stimulus needed to be 4 times larger and structured in a radically different manner.
It also needed to be part of a radical (yes there's that word again) omnibus electoral and ethics reform package that would take the dirty money out of politics and criminalize the "legal" behaviors that have enabled the theft of our economy.
This current mess was not caused by any normal/healthy "market forces"; it is the pathological result of the cumulative effects of legalized corruption. Our political and economic infrastructure are legally corrupt from the branches right down to the roots.....and that's why the solutions must be radical and wholistic.
No shallow "single shot" remedies will work. The same corrupt infrastructure that caused the problems in the first place, are simply feeding off of what's being done to correct the situation. What we're doing now is like pumping intravenous antibiotics into a in infected person with peritonitis without performing emergency surgery to first clean out the fecal matter that is the cause of the infection. There isn't enough money on the planet to "bail out" this sinking ship.....we must repair the leak as we bail.
The Republicans are right to oppose; but they are doing it for all the wrong reasons.
Arguably, the Bush administration perversely left Obama this "poison pill" of an economy just to sabotage his presidency. Arguably the Republicans started talking down the economy as soon as it became evident that there was no way they could win the presidency.....that's how low our politics has become.
The financial "services" industry is rotten to the core and deserves to be allowed to go bankrupt. We need to nationalize enough banks to keep depositors confident that their money is safe and to start sane lending to worthy applicants at great rates.
All, and I mean all, of the rich folk at the top of the corrupt food chain need to be "let go". The recent disclosure that 4 billion dollars of taxpayer money was given away as "bonuses" to Goldman Sachs employees is one more instance of the gang raping of ordinary working Americans who simply play by he rules and pay their taxes and have no special connections. Further, we need to implement policies that will track the stolen wealth and tax/confiscate it.......there are way too many rich powerful people who see democracy as a threat to their wealth and power. They won't just "go away".
Sadly, Obama, in a well intended good natured wish to compromise and be a nice guy is being taken for a ride. For all of his great intelligence and obvious talent....he's being conned.
Unfortunately, the people in charge will not listen to common sense. For the most part they owe their own jobs/power to the legally corrupt pay to play system that is American politics and governance....so this horrendously costly charade will go on until the bottom really falls out and so much stuff hits so many fans that we finally wake up.
I just hope our democracy survives the shock.....as no doubt, the next phase of the con job will be to try to "capitalize" on the disgust and disillusionment that most people will feel when things begin to really get bad.
We need deeply intelligent and wholistic/radical solutions to these systemic problems; not emergency measures patched together in a few days/weeks that just dig us deeper into the pits. I realize that the picture I've sketchily outlined here is so ugly that most of you will reject it out of hand.....that kind of denial is understandable.
Obama has it right when he talks about us not "Republicans or Democrats" etc; the problems that beset us now are, in a divinely comic/dramatic way a great opportunity to become dis-illusioned with unsustainable policies of the past that can only lead to more waste, war, pollution and generalized human misery.
The relatively small number of rich and powerful parasites who think they are somehow "getting over" will all grow old and die in a poverty of spirit so profound that one would hope that there is no afterlife lest they be condemned to an eternity in ".......... that place [where] there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
I realize that this "message in a bottle"/"song and a prayer" isn't likely to make much difference against the tsunami of current events....but this is just an opening salvo. I suspect that there are many others who see what I'm pointing at...and it's up to us to have hope and to become active.
If you "catch my drift" you know that the long term stakes here go ***way**** beyond whether or not we experience an economic depression or we avoid one; let's get busy folks!!!
Nick Lento, New Jersey
I am very encouraged that President Obama (it still feels great to jst say that! :-) was outraged with the wall street scammers who stole 20 billion dollars from taxpayers by using bailout money as "bonuses". http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01... There's great video embedded in that article.
Frankly, these people are de facto criminals. We need to pass laws that will legally confiscate the billions they've stolen from the American people......and we need to let these failed (corrupt or inept take yer choice) institutions die.
We can nationalize enough banks to provide services and keep the local tellers and managers etc employed; but the bastards at the top who scammed us must not be "bailed out".
Not ONE PENNY MORE to bail out millionaires!!! If these people didn't earn a penny for the next 5 years they would could still survive at a level of comfort that most ordinary Americans never achieve. We must not let the poor become destitute and the middle class become poor just to keep the filthy rich people, who mis-led us into this mess, living from suffering any real losses/consequences!!!
What we are doing now is like giving a junkie heroin in order to make him "behave"; it doesn't work for long.
