Why were his kids in the car? What was he investigating with his kids on Friday night before Christmas?

Maybe they were decoys during a shop lifting investigation.

The Asbury Park Press is reporting that a detective in the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office was involved in a head-on collision at 10:32 PM on Friday December 23.   Det. James Powers was driving a county owned vehicle.  He was determined to be at fault in the accident.  He wasn’t given a summons by the Wall Township police officer on the scene.  His kids were in the car.

The Press article seems to take issue with the fact that no summons was issued.   I don’t have a problem with that.

But it appears that Powers was engaged in personal use of a county owned vehicle.

Joan Marini of Wall was the driver of the 2011 Lexus that Powers hit head-on.  According to the app report, she sustained minor injuries and was taken to the hospital.   She has a lawyer who told her not to make public comments about the accident. 

Litigation to follow.  The deeper the pockets of the owner of the vehicle at fault in a motor vehicle accident, the more serious and long term are the injuries.

Here’s another 2012 prediction; Marini will get paid.  Her lawyer will get paid.  The lawyers defending the county will get paid.  Powers will be named in the suit but the same lawyers that defend the county will defend him.  Monmouth County taxpayers will get the bill.

Powers is the son of former Freeholder Director Thomas J. Powers.

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What do you want to know from the Freeholder candidates?

The Monmouth County Republican Committee will be electing a Freeholder on Saturday, January 14, to fill the vacancy resulting from Freeholder Director Rob Clifton’s election to the State Assembly.

The candidates are Holmdel Deputy Mayor Serena DiMaso, Atlantic Highlands Councilman Peter Doyle, Manalapan Committeeman Ryan Green and Howell Mayor Bob Walsh.

MMM will be reaching out to the candidates this week in preparation of a piece to be published next week prior to the Bayshore Tea Party Group’svetting session on Tuesday the 10th and the Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club’sCandidates Night on Friday the 13th.

Among the questions I am thinking of asking the candidates are:

Why do you want to be a freeholder?

What is your most significant accomplishment as a municipal office holder?

What do you want to accomplish during your first year as a freeholder?

How has your previous experience as a municipal office holder prepared you to be a county freeholder?

What distinguishes you from your opponents?  Why are you the best candidate?

What else should I ask?   Tell me in the comments.

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Santorum, After Iowa

By Robert Costa, National Review Online

Des Moines, Iowa – One hot August night in Ames, Rick Santorum stood on the mat-covered basketball court at Iowa State University’s Hilton Coliseum. As pop-country songs played softly over the arena’s loudspeakers, he huddled with his wife, Karen. Few people noticed him, and his handlers, if he had any, were elsewhere. Reporters breezed past the couple, hustling to chat with big-name strategists working for Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty.

A couple steps away, under a cavern of Klieg lights, Sean Hannity of Fox News bantered with Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman, who was widely expected to sweep the upcoming straw poll. Santorum, surveying the scene, scowled. As he waited for Bachmann to finish the interview, he tapped his foot, like a backup player itching to get into the game. Once again he had participated in a Republican primary debate, and once again he was a bench-warmer.

Minutes after the televised spar, here he was, in a post-debate “spin room” stuffed with political junkies, and he was ignored – an also-ran, a B-list pol waiting to appear on cable. The proud, boyish-looking former Pennsylvania senator was miffed. “This is unbelievable,” he told Karen, shaking his head. “Two questions in the beginning, and I had to wave my hand to get them.”

Five months later, on a bitterly cold January morning in central Iowa, Santorum’s summer doldrums have largely evaporated. All week, as he has greeted burly voters, many of them decked in Carhartt jackets, he has been swarmed by hundreds of media types – print reporters, network producers, camera-toting Swiss bloggers – out in force to cover every move of the man who, quite suddenly, has shaken up the GOP presidential scramble.

But Santorum’s sustained buzz in Iowa’s small diners and Pizza Ranch restaurants is not due in any way to his celebrity or his charm. His usual outfit – single-color, slightly pilled sweater-vests over a pressed white shirt – is the look of the ill-at-ease soccer dad, not the confident frontrunner. His remarks are always delivered rapid-fire, are frequently testy, and are too often focused on long-forgotten legislative yawners. Regardless, Iowans have flocked to him at the eleventh hour, partly because they’ve soured on Bachmann and Gov. Rick Perry, and partly because he is the last alternative to Mitt Romney left, the nice-enough guy who has visited all 99 counties.

