Tomorrow, 13 people will decide the configuration of New Jersey's 12 congressional districts for the next five election cycles. In reality, of course, the decision rests with just one person: former Attorney General John Farmer, who will likely choose between the final proposals of the six-member Democratic delegation and the six-member Republican delegation. If legislative redistricting is any indication, we'll know whose map will be selected long before we know what either party's proposal looks like.
Before the lawmakers actually take a final vote, there will a brief debate over the proposals. This debate is a mere formality. Nobody will be persuaded to change his vote on the plan. The commission won't adopt or even vote any amendments to make either proposal better. The outcome of the vote at the end of this meaningless debate will surprise no one.
There will be no opportunity for public comment. While the Commission did hold a few meetings before ensconcing themselves in the Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick to fight out the details of the map, few members of the public attended this meeting. The small crowds were understandable, given that the stakes were exactly zero at the time; the commission had not even proposed a map. Members of the public could offer only general statements, most of which we've heard before: Don't split town A. The map should account for growth in minority group B in this or that part of the state. Districts should be compact. Congressman C is so wonderful; please keep him in my district. Districts should be more competitive.
These early-meeting comments may have found attentive ears and acquiescing nods, but they have doubtless long since been forgotten. Those who managed to put a close ally on the commission can still influence the process. But anyone else who wants to weigh in at this decisive stage must do so either through back channels or through the (old or new) media. Of course, commentary now is not much more useful than commentary at public meetings, unless you know what the Commission is actually up to. Citizens cannot make informed and relevant comments on proposals they have never seen. Again, those who don't have insider access must rely on rumors and speculation. The Commission does not have to make any proposal public until the decision has already been made.
If just about any other governmental entity in this state enacted a rule or ordinance in such an opaque and secretive manner, the courts would probably strike it down for egregious violations of the state's Open Public Meetings Act (or Administrative Procedure Act, as the case may be). But the Commission enjoys an exemption from public meetings laws. There's no good reason for this exemption. Members of the public should have the opportunity to weigh in on real proposals before they're enacted. A task so important should not be insulated from public comment.
Redistricting would work better when done in the sunshine. At the very least, the legislature should amend the Open Public Meetings Act to cover the congressional and legislative redistricting commissions. Even better, the entire process should be changed so that incumbent and partisan interests don't control it so much. This way, the result will better reflect what's best for New Jersey.
I caught up with Senator Loretta Weinberg this afternoon after her hearings on hospital privatization, and asked her to comment on some of the legislation that she is sponsoring.
Actually, Governor, when you do it in our name, as Governor of the State of New Jersey, we are.
Last week's revelation of a hidden gubernatorial trip to a Koch Brothers corporate lovefest in Colorado once again shows a Governor with a problem defining the line between public and private, in a way that hurts New Jersey taxpayers, every day.
In Sept. 2010, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, NJ Governor Chris Christie, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey announced an exciting step for education reform in America: Mark Zuckerberg would be donating $100 million to improve Newark public schools, a potentially transformative opportunity. This week, nearly a year later, the ACLU-NJ filed a lawsuit on behalf of a local parents' group to find out how that donation, and the plan for what to do with it to benefit their children, came about, since the City of Newark refused to share.
The city of Newark hasn't responded with details, but the mayor of Twitter has: @CoryBooker: All grants of Zuckerberg $ have been made public. New grant announcements coming in Sept RT @bluejersey Update public on Zuckerberg's gift
The next morning, he told the Newark Star-Ledger that he had disclosed everything, and that the records don't exist. Wait, what? Below, you'll find a detailed q+a to clear up as much as possible on our end.
You're suing over the Facebook money. What does that mean? The Secondary Parent Council, a 30-year-old group of parents and grandparents of Newark schoolchildren, requested records about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's gift to the Newark Public Schools using New Jersey's Open Public Records Act (that's OPRA - not to be confused with Oprah, who hosted Mayor Booker, Zuckerberg and Governor Christie on her TV show to announce the gift Sept. 24, 2010).
