On this Day in Blue Jersey History

by: Jay Lassiter

Mon Oct 03, 2011 at 09:13:16 AM EDT

Some of the stuff even seemed worth sharing (or re-sharing, in this case.) So follow me below the fold to relive some nuggets from this date, October 3rd, in years past.

The Steaming Load of Crap Award goes to...

by: Bertin Lefkovic

Thu Aug 04, 2011 at 05:16:14 PM EDT

Dear Supporter,

Please join the New Jersey Democratic State Committee for our 3rd Annual Women's Equality Event honoring County Chairs Charlotte DeFilippo, Elizabeth Muoio, Marguerite Schaffer and Lois Zarish at the home of Marcia Marley on Thursday, August 25th from 6 to 8 pm. Contributions are $91 commemorating 91 years since women received the right to vote.

We are honoring these county chairs who have blazed the trail for all of our women candidates and set an example in their county.  Chairs DeFilippo, Muoio, Schaffer and Zarish embody our Democratic ideals and they work tirelessly to make sure women are on the ballot and to elect Democrats every November.

No other Governor in the country has targeted women in this manner.  Chris Christie has repeatedly displayed a pattern of insensitivity and vindictiveness to the issues that are most important to the women in the state of New Jersey.  He's used the health of women as a pawn to court the far right of his. The women of New Jersey deserve better.

The county chairs we are honoring have stood up for these issues and supported candidates that stand up for women.  Your support at this event will help enable the NJDSC to better use its resources in this current fight and help train and elect future candidates.

We hope you will join the NJDSC and women leaders from across the state and show your support! To purchase tickets please click here or to RSVP or for more information, please email Heather at hdejong@njdems.org or call 609-392-3367.

Sincerely,

John Wisniewski, Chairman

I have to be honest.  I don't know anything about Chairwomen Muoio, Schaffer, and Zarish, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are more deserving of their awards than Union County Democratic Chairwoman, Charlotte DeFilippo, who during the decade-plus that I have been involved in NJ politics, has done more to prevent progressive women from being elected to prominent offices than anyone in this state in both political parties.  If Chairwoman DeFilippo is deserving of any award, it should be the Phyllis Schafly Award for her years of disservice to the progressive women of Union County and anywhere else in New Jersey where her influence has had an impact.

I have at least three examples of Chairwoman DeFilippo's negative actions against progressive women candidates for elected office during this period of time and if this topic interests you, please feel free to continue reading below the fold as I tell the stories of would-be Congresswoman Maryanne Connelly, State Senator Linda Stender, and Assemblywoman Ellen Steinberg.  Imagine if you will that the following stories are accompanied by Arlo Guthrie-style acoustic guitar strumming a la "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" (Unrelated to this issue, I had the opportunity to visit Southbridge, MA recently and found the restaurant that used to be "Alice's Restaurant" and is now "Theresa's Southbridge Cafe").

A look at the new NJ-21 (and a brief history)

by: Stephen Yellin

Sun Apr 03, 2011 at 06:37:30 PM EDT

First, a friendly welcome to the residents of Kenilworth, Chatham Borough, Bernards Township and Far Hills (all 919 of you in the last case) to the 21st Legislative District of New Jersey. I hope you find your accommodations comfortable, as you'll be staying here for the next 10 years. :)

Second, we in the 21st bid a fond farewell to Chatham Township, Madison and Millburn, which will now have a Democratic delegation to represent them in the form of Dick Codey, John McKeon and Mila Jasey. While this Berkeley Heights resident is more than a little jealous to be less than a mile away from having this awesome trio as my delegation, I take comfort in knowing that my friends at Drew University will get to know another awesome ex-Governor a lot better in the year ahead*.  

Christie runs away

by: Hopeful

Sun Mar 27, 2011 at 08:17:08 PM EDT

Christie just bolted out of the Heldrich. His security moved his SUV. He would not respond to questions as reporters chased him.

Then she got to chase Tom Kean, but we've seen that before.

