GOP U.S. Senate candidate Joe Kyrillos continues to introduce himself to New Jersey voters with the release of his third television ad today.
Here’s the script:
Joe Kyrillos: “I’ve talked to job creators from Burlington to Bergen, they tell me the same thing. Taxes, regulations, unfair competition from China, are killing jobs. My jobs plan will put America back to work. It reduces job killing regulations, streamlines government, and levels the playing field with China. Governor Christie and I are making progress in New Jersey, now it’s time to put America back to work.
Kyrillos’s opponent, incumbent Senator Bob Menendez has gone negative against Kyrillos in recent weeks with his “The Middle Class is Under Attack” theme. Menendez and his surrogates, former acting Governor Richard Codey and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, have been attempting to link Kyrillos to Mitt Romney’s “47%” comment .
Kyrillos is promoting his partnership with Governor Christie and their methods as the way to “put America back to work.”
What do you think MMM readers? Can Kyrillos beat Menendez by staying positive? Does Christie help Kyrillos more than Codey and Booker help Menendez? Will the ads work?
James O’Keefe, the independent journalist and president of Project Veritas who has exposed corruption and malfeasance at ACORN, NPR, the NJEA and Planned Parenthood , released the second video in a series that exposes corruption at SEIU yesterday.
O’Keefe secretly records his meeting with SEIU leaders as he is ostensibly seeking government funding for his project of digging ditches and refilling them.
SEIU Local 617 President Rahaman Muhammad is caught on camera exclaiming that U.S. Senator Bob Menendez would be enthusiastic about the project.
“Menendez is going to be like, ‘Oh for real? SEIU, Oh, good, great!” Muhammad says at the 1:53 mark of the video.
Menendez is not the only politician the union officials discuss. The other is Newark Mayor Cory Booker who fares better, or worse if you believe in wasteful government spending. Booker is not a supporter of the working class, in the assessment of the SEIU officials recorded.
As some national polls show President Obama widening his lead in his race for another term, much has been made about the sampling weights that pollsters use. Analysts on the left insists the polls are accurate. nalysts on the right say the polls are inaccurately favoring Obama by assuming his supporters will come out on election day in the same numbers as they did in 2008.
But its not just weighting that reveals a pollster’s bias. The way the question is asked also makes a difference.
In a Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll about the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial race released this morning, pollster Patrick Murray asked if voters were “bothered” with how Governor Chris Christie interacts with his critics and detractors.
Thinking about Chris Christie’s style and not his policies, does the way he speaks to or about people who disagree with him bother you personally or not bother you? [If BOTHER: Is that a lot or just a little?]
63% of respondents said they weren’t bothered by Christie’s style. 23% said they were bothered a LOT and 11% said they were bothered a LITTLE. Given the way Murray asked the question, one could conclude that 74% of New Jersey voters are indifferent about Christie’s style.
In his narrative of the poll, which sets the tone for how much of the lazy lefty media covers it, Murray highlights his spin on Christie’s style.
“NEW JERSEY ON CHRISTIE’S STYLE: ‘MEH!’ ” is Murray’s headline. His opening sentence:
Governor Chris Christie’s job approval rating has ticked up a few points in the latest Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Polland few New Jerseyans are particularly bothered by the way he deals with people who disagree with him.
Notice the use of the word few.
Christie’s numbers are the highest they ever been in a Monmouth poll. 55% of registered voters approve of the governor’s performance. 36% do not approve.
Yet Murray spins the results to read that a few people like him better and a few people are bothered about how he talks to people who don’t agree with him. The few who are bothered take top billing over the fact disclosed but not reported that Christie’s numbers are better than ever in Murray’s poll.
To their credit, PolitickerNJ cut through Murray’s spin and covers the poll results very well. They reported the real news of the poll results; New Jersey’s sagging economy is not hurting Christie’s popularity with voters and that of potential Democratic challengers in 2013, only Newark Mayor Cory Booker and former acting Governor Richard Codey have sufficient name recognition to be considered credible candidates for governor next year.
What if instead of asking if voters were bothered by Christie’s style, Murray asked if they liked his style? If Murray had done that, the headline would be:
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon called for fiscal accountability in Newark this week. You wouldn’t have known that unless you read The Star Ledger. The Asbury Park Press, the newspaper/pay site that covers O’Scanlon’s Monmouth County district missed it.
At issue is the $24 million in state aid that Newark is “due” this year, after the state taxpayers kicked in $32 million to Newark’s budget last year, in the face of blatant waste on the part of Mayor Cory Booker and the city council.
Booker squandered $3.7 million in legal and consulting fees in a fight with the New Jersey Devils hockey team over revenue sharing. Booker lost the fight, which even The Star Ledger says was a waste and should have been settled, and vowed to spend more—O’Scanlon says $1 million more, The Ledger says $100 thousand more—in appealing the ruling that favored The Devils. As the ruling stands, Newark owes the Devils $600 thousand.
Newark’s city council is disgrace. A “gaggle of blowhards,” Ledger editor Tom Moran calls them, who “awards itself the highest salaries in the state, along with a free car.” Newark’s city council is paid six times more than Jersey City’s city council, according to Moran. $3.45 million in salaries paid to the Newark city council in 2011.
Also at issue is that the overpaid council has yet to pass their budget that was due in February. Yet, they want the $24 million from Jersey taxpayers.
According to The Ledger, O’Scanlon said,
“Cory Booker is fighting an expensive personal vendetta with one hand while he has the other hand out expecting state aid”
and
“As the ranking Republican member of the Assembly Budget Committee, I cannot, in good conscience, imagine handing Newark another $24 million when the mayor is continuing to rack up legal fees and costs for litigation that could have been settled months ago,” O’Scanlon said. “The state should not be in the habit of bailing out towns and cities that are unwilling to help themselves.”
