Newt Gingrich Announces His Presidential Exploratory Committee

By Art Gallagher

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee today in an email announcement to his supporters and friends.

In his announcement and fundraising appeal, Gingrich said:

Over the last year I’ve watched a failure in leadership, and have spent a lot of time thinking and praying about taking the first step. I am writing you to ask for your advice, as Callista and I consider whether or not I should run in 2012.

What I need to do right now is listen to and learn from people all across America. I need to be certain that if I run, my candidacy will have the support it will need to make a positive difference for our nation. However, I can’t do it alone. What I am hoping you will do is help me and support me during this exploratory process.

I have asked a lot from you over the years. In return you have humbled me by demonstrating your talent, energy, and financial sacrifice that reflect how deeply you and others like you, care about our nation. You are an indispensable part of helping me decide what to do next, and I have to tell you, I need you now more than ever before. If I run, this will be the single biggest challenge we’ve ever faced together. So, success depends entirely upon you. I want to hear from you. I need to hear from you. So let me ask you:

1. Would you support my candidacy if I were to run for President?
2. Will you support my exploratory effort with a financial contribution
of $35, $50, $100, or even more at this vitally important early
“Newt Explore 2012” stage today?

I am convinced that the 2012 election is the best opportunity to realize all we have worked for together over all the past years. We must move from the world that fails — to the world that works. The time is now to reject the Left’s ideas, and replace them with better ideas; ideas that fulfill our bigger dreams for ourselves, our families and our country.

Now is the time. I need your help. I need to know if you believe I could run and serve effectively as President of the United States. And I need to know today. I am waiting to hear from you.

Gingrich’s website is at NewtExplore2012.com

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Legislative Redistricting Could Create Havoc For Incumbents

By Art Gallagher

The New Jersey Legislative Reapportionment Commission has until April 3rd to produce a new map of legislative districts.  Candidates for State Senate and Assembly from the major parties will have to submit their nominating petitions during the week of April 11th, unless there is legislation that changes the date of the petition submission and/or the primary.

Patrick Murray of the Monmouth University Polling Institute has produced two maps for columns he has written at Politickernj.  Both his “Constitutional” map, which Murray concedes is only almost constitutional as conflicting standards make a purely constitutional map impossible, and his “Competitive” map would create conflicts among Monmouth County incumbent legislators based upon their residency.

Murray’s “constitutional map” (town list here) would put Assemblymen Declan O’Scanlon (Little Silver) and Dave Rible in the 11th district, based upon their respective residencies, and move Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (Ocean Township) into the 9th where there would be a seat available as Murray’s constitutional map moves Assembly incumbents Brain Rumpf and Diane Grove into the 2nd district. 

Senators Jennifer Beck and Joe Kyrillos would be competing for the Senate seat in the 13th.  Robert Singer would become the incumbent Senator in the 12th district (Beck’s seat) and there would be an Assembly vacancy in 12.  The 12th vacancy would presumably be filled by a resident of Colts Neck, Farmingdale, Howell, Jackson or Lakewood.   Lakewood would be the largest town in the district by population.

Murray’s “competitive” map (town list), like his “constitutional” map also puts Red Bank and Middletown in the 13th district, pitting Beck and Kyrillos against each other.  The competitive map moves Old Bridge out of the 13th into a newly constituted 40th district comprised of Middlesex County towns.  This moves Sam Thomspon (Old Bridge) into a more competitive district.  Declan O’Scanlon (Little Silver) would be an incumbent in the new 13th.

Caroline Casagrande (Colts Neck) in the only incumbent in Murray’s competitive 12th.  Casagrande could step up and seek the Senate seat, creating two Assembly vacancies.  Look for Freeholder Director Rob Clifton (Matawan) to seek a seat in the legislature in this scenario.  Freeholder Lillian Burry (Colts Neck) could be a contender too.  On the Democratic side, Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornick would be a likely contender for a vacant seat.  A Casagrande vs. Hornick battle for Senate could be a classic race. 

All incumbents are safe in Murray’s competitive 11th.

One source close to the redistricting process told me that Murray’s maps are a “nice rainy day read,” and that neither the Democrats or Republicans proposed maps are close to his scenarios.  I guess that makes this piece a nice rainy day read too.