NJ Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, now waiting for Chris Christie's signature

by: Rosi Efthim

Mon Nov 22, 2010 at 05:50:29 PM EST

But today was a sweet victory in NJ, something to be Thankful for as we sit down and think about our gratitudes later this week, for the kids - all kinds of kids - who may now benefit from our renewed commitment to respect them, particularly at the places where they go to learn. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights passed both houses of the legislature today. It requires anti-bullying programs in public schools and codes of conduct in our colleges and universities.

We owe special thanks to: Prime Sponsors in the Assembly Valerie Vainieri Huttle & Mary Pat Angelini and in the Senate Barbara Buono, Diane Allen & Loretta Weinberg. Sponsors include Steve Sweeney, Senate President, Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver & Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce.

All that's needed now is a signature from Gov. Chris Christie. Here's some early response, after the jump. Please add your own if the spirit moves you.

The timing of my calling bull$h!t on Sen. Kean is just "happenstance"

by: Adam L

Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 02:15:52 PM EST

As Hopeful notes, 42% of New Jerseyans think that they personally will be worse off if the current health care reform bill passes, while 37% feel that they personally will be better off if the current health care reform bill passes.  However, that 5% spread is reversed when the question is asked about the country as a whole, with a 45% - 40% margin indicating that the current health care bill will be better for the country.  Adding to this, there is a 5% margin (40% against, 35% for, 25% don't know) when it comes to whether respondents would urge THEIR member of Congress to vote for or against ANY health care bill.

In response to all of this, Kean finds the one way to interpret these numbers that is made up of fairy dust:

"Our United States Senators should finally listen to the majority of New Jerseyans  and support a fresh approach to reforming our health insurance industry."

What's more, Kean said that the suspicious timing of his pontificating was merely "happenstance".

Now, say what you want about the current health care bill - there certainly is more than enough things to like and dislike about the bill on an individual level, but the one thing that can NOT be said is what Kean is asserting about "a fresh approach".  It is either (1) is this bill good for me, (2) is this bill good for the rest of the country or (3) do you want your Congressman to vote for ANY bill.  If Kean wants to be taken seriously, then he should actually say things that are accurate - especially when it comes to issues that he claims to represent "the majority of New Jerseyans" on and issues where he hopes to represent all of New Jerseyans.

When reached for comment, Adam L a/k/a clammyc noted that the timing of this post was merely "happenstance".

FDU Poll: Obama, Congress, Menendez, and Health Care Reform

by: Hopeful

Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 12:07:03 PM EST

First up, President Barack Obama is at a 53% job approval rating (an improvement on the sub-50 showing last time). Disapproval is at 38%, so the the net +15 matches the margin he beat McCain by in 2008. His numbers with independents are 53-33.

On the other hand, the right track/wrong track numbers for the country are at 38-52, hardly surprising with 10% unemployment, massive deficits, and victory-less wars.  

Democrats lead the generic ballot for U.S. Congress 47-39 with leaners. That doesn't exactly suggest many Democratic incumbents will be swept away, though I don't doubt NJ3 is a battlefield.

If the election were held today, Senator Bob Menendez would get 38%, a (hypothetical candidate) Tom Kean Jr  would get 39%, Someone else gets 6%. Not the numbers we'd like to see, but not unfamiliar either. The pollster notes that Menendez did worse with the subgroup that was asked about him closer to the questions about health care reforms.

Senator Menendez is at 29-25, favorable-unfavorable, and Senator Frank Lautenberg is at 42-29. The negative ads of 2006 have been forgotten as Kean Jr is at 28-11. Kean was at 33-32 at the end of the last campaign, so you can see that campaigns matter.

