Bob Ingle With The Real Jersey Guys

Dick LaRossa and I spent a great hour on the radio with Bob Ingle yesterday afternoon.

In the free wheeling and wide ranging conversation we discussed The Soprano State book and movie, corruption in New Jersey and the lack of prosecutions under our new U.S. Attorney, the demise of the Jersey Guys show on 101.5 FM,  education reform, Abbott districts, racial segregation in New Jersey schools, former Governor McGreevey, the proposed Port Authority toll and fare hikes, Governor Christie and the likelihood, or lack thereof, that Christie will run for President in 2012.

The Soprano State movie will likely be released again this fall in New York and Los Angeles in order to be considered for an Oscar nomination.

If you missed the show or would like to hear it again, here’s a recording:

The LaRossa and Gallagher: Real Jersey Guys On The Radio is sponsored by Repatriot Radio.  It is broadcast every Tuesday from 5pM-6PM on WIFI AM 1460 and on the Internet here.

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Quinnipiac Poll: Christie Up, Obama, Sweeney and Oliver Down

New Jersey Has A Huge Gender Gap

By Art Gallagher

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning indicates that Governor Chris Christie’s approval numbers have rebounded since their June 21 poll. Today New Jersey narrowly approves of the Governor’s performance, 47%-46%.  In June Christies’s approval rating was upside down, 44%-47%.

“By a 50-35 percent margin, New Jersey voters like Gov. Christie as a person,”  said the Quinnipiac release.  

As opposed to what?  An alien? A pet? A superhero?   Christie did not have to provide a copy of his birth certificate to earn that popularity.

Obama in trouble

President Obama’s approval ratings have taken a huge 10 point negative swing in New Jersey since the June 21 Quinnipiac poll. 

In June New Jersey voters approved of the President’s performance, 50-46 percent.  Today New Jersey voters disapprove of how the President is doing his job by 52-44 percent.  These are Obama’s worst numbers ever in New Jersey.

Unless Obama’s New Jersey numbers improve, Senator Robert Menendez’s reelection prospects are in jeopardy.  Menendez’s numbers have been anemic and are declining.   In June only 45% of NJ voters approved of Menendez vs 38% who disapproved.  Today 39% approve vs 42% who disapprove.  Only 41% say Menendez deserves to be reelected vs 43% say he does not.  Yet, by a 45-39 percent margin voters say they would back him over an unnamed Republican.   Republicans need to nominate a named candidate.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver should thank the Lord that their positions are not subject to a statewide ballot.

Sweeney’s numbers are 23% approve to 40% disapprove.  He has suffered a 10 point drop since June.

Oliver fares better only because 54% of New Jersey voters don’t know who she is.  21% of voters approve of the Speaker’s performance and 25% disapprove.  Oliver has suffered a 6 point drop since June.

Gender Gap

Men approve of Christie 58-36 percent while woman disapprove of him 55-37 percent.

Women approve of Obama 51-44 percent. Men disapprove 60-37 percent.

MMM accepts responsibility for the gender gap.  According to the web tracking site alexa.com, MMM’s audience is overwhelmingly men with children and graduate degrees.   We need a female writer or two.

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Unions Packing Port Authority Toll Hike Hearings

I suppose it should be no surprise that unions are sending their members to the Port Authority toll hike hearings to make emotional appeals to raise the tolls on non-union commuters.

Nor is it a surprise that the few commuters who can attend the hearings are objecting to having to bear the burden of the cost of infrastructure and cost overruns at the World Trade Center.

InTheLobby reports that fear of a credit downgrade might be what is really behind the push for the toll and fare hikes.

If you’re not attending the online hearing this afternoon between 5 and 6, tune into the LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show with special guest Bob Ingle, on WIFI 1460 AM or here.

