Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik joined the growing list of New Jersey Democrats in lining up behind State Senator Barbara Buono as the party’s nominee to take on Governor Chris Christie this fall.
In a statement released to MoreMonmouthMusings, Honik said that Buono is ready to lead for New Jersey’s middle class and that she is the best candidate to get our economy moving and creating jobs.
“Senator Buono understands the principle challenge facing New Jersey is a need for good-paying jobs. It’s a failure of the Governor when nearly one of every 10 New Jerseyans is out of work.
“There is no comeback when one in 10 is left behind. I know Senator Buono is prepared to make job creation her first priority.
“Senator Buono and I also share the same concern for protecting all of our residents, but in particular our children from gun violence. I applaud her call for a special session of the Legislature to pass common-sense gun safety laws.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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%.
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.
Camden Democratic Boss and King of the World George Norcross joined Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin “Pro-Buono” Gopal in endorsing State Senator Barbara Buono as the Democratic nominee for governor.
Norcross told PolitickerNJ that Buono is “a high quality candidate, and in the absence of anyone else, the party ought to rally around her and move forward.” He said he applauds Buono for getting into the gubernatorial race when no one else has. Can you feel the love?
While Gopal praised Buono’s guts in his endorsement on Tuesday, Norcross had choice words for the lack of guts of Senator and former Acting Governor Richard Codey. Codey has not announced his gubernatorial candidacy, but many Democrats expect that he will jump into the race soon.
“I’ve never had any confidence in Dick Codey’s courage and I don’t expect that to change,” Norcross said. “I think he likes to have people say ‘run Dick run’ and I think at the end of this period we will look back and say ‘this looks like the Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers fiasco that played out over four cycles and the party will be in a position where we don’t have a standard bearer and aren’t in a position to compete in the election this year.”
Norcross compared Codey to the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz and said his gubernatorial aspirations amount to nothing more than a “theatrical presentation.”
Codey took Norcross’s bash as a school yard challenge. The anti-bully lobby would be proud.
“I had the guts to take him on and I’ve been doing it since 1993,” Codey said in response. “He’s done a good job of trying to wreck this party so he can run everything in concert with the governor. As he said very famously, no matter who runs, I win. That’s the attitude we have to change.”.
Despite the lack of an announcement, News12 reported Wednesday night that Codey is a candidate. The former Acting Governor sounded very much like a candidate on the cable new station, discussing how Governor Christie could be beat and how he would defeat him.
Norcross’s endorsement of Buono is a good indication that his protege, Senate President Steve, “The Kitten” Sweeney will not be a candidate for governor.
Monmouth County Democratic Charman Vin Gopal took issue with MoreMonmouthMusings’ assertion yesterday that Mayors Jon Hornik, Pat Menna and Matt Doherty were “noticeably absent” from the the Party’s announcement that they were endorsing State Senator Barbara Buono for the Democratic nomination for Governor.
“To suggest that our Mayors at at odds with the Party is not accurate,” said Gopal, ” I did not poll all 200 Democratic elected officials and chairs in Monmouth County to announce this endorsement. As our announcement made clear, the endorsement was made by the Party Executive Committee, most of the Municipal Chairs and members of our advisory committees.”
The names of those who joined Gopal in endorsing Buono can be found by clicking the link below.
Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal went all in for State Senator Barbara Buono as the Democratic candidate for Governor.
Following multiple news stories yesterday that the Monmouth Dems would “unofficially” endorse Buono pending the outcome of the party’s convention, Gopal released his endorsement today including the names of 75 Monmouth County Democratic Municipal Chairs, party leaders, elected officials and former elected officials.
“I am pleased that over 40 municipal leaders will join me in supporting the candidacy of Barbara Buono as the next Governor of New Jersey,” Gopal said. “She has the guts, the independence, the courage and the will to take on Chris Christie toe to toe on every single issue. As the 4th largest county in the state with over 100,000 registered Democrats, we look forward to aggressively supporting Senator Buono for Governor. This past election cycle, we defeated eight Republican incumbents here in Monmouth County and not a single Democrat was defeated anywhere in the county. We look forward to building on that this November with Barbara Buono at the top of the ticket.”
Notably missing from Gopal’s pro-Buono list are Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik, Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty and Red Bank Mayor Pat Menna, three of Monmouth County’s most prominent Democrats.
“Its January, said Hornik, “the filing deadline is not until April. While I am fond of Senator Buono, I would like to see who else is running. I don’t feel personally compelled to endorse anyone so early.
“I understand what the Chairman (Gopal) is doing. I have great respect for him, but it is too early for me to be endorsing a gubernatorial candidate.”
Menna was surprised by Gopal’s announcement when reached by MoreMonmouthMusings, “I haven’t seen the letter. It’s still early in the race. Some are still surprised that Booker (Newark Mayor Cory Booker) didn’t run and Codey (State Senator and former Acting Governor Richard Codey) is looking like he might run.”
Doherty, who is running for reelection in Belmar this fall has a new bff in Governor Christie. Christie and Doherty has been public in their admiration for the jobs they are doing in rebuilding post-Superstorm Sandy. “I don’t have any comment about that,” said the normally forthcoming Doherty when asked about Gopal’s efforts on behalf of Buono.
Governor Chris Christie’s reelection campaign announced today that they will not be accepting taxpayer funds for the primary election.
“In response to Governor Christie’s decisive leadership and clear record of historic, bipartisan reform, we’ve seen an unprecedented level of financial support from donors across all 21 counties in New Jersey. This positive reaction during such a short period of time only continues to grow daily which is why Governor Christie’s campaign has decided not to pursue matching funds for this primary election cycle” said Bill Palatucci.
“I would also like to thank Todd Christie, Jon Hanson and the entire finance committee for their continued efforts. They have been a tremendous help in reaching the campaign’s fundraising goals.”
Christie’s campaign reported raising $2.139 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $2.08 million cash on hand.
Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik told NJ.com that Governor Chris Christie is playing politics by not supporting Marlboro’s decision to post armed police officers at each of their schools as a reaction to the Newtown, CT massacre.
“Unfortunately, I believe that if Governor Christie was not contemplating running for President or was not running for re-election, he would be firmly behind [Marlboro’s actions], but politics has had its influence on him,” said Hornik. “Politics can’t come into play when you’re talking about children’s safety. We need gun control in this country, and we need to get rid of assault weapons and multi-bullet clips. I don’t see a need for them, while recognizing the Second Amendment, at all. But the reality is that guns are out there, right now.”
Since the day after the Newtown shooting, Christie has said that he does not think cops at schools are conductive to the learning environment nor are such deployments the answer answer to mass shootings.
At the press conference for the Belmar boardwalk groundbreaking this week, the governor said that he would not take action to stop communities that decide to have police at their schools.
Middletown Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger told MoreMonmouthMusings that Hornik’s comments sound political. “Maybe Jon’s running for governor,” said Scharfenberger, “his comments sound just plain silly. I don’t hear anything political in what Christie said. He is sharing his philosophy and a lot of people agree with him.”
Hornik told MMM that he’s not running for anything this year. “I doing my job as mayor. No other office excites me. You never know what will come your way, but I am not pursuing anything politically.”