As for health care reform, the numbers are lousy but not disastrous, as you know if you follow it in national polls. 37% think they will be better off and 42% think they will be worse off if health care reform passes. On the other hand, for the "country as a whole," "better" leaads "worse" 45-40. No doubt the numbers are dragged down by strong Republican opposition, but the two sets for independents are 31-35 and 41-33. The numbers are very striking by race, because only 28% of "Whites" think they'll be better off. Overall, 35% say they'd advise their memver of Congress to vote for a health care reform bill, 40% against, and 25% don't know. That 25% is more Democrats and Independents, so they need to be won over, perhaps by the reality of the bill helping them. (Cough, cough, too bad some genius designed most of the benefits to start years from now.)

An apology to Senator Tom Kean Jr. Yes, you read correctly.

by: Steven Goldstein, Garden State Equality chair

Thu Dec 10, 2009 at 10:06:42 AM EST

Hi, Blue Jersey community - this morning I emailed a letter of apology to Senator Tom Kean Jr., which I include below in its entirety.  

But first, additional thoughts.  Personal tactics or those which cross a personal zone of privacy are never acceptable.   Our opponents have done that to me, as you'll read below, and perhaps others on our side of the marriage equality issue.  We all have to be better than that.  

Yesterday, in a separate instance, I terminated the employment of a staffer who referred publicly to a different public figure in deeply inappropriate terms.  That, by the way, wasn't a free speech issue; it was stupid conduct.

Back to Senator Kean.  He has been impeccably fair in this debate.  Yes, we may have had a different candidate for U.S. Senate back in 2006.  But it is to Tom Kean Jr.'s eternal credit that he has never held it against us in the marriage equality debate.  He and his office have been nothing but respectful, meeting with us and being as courteous as can be in every contact we've had with them.  

Not only did I send him the apology below, but I have also come to respect the guy very much, and I'm not kidding.  Now here's the letter I emailed him this morning:

Dear Senator Kean,

Yesterday I learned, and read in the paper today, that people from the community, some wearing my organization's buttons, appeared outside a family event of yours.  I am sickened by this.  Though that occurrence was in no way authorized by Garden State Equality - more than 10,000 people have our Equality buttons and more than 4,000 people have our Equality t-shirts from events over the past months - it certainly gave the appearance otherwise.

I recently had protesters opposed to marriage equality chant "God hates fags" outside a personal event of my own, so this kind of tactic is deeply upsetting to me.   Last week, someone called my home and left an anti-Semitic message.   I know how it feels to have a zone of privacy crossed.   Thus I am upset about what happened yesterday beyond words.  

I deeply apologize to you that anyone, but anyone, crossed a zone of privacy.   I don't care how important an issue is to any one individual, organization or greater community.   Garden State Equality, and I as its leader, will never tolerate that kind of invasion of personal privacy.  

In fact, as the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday, a number of marriage-equality opponents praised Garden State Equality for how we conduct ourselves in the public arena with respect for their points of view.

On a personal level, I want you to know how much the organization and I respect you.  You have been a gentleman over the years and have been gracious in meeting with us and hearing our views.  No matter how you vote on this civil rights measure, we will continue to respect and appreciate you for your public service to the people of our state.

I extend to you and your family a joyous holiday season.

Sincerely yours,

Steven Goldstein
Chair and CEO
Garden State Equality

Well, look who voted against the tax amnesty program

by: Hopeful

Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 03:17:28 PM EDT

"Today is a great day for taxpayers across New Jersey," said Cryan.  "Governor Corzine's leadership in keeping the state ahead of the curve during this national economic recession continues to pay off for New Jersey residents.  However, if the Christie Right Wing Republicans had their way the tax amnesty legislation would have never passed.  Christie campaign co-chairs Kean and DeCroce and party Chairman Webber all put politics ahead of helping New Jersey's taxpayers.  They voted along partisan lines against a measure that was thoughtfully conceived during a national recession to provide added relief to responsible taxpayers by going after those who were delinquent.

These people are the primary supporters of Christie's right wing agenda that would also see us deny federal money from President Obama's economic recovery plan for education, job creation, unemployment insurance and the state budget deficit.  We now see clearly what the consequences of Christie's policies would be: deny any and all proposals put forward to get the state through this national economic recession while continuing to provide the wrong answers for New Jersey, like denying property tax relief for our residents."