What information did the parents ask Newark for? In a nutshell, letters, emails, memos and any other documentation between June 1, 2010 and April 15, 2011 (the date the request was filed) related to Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million gift supporting the Newark Public Schools.
Shouldn't they just accept the money happily, no questions asked, since it's a gift? What Mark Zuckerberg has done for Newark is incredibly generous, and we don't want to take away from the potentially staggering implications of this donation. But part of what made this gift so extraordinary was the promise from all involved - Zuckerberg, Booker and Christie - to be completely transparent with the public, and many parents and grandparents now feel sidelined and disappointed.
But at the same time, this is a gift to a public institution.
There's more ...
Governor Christie like many Americans suffers from asthma. On Thursday he says he experienced breathing problems and his inhaler did not provide the usual relief. Wisely he headed for near-by Somerset hospital. His same-day release from the hospital was good news. Maria Comella, the governor's communications director told reporters, "Christie received a chest X-ray and EKG and everything appeared normal." Such is also good news. Yesterday the governor said he felt "Fabulous." More good news.
The health of our state's Chief Executive is a legitimate concern for New Jerseyans and of interest to a broader swath of Americans who would like him to run for the presidency. Governor Christie during his campaign, later in Executive orders, and during his tenure has touted transparency. Such transparency is not apparent regarding the recent incident. Physicians who treated him have made no statements regarding his condition. When Governor Corzine had a life-threatening auto accident we were overwhelmed with information from his doctors. Corzine's accident probably was a much more serious incident, but without independent information from Somerset Hospital we have no way of knowing. Corzine asked his doctors to provide extensive information. It appears that Christie did not make a similar request to the doctors who attended him.
It is one thing for his communications staff to report on his current health, but it is another thing for the hospital staff to explain the results of their examination and tests and to answer questions from the press. Pulmonary function tests, for example, are standard procedures following such an incident, but we have been told nothing about these test results. Governor Christie should authorize hospital staff to address the press. Independent disclosure from physicians creates transparency, not a statement from the governor that he feels "fabulous."
Loretta Weinberg has formally called on the Democratic operative-led One New Jersey to disclose its donors and comply with the spirit of openness and transparency. One New Jersey's 501(c)(3) structure does not by law require disclosure. However, Democrats raised up a mighty yell when two organizations dedicated to forwarding Christie's agenda - Reform Jersey Now and Center for a Better New Jersey - began operating with exactly the same failure to disclose the figures financing it, and exactly the same kind of efforts to use a loophole the law provides to skirt transparency.
Text of Weinberg's letter is after the jump.
Joshua Henne of White Horse Strategies, and a founder of One New Jersey with Brad Lawrence and Steve DeMicco of Message & Media, had this to say when I reached him:
We respect Senator Weinberg for her views on this issue. As we've said before, disclosure only works when everybody discloses.
In her letter, Weinberg acknowledges their efforts to counter the Governor's message of far-right, vindictive and divisive politics. But though the law allows a (c)(4) advocacy organization to hold back its contributors, she holds them to a higher ethical standard than the law itself. Weinberg has sponsored legislation to require contributor disclosure from such tax-exempt organizations in the past. And her objections to the non-disclosure of Christie's two groups, she says, apply to One New Jersey too.
In yet another "dog bites man" story, we find out once again that when Chris Christie talks about responsibility for actions and consequences of decisions, he means everyone but himself. Over the past week or so, "Christie's Rules™" have been on display - this time (again) with respect to his actions regarding the NJ/NY Tunnel funds that he refuses to repay while he puts on the high and mighty condescending air towards everyone else.
Never mind the 100% irony of bashing the Federal Government when it was "strings attached" to stimulus funding or when it was for his error in the Race to the Top funding lost, yet now stealing "refusing to pay back" over $270 million in Federal money that was supposed to go towards a project that he was for before he was against.more below...