That’s just fine with Santorum, who tells me that he is confident that Republicans will nominate him, a “reliable conservative,” rather than “settle” on Romney. But as Iowans prepare to caucus, Romney’s well-organized and lavishly funded campaign looms over the Pennsylvanian’s upstart effort – the Death Star to Santorum’s X-wing fighter. Whatever the outcome tonight, the former Massachusetts governor will be a formidable competitor in the months ahead, as will Texas congressman Ron Paul, who has the money and ground game to stay in the hunt. And the rest of the field, should they choose to carry on, will give Santorum headaches, knocking him as they fade.

Of course, such a scenario depends on Santorum finishing in Iowa’s top tier, near or above Paul and Romney. The latest polls hint at this happening, but in this tumultuous primary season, most every reporter is wary of trusting any last-minute temperature-taking of the conservatives among the cornfields. Still, Santorum looks poised for a good night, and should he pull it off the real question becomes: What’s next?

To get some answers, I recently spoke with John Brabender, Santorum’s own Karl Rove – the senior strategist who has been with him since his first House race in 1990, when he toppled Democrat Doug Walgren, a seven-term incumbent from the Pittsburgh suburbs. Brabender tells me to keep an eye on seven factors as the Iowa HQ closes and the plane for Manchester is fueled.

Santorum will make a play for the Granite State: “We’re not like these other campaigns that look at New Hampshire, surrender, and say ‘We can’t be competitive there; we’re going to the South.’ We think South Carolina is extremely important, and we’re the only ones who’ve won a straw poll there. But we think that to be a legitimate presidential candidate, you have to, at the very least, be willing to compete in each region of the country,” Brabender says. “And that includes the Northeast. We’re not expecting to walk into every place and feel like we have to win, but by going to New Hampshire, it lets us continue a dialogue with the country. That’s where the press is, that’s where people are paying attention, and we want to show we have national strength.”

Santorum staffers are prepping for the long haul: “We knew this day would come,” Brabender says. “There is this perception that the senator, duffel bag in hand, has been wandering around Iowa, but behind the scenes, there is a lot going on.” In coming days, many of the top Iowa field staffers will be shifted to new roles in other early primary states, taking the turnout strategies and outreach techniques they honed in Iowa to South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Florida. “We’re not an expensive campaign, not a huge-bureaucracy campaign,” so there is flexibility in terms of personnel, he says. Regarding payroll, “we don’t need to bring in the same amount as other campaigns.”

New hires will begin in the finance department: “We’re probably going to make a few small hires,” Brabender says, and they will mostly be money raisers, “due to the uptick in donations that has really picked up in recent weeks.” Beyond that, “you’re not going to see some wholesale expansion. The biggest mistake we think we could make right now is simply trying to become the other candidates, running the same type of model that’s outdated. You can be sure we’re not going to do that.”

Santorum, more than ever, is at ease: Even Santorum’s confidants acknowledge that he can become frustrated and flustered at times. Republicans saw this side of him during the early stages of the primary, when he would complain about the lack of attention. Now that he’s ticked up in the polls and spent countless days crisscrossing Iowa, he’s “in the zone,” Brabender says. The candidate is peaking at the right moment. “He’s hitting his stride,” Brabender tells me. “The crowds are getting bigger, and when that happens, he feeds off of it. More than the typical candidate, he finds a way to ride that kind of energy, and you see him doing that right now.”

Santorum is comfortable as an outsider: When he lost his 2006 reelection bid by 18 points to lackluster Democrat Bob Casey Jr., Santorum’s political career nearly ended. He went from being a member of the Senate GOP leadership to a political nobody. Five years later, as he surges in the polls, Brabender says that loss is shaping Santorum’s perspective in innumerable ways, but most importantly in how it buoys his ability to speak about issues as both a former insider and a Beltway outsider. “He thinks it was actually beneficial for him to get out of Washington for a while,” Brabender. “It turned out to be a huge benefit as he began to look at a presidential run, since he came into this with fresh eyes, not as someone in a position of power.”