There will be a great deal of uncertainty and speculation until the actual new map is released.  And there is uncertain information about how incumbent conflicts based upon residency would be handled. One GOP leader told me that “he thought” that someone could run for a seat in a district that they don’t live in, but would have to move into the district within one year if they won.   Another official said there in no residency requirement in the State Constitution and that statutes governing residency could be easily changed after the new map is released.

Whatever happens there will be a lot of moving and shaking during the first couple of weeks in April, and a lot of hair pulling until then.

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Christie’s Attorney General’s Office Picking Up Where Christie’s U.S. Attorney’s Office Left Off

By Art Gallagher

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman may not think there is a culture of public corruption in New Jersey, but that doesn’t mean that The Soprano State is no longer plagued with graft.

As Gannett’s Bob Jordan points out, New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dowd, who works for Governor Chris Christie and used to work for U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, is continuing the work that was started during Christie’s seven years as New Jersey’s federal prosecutor.

Jordan is referencing the Attorney General’s Annual Report which touts the accomplishments of Dowd’s team against public corruption, gang activity, fraud, and organized crime.

According to a press release from Dowd’s office, their first year accomplishments include:

• Obtained an eight-year prison sentence against former State Assemblyman and former Perth Amboy Mayor Vas, who solicited an illegal payment from a city vendor and illegally funneled money into his congressional campaign via straw donors; a seven-year sentence against former Irvington Mayor Steele, who took kickbacks from contractors while serving as business administrator for the Irvington schools; a three-year prison term against former Jersey City Municipal Court Administrator Virginia Pagan, who admitted to fixing hundreds of parking tickets; the forfeiture of office of former Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone, who admitted to filing false reports with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.
• Obtained a five-year prison sentence against former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, who admitted to viewing and printing child pornography on a computer in his legislative office.
• Secured convictions and prison sentences against individuals responsible for more than $16 million in fraud including investment fraud, embezzlement and identity theft.
• Took legal action to protect students by holding schools accountable for preventing bullying. Among other actions, Findings of Probable Cause were issued against two school districts – Old Bridge and Emerson — accused of failing to protect students who had been bullied and harassed for years.
• Resolved three major civil prosecutions of mortgage foreclosure “rescue” fraud, resulting in defendant payments of $17 million in penalties, judgments, restitution and other fees.
• · Fought traditional organized crime, obtaining a major indictment charging the Lucchese crime family hierarchy with running an illegal sports betting network that employed violence and extortion and, in a separate case, joining with the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor to arrest a top official of the International Longshoremen’s Association, three ILA members, and a Newark police officer in an alleged scheme to extort money from dock workers.
• Obtained indictments charging nine defendants in connection with illegal gun trafficking. The indictments were obtained as the result of a cooperative investigation with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. One indictment outlined a network that allegedly trafficked firearms from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Trenton, where they were allegedly sold to gang members and other criminals.
• Spearheaded the Fugitive Safe Surrender program in Central New Jersey. The four-day initiative resulted in approximately 4,000 fugitives surrendering, voluntarily, to authorities on outstanding warrants for predominantly non-violent crimes.
• Achieved a 170 percent increase, compared with the prior year, in the amount of civil monetary penalties executed by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. OIFP also increased both the number of indictments filed and the number of defendants charged in 2010.
• Implemented a statewide Summer Warrant SWEEP initiative resulting in the arrests of more than 1,100 high-risk parole and probation absconders during the months of July and August, when violent and property crimes tend to peak.
• Protected investors by settling four Auction Rate Securities cases. The four companies repurchased $1.1 billion in Auction Rate Securities held by New Jersey investors and paid the N.J. Bureau of Securities $7.2 million in penalties for failing to disclose the risks of Auction Rate Securities to investors.
• Provided emergency assistance to thousands of residents and motorists during four federally-declared natural disasters. During the December 2010 blizzard, State Police handled 1,077 accidents and provided emergency assistance to an additional 2,889 motorists.

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Burnham Quits. Burry Blasts Him

By Art Gallagher

Peter Burnham resigned the presidency of Brookdale Community College yesterday in a defiant letter to the college board of trustees that touted his accomplishments.  His said his resignation should not be construed as an admission of wrong doing, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press. Burnham said he was confident that his good reputation would be preserved.