Senator Bob Menendez sat down for an interview with POLITICO recently, and here's that video. Menendez ran the Senate's 2010 campaign strategy, a year we lost 6 seats. Part of what he talks about here is the rise of corporate spending on the right, post Citizens United, particularly the fueling of tea party candidates by the Koch brothers. Overall, Menendez says he tracked $70 million in corporate spending against Senate Democrats. He calls it "a corruption of our election system," that absent a constitutional solution, should require greater disclosure and transparency in spending.
Menendez also has strong advice for 2012 candidates, to seize the debate over gas prices, the budget and federal spending, offering a well-framed debate that resonates with most Americans simplistic cries of things like "Drill, baby, drill." That's a particularly attractive piece of advice as we approach the 1-year anniversary of BP's Deepwater Horizon explosion and the massive oil spill that dirtied the Gulf of Mexico. Menendez is against allowing an expansion of offshore drilling - both our senators are - and has an idea how Democrats can respond legislatively to the BP oil spill disaster. "Use it or lose it," Menendez says: legislation that would essentially penalize companies that do not produce on drilling leases they have already been granted.
This is why I respect Senator Loretta Weinberg as much as I do.
I just wanted to pull up a Washington Post article I came across a couple days ago. It's about the formation of a new 501(c)4 advocacy group called Working Families United for New Jersey, formed by a coalition of unions organizing to oppose Chris Christie's efforts to undermine collective bargaining, and specifically to balance New Jersey's budget on the backs of public employee union members.
You can understand it. We've seen teachers vilified by this governor as turning kids into "drug mules," heard him use the word "rich" only to describe the compensation of public workers and not of the wealthiest New Jerseyans whose lives he helps make cushy, watched him call police and firefighters, who daily are prepared to rush into danger to save our lives, "greedy".
But what sticks about this story is that Working Families United doesn't plan to release its donor list any time soon. And that should them on the same footing as Chris Christie's much-maligned (broadly in the press, with good reason) Reform Jersey Now and Center for a Better New Jersey. We've called both those groups slush funds, for want of a better term to describe their murky non-disclosure of donors (RJN disclosed as it "dissolved" and the list revealed questionable pay-to-play problems). It should put them on the same footing as the GOP slush funds. But we haven't heard a lot of outrage from Democrats.
Loretta Weinberg, who enjoys considerable union support herself, is speaking out for transparency in Working Families United's dealings. Weinberg applies the same ethical yardstick to transparency issues on "her" side as she does to the pro-Christie/GOP groups. Washington Post notes she was the only Democrat who spoke out early:
I would still say transparency is what we should all be interested in and would apply the same standard to them," Weinberg said. "I believe there is nothing wrong with telling people who is giving to your organization and what you're spending money on.
Last week, I wrote a long-ish piece on redevelopment efforts at the Flemington Union Hotel. Remember that two redeveloper candidates were being considered -- one who had a contract to buy the Hotel, obtain a liquor license, restore the property to its former use, and had the overwhelming support of the public. And the other candidate team, who wanted to build apartments, and was looking for tax abatements, eminent domain -- and was recommended by the committee headed by the newly-elected mayor.
Well, as they say, the people have spoken. And this time someone was paying attention.
As reported late yesterday online at nj.com, the second team has withdrawn from consideration. In a letter to the Borough Council, (as quoted in the article), they say,
"A project of this importance to Flemington must have substantial support from the town council and the community at large" and that "it has become clear to us the second group's proposed hotel concept has struck an emotional chord with the community. We also recognize, it is near impossible to combat said emotions with business proformas, charts and schedules no matter how realistic, professional and well-done they may be."
"Although we have serious concerns about the marketability of the hotel concept, we find it necessary to withdraw from the Union Hotel redevelopment process. We will put our support behind the other team and aid them whenever possible," the letter said.
Well, I never said that they had to be entirely gracious about it.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead
Jersey History is fierce.
Jeff is a candidate for Flemington Borough Council - Rosi
Before OJ and his ill-fitting gloves, the first 'Trial of the Century' was held right here in NJ, in Flemington. The trial (and subsequent conviction) of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of the 'Lindbergh Baby' was the event of 1935.