The family is “all in” after Iowa: Santorum’s large, growing family is slowly coming back into the spotlight, Brabender says, and his wife and children joined him on the trail in Iowa on Monday and will be with him all day today. In coming months, look for the older Santorum children to continue to show up at their father’s side, supporting him as he stumps. “Their son, John, delayed going to college this year to be part of the campaign, and their daughter Elizabeth is taking a year off from college to be part of the campaign, playing significant roles.”

The inner circle remains the same: “It’s not a big group,” Brabender says. “Hogan Gidley works at my firm, and he’s the communications director. He directs a small communications team. You have Mike Biundo, who’s from New Hampshire; he’s the campaign manager. You have Nadine Maenza, who’s the finance director and who’s been with the senator since the 1990s. There is also Mark Rodgers, Santorum’s former chief of staff, who works in a senior advisory role. And unlike many campaigns, we keep Rick and Karen as part of the strategic team.” There is also, he claims, little drama. “So many of us have been with Rick for many years, and there’s nothing like you’ve read on Politico about other campaigns and their infighting. We mostly spend our time looking over historical polling data for Santorum, seeing what we can apply to this race.”

“We all started together in Pennsylvania,” Brabender says, commenting on Santorum’s senior team. “And just as Rick grew, we all grew in sophistication, but none of us has ever lost our roots. At 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, you can be sure that we were all finding a place to watch the Steelers game.” Later tonight, they’ll all be tuned to the same channel, this time watching the caucus returns. On Sunday, the Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns. In a few hours, Brabender expects to be cheering once again.

– Robert Costa is a political reporter for National Review.

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Somebody at the Ledger doesn’t like Assemblywoman Connie Wagner

Senator Loretta Weinberg has been creating a media storm touting Bergen County Assemblywoman Connie Wagner as the Democratic candidate to challenge Congressman Scott Garrett in the newly redrawn 5th congressional district.

The Star Ledger/NJ.com played along, mentioning Wagner most prominently in a piece about potential Garrett challengers.

Yet someone at NJ.com either doesn’t like Wagner or never heard of Google Images.  They ran a 2008 file photo of Wagner with the article.   Wagner looks a bit different in the more recent photo on her assembly website.

2008 Star Ledger photo of Assemblywoman Connie Wagner

Assemblywoman Connie Wagner's website headshot

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Romney wins Iowa caucuses by eight votes

By Lynn Campbell, Hannah Hess and Andrew Thomason, IowaPolitics.com

DES MOINES — It was an Iowa caucus night that came down to the wire, with former
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum
running neck-and-neck for first place in the contest for the Republican
presidential nomination..
At 1:36 a.m. Wednesday, the Republican Party of Iowa declared Romney the winner
by just eight votes over Santorum, the dark-horse candidate who ran his campaign
on a shoestring budget. With all of the state’s 1,774 precincts reporting,
Romney received 30,015 votes to Santorum’s 30,007. Percentage-wise, the two tied
with 25 percent of the vote.

GOP officials said the caucuses do not provide an opportunity for a recount when
there’s a close vote, because it’s an event run by the political party, and not
the government.

The virtual tie led both candidates to make their speeches in advance of knowing
the final results of the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential nominating
contest. The photo finish likely will give both Santorum and Romney momentum
going into the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary.

“Game on!” declared Santorum, who was Iowa’s most frequent visitor this caucus
cycle, spending about 100 days in the state but remaining at the back of the
pack until a last-minute surge around Christmas.
“Thank you Iowa for the great send-off you’re giving to us and the other winners
of this campaign,” Romney gushed, as he took the stage at Hotel Fort Des Moines
to congratulate his Republican competitors and his own campaign.
Romney vowed to head to battle in New Hampshire, and to defeat President Barack
Obama. in November in what he called an “election about the soul of America.”

For Santorum, Tuesday’s results were a near repeat of what former Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee did four years ago: A social conservative candidate coming from
behind to win Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.

The crowd at Santorum’s party at the Stoney Creek Inn in Johnston grew larger
and more enthusiastic as the night drew on. They chanted, “Go, Rick! Go, Rick!!”
and “We pick Rick! We pick Rick!” as they saw results coming in on TV. Showing
their evangelical side, they also sang “Amazing Grace” and “God Bless America”
as they waited.

