Governor Chris Christie is not the only Jersey Guy who announced yesterday that he is not running for president. On the Real Jersey Guys Radio Show with former Senator Dick LaRossa and Art Gallagher yesterday afternoon, Scott Sipprelle, last years GOP nominee for Congress in the 12th Congressional District, said he’s not running either.
Following suit, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin told Mark Levin that she’s also not running.
If you missed the show with Sipprelle, here’s a recording:
Princeton – June 8, 2011 –The newly formed Lincoln Club of New Jersey wasted no time in jumping into the debate for New Jersey’s future by announcing its support for three challengers in the 2011 legislative elections, all of whom are first-time candidates for statewide office. Club President and 2010 Congressional candidate in NJ-12, Scott Sipprelle, said,” We cannot solve a problem by re-electing the problem. The time has come for a new breed of public servant, connected to the people, committed to problem-solving and willing to make the honest and difficult decisions required to restore our sickly state to health.”
Sipprelle continued, “There is a large void in American politics for new entrants, people who choose to enter the arena despite having limited resources and few political connections. The Board of Directors of the Lincoln Club has decided to provide support and assistance during this election cycle to send to Trenton three fresh faces committed to serving the public good. We strongly believe that these independent-thinking New Jerseyans, if elected, will work courageously to challenge the broken status quo.”
Lincoln Club Focus Candidates
Richard Kanka for Senate in District 14
Rich is a member of the Plumber and Pipe Fitters trade union and a member of the Hamilton Township School Board. Rich and his wife Maureen set a powerful example of problem-solving in the face of tragedy after their seven-year old daughter Megan was abducted and killed nearly two decades ago. The Kankas fought to enact a new law that required sex offenders to register with law enforcement and subsequently created the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation to provide background checks to organizations that hire employees that work around children. Rich Kanka and his family are deeply committed to improving the quality of life in their community and state. Rich often says that he “likes to fix things” and has been successful in getting things done on the Hamilton school board without asking -or even knowing- whether his fellow members were Republicans or Democrats.
Marcia Silva for Assembly in District 18
Marcia is the former Assistant Prosecutor for Middlesex County, where she spent seven years taking dangerous criminals off the streets. She currently has her own law practice in her hometown of South River and she takes pride in providing pro bono legal assistance to local veterans groups. Marcia has witnessed first-hand the struggles of small businesses and the ideal that we call the American Dream. Her father immigrated from Brazil to New Jersey, where he labored as a factory worker until he was able to start his own small business. Starting with a small masonry operation, he eventually built a successful real estate company. Marcia is a single mother of two young children.
Shane Robinson for Assembly in District 19
Shane recently graduated from Sacred Heart University only to return to his home state of New Jersey to find, like many other young people, a distressingly unattractive job environment. Shane is the son of the Rev. Winston Robinson of Faith Fellowship Ministries, a large ministry in his hometown of Sayreville. As a young, underemployed African-American, Shane represents multiple different constituencies that have been hard hit by the economic downturn and which are also strikingly under-represented in the state legislature. His presence in Trenton would bring a fresh and youthful perspective to addressing the ills affecting our state. Shane serves on the Sayreville Board of Health and has remained active in politics as he continues to pursue employment opportunities.
About The Lincoln Club of New Jersey
The Lincoln Club of New Jersey is an independent political club engaged in ideas and actions for a better governance in New Jersey. More information at www.LC-NJ.org.
The members of the Redistricting Commission must be appointed by June 15. The Auditor says he/she was told that Democratic State Chairman John Wisniewski plans to void the appointment of Belmar resident Maggie Moran to the commission. Moran, former Governor Corzine’s deputy chief of staff and campaign manager, was appointed to the commission by former Chairman Joe Cryan, at Pallone’s urging, as one of Cryan’s last acts before turning the chairmanship over to Wisniewski.
Moran, who is the wife of Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, is supposed to be Pallone’s eyes and ears on the commission. Her removal would be a blow to Pallone, according to The Auditor, this year in particular as New Jersey is losing a congressional district. One incumbent congressman will lose his job regardless of the electoral outcome. The Auditor implies that Democratic boss George Norcross and Republican Governor Chris Christie would like that incumbent to be Pallone.
How would that work?
Pallone’s 6th district borders the 4th, 7th, 12th and 13th districts. He resides in Long Branch which is in the south east coastal part of the district.
While it is entirely possible in New Jersey that a gerrymandered district that includes Long Branch of Monmouth County could be combined with Clinton Township in Hunterdon County, home of 7th district Republican Congressman Leonard Lance or West New York, Hudson County, home of 13th district Democratic Congressman Albio Sires, neither scenario is likely.
Combining Pallone’s 6th with Rush Holt’s 12th would make sense based on geography as the 12th shares the largest border with the 6th. Even though neither Pallone or Holt is particularly well liked by Democratic leaders in New Jersey or Washington, it is unlikely that the Democrats would surrender a district without a fight.