The redevelopment of The Union Hotel, which played a crucial role during that Trial, has been making news lately -- and not all of it good.
In light of the fact that Governor Christie is only about transparency when it relates to everyone other than himself and his cronies, any method to get additional data about what really goes in in New Jersey and its localities is welcome. Whether it is as a tool to just find out information, or to counter the usually clouded or flat out untrue claims coming from Christie, having access to data is always helpful.
That being said, my good buddy Cliff Schecter pointed me to a post he did recently about transparency since he is from this area and is a fellow progressive. The site is called City Forward and there's all sorts of cool stuff that can be sorted in order to find out the truth behind the shovels full of crap being force fed to New Jerseyans (and people all around the country following Christie) by our Governor.
If you find out some good stuff, be sure to post it in the comments!
O.K. I'm outraged! I'm trying to figure out how to function in this "new" New Jersey environment and how to channel that outrage into productive work.
A New Jersey Congressman is pushing a bill to re-define rape. Our New Jersey Governor speaks before a pro-life rally and then vetoes a bill which would give medicaid coverage to poor women needing health care. A Democratic Assembly Committee releases a private school voucher bill which will pay state money for youngsters already in (read not failing) private schools. I guess I'm not used to having New Jersey guys (and gals) like these actually in charge.
There's a New Jersey State Treasurer who refuses to appear before the Assembly Budget Committee. A New Jersey State Commissioner of Health won't appear before the Senate Health Committee and won't send a senior staffer in her stead.
The New Jersey Governor nominated and the Senate confirmed private school advocates as members to the State Board of Education, one of whom had no idea what Abbott vs. Burke was. Service on the board of the Peck School seemed to be the main prerequisite for this appointment. I wonder how many vouchers will be extended to kids from failing schools to attend that same Peck School? A New Jersey Governor cuts funding for pre-school while claiming he is "passionate" about education.
Two new members of the New Jersey Highlands Commission have been nominated who do not believe in the Highlands preservation law.
Senator Weinberg today called on US Attorney Paul Fishman and Attorney General Paula Dow for a full investigation of Reform Jersey Now, citing concerns the group was organized with the specific goal of subverting federal and NJ campaign finance laws; also NJ pay-to-play laws. In letters to Fishman & Dow, Weinberg says an investigation is warranted because Reform Jersey Now appears to have been "a Republican-controlled entity (designed) to circumvent campaign finance and pay to play laws." Weinberg also said there are concerns that the group "could have facilitated quid pro quo arrangements" between the administration and would-be state contractors.
Among contributors causing concern, Weinberg cites 2 highest-level donors, Ferreira Construction & George Harms Construction. Both gave $25K and received state transportation contracts in excess of $300 million. Another contribution of $1K from comes from Earle Asphalt Company, which has run afoul of NJ pay-to-play rules. Weinberg:
From its inception, Reform Jersey Now has sought to take advantage of every loophole under state and federal law and has blurred the line between lawful and unlawful conduct. Its contempt for our pay to play and other anti-corruption laws has opened the door to abuse and quid pro quo transactions. There is little doubt that by coordinating its efforts with prominent Republicans and openly soliciting contributions from contractors, Reform Jersey Now has violated the spirit of the law. The question remains, however, whether it violated the letter of the law.
Weinberg also challenges Gov. Christie's claims that the group organized to privately propel his own agenda ever actually had a real "reform" agenda, given its refusal to disclose where its money was going, and given the fact its board included Christie Todd Whitman, whose pension bond scheme exploded NJ debt, and Donald DiFrancesco whose 9% pension increase was pushed through without providing a way to pay for it.
As far back as when then US-Attorney Chris Christie was pulling rank for going down a one way street the wrong way and causing an accident, it was never his fault. In that instance, it was the biker who hit him, which is a metaphor for everything that "just happens" when it comes to Christie.