Evangelical voters were key behind Santorum’s success. Santorum was endorsed
Dec. 20 by Iowa social conservative leaders Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley,
after a campaign in which such voters were sharply divided on whether to support
Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry or Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

“I kind of believe in what he says, that we shouldn’t settle on a candidate,”
said Jeremy Masterson, 33, of Prairie City, who attended Santorum’s post-caucus
party. “I believe in his conservative values. That’s something we’ve kind of
gotten away from here recently. Plus, the way he did it, the way he started from
the ground up in visiting all 99 counties, it really tells me that he supports
the people.”

But Steve Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member from West Des Moines
who’s president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, told IowaPolitics.com
that he doesn’t believe the endorsements were the reason for Santorum’s surge.
“Even before endorsements, he was coming up in the pack,” Scheffler said. “He
laid a groundwork a long time ago. At the end of the day, people have a lot of
respect for candidates who actually try to come and win their vote.”
For Romney, Tuesday’s win secures him as a national front-runner heading into
the months-long process to secure the Republican nomination for president.
“We’re going to change the White House and get America back on track,” he
declared.
Kim Schmett of Clive, a former Polk County Republican chairman and congressional
candidate who said he went to see most of this year’s GOP presidential
candidates 10 to 15 times, said it was Romney’s experience as a business leader
that made him decide to support Romney a week or two ago.
“He has the best chance to win,” Schmett said. “There’s too much at stake of
where our government is headed, to not win this election. His skill set is
almost perfectly matched for what our country needs at the moment.”
An Iowa win was the outcome that Romney had hoped for in the 2008 campaign, when
he spent more than $10 million in Iowa and campaigned in all of the state’s 99
counties, only to finish second to Huckabee in the caucuses.
That cycle, Romney fought for the caucuses with 52 full-time staffers, but this
time, he had only five, he told the crowd of 200 supporters who were invited to
join his victory celebration.
Romney only spent about 20 days in Iowa during the 2012 caucus campaign and much
less money, although his spending was boosted by the super PAC, Restore Our
Future, which ran TV ads attacking former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of
Georgia. Combined, Romney and his super PAC spent more than $1.5 million on
2,246 ad spots in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad-Cities markets,
according to an analysis by IowaPolitics.com.

“Many of Romney’s critics lambaste him for not paying enough attention to Iowa,
not enough days visiting here in the last year,” said former Iowa House Speaker
Chris Rants, R-Sioux City. “But tonight Romney will see the fruits of the labor
he put in four years ago.”
Rants, a former senior adviser to Michigan U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter who last year
briefly sought the GOP nomination for president, said Republicans want a
candidate they trust. But he said even more so then four years ago, they also
want a candidate who can win.
Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who was considered a contender to win, on Tuesday
translated his loyal base of supporters and large, enthusiastic crowds into a
strong third-place finish with 21 percent of the vote.
“It may make people take him more seriously on a national stage,” said Dianne
Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at
Iowa State University. “It will give him a boost, keep him in the campaign
longer. I don’t think he’ll end up being the national nominee. He’s the ultimate
anti-government candidate.”
Paul, who had attracted large crowds throughout the campaign, on Tuesday night
addressed a crowd of several hundred supports, many of them young, at the
Courtyard Marriott hotel in Ankeny shortly after learning that he came in third
in the caucus. The Texas congressman said even though he brought home the bronze
medal, his campaign pillar of very limited government won.
“Those are the issues that we have brought front and center,” Paul said.
“They’re out there. They’re not going away.”
Paul’s promise to cut whole federal government departments and end the war in
Afghanistan are why Joe Stevens voted for Paul Tuesday.

“He’s got a plan to balance the budget, to cut spending,” Stevens said. “I think
those are key.”
Paul promised the roaring crowd that he will keep up his campaign.

