Democratic Senatorial Debate

The Democratic candidates for the nomination to replace the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg will debate tonight at 7:30 in the Dumont Television Center at Montclair State University.

The candidates are Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Speaker Sheila Oliver, Congressman Frank Pallone and Congressman Rush Holt.

The primary election is one week from tomorrow, August 13. The winner of the Democratic Primary will face off against the Republican nominee to be selected in the Republican primary also on the 13th, either former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan or Dr. Alieta Eck.

You can watch the Democratic debate here:

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Middletown Democrats, Asbury Park Press Follow MMM’s Lead In Endorsing Pallone

Following the lead of MoreMonmouthMusings, the Middletown Democrats and the Asbury Park Press have endorsed Congressman Frank Pallone for the Democratic nomination to complete the term of the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Frank Pallone at 2010 Highlands Clamfest.
The 19th annual clamfest ends today in Highlands. Pallone was there on Friday night

MMM, the first website in the world to endorse Pallone for the Senate nomination, did so on June 25 because the congressman asked publisher Art Gallagher for help, because Gallagher believes the Republican nominee, likely to be former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, stands a better chance against Pallone than against Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and most importantly, a vacancy in Pallone’s 6th district congressional seat would be fantastic for MMM’s web traffic.  Our advertisers would love it!

The Middletown Dems say they endorsed Pallone because he “did the best he could” on a variety of issues.  In reality, they are hoping for money from Pallone to fund races even porn distributors are taking a pass on.

The Asbury Park Press endorsed Pallone, even though they say, “Voters can’t go wrong, no matter which way they lean in this primary, ” because they hope hometown Pallone will spend some advertising dollars,drive up newsstand sales and website visits.

All three endorsements come down to money.  Only MMM will admit that.  We like money and we need it!  Go Frank Go!

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Work Horses or Show Horses?

Rush Holt doing Steve Holt. Who is Steve Holt? facebook photo

Frank Pallone doing Frank Pallone

Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt have each been trying to close the canyon in the polls between themselves and Newark Mayor Cory Booker for the Democratic nomination to succeed the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg be asserting that they are “work horses” that get the job done while Booker is a “show horse” celebrity.

There’s not much evidence that it is working.  Nor is there much evidence that Pallone and Holt are indeed “work horses.”

In the 24 years Pallone has been in Congress, 6 bills that he sponsored became law.  The Affordable Health Care Act, aka ObamaCare was not one of them.

Holt has been in Congress 14 years. Three of his bills have become law.

Of those nine bills Pallone and Holt have successfully navigated to the president’s desk for signature, two were to name post offices.  One post office for each of them.

Booker may be a “show horse,” but what do Pallone and Holt have to show for their years in Congress?

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Booker won’t run for President in 2016

Former Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery and Newark Mayor Cory Booker

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the front runner for the Democratic nomination to replace the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, yesterday told Poltico, that he “unequivocally” will not be a candidate for President or Vice President in 2016.

“I think that people want me to be the next U.S. Senator from New Jersey,” he  said, adding, “I would not consider [a presidential run]. At this point, my  focus is 100 percent on being the next U.S. Senator and doing a great job  finishing out the unexpired term of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, and then doing six  years [in a full term].”

“There’s a lot of work to do here in the state of New Jersey and I’m excited  about it,” he said, adding later, “No presidential, no VP, no.”

No one asked Congressman Frank Pallone if he was going to run for President.

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Scudiery Aggressively Out To See Pallone Defeated

Former Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is

Victor V. Scudiery, the Monmouth County businessman and former 23 year Chairman of the Monmouth County Democrats, is backing up his endorsement of Newark Mayor Cory Booker in the August 13 Special U.S. Senate Primary with an aggressive negative endorsement of Congressman Frank Pallone.

Scudiery is launching a personally financed campaign this morning designed to weaken Pallone’s support in his 6th Congressional district home base of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties. Scudiery’s efforts are independent of and without the prior knowledge of the Booker for Senate campaign.

The $45,000 campaign includes a mailing to 75,000 likely Democratic primary voters, print ads in local weekly newspapers and a web based ad campaign on local websites.

“I might even spend more by the time the 13th (the August 13th primary) comes around,” Scudiery said this morning.

“He’s all about himself, not for the people,” Scudiery said of the congressman whose tenure coincided with his own marathon as party chairman, “When I brought him to events, non-political events, like for senior citizens, Italian-Americans or small businesses, people would always say, ‘Frank, you never got back to me, I need your help,’ He’s been an embarrassment.  He rarely followed through. When he did follow through, it was usually with excuses, not results.”

