Yesterday’s radio show is a lot of fun. Just three Jersey Guys talking politics.
Fellow Monmouth County resident Chris Kniesler joined Dick LaRossa and me in discussing this year’s legislative races, the 2012 Presidential race and next years NJ U.S. Senate race.
Chris made a presidential race prediction that stopped Dick in his tracks for a moment. Dick, as is his custom, went off about the courts when Chris announced that the Third District Court ordered Carl Lewis back onto the LD 8 ballot, and I got on a roll about one of my favorite targets…the NJ media.
Kathy Horgan, right, with Red Bank Councilwoman Sharon Lee and Mayor Pat Menna in a 2010 campaign photo
Red Bank Councilwoman Kathy Horgan is expected to be tapped to fill the 11th district Assembly nomination vacated by Marilyn Schlossbach at County Committee convention in Asbury Park this evening.
Horgan will run with Vin Gopal for Assembly and Ray Santiago for Senate on the Democratic ticket.
Neptune Township Deputy Mayor Randy Bishop said he will not be a candidate for Assembly tonight when the 11th legislative district Democratic County Committee meets at that Asbury Park VFW to nominate a candidate to replace Marilyn Schlossbach. Schlossbach resigned her candidacy last week citing business obligations.
“During the nominating process in the spring I determined that I would not put my name up this year,” said Bishop, ” I have commitments in Neptune and in my personal life that take priority now. Too many of us in politics neglect our personal commitments.”
The list of potential candidates is a closely held secret. “All I know is that I’m supposed to show up at 6:30 tonight,” Bishop said, “if you hear who’s in the running, let me know”
One Democratic source said this morning that a final round of interviews had “just happened” and a party favorite had not been determined. The source wouldn’t say who has been interviewed.
If they have a quorum tonight, the 11th district Democratic County Committee members will nominate a running mate for Assembly candidate Vin Gopal and State Senate candidate Ray Santiago. Under Title 19, a quorum is 50% plus one of the county committee members.
The slate will face off against incumbent Republicans, Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblywomen Mary Pat Angelini and Caroline Casagrande. Former Democratic Assemblyman Dan Jacobson is also running for Assembly as an Independent. Internal Democratic polling indicates that Beck, Angelini and Casagrande are heavy favorites to be elected in the newly configured district.
In what is being viewed as a stinging rebuke to President Obama, the largely Jewish 9th Congressional District of New York elected Republican Bob Turner to the House of Representatives yesterday in a special election to replace disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner.
The congressional seat had previously been held by Chuck Schumer and Geraldine Ferraro. The seat has been filled by a Democrat since 1923.
A MMM reader wrote:
You do not know how important this was. I lived in that district. When Schumer ran he would get 88-90 percent of the vote. R’s would put up a token. This is like a D winning in Rumson. This district is so ingrained with the New Deal it shows that Obama is very vulnerable because the district voters were not voting against Weprin or voting for Turner. They were voting against the Big “O.”
Loud moans being heard throughout the Grand Tour neighborhood in Highlands lead to the rescue of four giant pet tortoises that would not have survived the coming winter in New Jersey’s climate, according to a report in The Asbury Park Press.
Richard Hines, 41, moved from North Carolina to Highlands in June, bringing his pets with him. Big Blackjack, a 575 pound native of the African archipelago had been Hines pet for 15 years. Three other tortoises ranging in size from 25 to 120 lbs were also rescued.
The Division of Fish and Wildlife filed charges of possession of an exotic species without a permit against Hines.
Welcome to New Jersey Mr. Hines. Hines’ wife Christina told NJ.com that the couple would not have moved here if they had known they couldn’t keep the tortoises which are valued between $2000 and $10,000 on the exotic pet market.
Monmouth SPCA Chief Buddy Amato told NJ.com that the aninmals were malnournished and had holes in their shells filled with fiber glass. He said they are desert animals that the Hines improperly kept in water.
Former Senator Dick LaRossa and I will be joined by political strategist Chris Kniesler this afternoon on the Real Jersey Guys Radio Show.
We’ll be talking Presidential politics, next year’s NJ U.S. Senate race, this year’s NJ legislative race, Congressional redistricting and, if we have time the 2013 gubernatorial race.
Join the conversation at 609-447-0236.
The show, sponsored by Repatriot Radio, is broadcast every Tuesday from 5PM-6PM on WIFI 1460 AM and here on the Internet.
It is no secret in Middlesex County that the Middlesex County Democrat Organization never seems to have problems raising money for political campaigns. What is strange is who some of the donors are. Did you ever hear of Citizens for a Green Environment, Women for Good Government, or the Coalition for Government Efficiency. These three groups are political action committees that support Democrats exclusively. One has to ask where their funds come from Are tree huggers, feminists, and efficiency experts so interested in electoral activity that they are willing to donate huge sums to their respective groups. The answer is of course NOT!
These three groups are among 12(list below) that the Democrats established for scrutiny-avoidance so that large sums of money could be contributed but not readily made available for review. The key to this type of operation is the difference in the contribution level that may be given to an individual candidate versus to PAC. The maximum that a single person or organization can make to candidate’s committee is $2,600 per election. However, the maximum that can be made to a PAC is $7,200 per election. If a donor wants to contribute large sums to a candidate or series of candidates, the easiest way is to contribute to PACs and let the PACs distribute the money. This is what happens in Middlesex County.
Since January of 2008 up to August of 2011, the PACs controlled by the Middlesex County Democrats have accepted $1,715,264 from various contributors with $621,000 (36%) coming from the five principals ( David Samuel, John Stefani, Jay Cornell, Michael McClelland, and Gregory Valesi) of CME Associates of Sayreville. This does not include the $250,000 that the CME principals contributed to various candidate committees. In total the CME principals contributed $854,550 to the Democrats and a paltry $17,550 to the Republicans for a total of $872,100 during this 3.5 year period.
Obviously CME was not alone. Second on the donor hit parade was T&M Associates of Middletown, third was the Gartland Family of Companies of Baltimore and fourth was Federal Business Centers of Edison. The citizens of Middlesex County have gotten a partial reprieve from these clandestine activities. Francis Gartland, the scion of the Gartland family of companies, has pled guilty to bribing a public official in Ocean County. This should keep the Gartland check book closed, at least for a while.
You must be wondering how this massive scrutiny-avoidance can happen. The Democrats are exploiting a fault in the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission computer system. The fault precludes a standard name query from extracting contributor names that gave to PACs. The information is available, but is not overly easy to find.
Posted: September 10th, 2011 | Author:Art Gallagher | Filed under:Uncategorized | Comments Off on Governor Chris Christie’s Remarks During the Empty Sky Memorial Dedication
News 12 televised the moving dedication of the Empty Sky Memorial of New Jersey residents who perished on September 11, 2001 this morning and early afternoon.
NJTV broadcast an episode of Sesame Street and a repeat of Caucus New Jersey.