Newark Mayor Cory Booker caused a stir on NBC’s Meet The Press yesterday morning by defending private equity firms, Mitt Romney’s role at Bain Capital and calling the negative ads coming from both Romney and Obama supporters “nauseating.”
Booker, who made headlines last month when he ran into a burning house to save the lives of his neighbors, was calling for a higher level of political discourse, urging both campaigns to lift the country by focusing on the big issues rather than getting bogged down in the small minded attacks.
During his Meet The Press appearance, Booker said he was on the phone with the White House often and that he was a surrogate for the President’s campaign.
There must of been some high level phone calls to the Mayor after the NBC appearance. Probably from Vice President Joe Biden’s gaffe handlers. A few hours after Bookers remarks threatened politics are we know it, the Mayor took to YouTube to restore normalcy.
The heat coming from Washington must of been hotter than the fire the Mayor ran into. It became a threat to the fire in his belly.
Thank God no one died in the fire that Newark Mayor Cory Booker ran into last night. There is no doubt in my mind, nor apparently in Booker’s based upon his remarks this morning, that Devine Intervention was a play.
God was looking out for Booker and for his neighbor who was trapped in the fire. He was looking out for Booker’s security detail. For their lives, their families and their careers.
Had Booker perished in the fire last night, it wouldn’t be long before his security detail was scape goated by the press and/or by ambitious politicians looking to fill the void.
Heroism in the face of grave danger is by its nature reckless. Thank God tragedy was averted in Newark last night.
Newark must be booming. After all, Mayor Cory Booker has enough time on his hands to get involved down here in Monmouth County. Why else would the Mayor of the largest city in the state get involved in legislative races outside his district?
Newark is once again mire in scandal. As Booker’s former Deputy Mayor faces corruption charges for allegedly fixing government contracts in return for political contributions, democrat legislative candidates in Monmouth County are bringing Booker to town. Let’s hope it’s to raise money and not to offer suggestions on responsible leadership and fiscal policy.
Today, in the midst of a financial environment that has everyone else in the state tightening their belts, Booker scored an additional $32 million in emergency aid to Newark. Add that to the more than $91 million Newark has already received. Monmouth County’s aid was less than $79 million total this year. In other words, Newark will receive about $44 million more than all of Monmouth County combined. Instead of throwing fundraisers for Monmouth County legislative candidates, Booker should be sending thank you notes to every taxpayer in the state.
In the past, Booker has been pounded for spending alarming amounts of money on both federal and state lobbyists. Newark is still in fiscal turmoil. An ethics scandal that alleges that political contributions and cronyism influenced contracts in the city won’t go away. Newark alone gets more money than every municipality in Monmouth County combined. I guess that makes Cory Booker a hell of a fundraiser. But there have to be better leaders that Monmouth County dems can look to. There must be men and women in the democrat party who offer a better example than Booker.
Oh yeah, he shoveled snow after the blizzard. Booker hasn’t been able to dig Newark out of corruption and debt, but he sure can shovel. Maybe that’s why Monmouth County dems are bringing him down – to help with the shoveling.
Our friends at Politickernj have gone old school in the new media age. They are using a long abandoned journalistic tool to find out what their subjects are really thinking: Alcohol.
Last week Max Pizarro got some tipsy Democrats to reveal what they really think of President Obama:
“But I’m at the point with Barack Obama where I don’t like him,” the source added – then whispering under the bar buzz – “I hate him.”
“He’s not a leader,” a second high-powered Democrat groaned. “Say what you want about Christie, but he knows how to wield power. Barack doesn’t.”
“He’s very thin-skinned,” said the source. “He can’t deal with criticism, that’s why he’s going to Africa with his family on a safari. Is he nuts? A safari in this economy?”
The Democrats Pizarro drank with think Obama is still a lock to win New Jersey’s 14 electoral college votes handily next year. That is the conventional thinking. However, I bet those same Democrats thought in 2008 that the equally disliked Jon Corzine was a lock for reelection.
Turning their attention to New Jersey gubernatorial politics, Politickernj’sBack Room got blank stares from two “Democratic Party bigshots” drinking on condition of anonymity when asked to speculate who would challenge Governor Christie in 2013.
Newark Mayor Corey Booker? “Newark is too much of a wreck,” and “his time has come and gone.” Congressman Bill Pascrell? Would have been great “ten years ago.” Senator Barbara Buono? “We need someone outside of Trenton,” like Christie was in 2009.
Looking outside of Trenton, the drinking Democrats see Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt:
“If Frank gets banged up in redistrcting he may be the best guy to do it,” said the first source. “He’d be ticked enough, angry enough, he could easily unite the progressive wing of the party. He’s got the money. Obviously, he has no strong friends among the bosses. That could be a problem. The question goes to whether he would want to be governor. I’ve always heard his primary interest is senator.”
MMM hereby throws its unequivocal support behind Pallone for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2013. We’d love to see him get “banged up” in redistricting….like putting Long Branch into Chris Smith’s district…setting up a race between the two most senior members of the New Jersey congressional delegation that Smith would win easily, assuming Pallone chose to compete. Given the choice of running against Smith for congress or retiring and launching a gubernatorial bid, we think Pallone would challenge Christie. After losing his first statewide race against Christie, Pallone could launch his 2014 U.S. Senate campaign, assuming Frank Lautenberg retires again.
Holt for Governor? We hope those guys had a designated driver.
“Yes, I admit he’s not the world’s greatest speaker, but he’s gotten better,” said the second source. “Plus, he’s a good campaigner. Rolls up his sleeves. He gets it. He realized he had a legitimate challenge from Scott Sipprelle (last year), and he rose to the occasion.”