The "admitting a mistake is a sign of weakness" view is really one that has a much more sinister meaning. It shows a fatal flaw - one that was shown by Christie's mentor, George W. Bush - in that one is never wrong, even when they are wrong, and is too immature to ever take responsibility for one's own actions.
We have seen it with the Race to the Top Application that Christie hijacked, changed and ended up costing the state $400 million. That wasn't his fault - it was Obama's, then others in the federal government, then Bret Schundler's - but never his, despite the fact that the application that was to have been submitted before Christie got his hands on it had the correct information.
And of course now, when he left for Disney World as a horrible snowstorm was crippling much of the state he is supposed to govern, he blames his wife ("you better not cancel this vacation"), the mayors in the towns that were snowed in - forgetting the fact that the STATE roads were the ones that were decimated, and anyone who dared to criticize his decision as partisan. Except that (1) it was bipartisan criticism and (2) he lied again - saying that he was in contact with acting Governor Steve Sweeney, when this too was denied by Sweeney himself.
Fifteen donors pooled their money to provide 60% of the funds used to power Reform Jersey Now, the shady slush fund created to privately boost Chris Christie's agenda, and hit Democrats who might oppose it. The fund was created for the new governor by his GOP allies and run by Mike DuHaime, GOP strategist and the architect of Christie's campaign, with former Franklin Lakes councilman Chuck Shotmeyer listed as president.
Was this list released today to divert attention from Chris Christie's irresponsible decision to leave the state to avoid handling a messy snow emergency? The governor's due back in New Jersey tomorrow.
In a memo Reform released today, 244 donors are listed - including the core 15 - combining for a total raised of $623,784. Read the entire list here.
Missing is a list of the fund's expenditures, so New Jerseyans can follow the impact of the private financing of the slush fund's activities. For the most part, Reform acted in secret, but some of its projects are known: radio ads in June supporting Christie's property tax agenda (and in no way making clear that the support came from a group organized around the governor), and a direct mail & robo-call campaign directed at Democratic lawmakers like senators Steve Sweeney and Paul Sarlo. Reform had a half-year life, and will shut down Friday.
John Crowley (Princeton Twp), Amicus Therapeutics CEO who almost ran for US Senate in 2008, and the subject of a film about his children and their rare illness.
Sol Barer (Westfield), former CEO of Celgene Corp, a biotech firm.
Spencer Baretz & John Hellerman, of Hellerman Baretz Communications, a PR firm.
2 national GOP committees; a policy committee under the Republican Governor's Association, which made an adoring short film about Christie's 2009 upset win that premiered in a D.C. theater, and the State Government Leadership Foundation.
4 companies in the construction & development sector: Ferreira Construction Co., George Harms Construction, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, and home-builder Toll Brothers Inc..
Issues Mobilization Committee, a Realtors issues group.
Jeff Michaels, former chief of staff under Gov. Donald DiFrancesco
follow me below the fold for more scandalous details.
.....from a happily chaotic Thanksgiving family week in Los Angeles. Hope you all had a great holiday, and are now enjoying Hanukkah. If you are not lighting the Menorah, make sure you at least eat a couple of potato latkes.
Press Conference at 11 a.m. today in Trenton on government transparency. We will announce our new and very stringent Pay-to-Play bill. This should be part of the "tool kit" because political contributions from state and local contractors definitely add to the cost of government in our state and contribute to our escalating property taxes. This new bill will establish one state-wide standard in New Jersey, and I've been working on it with the help of the Citizens Campaign. I will be joined by my colleague Assemblyman Gordon Johnson. We will also call attention to our newly updated Open Public Meetings Act and Open Public Records Act and will ask that they be posted for Committee hearings in December or January. These bills go hand-in-hand with the new issue-advocacy disclosure bill sponsored by Senator Barbara Buono and me. The passage of these bills together will decrease the cost of government and will increase government transparency. We've been waiting patiently to hear if the Republicans in the legislature and the Governor will join in a bipartisan effort to get these bill passed.