It's time for a wholistic and thoroughly integrated/thought out plan that can address all of these economic issues. The problems are all connected to each other and the solutions must be equally connected. Obama has the potential to actually do this. President Obama (and our whole NJ Congressional Delegation) just need a lot of toughly loving nudges from 50 million active progressives.
Right now there are a few folks (very few- maybe - um, two) who actually think Joe Ferriero is going to straighten up and fly right. After seeing the last District 37 meeting where his flunkies destroyed all hope of any civility or every single hint of democracy, I am highly suspicious of his motives for calling so soon for an election for a successor. Again - it's Joe calling the shots. I think he was just waiting till he finally had what he thinks are enough votes to keep his influence alive so that his candidates can win in November.
He was trying to influence the selection process at the outset. He thinks HE can call the election for his own successor, before anyone barely has a chance to notice how he forced his will on the BCDO yet again.
I have seen how this guy runs elections, and I can tell you, it feels like being in a country where Jimmy Carter has to visit to keep an eye on the ballot boxes. If Joe conducted ethical elections, the Real Bergen Dems would never have been formed in the first place. It was because we did not trust Boss Joe and his friends to carry out an honest election. THAT is why we asked Loretta Weinberg and her team to run OFF the BCDO line. Joe's elections. So if you think I'm going to jump for joy, because Joe called another election in 12 days, I'm gonna have to disabuse you of that notion.
When Joe calls a BCDO election - especially a "special" election, the hairs on the back of my neck stand STRAIGHT up.
And I do have to call attention to the reporters who continue to say that ANY dem that won in Bergen County did it with Joe's help. Tenafly turned bright blue WITHOUT any help from the BCDO. In fact we won DESPITE Joe's best efforts to throw us ALL off the BCDO line. Joe has that rooster taking credit for the sunrise problem and the reporters are feeding right into it.
So, in Bizarro world, Joe Ferriero might be a swell guy who is always honest and ethical and allows for folks to speak their minds at meetings, and might be for ethics reform and might believe that free speech is what I'm doing here and that Pay-To-Play is legalized bribery and has been outlawed, but we ain't in Bizarro world. We're in New Jersey. New Jersey, folks. You know, it's like Blagovovich Land, except with a Jersey accent.
We join a broad-based coalition, led by the Coalition for Peace Action, a regional organization based in Princeton, in opposing the bill. We urge the Legislature to, instead, take steps to implement an optical- scan voting system, as so many other states have done.
With optical-scan technology, voters mark ballots by hand -- in the manner of taking a standardized test -- and the ballots are then fed into a machine to be read.
Not only is the technology reliable, it's also cost-effective. U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-Hopewell Township, in testimony at the hearing last week, reckoned that, "In purchase costs alone, converting to an optical scan system would likely cost no more than adding printer retrofits to New Jersey's existing touch screen machines, and probably less."
Holt, who has long been a leader on voting integrity issues in the House of Representatives, summed up the matter nicely when he said: "Voting must not be an act of faith, it must be an act of record, and independent audit records -- voter-verified paper ballots -- must be required."
"The national trend is clearly to move away from touch screen voting and towards more reliable, less troublesome optical scan voting systems," Holt testified. "There are only seven states left in the country that, on a statewide basis, use paperless voting systems."
New Jersey is still one of them.
With the gubernatorial election less than a year away, time is running out. This is a situation that was to have been taken care of years ago. But the deadlines have come and gone, and come and gone again, and New Jersey's citizens still cannot be certain that the votes they cast will be counted and counted correctly.
The timing of this bill makes it clear that the "fix" was in from the get go. This has been railroaded through at the last minute in the hopes that they could pull off another delay and that they could get away with it like they did last time.
I am under no illusion that the votes today will go against what is in the best interests of democracy, our budget, common sense and decency. (Though I would love to be surprised!!! :-)
Any legislator who is capable of voting for this ugly pig of a bill doesn't deserve to be re-elected.
No one who cares about the democratic process should be supporting this bill, it's that bad.
After just a few minutes of real listening and asking a few real questions, Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr was inspired to speak the truth. His intelligence and his instincts were/are right on. Yet, he voted to pass it in committee (out of deference to Quigley) but did say he would vote against it on the floor. We shall see.
Whatever her motivations were, Republican Senator Jennifer Beck actually voted (correctly!!!) against the bill in committee, let's see how she votes today.
If the bill passes without some serious amendments; there needs to be a drive to introduce corrective legislation asap.