Kean, DeCroce, Webber, and 16 other Republicans voted against the program.

Return the Cash, Senator Kean

by: mikeshapiro

Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 10:15:23 PM EDT

Tom Kean Jr. Counting Chickens

by: Jeff Gardner

Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:18:36 PM EDT

"the most thankless and pointless job in the State House"

While Junior distracts himself pounding the pavement for the 9 votes he would need for that coveted slot, Gina Genovese can concentrate on the voters of the 21st District whose votes really matter.

Remember - you can't be Minority Leader unless you're still in the Senate. Maybe we should help Gina explain that to him.

Update: NJ Politics Unusual had the beginnings of this 2 weeks before PoliticsNJ.

More on The US Attorneys Story

by: huntsu

Fri Mar 02, 2007 at 08:11:12 AM EST

That diary raised questions about whether Christie had received or acceded to political pressure to investigate Democrats during last fall's elections.  As many as US Attorneys have been fired or pressured to do so in the past few months, and some of them say it was because they refused to use their office politically to benefit the Republican Party.

Now Talking Points memo reports that the House Judiciary Committee sentsubpoenas the fired US Attorneys, and a lot more information may come out.

Remember Bud Cummins. He was the US Attorney from the Eastern District of Arkansas who got canned so Karl Rove's opposition research chief could take over the job. Look closely at what he just told the Associated Press ...

Cummins, U.S. attorney for Arkansas' Eastern District from 2001-2006, said Thursday that he and other fired attorneys had "politely declined" previous requests from the committee. He said he "didn't have any desire to stir up the controversy any further."

"If given the choice, I'd elect to stay home and mind my own business," Cummins told The Associated Press. "Now that I'm under subpoena, I'll go and give cooperative, truthful answers."

When asked if officials in the Justice Department or White House had asked him to decline the earlier requests, Cummins said he had no comment.

Again, one of those 'no comments' that says plenty.

This story may be getting bigger.  Again, we do not know how many US Attorneys got pressure to insert themselves into the political process in close elections, but we do know Chris Christie did insert himself in the Menendez/Kean Jr. campaign at a sensitive time.  We also know he has continued to issue subpoenas whenever NJ Democrats are making good news for themselves.

The House Judiciary Committee should not only subpoena the fired US Attorneys, but also ones who have not been fired.  They should start with ones who publicly investigated Democrats between Labor Day and the November election last fall. 

Unfortunately, there is no one from the NJ House Delegation on the House Judiciary Committee for us to call.

Some enterprising reporter should also ask US Attorney for the State of New Jersey Chris Christie if he received any such political pressure.  Christie has previously denied it, but with mounting evidence that others have been pressured the subject should be raised again.

Star Ledger Cites Keans claims, fails to point out they were false

by: JayMonster

Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 11:44:35 AM EST

They go on to claim that the benefit of the story to Kean was short lived because of ads run by Menendez. She goes in to state that Kean had "no money" to respond to the ads. 

No mention that Kean, then used the story to claim baselessly claim that it was Menendez and not the nonprofit agency that was under investion. Nor does she bother to mention other claims in regards to the agency were refuted by both the Star Ledger and the New York Time.  No mention that he had "no money" to respond because he continued to run with more baseless claims that continued to tarnish Keans image and improve Menendez's position in the polls.

Father and Son

by: Steven Hart

Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:03:14 AM EST

That’s pretty much how the 2006 update sounds in today’s Star-Ledger, only this time the low sonorous half of the tune is coming from ex-governor Tom Kean, who sees Tuesday as a tsunami washing away good and bad Republicans alike, while the high and whiny part is sung by Tom Kean Jr., who warbles that his Senate campaign did absolutely everything right, except it fell a bit flat on the winning-the-election part.