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A Case For Competitive Congressional Districts

By Art Gallagher

Giving credit where it is do, The Asbury Park Press Editorial Board got one right in their recent editorial lamenting the closure of Fort Monmouth’s commissary.  They give a quick summary of the disaster the closure of Fort Monmouth is and how the entire BRAC decision to close the fort was based on faulting economic and home security data.

Fort Monmouth’s closure and the move of its operations to Aberdeen Maryland was a huge waste of money that compromised national security.  An investigative series by Asbury Park Press reporters Bill Bowman and Keith Brown (which is no longer linkable) documented the waste and fraudulent numbers that BRAC gave Congress to justify the closure.

In their editorial, The Asbury Park Press accurately lays the blame:

The closing of the base was based on faulty economic and security research in the first place, and yet even with the facts on their side, Reps Frank Pallone and Rush Holt, along with Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez could not carry the day.

That is largely due to the fact that the faulty economic and security data was uncovered by Bowman and Brown after Congress had already voted to close the fort.  Pallone, Holt, Lautenberg and Menendez didn’t have the juice to uncover that data before or during the BRAC hearings when it might have made a difference.  Worse, the didn’t have the juice needed with their congressional colleagues to keep the fort in New Jersey.  Maryland’s delegation had the juice.

This latest insulting failure is just one in a decades, maybe centuries, long example of ineffective congressional representation from New Jersey.  Not just Pallone, Holt, Lautenberg and Menendez, but most of the delegation. Every two years during congressional elections challengers complain that New Jersey only gets a fraction of the money we send to Washington sent back, but it never changes.  Has there ever been a House Speaker from New Jersey?  Name on U.S. Senator from New Jersey who could be considered a historic figure.

As Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray indicated during his interview on the LaRossa and Gallagher Radio Show two weeks ago, New Jersey Congressmen have little incentive to represent the interests or philosophies of their constituents.  They vote how ever they want and work on, or don’t work on, whatever they want without regard for the good of their constituents because no matter what they do, their jobs are safe.  Historically, gerrymandering as assured that an incumbent member of congress will be reelected time after time except in the rarest or circumstances.

A competitive congressional district map could go a long way to improving the quality of representation New Jersey gets from the people we send to Washington.  Currently, Congressmen face no consequences for failures like the BRACing of Fort Monmouth.  Despite the rants of congressional challengers every two years about the about of money that New Jersey sends to Washington vs the amount of money that comes back, that situation never changes and our representitives have little incentive to work to change it.

If competitive congressional elections were the norm, rather than a rare exception, New Jersey would get better representation and better results.

New Jersey’s Redistricting Commission has a huge opportunity to create an environment that could lead to an major improvement in the quality of our representation in Washington over the next decade.  If past is prelude, the Democrats and Republicans on the commission will spend the process jockeying for influence with the “13th tie breaking” member.  The commission will predictably produce a winning map for one party which will be a losing map for the other party. 

For New Jersey to have a “winning map” would require at least one party to propose a competitive map based upon population and geography only without regard for the residency of incumbents or the historical voting trends of residents, and for the “13th member,” former Attorney General and Acting Governor for ninety minutes, John Farmer Jr, to do the right thing.

Otherwise, it won’t really matter much which party “wins” the redistricting battle.  New Jersey’s representation in Washington will not likely improve if the people will send there have little incentive to work for it.

By the way, Lautenberg and Pallone are scheduled to make a “surprise announcement” in Belmar tomorrow. 

Pray for rain. 

Maybe Lautenberg is announcing his retirement and endorsing Pallone to replace him.  Not likely, but one can hope.

More likely they will announce some legislation they are sponsoring that will probably never become law or some appropriation they are proposing or maybe even secured that will not have nearly postive impact on New Jersey that the negative impact that the closure of Fort Monmouth will have.

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Special Show Tomorrow: Bob Ingle Is Our Guest

Bob Ingle, the best selling co-author of The Soprano State, prolific blogger, and Gannett columnist will be our exclusive guest tomorrow afternoon on The LaRossa and Gallagher: Real Jersey Guys On The Radio Show.