Despite the "best" efforts of our legislative "leaders", this issue isn't going to just quietly go away and die.
What's that you say? November 5th is a long way off? We have about 4 weeks left in THIS election?
Absolutely RIGHT! There's STILL time for ALL of New Jersey's Democrats with safe seats and deep pockets to get off their butts and open their wallets in support of the WHOLE ticket!
(This started out as a comment in Thurman's excellent diary The Senate Race that Wasn't http://www.bluejersey.net/show... but it went a bit far afield from his immediate subject......)
..........I wish Lautenberg and Stender had used their financial advantages and momentum to call upon ALL of the NJ congressional delegation to make it a CRUSADE to put win in ALL the contested seats.
Frank and Linda will likely win; but they could have been far more aggressive and won for the whole state instead of just focusing on their own elections.
The same applies to all the congressional incumbents like Rothman and Pallone et al who have safe seats. Why aren't they all all over the state stumping for every challenger??? Makes no sense to me. Is that considered "rude"? Is there an unwritten law against congresspeople supporting challengers to sitting members???
We could have had a statewide reform movement that would have garnered another half a million new voters to vote for Barack and to create a downticket landslide that just might have swept folks like Tom Wyka and certainly Dennis Shulman into office. As it is they are still fighting long odds
I really do wonder about the intelligence, competence and motivations of the NJ Democratic party.
Do they REALLY want to win big and REALLY clean up/transform our state? Or is it just about maintaining a corrupt status quo that puts more money into the hands of the same individuals and corporations that have been raping us forever?
Yeah sure, I'll vote Democratic across the line.....but only because the Republicans would be even worse for New Jersey.....but is that really the best we can do???
It's time the people of New Jersey, MOST of whom will back a progressive reform agenda that provides fundamental root to branch change, literally TAKE OVER the state Democratic party from the morally/ethically corrupt hacks who are now in control.
Nothing less will do the job.
The people, institutions and corporations who have been living "high on the hog" off of the hard work and sweat pf NJ taxpayers have to be thrown out of office and thrown into jail (where possible). There is no more "fat of the land" for them to live off of.
Thank you Mr. Christie.
As a BCDO County Committee member who may not share your party affiliation, I have to express my extreme gratitude for your hard work.
As someone who:
Grew up in Bergenfield, and was horrified to watch my home town get swallowed up by Pay to Play
Witnessed brazen attempts to make sure my vote DIDN'T count at special elections to elect my state legislators
Was thrown off the BCDO line again and again by Joe Ferriero for having the AUDACITY to vote my conscience
Who stood on the steps at the Hackensack Middle School in 15 degree weather for hours to protest Ferriero's attempt to change the BCDO Bylaws to weaken our vote
Who signed petitions to get a special meeting of the BCDO called only to have Mr. Ferriero ignore our pleas for a fair and open process
Who stood up to nominate Mr. Ferriero's opponent at his re-elections only to witness undemocratic behavior of the worst kind
Who watched the Pay to Play boys outspend us 13 to one with the help of large donations from no-bid contract companies to win a County primary
I want to thank you. You gave those of us in NJ who love democracy no matter what their party some hope today. Hope that we can clean up corruption, and that we should always try, because sometimes, sometimes, the good guys actually win in the end.
I know you are a Republican, sir, but as a Democrat from Bergen County, I sincerely want to thank you for helping us take the first steps to take back our party and County Government for the PEOPLE of Bergen County.
This past week, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey issued a decision in In the Matter of the Appeal by Earle Asphalt Company, a case involving the owner of a road construction business and his political contribution to the Monmouth County Republican Committee in June 2007. Walter Earle III, owner of Earle Asphalt Company, made the contribution at the behest of former State Senate President John Bennett, failing to realize that the contribution could bar him from obtaining business from the State. After obtaining counsel and being advised that his contribution might violate "pay-to-play" laws, Mr. Earle requested that the contribution be returned. Meanwhile, Earle Asphalt Company submitted a bid to the New Jersey Department of Transportation for a roadwork contract involving Interstate 195. It was the low bid and therefore Earle Asphalt would have been awarded the State contract. However, the Department of Treasury informed the company that it was disqualified from award of the contract because of Mr. Earle's June 2007 political contribution. Mr. Earle appealed this decision and took the matter to court.
Yesterday, Thurman Hart posted a strong diary in which he, essentially, directed our attention to the most recent indications that BCDO Chairman, Joseph Ferierro, is operating (the functional equivalent of) an ongoing criminal enterprise.