“I think there’s nothing to be ashamed of, everything to be satisfied (with),
and be ready and raring to move on, on to the next stop,” he said.
The Texas congressman had long complained that the media wasn’t giving him the
attention he was due, despite a close second-place finish in the Aug. 13 Ames
Straw Poll, steadily growing public support in opinion polls and crowds as large
as 1,000 that turned out to see him, especially on college campuses.
Many doubt whether Paul, who previously ran for president as a libertarian in
1988 and as a Republican in 2008, can go on to secure the Republican nomination
for president. Fellow Republicans have been critical of his advocacy for ending
all wars and bringing U.S. troops home.
Yet political analysts pointed out that while the caucus campaign has featured a
“flavor of the month” ranging from Bachmann to Perry, former Godfather’s Pizza
CEO Herman Cain and Gingrich, support for Romney and Paul have remained steady
at 20 percent or higher.
Since 1972, no candidate that has finished worse than third in Iowa has gone on
to win a major party presidential nomination. The 2000 Iowa winners, Democrat Al
Gore and Republican George W. Bush, and the 2004 Iowa winners, Democrat John
Kerry and incumbent Bush, won their party’s nominations.
Other results Tuesday night:

Gingrich finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses with 13 percent of the vote.
“There will be a great debate in the Republican Party before we are ready to
have a great debate with (President) Barack Obama,” Gingrich said, while
promising to press onward. He praised and congratulated Santorum for running a
“positive” campaign and warned voters not to nominate Paul because of his
“dangerous” foreign policy views.

Perry will return home to reassess his campaign after a disappointing
fifth-place caucus finish, he announced Tuesday night. “I’ve decided to return
to Texas, assess the results of tonight’s caucus and determine whether there is
a path forward in this race,” Perry told supporters at his campaign’s vote night
headquarters.

Bachmann conceded a sixth place finish with 5 percent of the vote late Tuesday
night, but sounded optimistic about the future of her campaign. She referred to
her first-place Ames Straw Poll win in August and thanked the people of Iowa for
“launching us on the path to victory.” Bachmann suggested there could be
“another Michele in the White House” in 2012, referring current occupant First
Lady Michelle Obama.

The 2012 Iowa caucus campaign featured wild fluctuations in front-runners. More
than 40 percent of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers were undecided in the past
week, saying they could change their minds about whom to support, according to a
recent poll.
A few weeks ago, Santorum was at the back of the pack. But five polls released
during the past week showed Santorum surging. He first appeared in polls in
third place behind Romney and Paul. The latest polls showed him moving ahead of
Paul in the final days before the caucuses.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told IowaPolitics.com that he knew Santorum would do
better than expected because he spent more than 100 days campaigning here and
visited all 99 of Iowa’s counties. Other political insiders and analysts warned
in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s caucuses that Santorum could pull off a
caucus-night surprise.
Santorum continued campaigning until the last minute. He visited four caucus
sites Tuesday night in Johnston, Clive and West Des Moines before heading to his
post-caucus party.
See a map of the caucus results:
http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=257182

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Santorum Leading by 1%

With 46% of the votes counted, former Senator Rick Santorum has pulled narrowly ahead of Mitt Romney in Iowa Caucus balloting.  Santorum has 25%, Romney 24% and Ron Paul 22%, according to the real time data feed at FoxNews.

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All eyes on Iowa — for now

By Matt Kittle, IowaPolitics.com

DUBUQUE, IOWA — Just off the first exit of the U.S. 151 Bridge that connects
Wisconsin and Iowa, just inside the limits of Iowa’s oldest city, it was
business as usual early Tuesday afternoon at Mystique Casino.

Hundreds of gamblers at scores of slot machines were trying their luck.

The casino’s next door restaurant neighbor, Houlihan’s, was mostly quiet — a few
stragglers or late arrivals from the afternoon lunch crowd and, perhaps
surprisingly, very little talk of politics.

It seemed like just another day on Dubuque’s former City Island, but today the
eyes of the nation, the world, were affixed on this city of about 60,000
residents and its state of just more than 3 million — a state that has a
significant say in the dialogue of American democracy.

“I guess it goes back to its normal self” on Wednesday, said Jason Ehlers,
Houlihan’s manager, reflecting on the glare of media attention Dubuque and Iowa
have entertained in the months leading up to the state’s first-in-the-nation
presidential caucuses. He seemed resigned to the idea of how fleeting fame can
be.

After Tuesday night, when Iowa decides its favorite Republican presidential
candidate at the middle schools, colleges, hotels and other public and private
buildings making up the 1,774 caucus sites statewide, the national media
attention retreats to New Hampshire and the next political battleground.

“We’ll get by,” Ehlers said of the expected media void.