In addition to his insightful commentary on New Jersey government and politics, “the 3rd Jersey Guy” as he was know when he appeared in 101.5 with Casey Bartholomew and Ray Rossi’s, weighed in on Presidential governing and politics this week with an Open Letter To President Obama.

I have no doubt we’ll have an informative and entertaining hour.

I hope you join us by listening at WIFI AM 1460, if you get the signal, or in the Internet here.   We’ll be taking your calls at 609-447-0236 and 609-447-0237.

The show is sponsored by Repatriot Radio, every Tuesday from 5PM until 6PM.

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Port Authority Toll Hike Hearings

The Port Authority of NY/NJ is having public hearings tomorrow on their proposed toll hikes for Hudson River crossings and PATH trains.

The proposed tolls and the hearing schedules, including an online hearing, can be found on the agency’s website here.

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Obama’s Greatest Failure

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

It’s not the economy. It’s not foreign policy. It’s not the failure of Washington to function. It’s not the loss of respect for America and the strength of America. It’s not the failure to improve the educational system. It’s not unemployment or the downgrading of our debt. Obama’s greatest failure transcends the Presidency. His greatest failure is an affront to the fundament of our society.Lessons often come not from a single event, but from a juxtaposition of events. The riots in London, and the flash mobs in Philadelphia come during a week when Obama has blamed Congress, the system, the Tea Party, the Arab Spring and, in what is surely to become a historical reference for excuses, the Japanese Tsunami, for his inability to get a handle on the economy and unemployment.

The lesson here is not about a President blaming others for his failures. That surely is not unique. The lesson here relates to an historically squandered opportunity. Obama’s rise to the Presidency is a compelling story. Abandoned by his father at an extremely young age, he was raised by his mother and, in his words, white racist grandmother. So many young people and adults have used such a background as an excuse for failure. But Obama did not use it as an excuse. He strengthened himself by this adversity rising to the very top in spite of ample opportunity to blame his others for any inability to succeed. Psychiatrists’ couches are filled with adults bemoaning their fate and blaming their parents for their own failures. So many young people rely on the ability to blame one or both parents or their neighborhoods for justification for their failure. Obama’s rise to the Presidency against overwhelming odds is the quintessential American story. He would have been a beacon to those who have a choice between overcoming obstacles to succeed, and using the obstacles as a convenient excuse for failure. The rioters in London blame others for their financial circumstance. The flash mobs in Philadelphia blame others for their feelings of disenfranchisement. And Obama blames the Tsunami, as if G-d himself wanted not only to assure Obama’s failure, but to do it in a clandestine manner, on the other side of the globe.
By overcoming the harshest of circumstances, Obama earned the opportunity to tell the young people of America, the minorities in America, the urban disenfranchised in America that there is no obstacle that could not be overcome. He didn’t blame his father or his grandmother or anyone else. He rose above his circumstances. He reached the ultimate pinnacle of his journey with a campaign motto that was, after all, “Yes, we can.” That in the three years of his Presidency this motto has evolved into “everyone and everything is conspiring to prevent me from succeeding” is Obama’s greatest failure.

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SLedger Defends Naked Freeholder

By Art Gallagher

The Star Ledger Editorial Board says the blogger who published the nude photos that former Freeholder Louis Magazzu emailed to a mystery woman he never met is a cyber-bully.

Magazzu was a Cumberland County Freeholder, former Freeholder Director and former Chairman of the Cumberland County Democratic Party.  He resigned under pressure from other Democratic party leaders when his Weineresque photos became public.

The blogger who took Magazzu down, Carl Johnson, admits his problem with the power broker was personal.  Johnson says Magazzu used the power of his positions to attempt to silence his political criticism and make his life miserable including having him arrested for failing to pay child support.

Yet Magazzu’s demise was not a political assassination, as the SLedger states.  It was a political suicide.

