Throughout the spring and summer the conventional wisdom has been that the Monmouth GOP will not face serious challenges in legislative and county races of 2011. 2011 is supposed to be a “good Republican year.”
It still could turn out that way. Probably will. But MMM has learned that the Democrats think they have unexpected opportunities.
On the legislative level, the Trenton Democratic machine has taken interest in the new 11th district.
Back in April after the new legislative map was released the Democrats were scrambling to field a slate of candidates. No Democratic elected officials would challenge Republican incumbents Senator Jennifer Beck or Assemblywomen Caroline Casagrande and Mary Pat Angelini. Now the Democrats think the 11th is in play and will dedicate financial and human resources to elect Ray Santiago to the Senate and Marilyn Schlossbach and Vin Gopal to the Assembly.
Both sides fear that Independent Assembly candidate Dan Jacobson will draw votes away from them and could end up being a spoiler. In his column in last week’s triCityNews, Jacobson said that he expected to take votes from both sides and that he would need 20% of the voters to cast an uninformed protest vote for him in order to win a seat. Jacobson said he expects Beck, Casagrande and Angelini to prevail in November.
On the county level, the Democrats are planning a character assassination on Freeholder Lillian Burry. They will allege conflicts of interest on Burry’s part going back to her tenure as Mayor of Colts Neck and continuing in Freehold.
A Monmouth University/Gannett poll released this morning indicates that 54% of New Jersey residents approve of President Obama’s job performance while 37% disapprove. 52% of registered voters approve of the President while 39% disapprove.
The poll of 802 adult resident was taken between August 3 and August 8. Polling Director Patrick Murray notes that survey was taken after S & P downgraded the nations debt but before the stock market’s steep losses on Monday.
Congressional Republicans registered a dismal 19% approve to 62% disapprove on how the debt ceiling was handled. Congressional Democrats fared better 27% approve to 52% approve.
Governor Chris Christie will being holding a press conference in Belmar on Wednesday as one of the stops in a series of beach and boardwalk visits to reaffirm the administration’s commitment to protecting and promoting New Jersey’s beaches and waterways.
The press conference will take place on the Belmar boardwalk between 6th and Ocean Avenue at 3:30PM. Following the press conference the Governor will walk the beach and boardwalk.
Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty said he will be participating in the event and welcomes Christie to his town. “Promoting tourism and the Jersey Shore is what Belmar is all about,” said Doherty.
The once mighty New Jersey Education Association announced their endorsements for the upcoming legislative elections over the weekend. All 120 seats in the State Legislature are up for grabs this November. 40 Senate seats and 80 Assembly seats. The NJEA only endorsed 68 candidates. 66 Democrats and 2 Republicans.
In many districts the teachers’ union did not endorse for all three offices, 1 Senator and 2 Assembly Members. In 11 out of 40 districts they announced they were not endorsing any candidate.
But in the 13th legislative district their endorsements are “pending screening.”
The new 13th is comprised of northeastern Monmouth County; the bayshore towns from Aberdeen east to Highlands, the Two River towns of Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver and Oceanport, and the coastal towns of Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach, and Marlboro.
No one would expect the NJEA to endorse the Republicans, Senator Joe Kyrillos, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon. Why wouldn’t the Democrats screen? If the the screening in “pending” as the NJEA says, why didn’t the 13th district Democrats screen before the rest of the endorsements were announced?
NJEA endorsements come with lots of money and organizational support. Pending the pending screening and the pending endorsement or lack thereof, the LD 13 Democrats are raising money and support with a comedy night next week in Keasnburg.
I imagine the night going like this:
Funny Master of Ceremonies: “Thank you all for coming out tonight. We’re here to help Chris Cullen defeat Joe Kyrillos and to help Kevin Laven and Patrick Short defeat Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon.”
Former Long Branch Councilman Anthony Giordano is the CEO of Colonial American Bank. The bank, which is headquartered in Horsham, PA, is expanding into Monmouth County later this year.
We will be discussing the potential impact of the S & P downgrade on United States debt on the local economy.
Also joining us on the show will be Laureen Cummings of Old Forge, Pennsylvania. Cummings is the founder and president of the Scranton Tea Party. She is a Republican Committeewoman in Lackawanna County, PA.
She is a single mother, a nurse, and a small business owner who is considering a race for the GOP nomination to challenge U.S. Senator Bob Casey in 2012.
Your calls to the show are welcome and encouraged. The numbers are 609-447-0236 and 609-447-0237.
Perhaps lost in the news of the S & P down grade of United States Treasury debt is the local news that the Port Authority of NY/NJ is calling for a massive toll and fare increases to fund capital projects. Tolls on Hudson River crossings would increase from $8 to $12 and fares on the PATH trains would increase from $1.75 to $2.75.
Governors Christie and Cuomo issued a joint statement that signals that toll increases are coming, but at lower rate than proposed by the Port Authority Board. We’ve seen this dance before. Port Authority proposes a huge increase and the politicians scale it back.
Mark Magyar has a comprehensive article at NJSpotLight highlighting the “need” for the $1 billion revenue increase that Port Authority is requesting.
Governors Christie and Cuomo have established themselves as credible reformers in reducing the size of state government. The proposal is another opportunity for them to improve government services and implement lasting reforms in the process.
Christie should use this opportunity to reform a major cost driver on public capital projects; “prevailing wage.”