Freeholder Lillian Burry blasted Burnham with the strongest language that any official has yet to use to condemn the disgraced college president’s excessive compensation and spending irregularities:

“He disgraced himself in the eyes of his students, in the eyes of his peers, in the eyes of everyone who believed in his vision for Brookdale and every Monmouth County taxpayer,” Burry said. “He has to be held accountable for his actions.”

Burry also backed off her previous support of the college board.

“They did allow this to happen,” she said. “They created the environment that allowed Peter Burnham to become untouchable. Everyone believed in what he was doing and there was no oversight.”

Freeholder Deputy Director John Curley called upon the Board of Trustees to resign, saying that they are policing themselves which is unacceptable.  Freeholder Director Rob Clifton said that he expected that board members would voluntarily resign.

Across the aisle, Democratic Freeholder Amy Mallet was relatively quiet with the APP, deferring to her potential running mate, former Middletown Committeeman Sean Byrnes who ran for Freeholder against Curley in 2009.

The apparent lack of fiscal oversight at Brookdale is probably not unique to the college, Byrnes said Tuesday.

“Hopefully, the county will take this example and, perhaps, consider doing audits and investigations into some of the (other) boards they have ? library, parks,” he said.

Burry met with approximately 45 members of the Bayshore Tea Party Group last evening where she was very well received.  Charles Measley, a GOP county committee member from Rumson and active BTPG member who attends Brookdale was particularly pleased with Burry.  “I went into the meeting thinking Burry was a RINO, but came away impressed by how conservative she really is,” Measley said,  “regarding Brookdale, she told us of Burnham’s departure and assured us that there would be additional house cleaning.”

Barbara Gonzalez, BTPG founder, said that Burry was extremely impressive and that some of the group’s members thought she should run for higher office.

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Government Growth Under McGreevey, Codey and Corzine Caused High Property Taxes

By Harold Kane, Monroe Township (Written as a Letter to the Editor of The Star Ledger)

The Star Ledger never misses a chance to take cheap shots at politicians. 

In the February 27^th PERSPECTIVE Mark Magyar insinuated that New Jersey’s property tax issues are the fault of Christie. He fails to mention that Christie has been in office for one year and that New Jersey’s public sector exploded under Governors Jim McGreevy, Dick Codey, and Jon Corzine. During the past ten years, while NJs population grew 4.5%, * property taxes increased by 85%**. This was done to pay the compensation of the army of public employees that were hired by NJs 2,000 municipalities, counties, school boards, fire districts, water and sewer districts and community colleges, with the worst year being 2003 when 17,000 ***new public employees were hired under McGreevy.

The Democrats from 2001 to 2010 bloated up the public workforce for their own purposes-the larger the workforce, the larger the public unions, subsequently the more campaign money given to the Democrats. Christie is trying to do what needs to be done to bring fiscal sanity to NJ, working against a hostile legislature. If the Star Ledger would like to be part of the solution to New Jersey’s fiscal problems then they should endorse Republican candidates in October so that Governor Christie will have the Republican legislature that he needs.

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Who’s hotter? Christie or Palin?

InTheLobby reminds of that the war of words between Governor Chris Christie and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is heating up as neither of them runs from president.

Meanwhile, Quinnipiac released a poll this morning that says voters rate Christie as much hotter than Palin.

Hmmm.

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James O’Keefe Strikes Again

By Art Gallagher

James O’Keefe, the citizen journalist well known for his undercover videos exposing inappropriate and criminal activity at ACORN and the NJEA has struck again.  This time National Public Radio was his target.

In the video released today NPR Senior Executive Ron Schiller and fundraiser Besty Liley meet with two O’Keefe associates posing as members of a Muslim Brotherhood front group who are considering a $5 million donation to NPR.

Throughout the video, Schiller bashes Republicans and the Tea Party, calling them racist and xenophobic.  He says that liberals are more intelligent and informed than conservatives.

Schiller says that NPR would be better off without federal funding.  I say let’s be informed by his intelligence and cut the funding off.

O’Keefe will be the guest speaker at the Bayshore Tea Party’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration on Thursday March 17th from 7PM -9PM at Ye Cottage Inn in Keyport.  No word on whether green tea and/or green tea will be served.

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O’Scanlon: Trenton Gamesmanship Must Stop To Avoid Financial Disaster

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, 12th Legislative District

It is distressing that even now – with New Jersey on the brink of fiscal disaster – powerful people in Trenton, with the ability to get real things done, are more interested in gamesmanship and political advantage than in simply fixing things.

