Governor Chris Christie is back on the Town Hall circuit…now he is calling them forums…as he meets New Jersey voters on Tuesday in Wall Township to promote the school funding formula that he announced last week.
The “Fairness Formula Forum” will take place in the Wall branch of the Monmouth County Library, 2700 Allaire Rd., Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. The doors open at 2:15 p.m and seating his first come first served. RSVPs are encouraged for planning purposes to [email protected].
Christie is saying that he wants a referendum in 2017 to amend the State Constitution so that State education funding is distributed equally to all school age children throughout the New Jersey. He says that the State would contribute $6,500 per student. Currently roughly 75% of State funding goes to 31 school districts, formerly referred to Abbott districts for the landmark Abbott vs Burke NJ Supreme Court decision that mandated that the State subsidize poor and urban districts.
TRENTON — New Jersey’s top legislators agree on at least this much: Opening casinos in the northern part of the state is crucial. It’s needed, they say, for the Garden State’s gaming industry to survive against ever-increasing competition from gambling halls in neighboring states. And it would provide money to revitalize and reimagine financially ailing Atlantic… Read the rest of this entry »
Initially, I thought Phil Murphy, as a candidate for the New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2017 would be the second coming of John Corzine – a well-meaning yet out-of-touch gubernatorial candidate who would be unable to communicate effectively with middle class and working class New Jerseyans.
Murphy had been appointed by former Acting Governor Dick Codey in 2005 to chair an advisory commission regarding the state pension shortfall. The commission’s implicit recommendation was a $12.1 billion tax hike – political suicide in New Jersey. To me, this was the forerunner of the Jon Corzine asset monetization/toll hike proposal which doomed him in his reelection campaign against Chris Christie in 2009.
Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal is publicly calling for Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik to run for governor in 2017.
In a Letter to the Editor published on APP.com, Gopal sings Hornik’s praises as a “socially conscious and fiscally ressponsible” Democrat who was elected in three time in a town that voted for Chris Christie for Governor and Steve Lonegan for U.S. Senate over Cory Booker in 2013. Gopal said that should Hornik run for governor, he would have Vin’s unwavering support.
I wonder how Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Senate President Steve Sweeney and former Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy, all presumed Democratic candidates for governor who have contributed generously to Gopal’s Monmouth County Democratic campaigns, feel about this.
Long hailed as one of the most talented up and comers in New Jersey politics, the Monmouth County Democratic Chairman from Long Branch appears poised to run against state Senator Jen Beck (D-11) in 2017. Beck will be a very tough out, but Gopal is a unique politician now emboldened by the loses last night of Beck’s running mates Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande.
Former Asbury Park Mayor Ed Johnson is “seriously thinking about” running for governor in 2017, according to a report on PolitickerNJ.
“I know a little about raising cities from the dead, and I know about staring down Hurricane Sandy,” said Johnson, who runs his own private consulting firm. “There are no greater troubled waters than our state right now. Whether it’s Democratic or Republican it just keeps going.Everything I’ve done, people said ‘you can’t do that,’ and we did it. People now say the state is too far gone, too broken, it can’t be fixed. I think it can be. I’m not saying I’ve made a final decision. It would be a wildcat, barn-burner election, no question, but the people must regain control of this state.”
TRENTON — Longtime Democratic state Sen. Raymond Lesniak said Thursday he’s planning to run for governor in 2017. Lesniak (D-Union) said he plans to focus “on the issues I championed in my legislative career,” and will not seek reelection to the state Senate. He’s served in the Legislature for 37 years. “I’m not running for reelection.… Read the rest of this entry »
Senate President Steve Sweeney. file photo by Art Gallagher
TRENTON — State Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Wednesday the answer to New Jersey’s rising public employee pension debt lies in creating a trillion dollar federal loan program that will help states avoid insolvency, spare millions of government workers from economic devastation and take the pressure off state budgets. The government aid program — which Sweeney… Read the rest of this entry »
Democratic and Republican candidates for President of the United States will have to reimburse Middletown taxpayers for police overtime if they want the Township’s finest to control traffic and provide security for their fundraisers, according to Township Committeeman Tony Fiore.
The Township was left with an overtime bill of about $14,000 in 2008 when Barack Obama held a fundraiser at Jon Bon Jovi’s Navesink home, according to Fiore. That won’t happen again. “The Township Committee will not approve the expense.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is coming to Bon Jovi’s house today for a $1000 per head soiree, according to Star Ledger columnist Mark Di Ionno.
In 2008, the township requested reimbursement from the rocker, but didn’t have a prayer to collect. Today, Fiore says the Police Department will not be present for the event unless Bon Jovi agrees upfront to cover the costs.
NJ2AS protest outside Sen. Sweeney’s home Video taken by the New Jersey Second Amendment Society shows how a confrontation between their members and state Senate President Steve Sweeney outside his West Deptford home lead to the senator turning on his sprinklers to disperse activists. The protesters had hoped to press Sweeney to relax the state’s gun… Read the rest of this entry »