But Tuesday night, Iowa shines.

Getting ready

Matt Giese, chairman of the Dubuque County Republican Party, said he was
concerned Tuesday afternoon that all goes without a hitch Tuesday night at the
county’s four caucus sites.

Dubuque County’s GOP, like its brethren statewide, opened up an additional
caucus site to make room for what is expected to be a heavy turnout, thanks to
the clear weather and surging political interest.

Florida’s decision to push up its presidential preference primary to Jan. 31,
forced Iowa’s hand and complicated planning, Giese said.

“I hope people don’t get too frustrated if the parking isn’t the best,” Giese
said. “That’s the hand we were dealt.”

He didn’t sound worried about Dubuque County Republicans. After all, Giese said,
this isn’t “their first rodeo.”

Across town, Steven Brody, executive director of Dubuque County Right to Life,
said he wasn’t making any endorsements or predictions. The organization, part of
a vocal and active network in the party’s conservative base, doesn’t take sides.

Brody said he was advising caucusgoers to vote their consciences. He said he
doesn’t care for the political wisdom that says Iowa Republicans should forget
their basic convictions and go with the candidate with the best chance to beat
President Barack Obama.

“We are kind of tired of hearing people say put your issues aside for the good
of the party,” Brody said. “We felt we’ve been burned before.

“We know it didn’t work in 2008,” he said of GOP’s support of U.S. Sen. John
McCain, R-Arizona, no darling of the anti-abortion movement.

Perhaps that idea of voting conscience over expedience is why Rick Santorum has
climbed so high in the latest polls, some showing a statistical tie with top
Iowa caucus contenders former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas U.S. Rep.
Ron Paul.

Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and seen as among the
strongest social conservatives in the field, has been a staunch opponent of
legalized abortion.

Rallying the troops

Just off Kennedy Road, in a busy retail district, the Dubuque County Democratic
Party office was mostly quiet. But the Democrats had their own caucuses and
political business to take care of late Tuesday.

While their presidential candidate is set, Iowa Democrats are expected to host
caucuses statewide, mostly to re-energize the troops for the battle ahead.

Obama is scheduled to speak via video camera to Democrats statewide, urging the
same kind of grassroots, volunteer campaign that carried him to the White House
in 2008.

“The Obama campaign has tried to make its volunteer organization friend to
friend, neighbor to neighbor,” said Ken Kraus, a member of the Dubuque County
Democrats and the Obama 2012 drive. “That’s what’s been so strong about it.”

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Iowa high school voters fired up for Ron Paul

By Hannah Hess, IowaPolitics.com

WEST DES MOINES — A chant of “Ron Paul” surged through Valley High School on
Tuesday, about seven hours before the start of the Iowa Caucus.

Some 700 high school seniors packed the bleachers for the two-hour “Rock the
Caucus” assembly, sponsored by Rock the Vote, a nonprofit group devoted to youth
voter registration.

The students heard final pitches from Republican presidential candidates Paul, a
U.S. representative from Texas; former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum; and
Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, as well as four of former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney’s sons — Tagg, Matt, Josh and Craig. Democratic Party
Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky spoke on behalf of President Barack Obama.

Dvorsky urged the crowd to show its support by caucusing for Obama, although he
is running unopposed for the party’s nomination. Iowa launched Obama to victory
Jan. 3, 2008, she said.

The students received voter-registration cards, allowing them to vote in the
Tuesday night caucus. Paul elicited the the most applause, and he was the only
candidate bestowed a chant.

“He’s the only man who, I think, speaks his mind,” said Alex Franks, 17, of West
Des Moines, one of the hundreds of students who attended the rally.
Franks said she plans to vote for Paul in a suburban Des Moines Republican
caucus as well as the general election, should he become the Republican nominee.
Iowa allows teens to vote in the caucuses provided they turn 18 in time for the
November election.

Franks said she likes the 12-term congressman’s libertarian views on freedom and
personal liberty.

“I think we need to bring back the independence of our country, and I think he’s
doing a good job with that,” she said.

Paul on Tuesday promised to keep young people out of unnecessary combat, to
protect their privacy on the Internet and to restore the value of the dollar.

