Tony Fiore was sworn in as Mayor of Middletown. Shaun Golden was sworn in as Monmouth County Sheriff. Tom Arnone was sworn in to his first term as Freeholder. Rob Clifton took the Freeholder Oath of Office for the third time.
Despite the hullabaloo New Jersey’s mainstream media and the Democrats made of Governor Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno being on vacation at the same time during the December 2010 blizzard, Governor Christie’s approval ratings were very strong, 53% favorable, in the first FDU poll of the year.
A severely mentally ill 22 year old man, Jared Loughner, opened fire on a crowd in Tucson, Arizonia. He killed 6 and injured 14, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. The national mainstream media and Democrats in Congress blamed the massacre on the Tea Party and Sarah Palin.President Obama was presidential in calming the rhetoric and healing the nation.
Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre used the digital pages of MoreMonmouthMusings to knock the wheels off a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker that would have required New Jersey residents register their bicycles with MVC at a cost of $10 per bike, per year.
Governor Christie held a Town Hall meeting in Middletown. During the meeting Christie criticized President Obama’s leadership, a theme that became a staple for Christie throughout the year, causing a draft Christie for President movement among GOP leaders and donors nationally.
New Jersey was stunned that U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg recommended U.S Senator Chuck Schumer’s brother-in-law to be a federal judge, according to a headline in the NYPost.
I live in New Jersey and I’m not stunned. Are you stunned?
Lautenberg and Senator Robert Menendez recommended Kevin McNulty of Short Hills for a federal judgeship in October. President Obama nominated McNulty for a seat on the New Jersey District bench on December 16th.
McNulty, a Director of the Newark firm, Gibbons, PC is married to Schumer’s sister Fran.
The Post says that McNulty was a last minute choice of Lautenberg who had been actively considering other candidates and that the choice was made to keep New Jersey’s senior citizen senator in the good graces of Schumer who will help him stave off a movement within the Democratic party to challenge his nomination for reelection in 2014.
Lautenberg will be 88 years old in January. He’ll be 90 on election day 2014. 96 at the end of another term, should he be reelected and survive.
Lautenberg’s staff denied that politics was involved with the McNulty appointment. The senator didn’t even know McNulty was related to Schumer when his name first came up for a judicial appointment in 2009. Maybe he forgot.
Schumer’s staff denied that he had anything to do with the nomination.
The point of the story seems to be that Lautenberg is running for another term. Not even Frank Pallone is stunned by that news.
The other point would be that a candidate for the bench other than McNulty was stunned. Oh well.
The good news is the McNulty appears to be qualified to be a federal judge. The Schumer-McNulty’s do not appear to have bought political influence. McNulty has made on $2000 in federal campaign contributionssince 2000; $500 to Jon Corzine’s senatorial election campaign and $1500 to his firms PAC. Fran Schumer gave another $500 to Corzine in 2000.
Whether you celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Festival of Lights, the Winter Solstice or nothing at all, MoreMonmouthMusings wishes you a joyous holiday filled with love and the warmth of family and friends.
If you’re traveling this weekend, be safe. If you’re flying United, avoid seat 29E.
Middletown remains divided between two congressional districts under the new map.
South of Route 35 is in the 4th district, represented by Republican Chris Smith. North of Route 35 remains part of Frank Pallone’s 6th district. Under the old map, the portion of Middletown south of Route 35 was in Democratic Congressman Rush Holt’s district.
At our first look at the map, we incorrectly concluded that Middletown had been combined entirely into the 6th.
Our apologies to Larry Cirignamo.
With this correct information, it would seem that district 6th remains safe for Frank Pallone.
Diane Gooch, Chairwoman of Strong New Jersey, Vice Chair of the Monmouth GOP, and a primary candidate for the GOP nomination in the 6th congressional district in 2010 is not ready to jump into another race for congress, according to a source familiar with her thinking.
Gooch, of Rumson, now resides in Republican Chris Smith’s 4th district. In 2010 her residence was part of Democrat Rush Holt’s district but she chose to compete in the 6th.
Former Highlands Mayor Anna Little, the 6th district GOP nominee in 2010 didn’t stop running against Pallone until recently. She now appears to be focused on competing for the nomination to challenge U.S. Senator Robert Menendez.
A Democratic strategist close to Pallone feels the new 6th is slightly safer for the incumbent. The Democrat thinks that Perth Amboy, Carteret and all of Woodbridge off set the loss of Plainfield.
Give it a minute to download. It’s a large file.
A few local observations:
Republican Chris Smith will represent most of Monmouth County in the 4th district.
Democrat Rush Holt, 12th district, will no longer represent any of Monmouth County.
Democrat Frank Pallone’s 6thdistrict includes all of coastal Monmouth and Marlboro. Middletown and Marlboro appear to be entirely in Pallone’s district. Under the old map it was split between Pallone and Holt.
At first glance, the new 6th district looks to be more competive than the last. Holt took all or part of Plainfield, a strongly Democratic town where Pallone dominated in 2010 by a huge margin. Middletown is a large Republican strong hold. Marlboro usually votes Republican except on the municipal level where they have voted in the “LaHornicca” Democrats.
The New Jersey congressional delegation will likely be equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, 6 of each, after the next election, thanks to John Farmer, Dean of Rutgers Law School and the tie breaking member of the redistricting commission. Farmer told the partisan members of the commission that he would vote for the Republicans’ map when the commission meets in at the Statehouse this morning, according to reports on Politickernj and NJ.com.
The new map will combine portions of the current 5th, 8th and 9th districts and pit incumbent congressmen Scott Garrett (R) and Steve Rothman (D) in a district that gives Republicans a 4% advantage based upon historical voting patterns.
According to the Politickernj story, the new map gives Congressman Chris Smith a larger portion of Monmouth County than his previous 4th district. The district remains safely Republican for Smith, New Jersey’s longest serving congressman.
The 6th and 12th districts, represented by Frank Pallone and Rush Holt, respectively, remain safe for the Democratic incumbents, according to Politickernj.
The 7th district, represented by Republican Leonard Lance will now be a safer district for the incumbent.
New Jersey was stunned that U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg recommended U.S Senator Chuck Schumer’s brother-in-law to be a federal judge, according to a headline in the 