Whether or not law enforcement ever, finally, "nails" Ferierro & Co is almost a secondary issue that says more about the integrity of our state and federal AGs than it does about the guilt or innocence of the machine that Mr Ferierro has erected at the expense of the taxpayers and residents of Bergen County.
It's understandable that the vast majority of BC residents have no idea of who Ferierro is or of what he does "for a living".
It's understandable that the vast majority of BC residents don't show up to register or vote in the primaries that determine who the CC members are.
The ignorance and passivity of the people is, at the core, what allows pathogens like the Ferierro machine to exist and to thrive.
What is not understandable, or acceptable, is for someone as intelligent and informed and empowered as Congressman Steve Rothman to "play ball" with the, de facto, corrupt Ferierro Bossed BCDO.
You can't embrace a pig without getting muddied up and smelly.
Thurman called for the following...
A four rating is a vote for Mr. Rothman to publicly state he is for honest and open government - and if that means Joe Ferriero can't get his support, then so be it.
So far, I only see three "votes".
We can do/be better than this.
Steve Rothman is, I believe, a basically decent and intelligent man. He showed great leadership in being for Obama so early on.
There is nothing Joe Ferierro has that Steve Rothman needs. Nothing.
Please support/reinforce Thurman's initiative and manifest this small/easily made, but significant, gesture and send Congressman Rothman a message that whatever "loyalty" or "obligation" he may feel toward Joe Ferierro is far outweighed by his obligation/loyalty to his real constituents and the loyalty/obligation he should feel to his own conscience.
Ideally, Rothman should need zero prodding from anyone; but as many have pointed out here, we don't live in as ideal world.
Think what a signal it sends that Thurman could make such a call for such a small action on a progressive website, and only a handful of individuals respond positively!
Please make this small gesture.....and maybe then we can go on to discuss even deeper issues/questions.
I would love to see three hundred responses by week's end.
Whatever political capital he garnered from being for Obama early and for forcing Boss Joe to back off on the Andrews deception; he's now blown by coming out as a wholly owned subsidiary of BCDO Boss Joseph Ferierro.
Steve; what do they "have" on you???
If you're not being manipulated/intimidated into lying down for Boss Joe and you're doing it totally voluntarily; then that's even worse.
Is there ANYONE who can call themselves a progressive Democrat and still tolerate the de facto corruption of political bossism in general and that of the FBBCDO (Ferierro Bossed Bergen County Democratic Organization)???
Either way, Steve Rothman, shame on you for embracing this corrupt dirty machine politician.
When will politicians realize that they work for the people that vote; not the people that give them money in the form of "contributions"/legalized BRIBES?!!!?
From Frederick Douglass....
If there is no struggle there is no progress......Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
PS Please take the time to read and think about the following message from Loretta Weinberg....
Do you like my little clipart of Dennis on the second page? (even looks like him) I drew him on the side with Boss Joe, because these two have their hands everywhere and I didn't want to clutter my flow chart up.
For those who need a refresher on The Ubiquitous Mr. Oury here are two of my dairies on him:
The time Mr. Oury tried to defend his gravy train and was stopped by the Real Bergen Dems and Senator Weinberg
http://www.theenglewoodreport....
For some more information on the Shadow Governments - which are also being asked to show their records - here is my diary on that from last year when the LD37 legislators unveiled their plan to Clean Up Government here in NJ. It explains all about the BCIA where Oury and Ferriero rake in millions. The very same "authorities" that spend taxpayer money with no oversight. Well they are about to get some oversight. By the FBI no less.
They get $345 in contracts on each DOLLAR invested in Political coffers. That's a 34,500% return on investment, folks! How's your IRA doing??
In Tenafly just recently, our Borough engineer came up with a plan to fix our drainage problems. The cost would be over a million dollars. Instead of just accepting it, I asked for a second opinion and actually got THREE bids just to get another firm to review the engineer's work. For $6,000 we were able to determine that most of the work advised by our Borough engineer, not only would be uneccessary, it would exacerbate the problem, something I already suspected. $6,000 in oversight probably just saved the Borough half a million $$$ and gave us a better, cheaper solution.
It is ALWAYS a good idea to debate ANY capital expenditure and to have oversight. These firms have seen the money made by the Halliburton crowd and they want a cut just as big from the government, no matter how much that government is in debt.
It is time we end the Pay to Play Cycle and break the Corruption machine. Dennis is only one cog, Joe Ferriero is another, but we have guys like these all over the state.
I want NJ to be known for ethics reform, not corruption. Thank you, FBI for a good start.