He touted an endorsement from pop music singer Kelly Clarkson. Paul said
Clarkson, the first “American Idol” winner, got a boost in record sales after
she gave him her support.
“Young people like individuals who will stick to principles, and in Washington,
sometimes the two parties mesh together …. and it’s not too infrequent
that I feel obligated to vote by myself,” Paul said during his 10-minute speech.

Santorum, who is seeing a surge in recent polls of probable Iowa Republican
caucus-goers, drew big applause during his address to the students.

Santorum placed third in an Insider Advantage poll of 729 probable Iowa
Republican voters conducted by the Georgia-based polling company Jan 1. He was
the first choice for 18 percent of the voters; Romney and Paul tied for first,
each registering 22 percent.
Surrounded by six of his seven children and his wife, Karen, Santorum pledged to
“restore the family.”

From the bleachers, three students waved Santorum’s “Faith, Family and Freedom”
campaign signs.
Cassie Crose and Sierra Smith, both 18, of West Des Moines, said they would
support Romney in the caucuses, as their parents are caucusing for him.
Tagg Romney, the eldest of Romney’s son’s, asked how many of the students
planned to vote in the Republican caucuses. The crowd seemed divided.
“It’s pretty much split between Ron Paul or Obama,” said Conner Feldman, 18, of
Windsor Heights and a Ron Paul supporter.

The 2012 Iowa Democratic Caucuses begin 6:30 p.m. Tuesday; the Republican
Caucuses start at 7 p.m.
See photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowapolitics/sets/72157628702446791/
See video of Paul and youth supporters:
See the Insider Advantage poll: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2012/InsiderAdvantage_Iowa_0102.pdf

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O’Scanlon: Red Light Camera Industry’s Own Video Challenges Assertions – It’s About the Money, Not Safety

A video disseminated by American Traffic Solutions (“ATS”) depicts a series of crashes and near misses at intersections chosen to participate in New Jerseys five-year red-light camera pilot program. The mission of the five-year pilot program is to determine the effectiveness of the installation and utilization of traffic control signal monitoring systems. Under the program, a traffic control signal monitoring system utilizes cameras and vehicle sensors, which work in conjunction with a traffic control signal to produce images of vehicles disregarding a red signal and running a red light”. Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon thinks the ATS video is proof positive of the resounding failure of the program.

“Red-light cameras are intended to deter drivers from running red lights, or so goes the argument from supporters of the cameras,” explained O’Scanlon (R Monmouth/Mercer). This video showed what I have always believed, red-light cameras do not stop people from running red lights because most drivers do not make a conscience decision to run a red light.

“Drivers who run red lights are distracted by a bad day at work, a sick child, or a bad nights sleep,” O’Scanlon continued. “No camera or fine, regardless of the amount, is going to change this. What really stops people from running red lights is the same thing that has stopped them for as long as cars have been on the road -the fear of serious injury or death!

“If one looks at the video objectively it is easy to see that virtually all of the incidents depict the situation I outline above. These people are not likely reckless scofflaws playing Russian roulette with their lives and those of others. These people simply weren’t aware they were going through a red light. Laws and fines won’t stop these momentary lapses in peoples’ awareness if fear of death hasn’t done so already” said O’Scanlon. “We need to increase safety as much as possible through sound engineering of intersections and proper light timing. This will give us a demonstrable increase in safety. Of course it will mean a lot less revenue for the towns currently participating in the demonstration project, but these are ill-gotten gains to begin with.”

New Jersey‘s red-light camera pilot program began in 2008, since then 25 municipalities have signed on to the program.

For More Information: http://www.app.com/videonetwork/1350739560001/NJ-Crashes-Captured-By-Red-Light-Cameras-12-28-11-

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Port Authority Retirees Suing For Free Tolls And Damages

Thomas Westfield, a Morris County attorney who began practicing law after retiring from the Port Authority Police Department, has filed a class action suit against the Pork Authority seeking to reinstate free tolls and parking for retirees and $2000 per class member for as long as the benefits have been rescinded. There are at least 400 class members, according to a report at New Jersey Law Journal.

Westfield admits that the loss of benefits cost him no particular hardship, just the annonyance of having to pay tolls when going to an occasional Yankee game.  He also said he doesn’t know how often class members use the Hudson River crossings or park at the agency’s three airports.

Westfield, 65, has retired from the full time practice of law.

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