A Gift To Those Attending the NJ Chamber of Commerce “Walk To Washington”

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Sweeney not running for Governor

Senate President Steve Sweeney issued the following statement this morning announcing that he will not challenge Senator Barbara Buono for the Democratic nomination for Governor:

After careful consideration and much deliberation, I will not be a candidate for governor in 2013. I’ve decided my work now needs to be focused on ensuring the Legislature remains in Democratic control. Is there any question about the havoc and pain a Republican Legislature would inflict on the middle class, labor, women, and our seniors? For over a decade New Jersey voters have ensured we have a strong Democratic majority in both houses and I view it as absolutely essential and my job to keep that streak going. We will.

Kitten.

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An Inconvenient Truth Presented By The Women Of Susan B. Anthony List

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Menendez on ABC’s ‘This Week’

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez was interviewed by ABC’s Martha Raddatz yesterday on the stations weekly Sunday morning talk show, ‘This Week.’

Raddatz, who you might remember as the moderator of the vice presidential debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan, asked Menendez about immigration reform Benghazi, former Senator Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense and whether or not Senator Frank Lautenberg should give Newark Mayor Cory Booker a spanking.

No questions about the allegations that Menendez engaged underage prostitutes or accepted illegal gifts from a campaign contributor.

Click here to watch the Menendez segment on ‘This Week”

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Bennett and Doria go On The Record with Michael Aron : Red meat for New Jersey political junkies and history buffs

Two former New Jersey political powerhouses joined NJTV’s Michael Aron on his weekly show, On the Record, this week to discuss the 2013 gubernatorial race, the 2014 U.S. Senate race and to reminisce about the good old days… the governors they served under and how the climate has changed in Trenton since the days when they held power.

Watch Joe Doria and John Bennett on PBS. See more from On the Record.

Democrat Joe Doria served in the State Assembly from 1980-2004.  He was Speaker in the 1990-1992 session.  Doria left the Assembly after losing the Democratic primary in 2003. In 2004,  he was elected by the Hudson Democratic Committee to fill the State Senate term vacated by the death of Senator Glenn Cunningham, who was also the mayor of Jersey City. Doria also served as mayor of Bayonne from July of 1998 through October of 2007.  He resigned from the Senate and as mayor when Governor Jon Corzine nominated him to become the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, one of the most powerful Cabinet positions in the State.  His public career came to a sudden end in July of 2009 when Corzine announced his resignation as DCA commissioner after his home was raided in the Operation Bid Rig sweep the resulted in 44 arrests.  Doria was never arrested and the U.S Attorney’s Office cleared him of all charges in October of 2011.

Doria is collecting a state pension of $58,895 per year.

Republican John Bennett is chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Committee.  He served in the State Legislature for 24 years, 10 in the Assembly and 14 in the Senate. While a Senator, Bennett was co-president of the chamber with Richard Codey during first two years of the McGreevey administration. Bennett was Acting Governor for 3 1/2 days, during the week between the Whitman/DiFrancesco administration and the McGreevey administration when New Jersey had five governors…DiFrancesco, Codey, Bennett, former Attorney General John Farmer and McGreevey.

Bennett’s career as a senator came to an end after he was defeated at the polls by Ellen Karcher, then a member of the Marlboro Township Committee.  The Asbury Park Press ran Bennett out of office with a relentless series of articles, over a period of months, over a billing irregularity while he was Marlboro’s Township Attorney.  Bennett was cleared of any wrong doing by the Feds in March of 2007.

Bennett is collecting a $90,000 annual pension from his years in the legislature and a plethora of part time law appointments tacked together to provide a handsome income.

On the Record interview highlights

Gubernatorial Race

Read the rest of this entry »

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More Global Warming

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County Employee Charged With Embezzling $3,000 From Millstone Golf Course

Carol Hobbs, 34, of Jackson, was arrested and charged with third degree theft on Thursday following an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Hobbs was responsible for maintaining the cash register in the pro shop, collecting greens fees and managing the schedule of golfers to the starting point to begin their round of golf. The investigation revealed Hobbs would modify a transaction so it appeared the golfer received a refund after the golf course patron paid for a round a golf when they had not asked for or received a refund. After modifying the transaction Hobbs retained the money. An audit revealed Hobbs embezzled over $3,000 from September 2012 through December 2012, according to a statement released by Acting Prosecutor Christopher A. Gramiccioni.

Hobbs was not charged with Official Misconduct, a second degree crime if the benefit of the infraction exceeds $200, that carries up to a 10 year prison sentence upon conviction, according to attorney Matheu D. Nunn:

Under New Jersey’s Official Misconduct law, N.J.S.A. 2C:30-2, a public servant can be prosecuted for acts committed in their official capacity and, if convicted, imprisoned for up to ten years.

A public servant includes any officer or employee of government including legislators and judges as well as any person participating as a juror, advisor, consultant or otherwise, in performing a government function; it does not include a witness. The test is whether the person is performing a “government function.”

Under New Jersey Official Misconduct law the public servant’s action or omission must be coupled “with a purpose to obtain a benefit for himself or another” or a purpose to injure another or deprive another of a benefit….

…Here is the scary part–Official Misconduct is a crime of the second degree. As a result, the official faces up to 10 years in state prison if the benefit involved exceeded $200 in value. If the benefit is less than $200 in value it is a crime of the third degree and the official faces a term of imprisonment up to 5 years.

If the purpose is to injure another it will be a crime of the second degree no matter how slight the injury.

And, unlike many other “non-violent” crimes, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.5, a person convicted of Official Misconduct:

“shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment without eligibility for parole as follows: for a crime of the fourth degree, the mandatory minimum term shall be one year; for a crime of the third degree, two years; for a crime of the second degree, five years; and for a crime of the first degree, 10 years; unless the provisions of any other law provide for a higher mandatory minimum term.”

Former Brookdale Community College President Peter Burnham is serving at least two years of a five year prison sentence due to his guilty plea to Official Misconduct.

Gramiccioni declined to say why Hobbs was not charged with Official Misconduct, citing work product confidentiality.

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Codey not running for Governor

Buono likely to be unopposed for Dem nomination

Former Acting Governror Richard Codey told The Star Ledger that he will not seek to Democratic nomination for Governor, saying that a statewide campaign would be too much on his family life.

“After talking with my family, friends and other advisors and weighing the impact of a campaign on my family life, I have decided not to seek the nomination,” Codey said. “I want to thank my friends and supporters throughout the state who encouraged me to run and provided counsel during this process.”

Codey said he would seek reelection to the State Senate.

PolitickerNJ reports that Senate President Steve Sweeney’s is still mulling entering the gubernatorial fray and that his decision will be announced by the end of this month.

A Democratic source familiar with Sweeney’s thinking told MoreMonmouthMusings that Sweeney will not be a candidate.

That will leave State Senator Barbara Buono, who declared her candidacy in early December, as the likely nominee to attempt to deny Governor Chris Christie a second term.

In a Quinnipiac poll published on Wednesday,  68% of New Jersey voters said that Christie deserves a second term.  Christie beats Buono 63%-22% and Sweeney by 61%-25%.  Only Codey, who finished Governor Jim McGreevey’s term as governor, would keep Christie under 60%, losing 59%-28%.

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Menendez Sex and Ethics Scandal Widens

Daily Caller says FBI is investigating NJ Senator for exploiting underage Dominican prostitutes, ABC News covering up scandal

Senator Bob Menendez should be kicking back and celebrating his accomplishments this weekend.  He took over the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee just in time to preside over Hillary Clinton’s high profile testimony regarding the September 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya and he scored a 51% approval rating among New Jersey voters in a Quinnipiac poll this week.

But the stories about Menendez’s inappropriate foreign relations in the Dominican Republic just won’t go away.

Early this morning Daily Caller, the conservative website that last October broke the story about Menendez stiffing Dominican prostitutes, posted a story reporting that the FBI opened an investigation into the Senator for victimising underage Domincan girls, in exchange for money, last August.

DC links to documents indicating that ABC News Senior Investigative Producer Rhoda Schwartz was on to Menendez’s exploits last May and that Citizens for Responsibilty and Ethics in Washington (CREW) was alerted to Menendez’s foreign pay to play last April.

New Jersey’s mainstream media has ignored the story because it is considered “thin,” according to one reporter and becauses “nobody cares and we’re too busy” according to another.

USNews reported in November that the story “wouldn’t stick”, in part, because it involved a Democrat.

“You would see a little more digging if he were a Republican. It is the slightest of the factors, but it is still a factor,”

State Senator Sam Thompson, in his capacity as chairman of the Middlesex GOP, wrote to the Senate Ethics Committee in November asking that they investigate Menendez.  So far, there has been no investigation reported.

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Congressman Chris Smith Debunks Hillary Clinton’s Claim That A Lack Of Funding Caused Benghazi Deaths

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