There is not a caring resident in New Jersey who isn’t aware that one of the biggest threats to our State’s fiscal health is the mess that has become our pension system.  For more than a decade our State’s leaders – governors and complicit legislative leaders – have simultaneously increased promised benefits – to buy the votes of workers – and failed to make billions of dollars of payments to cover those promised benefits – using the money instead to buy votes of other constituencies. 

Of course these disastrous policies couldn’t go on forever and our New Jersey house of cards has begun to crumble.  This past week the first major consequence of our years of irresponsibility hit home – our bond rating was lowered which will increase our borrowing costs and drain more of our precious resources.  If we don’t fix our pension system quickly and comprehensively we will face more consequences – skyrocketing taxes, drastically slashed pension payouts to workers and an economy hobbled by a government that will soon more mirror that of a third world county than one of the United States.

Thankfully Governor Christie isn’t interested in the fleeting benefits of kicking the can down the road and he has no intention of tolerating such irresponsible behavior from our legislative leaders either.  The days of timid action producing meaningless reforms by people with big mouths – the better for uttering self congratulations – and long arms – the better for patting themselves on the back – are over.

I am a sponsor of the package of pension reforms put forward by the administration.  The legislation is straight forward – increases in pension contributions, increases in the time that workers must serve, and the age they must attain, before qualifying for full pensions, elimination of cost of living increases and a rollback of the biggest, arbitrary and unfunded benefit increases in years past.  If we take these actions now we can fix the system – to the benefit of public workers and taxpayers – and avoid the drastic cuts in benefits and crushing taxes that will be necessary should we fail to act.

Our reform proposals are not an attack on teachers, firemen, police or other public employees.  On the contrary – our public workers arguably have the most at stake if our pension system collapses.  Public workers should not be fooled into joining what we know will be a knee jerk reaction by some to fight this – or any – reform.  Success in thwarting reform will only mean tougher measures, or a collapse of the system, later.

The counter reform proposal put forth by Democrat legislative leaders is another, unfortunate example of what has become a sting of “RINO” (reform in name only) proposals they’ve put forward during the past year.  We haven’t seen any remotely accurate projections of the actual results of their proposals and we won’t – because their proposals aren’t designed to solve the problem, they’re designed to fool the public into giving them credit for trying.  These same legislative leaders have held up reform over the past half year with the inane threat that they wouldn’t move on reform until the governor made a payment into the system.  That’s like a doctor refusing to remove a cancer patient’s tumor until the patient promises to start eating vegetables and excercising.  Don’t get me wrong – we must make payments, but every day we delay dealing with the reforms we know we must make adds to the cost and pain of the final remedy – and brings us closer to the point of no return. 

The suggestion inherent in this make-a-payment-or-we’ll-hold-up-reform challenge is that somehow the Governor took some pleasure in the choice not to make a pension payment last year.  Here’s a news flash – the governor didn’t use the money meant for the pension system on wild parties on the roof of the Statehouse.  He was dealing with the largest deficit in our State’s history – left to him by the irresponsible polices of the very same people now shamelessly, desperately trying to turn the blame away from themselves.  Governor Christie has now pledged to start making regular payments and has also proposed comprehensive reforms that will fix the system.  That has never happened before.  The people carping now had complete control of our government over the past 8 years and condoned the failure to make payments into the system (in what were demonstrably better economic times) and put forward no reforms, putting the fiscal well-being of every New Jersey taxpayer and public worker in grave danger.  I won’t hold my breath waiting for their acknowledgement of responsibility.  But this administration – and responsible members of the legislature on both sides of the aisle – won’t let them continue to get away with the shameful, deceitful behavior that has brought us so close to the edge of fiscal disaster.

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Kryillos Takes Civil Service Reform Message To Varney and Company

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Spicuzzo Faces Corruption Charges

By Art Gallagher

Middlesex County Democratic Chairman and former Sheriff Joseph Spicuzzo turned himself into the State Police this morning to face charges of bribery and official misconduct, according to multiple news reports.

It is important to note that these are State charges.  New Jersey U.S Attorney Paul Fishman doesn’t think their is a culture of public corruption in New Jersey.

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