Absent from the Dad Kean lyrics is any mention of how he pimped his credibility from the 9/11 Commission to endorse ABC's crockudrama The Path to 9/11, a move that had nothing to do with truth-telling but probably had a great deal to do with trying to make Democrats look bad at the start of the fall campaign season. I guess we’ll have to see if that part of the song turns up as a bootleg.

Midterm Election Eve Newsroundup

by: Jay Lassiter

Mon Nov 06, 2006 at 07:21:19 AM EST

Fellow Italian-Americans!

by: chairthrower

Sat Nov 04, 2006 at 07:26:25 PM EST

Ignoring the fact that my support or non-support of Alito has nothing to do with his ethnic heritage (and besides, Italian-Americans are already adequately represented on the US Supreme Court), and for all the single issues I could think of, support of Italian-American issues is pretty low on my list, as a full, second-generation, Italian-American, this call begs a question:

Did everyone in NJ get this call, or are they only targeting people with obvious Italian-American last names?  If the latter, did they have some sort of computer program scan through voter lists for ethnic-sounding names, or was that a job some crazy interns got?

Inquiring minds need to know.

P.S.  last time I knew, Mario Andretti lived in Pennsylvania.

Rally Today in Summit

by: koleary

Fri Nov 03, 2006 at 10:34:59 AM EST

Friday, Nov. 3, 5PM
Summit Train Station
Come show your support and meet Governor Jon Corzine, Senator Robert Menendez, Assemblywoman Linda Stender and our terrific Summit Common Council candidates
Melody Irvin (Ward 1), Terri Tauber and Jill LaZare (Ward 2)

Summit is currently controlled by an all Republican town council who are being challenged this year by three very strong Democratic candidates.

The City of Summit is right in the middle of Kean Jr and Ferguson territory.  Kean Jr. lives one town over in Westfield and he keeps an office directly across the street from the train station. Ferguson lives one town over in New Providence. 

The Truth About Junior

by: huntsu

Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:42:35 PM EST

But the truth is Tom Kean Jr. is full of shit.

This is a guy I actually used to like.  Personally.  We weren't friends who spent the holidays together or anything, but we definitely were glad to see each other at various political and social events.  All in all, he was someone who I might have considered voting for if the Democrat was a complete putz.

At the time I did not realize Tom Kean Jr. was the complete putz.  If I see him at an event now I will probably be polite but look for a quick escape.  Anyone else to talk to other than Junior.

Here Comes the Kean Cavalry

by: Steven Hart

Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 01:01:50 PM EST

Hear that nervous tapping in the foreground? That’s the sound of Kean’s campaign operatives trying to dance around the fact that their candidate, who is trying to convince voters in this very blue state that he’s a moderate Republican who won’t kowtow to the GOP’s whacko wing, is now getting support from notable Neanderthals like National Right to Life, the Christian Coalition and the National Rifle Association.

Call-to-Action: Kean Jr. Newspaper Endorsements

by: Martin

Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 10:34:01 AM EST

We need to work the media, both traditional (e.g., print) and nontraditional (e.g., internets, blogs), to ensure that Menendez defeats Kean Jr. in 9 days.  If you live in any of the areas served by these three newspapers, please take a moment to write a letter to the editor and let them know your displeasure with their endorsements, emphasizing the positives of the Menendez campaign. I've already written the Courier Post, who, despite serving a heavily-Democratic readership, have once again supported a Republican for state or nation-wide office.

1). Asbury Park Press:
http://www.app.com/a...

Letters to the Editor: yourviews@app.com

2). Courier Post:
http://www.courierpo...

Letters to the Editor: (scroll down on same page; fill in form)

3). Press of Atlantic City:
http://www.pressofat...

Letters to the Editor:
"We will not accept letters without your name, full address, daytime and evening phone numbers. Please remember: letters are subject to editing. The shorter the letter, the more likely it will be published. For full details of The Press letters policy, call (609) 272-7279. You can send your letter to:
The Press Editorial Page
11 Devins Lane
Pleasantville, NJ 08232
For more information, call (609) 272-7266 or 272-7267
letters@pressofac.com"