Quinnipiac Poll: Lonegan Within 12 Points Of Booker

Booker has not made a public appearance in New Jersey since September 15

Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan has gained significant ground over the last two weeks in his quest to replace the late Frank Lautenberg in Washington, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released this morning.

Democratic nominee, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, leads Lonegan among likely voters by 12 points,, 53%-41%, with three weeks to go before the October 16 special election.

Booker had a 35% lead over Lonegan in an August 7 poll of registered voters.

In a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll two weeks ago of likely voters, Booker was leading Lonegan by 35%.

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Lonegan To Hold Red Carpet Fundraiser In Newark Tonight

Cory Booker is in Hollywood tonight where Jason Bourne and Batman are holding a big ticket fundraiser for the Superhero wannabe Senator.

GOP nominee Steve Lonegan is answering by holding a Red Carpet fundraiser in Newark, featuring stars from New Jersey — everyday people that make New Jersey a great place to live.

What: A Night with the Stars of New Jersey

 When: Monday, September 23, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

 Where: Kings Family Restaurant

557 Clinton Avenue

Newark, NJ 07108

 Guests will be wearing some of the latest styles from:

• Faded Glory
• Hanes
• Old Navy
• Levi’s

• And more!

Listen to Lonegan’s radio ad here.

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Steve Lonegan praises Rahm Emanuel, bashes Cory Booker in Jersey City

Steve Lonegan praises Rahm Emanuel, bashes Cory Booker in Jersey City (via NJ.com)

JERSEY CITY — Steve Lonegan was hoping to scrap with Rahm Emanuel in Jersey City. Instead he ended up complimenting him — sort of. “I want to commend Rahm Emanuel,” Lonegan said, standing outside of the downtown restaurant where Emanuel and…

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Alert the Media! Buono’s Vulgar Tweet

UPDATE: StarLedger Covers Buono’s Vulgarity. Buono campaign defends her vulgarity and tweets it again.

David Turner, a spokesman for Buono, said the accident was not re-tweeting the remark but removing it. The campaign then re-tweeted it again.

Shortly after the House of Representatives voted to defund ObamaCare this afternoon, Barbara Buono’s gubernatorial campaign took a break from exploiting suffering Superstorm Sandy victims and took to twitter with the following:

(h/t SaveJersey)

As you can see, the adults in the Buono camp had the tweet deleted within fifteen minutes of it going up.

Buono only has 5,912 twitter followers (compared to 400,879 following Governor Christie).  More people will see Buono’s tweet here on MMM and at SaveJersey than ever would have seen it on twitter, even if the adults hadn’t deleted it.

Until I hear it from Buono’s mouth myself or until someone I trust tells me they heard such vulgarity from Buono personally, I don’t believe the tweet represents a lack on class on her part.  I assume it was done by a young stupid silly over zealous intern or staffer who thought it was funny.

What interests me about the tweet is the evident media double standard it exposes.

Remember when a Lonegan campaign staffer made a stupid silly tweet last month during a Democratic U.S. Senatorial debate? That tweet was deleted in less than 15 minutes. Yet the New Jersey and New York media made such a big deal about that many people became upset that they missed the Democratic debate.     If it weren’t for the stink the New Jersey and New York mainstream media made over the stupid @Lonegan tweet as they were attempting to make the Republican Senatorial candidate look like a racist, most people wouldn’t have know there was a Senatorial primary on the Tuesday after the tweet.

I checked PolitickerNJ, NJ.com (The Star Ledger), NorthJersey.com (The Record), and APP.com (The Asbury Park Press).  Nothing about Buono’s vulgar tweet has been reported.

Come on now, my friends in the mainstream media, do your jobs.  Take Buono off message and make her explain the tweet. You’ll probably be doing her a favor, because no one is listening to her message otherwise.

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Newark’s Superhero

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Rahm Emanuel Cancels Booker Fundraiser In Wake Of Chicago Shootings

I never would have thought I’d have more respect for President Obama’s first Chief of Staff, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, than I have for Cory Booker.

The contrast of the two mayors actions in the face of murderous violence in their cities makes having a higher regard for Booker than Emanuel impossible.

Emanuel was scheduled to be in Jersey City tonight to rally the troops and raise money for Booker.  A late night shooting occurred in Chicago last night that left 13 people wounded, three in critical conditions, including a 3 year old.  Emanuel canceled his trip to New Jersey.  Booker, who was not even scheduled to be at the Jersey City rally because he left Newark yesterday for California to raise money for his U.S. Senate campaign, called off the Emanuel event which was also to have featured Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop.

The Booker campaign declined to say why they canceled the event, but you don’t have to be Rush Holt to connect the dots.

The eleventh murder in less than a month occurred in Newark yesterday afternoon.  This morning two Newark teenagers were arrested for yesterday’s shooting death of Quivon Wilson, 23.

Unless he gets on a plane and comes home, Booker will be disco dancing in San Francisco tonight with the “San Francisco Young Professionals for Cory Booker.”