Medical Marijuana "agreement"? I was a little surprised at the news report and look forward to hearing personally from Senator Nick Scutari. Senator Scutari has been an outstanding advocate for this important issue, and if an "agreement" was reached without his input, at the very least I am disappointed. My husband, Irwin, died from cancer almost 12 years ago. We were both deprived of any meaningful communication during his last days with us because he was treated with morphine. Perhaps medical marijuana could have made him comfortable and would have enabled us to share more experiences during those days. Of course, I will never know that for sure. However, what I do know, is that patients and their doctors should have as much right to be treated with medical marijuana as they today have a right to be prescribed morphine or oxycontin or any other controlled dangerous substance to treat pain in terminally ill patients. Is anybody asking a Doc to warn a terminally ill person to substitute another less effective medication for morphine? Is a doctor forced to tell a seriously ill patient that he must wean that patient off oxycontin every three months? How demeaning to both patient and medical professional. Please don't tell me that my good colleague, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, made a bad deal with the Governor! I guess we'll soon find out.
Will be chairing the Senate Health, Human Services & Senior Services Committee this afternoon. Probably one of my bills which will cause the most comment is the requirement that certified advance practice nurses must continue to be supervised by anesthesiologists in the administration of general anesthesia. Lots of pros and cons on both sides of this issue, and I'm sure we'll hear it all.
So we have a busy December ahead of us with more committee days and another voting session. We'll be dealing with more "tool kit" legislation and another try at women's access to family planning. Every Republican in the Assembly voted "No" or abstained on covering more folks under medicaid for family planning and basic medical care. A bill which will result in $9 for every $1 put up by the State. What is wrong with these folks? What has this Governor given them to make so many of them march in unison while they raise so few questions? It's hard to understand and I must admit, it makes me particularly discouraged about the women of the legislature working together on issues of importance to our families.
Blue Jerseyans & friends Hoernlein, Lento, Parano, Weinberg & Mazza
Hey, a few of us "North Jersey/Blue Jersey" followers, writers and bloggers were invited to join Carol Hoernlein (and Eric) to celebrate a wonderful housewarming in their "tiny house with the big kitchen". Nick Lento, Carol H, Rocco (of "let's draft Rocco" and "I still love the Governor" while "I still love Rocco") Mazza, Dave Parano, Chief Ron Holloway and many others had a lovely afternoon with lots of good company, good food, political talk and we're all connected through Blue Jersey discussions. Great fun for those of us Bergen County types! Great to see Carol looking so well, happy and coming back to our Blue Jersey blogs.
Note to Jay Lassiter & Rosi Efthim: Maybe you can find Keith Chaudruc of Madison who took on the Governor at the Parsippany Town Meeting and get his side of the story for our own Blue Jersey UTube. According to news reports, Mr. Chaudruc was escorted on and off the stage by a state trooper and never got Mr. Christie to answer any of his questions. Might be an interesting interview.
WikiLeaks, today's ultimate whistleblower, has just provided us with some 250,000 documents about our State Department's deeds and misdeeds. WikiLeaks plays such a critical role because the statute for federal employee whistleblowers is weak and the special court which hears these cases has provided redress in only three of over 300 cases.(The Supreme Court ruled that government employees do not have protection from retaliation if the alleged speech was produced as part of their duties.) We should now take another look at our own NJ law.
NJ has an uneven state whisleblower law: scoring only 58 out of a possible 100 points and Ranking 12th out of 51. NJ has a very narrow statute (9 out of 33 possible points), with moderate usability (21 out of 33), and strong remedies (27 out of 33) plus one bonus point awarded foe employee notification rights.
We lose points because the statute does not cover such categories as gross mismanagement, abuse of authority, waste of public funds, alteration of technical findings, and breaches of professional ethics canons.
Our governor says he supports transparency but he also uses bullying, fear, and overblown rhetoric which stifle whistle-blowing. In a federal setting WikiLeaks is like a loose cannon - of great utility but also providing collateral damage. It is much better to have good laws than to rely on loose cannons. It is time for the NJ legislature to review our own law.
