State Senator Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) wants former Acting Governor Dick Codey to stop Starship Christie from conquering the dark side of Trenton this November.
Codey for Governor? Christie’s style has vaulted his popularity, but Codey has style also. Christie’s feisty style has overshadowed his support for Romney and his policies that would cut taxes on the wealthy while putting added burdens on everyone else. Honk if you like Codey for Governor. Now that Corey Booker has chosen not to run, Codey is our Obi Wan Kenobi.
Codey, a senator representing parts of Morris and Essex Counties served as governor after Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.
Codey has yet to declare his candidacy for the Democratic nomination to challenge Christie. Recent media reports say that Codey is weighing his options and is 50-50 about running. State Senator Barbara Buono (Middlesex) is the only announced Democratic candidate so far.
In addition to Codey, Senate President Steve Sweeney(Gloucester) is considering a run. Our friends at SaveJersey.com report that an unknown organization is conducting a push poll for Sweeney in South Jersey.
Governor’s campaign not saying if they will accept taxpayer funding
Governor Christie’s reelection campaign announced today that they’ve raised $2.1 million since Christie announced he would seek a second term on November 26.
“Governor Christie’s campaign continues to gain momentum because New Jerseyans believe in his decisive leadership,” said campaign strategist Mike DuHaime. “This unprecedented financial support in such a short time demonstrates the overwhelming support from residents across the Garden State. Governor Christie has made tough choices to achieve real progress on meaningful reforms for all New Jerseyans. Whether it’s cutting taxes, improving education or pension and benefit reform, Governor Christie has fought for a middle-class reform agenda that protects taxpayers and reins in the cost of government.”
Yesterday, State Senator Barbara Buono, the only declared candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor, announced that she raised $250,000 since she declared he candidacy on December 11. Buono said she intends to raise enough money to qualifiy for taxpayer matching funds for her campaign.
DuHaime told MMM that with the $2.1 million raised, Christie’s campaign has almost maxed out on what they could raise and accept matching funds. He declined to say if the Governor would participate in the matching funds program. “Great question. No announcement today,” said DuHaime.
Christie did accept matching funds during his 2009 campaign against Governor Jon Corzine.
Governor Chris Christie has added a press conference at 2PM to his schedule today.
Changes are Christie will have some colorful things to say about the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives who, in a last minute reversal, declined to allow the House to vote on the $60 billion Hurricane Sandy relief package yesterday.
The press conference will can be viewed live here:
United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced her resignation yesterday. Jackson was Governor Jon Corzine’s Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner and briefly his chief of staff before joining the Obama Administration.
The Asbury Park Press’s coverage of Jackson’s resignation is more glowing than an obituary. Both the APP and the Star Ledger used the news to fuel speculation that Jackson could be a candidate for governor of New Jersey or the next president of Princeton University.
Neither of New Jersey’s two largest media outlets bothered to mention the recent scandal surrounding Jackson.
Jackson is being investigated by at least two congressional committees and her own agency’s inspector general. The Justice Department just agreed, as the result of a law suit filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, to release 12,000 emails from an alias account that Jackson used to conduct the government’s business under the name “Richard Winslow.”
Even anti-corruption crusader and champion of transparency, Bob Ingle, co-author of The Soprano State: New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption, failed to mention Jackson’s use of an email alias while conducting the government’s business as a cabinet level official of the Obama Administration.
Now that Newark Mayor Cory Booker has taken himself out the the gubernatorial race, everyone expects him to run for Frank Lautenberg’s U. S. Senate seat in 2014. A recent poll indicated that Booker would easily beat Lautenberg in a Democratic primary should the 88 year old senator make another run.
That hasn’t stopped Congressman Frank Pallone from calling Democratic County Chairs to remind them that he is still interested in the Senate seat he has long coveted but never had the guts to fight for.
Pallone best shot at becoming a Senator came and went in 2002 when he declined Governor Jim McGreevey’s offer to replace the disgraced Senator Robert Torricelli on the ballot against Doug Forrester. McGreevey brought Frank Lautenberg out of retirement and got the State Supreme Court to rewrite New Jersey’s election law so the switch could be made after the statutory deadline. The polls showing Forrester beating Toricelli scared Pallone off from giving up a easy victory in CD-6 in favor of his dream job in the Senate.
Lautenberg went on to clobber Forrester in 2002 and was elected again in 2008.
Pallone was passed over for the Senate in 2006 when Governor Jon Corzine chose Bob Menendez to replace him in the Senate. Menendez won his own term that November and was reelected last month. He is on the verge of becoming the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Pallone clearly wants to be a Senator, but his history indicates that he doesn’t have the fortitude to risk his cushy lifestyle as a congressman in order to fight for his dream. I hope he grows a pair and goes for it, because the race to replace him in the 6th Congressional District would be great for blog traffic.
WHO WOULD RUN FOR PALLONE’S CD-6 SEAT IF IT WAS VACANT?
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is calling Democratic Party County Chairs to inform them of his decision not to run for the party’s nomination for governor in 2013.
Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal told MMM that Booker did not say if he would be running for U. S. Senate in 2014.
Governor Christie will be in Aberdeen today to accept the endorsement of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) for his reelection bid.
Before wingnut conservatives get all crestfallen or disgusted, let me remind you that the Teamsters endorsed Ronald Reagan. A labor union’s endorsement doesn’t automatically make that Republican a RINO, unless you consider Reagan a RINO.
Yes, this means that New Jersey is not likely to become a “Right to Work” state so long as Christie is governor, It also means that we will continue to overpay “prevailing wage” on government funded and supported construction projects. As our friends at InTheLobby point out, it also explains why Christie has thwarted efforts to expand legalized gambling in New Jersey to race tracks, but those are all other stories.
What the LIUNA endorsement really means is that New Jersey Democrats are not likely to make a fight of the gubernatorial campaign in 2013. Christie’s post Sandy poll numbers make him look invincible. By locking up a major union endorsement early, Christie is creating an air of inevitability for reelection.
State Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) is not waiting for Newark Mayor Cory Booker to decide if he’s running for Governor in 2013 or U. S. Senator in 2014. She’ll compete for the Democratic nomination for Governor next year.
Buono launched her campaign website, including a YouTube announcement that she’s running, this morning.
For weeks pundits and Democratic players have said that a Booker for Governor candidacy would clear the field for the gubernatorial nomination. Buono’s announcement nixes that wishful thinking and assures that there will be a contested primary for the right to take on Governor Chris Christie next November. In her video announcement, the candidate said she would not have the support of the party bosses but would “stake her chances on the folks in the grocery stores and train stations.”
Buono’s announcement means there will be a vacancy for the 18th Legislative District Senate seat, which she has held since 2002.
Booker told CBS’s Face the Nation that we would announce his intentions before Christmas.
Should Booker decline to run, expect at bloody primary between Buono and Senate President Steve Sweeney.
State Senator Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) wants former Acting Governor Dick Codey to stop Starship Christie from conquering the dark side of Trenton this November.
, failed to mention Jackson’s use of an email alias while conducting the government’s business as a cabinet level official of the Obama Administration.