Kyrillos Backing Jeb Bush For President

State Senator Joe Kyrillos is backing former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

According to The Washington Post, Bush spokesman Tim Miller confirmed that Kyrillos is backing the son and brother of 41st and 43rd presidents to become the 45th.  Kyrillos contributed $10,000 to Bush’s political action committee last month.

The news that Kyrillos is supporting Bush over his decades long friend and ally, Governor Chris Christie, caps the news cycle for a day in which a Quinnipiac Poll reported that New Jersey voters don’t approve of the Governor’s job performance at home and don’t think he would make a good president. A CNN poll also released Monday places Christie in 7th place among GOP presidential hopefuls with support of only 4% or Republicans and Republican leaning Independents nationally. Just four months ago, a full year after the Bridgegate scandal broke, Christie ranked second for the 2016 GOP nomination in CNN’s poll with support of 13% of the respondents.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Kyrillos discusses Port Authority reform and his relationship with Christie with NJTV

• Tweet

N.J. senator who was close to Christie criticizes him in Senate speech

• Tweet

Death in the water tank: nightmarish case remains unsolved 10 years later

It was ink-black in the vast underground water tank. And biting cold. The only escape, a panel in the ceiling, loomed 5 feet above the water level, far too high to reach. Worse, there was no ladder. In that frigid subterranean cavern at the Passaic Valley Water Commission in Totowa, Geetha Angara — scientist, wife and… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Is Christie headed for a great fall?

By Art Gallagher

Graphic by Robert Hazelrigg. Click on photo for RobertHazelrigg.com

Prominent New Jersey Republicans seem to finally be moving out of Governor Chris Christie’s shadow.

This afternoon The Star Ledger reported that Monmouth County State Senator Joe Kyrillos was among the 15 or so New Jersey Republicans who met with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a top rival of Christie’s for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination, last week at a dinner hosted by Lawrence E. Bathgate.  Bathgate, an Ocean County attorney, is one of the top Republican fundraisers in the nation.  Also attending the dinner held at the Union Club in Manhattan was Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr, according to The Record’s Charles Stile, who first reported the event.

Such potential defections from the Christie camp were unthinkable just 15 months ago.  Christie’s attempt at ousting Kean as Senate Minority Leader immediately following his 2013 re-election, and the resulting fallout as Kean, Jr’s father, the former Governor, went national in criticizing Christie can explain the younger Kean’s flirtation with the Bush campaign.

But Kyrillos being anything other than solidly in Christie’s corner is big news.  Their relationship was personal before it was political.  Christie introduced Kyrillos to his wife Susan. He swore Christie into his first elected office, Morris County Freeholder. Kyrillos was the Chairman of the Christie for Governor campaign in 2009.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Water privatization bill removing public vote requirement moves to Christie’s desk

A bill fast-tracking sale of public water systems into private hands was approved by the state Senate Thursday, and will now head to the governor’s desk. About an hour of debate preceded the vote on the Water Infrastructure Protection Act, which was approved 21-16 and would allow local governments to sell public water systems without a… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Gov. Christie signs revised N.J. sports betting bill

New Jersey Governor Christie on Friday signed a revised sports betting bill, and Monmouth Park officials almost simultaneously said they would offer betting on National Football League games at the horse track on Oct. 26. “The Governor’s signature on S2460 earlier today is a wire-to-wire winner for horse racing, the gaming industry and the people of… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Bellew’s Campaign Manager Indicted For Identity Theft

townhall.com photo

Dwayne Horner of Little Elm, Texas was indicted by a Monmouth County Grand Jury yesterday.  Horner was the campaign manager for Leigh-Ann Bellew of Union Beach in the 2013 Republican Primary challenge to State Senator Joe Kyrillos.

A copy of the indictment can be found here.

At 4am on June 4, 2013, Republican voters in the 13th legislative district of New Jersey were awakened by a robo call purporting to be from the campaign of Kyrillos and his running mates, Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon.   The caller, allegedly Horner, said they were reminding voters that they still had four hours to get to the polls, as if the call was being make at 4pm.

A recording of the call can be heard here.  Horner’s voice can be heard on the voice mail greeting of the Bellew campaign here.

The indictment charges that Horner impersonated another person or organization for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for himself or another or for the purpose of injuring or defrauding another.   The fourth degree crime has a potential sentence of 18 months in state prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

MMM could not find a current phone number for Horner.  Bellew could not be reached for comment.

O’Scanlon said,“I’m glad to see that this matter was taken seriously and did not slip through the cracks. Those who would play these types of desperate games during campaigns need to know that there are consequences and they will be mete.  It is hard enough to get eligible candidates interested in running without the threat of these juvenile type pranks. This indictment will hopefully be a message to anyone who would attempt it in the future –  grow up.”

Kyrillos declined to comment.

UPDATED BELOW THE FOLD

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Breaking: Indictment in the 4am robo call incident

UPDATE: DWAYNE HORNER, LEIGH-ANN BELLEW’S CAMPAIGN MANAGER IS NAMED IN THE INDICTMENT

MMM has learned that at least one individual was indicted by a Monmouth County Grand Jury today in the investigation into the 4am robocall that occurred on the morning of the 2013 Republican Primary in the 13th legislative district on June 4, 2013.  The 13th, represented by Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon, is compromised of Middletown, Marlboro, the Bayshore and the Two Rivers area of Monmouth County.

The call, a recording of which can be heard here, was purported to be on behalf of the incumbents Kyrillos, Handlin and O’Scanlon. The caller said that he was reminding voters that they had four hours to get to the polls, as if the call was made at 4pm instead of 4am.  The callers voice sounds very much like the recorded voice of the person on the Leigh-Ann Bellew for Senate’s voice mail greeting.  That recording can be heard here.  Bellew was Kyrillos’s opponent in the primary.

MMM was told that fourth degree identity theft was the charged the grand jury delivered.  Fourth degree identity theft is punishable by up to 18 months in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Charles Webster said he had not yet received a copy of the indictment and that he would provide it promptly upon receiving it from the prosecutor.

• Tweet

Kyrillos’s “Drew’s Law” Will Save Kids Lives

“Drew’s Law” is named for 11 year-old Drew Keough Cerrata. The boy was killed in a motor vehicle accident last April

Legislation proposed by Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) and Senator Nicholas Sacco (D-Bergen and Hudson), Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, would lower speed limits to 15 mph on roads adjacent to or passing through parks when they are open or when children are present.  Violators would face fines of between $100 and $400, double the current amount.

Dubbed “Drews Law,” the legislation is named Drew Keough-Cerreta, the 11 year-old Keansburg boy killed last April by a vehicle that was apparently traveling at the 25 mph speed limit.

“The Keansburg community is still reeling from this terrible loss,” said Kyrillos .  We must make sure the roadways around parks give our children the utmost safety. The time to do that is now. Slowing traffic is a small price to pay and I thank members of Drew’s family and others for their input on this important measure.”

Joseph W. Pezzano, Drew’s uncle and a 29 year veteran of the Keansburg Police Department, was on duty and answered the call when his nephew was struck.

In a statement issued in support of the legislation, Pezzano said,

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet