Hillary Clinton Testifies Before House Foreign Affairs Committee

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the September 11th attack on Benghazi this afternoon.

Monmouth County Congressman Chris Smith is a member of the committee.

Watch the hearing here.

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Bipartisanship

Editorial cartoons are sponsored by New Markets Realty, 146 Maple Ave, Red Bank. 732-741-8211. Jim Giannell, President

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Quinnipiac Poll: 74% approve of Christie. 68% says he deserves reelection

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning shows Governor Chris Christie’s sky high approval ratings are continuing to rise.

79% of New Jersey voters, including 70% of Republicans, approve of the verbal lashing Christie gave to House Speaker John Boehner and the Republican House over the delay in emergency funding for the Hurricane Sandy recovery. Voters approve of the overall job that Christie is doing my a measure of  74%-21%.  94% approve of Christie’s overall response to Hurricane Sandy.

But, if the election was held today, Christie’s down ballot coattails would be weak.  By 48%-39%, New Jersey voters want the Democratic Party to retain control of the State Legislature, despite the Legislature’s weak approval ratings.

Only 40% approve of the job the State Senate is doing.  37% approve of the Assembly’s performance.

30% approve of Senate President Steve Sweeney’s performance, 25% disapprove and 45% don’t know enough to say.  Only 21% approve of Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver’s performance, 18% disapprove and 61% don’t know enough to say.

In the race, or lack thereof, for the Democratic nomination for governor, former Acting Governor Richard Codey would easily win a primary over Senator Barbara Buono, the only declared candidate.  Despite Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal’s strong support, Buono would only receive 10% of primary votes.  Sweeney also gets 10%, but Codey gets 28%.  45% don’t know how they would vote.

Christie easily beats all Democratic challengers, 2-1 or better. Christie gets 35% of the Democratic vote.

In the 2014 race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator, Newark Mayor Cory Booker returns the spanking by beating Senator Frank Lautenberg 51%-30%.  Most voters like the job that Lautenberg is doing, but think he is too old.

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Lautenberg suggests Booker needs a spanking

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg suggested to the Philadephia Inquirer that Newark Mayor Cory Booker should be spanked for the disrespect he has shown to his elder by trying to push the senator out of office.

Booker has already formed a 2014 campaign committee, prompting anonymous Lautenberg aides to rip the mayor to Politico, accusing him of being “disrespectful.” I asked Lautenberg about that characterization this afternoon.

“I have four children, I love each one of them. I can’t tell you that one of them wasn’t occasionally disrespectful, so I gave them a spanking and everything was OK,” Lautenberg said with a smile in his first public comments since Booker announced he was considering a run for Senate.

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Bayshore Tea Party Considering Incumbent Challenges

By Art Gallagher

The Bayshore Tea Party Group has started the process of evaluating incumbent Republican office holders with an eye towards possible nominating challenges, according to the group’s co-founder Barbara Gonzalez.

“We’re very angry at Republicans,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview with MoreMonmouthMusings, “but we’re not going to primary someone just for the sake of it. We have committees meeting to evaluate office holders’ records and postions.  Many conservatives, not just the Tea Party feel we have no representation.”

Under the Party By-Laws passed by Monmouth GOP Chairman John Bennett last September, there is a new process by which incumbents on the County and State level can be challenged at nominating conventions.  Gonzalez, who is also a member of the Monmouth GOP Board of Directors due to a provision in the new By-Laws, would not rule out challenges at the convention or in a primary should convention challenges fail.

The Monmouth GOP convention is scheduled for March 23, 8:30 A.M. at Colts Neck High School.

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Democrats Lining Up To Challenge Angelini and Casagrande

By Art Gallagher

Monmouth Democrats are expecting a contested convention race for the nominations for Assembly in the 11th Legislative District. 

Three of the five members of the Neptune Township Committee, Dr. Michael Brantley, J. Randy Bishop, and Kevin B. McMillian have expressed their interest in competing for the nominations for the two seats, according to a Democrat who asked not to be named because he/she was talking to a Republican blogger.   Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich will also seek a nomination, according to PoltickerNJ.

Republicans Mary Pat Angelini of Ocean Township and Caroline Casagrande of Colts Neck currently represent the district in Assembly.

The district is comprised of the Monmouth County municipalities of Allenhurst, Asbury Park, Colts Neck, Deal, Eatontown, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Interlaken, Loch Arbour, Long Branch, Neptune, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, Red Bank, Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, Tinton Falls, West Long Branch .

Monmouth Demcratic Chairman Vin Gopal will probably have to do some arm twisting to come up with a candidate to challenge Senator Jennifer Beck of Red Bank, according to the source.   The Republican Beck is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.  She is very popular with Democrats in the district.  No one is currently interested in challenging her.

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John Kaye is President of the Monmouth Republican Affiliated Club

By Art Gallagher

Former Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye is the new president of the Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club.

Kaye takes over from Wayne Pomanowski who served as president for the maximum two years allowed by the club’s bylaws.  1st Vice President Gerri Popkin and 2nd Vice President Bob Burlew were unable to step up to the presidency due to other obligations.  Howell Chairman John Costigan, the club Sergeant-At-Arms, declined the post because he is running to replace Monmouth GOP Chairman John Bennett on the GOP State Committee. Pomanowski said he suggested Kaye to Bennett.

Bennett said that Kaye was the unanimous choice of the club’s trustees at their January meeting.  All other officers, except Pomanowski, retained their previous club offices. Pomanowski remains on the board.

The choice struck me as odd given 1) the wealth of up and coming talent in the Monmouth GOP and 2) Kaye’s rocky historical relationship with Govenor Chris Christie including the controversy surrounding Kaye towards the end of his distinguished 23 year career as Monmouth County Prosecutor.

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Can Republicans Have A Role In Asbury Park?

When last we heard of Republicans in Asbury Park, Municipal GOP Chairwoman Louis Murray was making national news by calling for a ban of beachwear on the boardwalk.  That didn’t go the way Murray planned.

By some numbers, Asbury Park looks like a waste of time for Republicans. Only 464 of the city’s registered 7,404 voters are Republicans.  2,723 are Democrats and 4,209 are Unaffiliated, according to Wikipedia.

By other numbers, no one in New Jersey should ignore Asbury Park.  New Jersey taxpayers fund the city’s schools and municipal government.  Trenton sent $57.6 million to Asbury Park for its schools in 2011-2012 and $9.5 million for its current municipal budget.

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Live feed of the 57th Presidential Inaugural

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A Knock At Midnight

Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness. For modern man, absolute right and wrong are a matter of what the majority is doing. Right and wrong are relative to likes and dislikes and the customs of a particular community. We have unconsciously applied Einstein’s theory of relativity, which properly described the physical universe, to the moral and ethical realm. . . . This mentality has brought a tragic breakdown of moral standards, and the midnight of moral degeneration deepens.

~ Reverand Martin Luther King, JR,  A Knock at Midnight

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