Magazzu’s photos weren’t taken by someone else in a setting where he might expect privacy.  He took the photos himself, just as former Congressmen Christopher Lee and Anthony Weiner took photos of themselves.  Like the congressmen, Magazzu voluntarily transmitted the photos to a stranger.   That was stupid. 

The SLedger laments the pre-Internet days when the media elite were the gatekeepers of what the public learned about its elected officials:

Photos and racy e-mails that Magazzu sent to a mysterious woman over the internet — a woman who has yet to appear, but who both sides believe exists — were refused by several local newspapers on the grounds they weren’t news. They were evidence of Magazzu’s private relationship. And deserved to be private.

If the photos weren’t news, i.e. of interest to the public, no one would have paid attention to them and Magazzu would still be in office.  The photos were not of Magazzu gardening, fishing or playing golf. They were photos he took of himself, nude, in a bedroom and a bathroom.  They weren’t evidence of a private relationship. He sent the photos himself to a stranger, a “mystery woman.”   If the photos were evidence of a private relationship, Magazzu would have shared them with someone who would have kept them private.

With the possible exception of President Priss, the media elite are no longer the arbiters of what the public knows about it’s public figures.  Long gone are the days when the electorate doesn’t know they have a president with polio or one that philanders with movie stars. Long gone are the days that an Assemblyman collecting a police disability pension can be physically fit and the public won’t know about it.  Long gone are the days that any public figure can share nude photos of themselves with strangers and expect that the public won’t learn about.

The public rightfully doesn’t trust the media elite to decide what is relevant because the media elite is often driven by its own bias as to what is news and what isn’t news.  My bias tells me that the Sledger editorial board would have a very different take on this story if a high ranking member of the Christie administration, a Republican Freeholder from any county or a Republican member of the legislature had been involved, rather than a Democratic power broker.

The Sledger contributes to the demise of its own influence by taking a hyperbolic leap in lamenting the power of the blogosphere:

We’ve created a whole new class of political assassins, and any target is now fair game — not just the biggest-name politicians anymore. Tabloid stalking has trickled down to the next-door neighbor level. Any small town sex scandal can be international news.

Really?  Did I miss something?  I ran “next door neighbor small town sex scandal” through google news.  The only “news” there was the Sledger editorial. 

The hyperbole continues in the Sledger’s conclusion:

Political figure or not, blogging these photos amounts to cyber-bullying. Attacking your opponent on legitimate political or legal grounds is one thing. But publicizing his private life to destroy his reputation crosses the line into virtual stalking.

I don’t buy it.  Magazzu wasn’t stalked, virtually or otherwise. He took the photos himself and pushed the send button himself.   Cyber-bullying a Freeholder and former County Chairman?  Please!

We’ll have to wait until the next time a Republican does something stupid in his/her “private” life to see if the Sledger really means what it says and lives up to its own standards.

In the meantime, public figures of both parties and from all walks of life should refrain from sending nude photos of themselves to anyone and should be careful about everything they do when cameras are present, which is pretty much anytime they are anywhere in public.

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Pawlenty Quitting Presidential Race

The Associated Press is reporting that former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will announce his withdrawl from the race for the GOP nomination for President on ABC’s “This Week.”

Pawlenty finished a distant third place in the Ames, Iowa straw poll yesterday.

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Michele Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann won the Ames, Iowa GOP Presidential Straw Poll this evening, narrowly defeating Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty came in a distant third.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the final results are as follows:

1. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (4823, 28.55%)

2. Congressman Ron Paul (4671, 27.65%)

3. Governor Tim Pawlenty (2293, 13.57%)

4. Senator Rick Santorum (1657, 9.81%)

5. Herman Cain (1456, 8.62%)

6. Governor Rick Perry (718, 3.62%) write-in

7. Governor Mitt Romney (567, 3.36%)

8. Speaker Newt Gingrich (385, 2.28%)

9. Governor Jon Huntsman (69, 0.41%)

10. Congressman Thad McCotter (35, 0.21%) 

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