“Prevailing wage” requires wages paid to employees of contractors working on government projects in New Jersey to be paid at a “union rate” determined by the unions and the Department of Labor, even if the winning bidders of the contractors are not union shops.
Eliminating the “prevailing wage” clause in government contracts would save taxpayers billions of dollars on construction projects. There is a huge over supply of labor available. Wages on government contracts should be set my market forces, not by unions who are making political contributions.
The savings associated with eliminating this practice would go well beyond the Port Authority projects. It would extend to DOT projects and county and municipal projects. The saving to toll payers, fare payers and property tax payers would be substantial.
Another area for savings is the largess of salaries paid to the political patrons who run the Port Authority. Just as Christie has mandates that school superintendents shall not earn more than the Governor, employees of the Port Authority should not earn more than the governors of New York and New Jersey.
A Rasmussen Reports poll released this morning indicates that only 17% of likely U.S. voters believe that the federal government has the consent of the governed. 69% of the respondents said the government does not have that consent and 14% are undecided.
Only 8% believe the average member of Congress listens to his or her constituents more than they listen to their party leaders. 84% believe the average congressman listens to party leaders more than constituents.
We need a Thomas Jefferson in this country. We need someone who understands how to pay off debt and make a country’s economy grow. We need someone willing to speak the truth based on the logical conclusions of facts from across the span of history.We need some one who understands that you cannot spend what you cannot pay back. Who understands you don’t take from producers to give to non-producers. That if you do tax internally, you do so fairly and equitably among the entire electorate and work toward lowering those taxes through finding new revenue streams from those who have the privileged of doing business within the American economy.
We need someone who understands that you cannot steal the fruits of the labors of one man and give it to another man who does not produce fruits of his own. Someone who gets that you do not steal from your children and grandchildren to support yourselves with needless programs that do not grow prosperity. This is not to say, a Government should not invest in its country. Investment is a wise decision, if it is wisely done. Wisdom and experience dictate that such investment should be the specific purpose of leading to greater prosperity for ALL who contribute to the economy, for that is the only stable growth of revenue for any government.
This downgrade of our nation’s credit rating basically stated to the average citizen of America means, you are going to be “taxed more” through higher interest rates, which will lead to higher priced consumer goods. It also means those few people with the resources to spend or invest will now begin to hoard as Cash will be king as credit dries up. And just as a suggestion, consider carrying a portion of your cash in dimes, quarters and half dollars minted in the U.S. before 1964; it might not be a bad idea.
The above will result in shrinking revenues into the government, as fewer people will be consuming and there for even fewer will be investing in the growth of their businesses by hiring or buying capital equipment to expand. This will exacerbate the anemic job market meaning more people unable or unwilling to contribute to the economy. It will also mean less investors overseas looking to invest in American markets and businesses leading to still fewer jobs and little to no pay increases in the private market because the resources to do so will just not be available. For those in the public sector, watch out, there is no one left to steal money from in order to support your job, benefits or retirement. As it is, the IRS released that 51% of Americans pay no income taxes.
America needs leadership. Will some one please lead this country on the path of prosperity? We are broke, and headed toward bankruptcy. Ask any small business in America… We are not growing; we are headed to bankruptcy. Every person who pays taxes in this country will feel these effects.
Calling all Americans we need your help, we can right this ship but we need leadership! Ok, I get it, we must do more than simply demonize those who caused this mess. We must do something to improve the future of this country by changing the direction of this country.
To those seeking our support for elected office, I ask you… What are you going to do to change the direction of this country? Where are your solutions? This is not about the President alone… the Congress, both houses, allowed this to take place on their watch.
So tell me, Sir or Madam what is your plan to make Americans prosperous again?
Leigh-Ann Bellew is “A Mom for America.” She is a student and teacher of history. She was the GOP nominee for the House of Representatives in the 6th district of New Jersey in 2006
· We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United
States of America to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’ and affirmed the ‘A-1+’ short-term
rating.
· We have also removed both the short- and long-term ratings from
CreditWatch negative.
· The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan
that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of
what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s
medium-term debt dynamics.
· More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness,
stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political
institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic
challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a
negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.
· Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the
gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us
pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be
able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal
consolidation plan that stabilizes the government’s debt dynamics any
time soon.
· The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. We could lower the
long-term rating to ‘AA’ within the next two years if we see that less
reduction in spending than agreed to, higher interest rates, or new
fiscal pressures during the period result in a higher general government
debt trajectory than we currently assume in our base case.
Trenton, NJ – New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today released the following statement regarding the Port Authority’s proposed toll hike plan:”The Port Authority has informed us of its proposal to dramatically increase tolls on its tunnels and bridges and fares on the PATH.
While we understand the Port Authority leadership’s concerns about a potential downgrade to its bond rating if toll increases are not instituted, our primary concern with this proposal is its impact on our respective states’ residents and commercial users of the crossings.
A downgrade of the Port Authority’s bond rating does indeed pose a potentially disastrous result on a transportation network that millions of residents of the states of New Jersey and New York rely on and would be unacceptable.
We will review the proposal with that in mind but have obvious and significant concerns. The Port Authority is facing financial issues but so are families in the states of New York and New Jersey, and the answer cannot always be an indiscriminate and exorbitant increase in the cost to the taxpayer, or in this case, toll payer. As families must carefully and effectively manage their finances at this difficult time, so must government.
It is our joint intention to cooperatively address this issue without regard for partisanship or parochialism, as was the intention and spirit of the creation of the Port Authority as a regional entity in 1921.”