Booker is scheduled to spend the weekend in California, though Monday night when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are co-hosting a big ticket fundraising dinner for him.

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Another Murder in Newark

Booker is in California

Newark recorded its 65th violent killing so far this year, the 11th in less than a month, yesterday afternoon when a 28 year old Irvington man was shot and killed at the 200 block of Hobson Street, according to a report in The Star Ledger.

There were 26 people killed in the Newark riots of 1967.

Mayor Cory Booker is on a fundraising trip to California that will culminate with a dinner co-hosted by Jason Bourne and Batman.

The New Jersey media was up Governor Christie’s keister to his lap band when he went to Disney World during the December 2010 snow storm.  How come they are giving Booker a pass for abandoning his city during this outbreak of violent deaths?

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Middletown Library Will Consider Part Time Executive Director

Susan O’Neal. Photo courtesy of Middletown Patch.

The Middletown Library Board of Trustees will consider hiring a part time executive director to replace Susan O’Neal.

O’Neal submitted her resignation to the board last evening as part of a negotiated termination. Board President Brock Siebert declined to comment on O’Neal resignation, citing a confidentiality agreement.   The termination won’t be official until approved by the Middletown Township Committee.  Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger also declined to comment.

O’Neal’s salary is $119,816, according to Data Universe.

O’Neal’s continued employment became untenable when her emails with Linda Baum, a Democratic candidate for Township Committee revealed that she was colluding with the Middletown Democratic Party to undermine the authority of the Board of Trustees.    The emails were released as a result of an Open Public Records Act request on the part of Committeeman Tony Fiore.  Fiore became suspicious that O’Neal and Baum were colluding when Baum shared confidential information she should not have been privy to at a public meeting.  Baum unsuccessfully sued to block the release of the emails.

Brock said the board’s personnel committee will meet next week to discuss a search for O’Neal’s replacement.  Hiring a part time executive director is one option he wants to committee to consider.

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O’Scanlon Reiterates His Support Of Gay Marriage

Various news sources are reporting that Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) has “broken with Governor Christie” over the issue of same sex marriage.

The news reports are inaccurate.

O’Scanlon was never “with” Governor Christie on the same sex marriage issue. He’s been on the record as favoring the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act since February of 2012 when the bill passed both houses of the legislature and was vetoed by Christie.

O’Scanlon was absent from the February 2012 vote because he was attending Senator Jennifer Beck’s wedding in Jamaica.   Upon his return to New Jersey, he told triCityNews that he would have voted for the bill had he been present and that he would vote to override Christie’s veto if it ever comes up for a vote.

triCityNews is not published online.  Publisher Dan Jacobson verified my recollection of O’Scanlon’s quotes on the phone this evening.

The issue is in the news again because marriage equality advocates have been in Trenton this week lobbying for an override of Christie’s veto before the end of the legislative session in January.

The Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act passed the Senate with a vote of 24-16 and the Assembly by 42-33, with 5 Assembly members, including O’Scanlon and Mary Pat Angelini not voting.   An override requires a 2/3 affirmative vote.  In order for an override to succeed, the bill needs three additional yes votes in the Senate and 12 yes votes in the Assembly. O’Scanlon and Angelini represent two of the needed yes votes. Republican Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi of Bergen County also didn’t vote in 2012.  Schepisi said she would vote to override, leaving the bill needing 9 votes to pass in the Assembly.

If there is a override vote, it probably won’t occur until the “lame duck” session after the November election and before the new legislature takes office in January.

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Kyrillos: Economic Opportunity Act Should Lead To More Tax Reform

With bi-partisan fanfare, Governor Chris Christie signed the Economic Opportunity Act yesterday afternoon. The new law,which Christie reshaped with his conditional veto, is far-reaching legislation designed to make New Jersey more competitive in economic development and job creation.

Economic incentives for business and development will now be more generous and easier to obtain.

State Senator Joe Kyrillos, a primary sponsor of the bill, celebrated the enactment of the legislation and called for more comprehensive tax reform.

“We got this done to boost New Jersey’s private-sector economy, because many Republicans and Democrats realize that this legislature desperately needs to do more to attract and retain job creators,” said Kyrillos (R-Monmouth). “We came together; we compromised to create more opportunities for New Jersey families. This should be the bridge to comprehensive tax reform that New Jerseyans have been waiting on for far too long.”

“It is encouraging that Democratic prime sponsor Senator Lesniak acknowledged the following during Thursday’s session: ‘We know that New Jersey cannot compete not only with our surrounding states but we can’t compete internationally because of the cost of doing business here we know is high,’” Kyrillos added. “This is a problem that Senate Republicans have tried to permanently address for years. With more Democrats now realizing the issue, the chances that this legislature will finally fix this state’s non-competitive tax structure are much better. When we get this done, residents won’t have fear that our sons and daughters will be forced to flee this costly state to start their families elsewhere, or that they won’t be able to find solid jobs because employers can’t afford to operate here.”

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