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Let’s get the Weiner Jokes Out Of Our System And Move On To Spitzer

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

Maybe we can finally put an end to the obsession over Anthony Weiner with these. Then we can have real fun and focus on Spitzer:

1. All those years in Congress and that’s all he has to show for it?

2. How odd that his name is Weiner when he should have been named for the other side.

3. How many years do you think Huda has set back women’s rights?

4. He really has proven the Peter principle, h…asn’t he?

5. Maybe if it were a little more substantial, it wouldn’t have been called a “tweet.”

6. Look, be kind, if no one is buying your product, you have to advertise.

7. We already know what he would do to the City if he were elected, he was merely being metaphorical in showing what he’d use.

8. Ok, so he made a mistake and confused some women with his urologist when tweeting.

9. Oh, like you’ve never accidentally pointed the cell phone in the wrong place when taking a picture?

10. It’s not really his fault. Huda said to him, “why can’t you be more like Hilary’s husband?” This was his interpretation.

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Olivia Nuzzi’s first 15 minutes

I knew this woman was going places.

Former MMM columnist Oliva Nuzzi is on the front page of the New York Daily News today.

“Oh no, what did she do?” said both Dan Jacobson, who stole her away from MMM for $50 bucks, and Vin Gopal, for whom she had her first political internship in 2011, when I asked them if they’d seen it.

Nothing bad at all!  Actually its great for Olivia!  The Daily News saw her piece on NSFW about Anthony Weiner calling her “Monica” when she was his intern and paid her to write an article for them.

Olivia is smarter, funnier and better looking than most TV news personalities and pundits of any ideology or gender.   The Middletown native, now a junior at Fordham, has a lot more than 15 minutes of fame in her future.

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Freeholders never took illegal contributions

John Bennett

By John Bennett, Monmouth County Republican Chairman

I am writing in response to the July 13 oped written by Monmouth County Democratic freeholder candidate Brian Froelich, “County purchasing still murky, post-Birdsall.”

From the first sentence to the last, I am disappointed that Froelich has chosen to take an opportunity as a political candidate to make not only misstatements but outright false statements concerning the actions being conducted in Monmouth County.

As to his first statement, that each Monmouth County freeholder received campaign contributions donated illegally by Birdsall Engineering Group, Froelich fully knows and understands that none of the contributions which he sets forth were illegal when they were received by either the Republican freeholders or the former Democratic freeholders who received similar contributions.

In fact, none of the Republican or Democratic freeholders (to our knowledge) received any illegal campaign contributions from any vendor in this county. Many of the Republican and Democratic councilmen and mayors throughout the county also received contributions that were not illegal to those who were receiving them.

There may have been inappropriate actions conducted internally within their office by those giving the money, but that knowledge could not have been made available to any person receiving the money, whether they were Democrat or Republican.

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Lonegan agrees with Christie and Paul

Former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan, the front runner for the GOP nomination to succeed the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, issued the following statement regarding the controversy between Governor Chris Christie and U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) regarding libertarianism and the federal government’s anti-terrorism measures:

Lonegan: Rand Paul is Defending Our Freedom

Metuchen, NJ – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan today spoke out on efforts by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and others to curtail NSA surveillance. Lonegan said, “I agree with Gov Christie that we must be vigilant in our defense against terrorism, and this can be achieved without sacrificing our fundamental liberties. Senator Rand Paul is defending our freedom against the overreach of our government into our lives and privacy, and the NSA surveillance scandal clearly highlights this administration’s abuse of its power to invade our private lives. I support Sen Paul’s efforts. “

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What would Rand Paul say if he knew what Christie knows?

Gov Chris Christie and HUD Sec Shaun Donovan at Bahrs Landing, Highlands, 4/29/13, photo by Art Gallagher

Much is being made in the political media today about the “harsh assessment of libertarianism” and its most popular current spokesman, Senator Rand Paul, that Governor Chris Christie delivered in his remarks during the Aspen Institute forum with fellow Republican governors Bobby Jindal, Mike Pence, and Scott Walker last night.

Politico published an edited clip of Christie’s comment on “esoteric, intellectual” libertarianism that made it sound as if the Aspen forum was the kick-off of the 2016 Republican presidential primary between Paul and Christie:

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