Which would leave a match up between New Jersey’s two most senior congressmen, Pallone who has been in Congress since 1988 and 4th district Congressman Republican Chris Smith who has served since 1981. While it would be unusual that seniority be discarded as an incumbent protection consideration during a redistricting battle, an argument could be made along the lines of “continuity of representation.” Pallone first went to Congress as the representative of the 3rd district after the death of Congressman James Howard. Much of the pre-1992 3rd district is now part of the 4th.
Even with his $4 million war chest, it is hard to imagine Pallone beating Smith in a combined district that includes southeast Monmouth and portions of Republican Ocean and Burlington counties. Smith would dominate in his Mercer home turf.
Pallone vs. Smith would be a great race. It probably won’t happen. I’ll explain why at the end of this piece. But first let’s have some fun speculating about the fallout of such a district.
If Long Branch and Pallone are moved south into a district combined with portions of Smith’s (of Hamilton in Mercer County) 4th district, it would make sense that the Northern Monmouth portions of the present 6th district would be folded into the Rush Holt’s 12th district.
That would create an interesting race for the GOP nomination in the 12th. Diane Gooch, Mike Halfacre, Anna Little, and Scott Sipprelle could all be contenders for that nomination.
Little beat Gooch for the 6th district nomination primary by 83 votes before losing to Pallone by 11% in the 2010 general election. She declared that a loss of only 11% was a victory and launched her 2012 race against Pallone in the weirdest election night concession speech ever. Since election night 2010 Little has alienated herself from both her local Tea Party and establishment GOP supporters. She’s chomping at the bit for a rematch with both Gooch and Pallone, but she’s referred to as a “coo coo bird” by former supporters. A Pallone-Smith match up would wreck havoc on her delusions. Only Little, her family and Larry Cirignano, her escort/handler/manager/driver/tenant, believe Anna Little will ever be nominated for congress again.
Halfacre, the Mayor of Fair Haven, has been kicking himself for bowing out of the race for the 12th district nomination since Tea Party candidate David Corsi beat Sipprelle in Monmouth County in the 2010 primary. Sipprelle won the nomination by virtue of his margin of victory in Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon before losing to Holt by 7% in the general.
Halfacre was the Tea Party favorite during his contentious race against Sipprelle for the party lines in 2010. Sipprelle won all the county party lines and Halfacre correctly concluded that a primary against Sipprelle without at least the Monmouth or Middlesex lines was not winnable. Corsi’s Monmouth victory naturally lead to “what ifs?” Little’s narrow victory over Gooch created additional “what ifs?”
But the self funding Sipprelle did not spend any money to defeat Corsi. Gooch took victory over Little for granted in the primary. Given how contentious the Sipprelle-Halfacre county conventions/screenings were, it is likely that a primary between to two would have been bloody and expensive. Halfacre couldn’t have matched Sipprelle’s money.
Halfacre would have a heavy lift to regain his Tea Party support. If either Gooch or Sipprelle seek the nomination, he would have a heavier lift to raise the money necessary to compete. After Little’s victory in the 2010 primary, it will be a long time before any candidate or county party organization takes a Tea Party challenge for granted. Halfacre’s best hope for a nomination against Holt is for both Gooch and Sipprelle to conclude that 2012, a presidential year with Obama leading the ticket, is not the year to take on Holt.
Both Gooch and Sipprelle are staying in front of the party faithful. Gooch with Strong New Jersey and Sipprelle with the Lincoln Club of New Jersey, organizations each has founded since losing their respective races. Gooch has been open about wanting to run for congress again, depending on how the districts are drawn. Sipprelle has been coy about a future candidacy.
A Gooch-Sipprelle primary defies imagination. Given the money both could spend on such a race, a deal would likely be brokered by the state and county party chairmen before it would occur. But if ego got the better of either of them, it would be quite a race. A more sensible sceanario would be for one of the millionaires to take on U.S . Senator Robert Menendez while the other takes on Holt.
So while redistricting Pallone and Smith into the same district could make the Republican nomination contest in the Holt’s district more interesting, a Pallone-Smith battle is unlikely even should a district be drawn that way. Should such a district be drawn look for Pallone to retire from the House and use his hefty war chest as a down payment for a statewide race for Governor in 2013.
Pallone’s $4 million war chest would clear the field of Democratic candidates for Governor, unless Chris Christie isn’t a candidate or has anemic poll numbers, neither of which is likely. Christie would love to defeat Pallone, which he would but it would probably be a close race. Pallone would then run for U.S. Senate in 2014, assuming Frank Lautenberg finally retires.
Circumcision is foregone for the vast majority of males born in the United States. 80% of American males are circumcised, compared to 30% worldwide, according to the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ didn’t say how they know that.
SAN FRANCISCO—A group seeking to ban the circumcision of male children in San Francisco has succeeded in getting their controversial measure on the November ballot, meaning voters will be asked to weigh in on what until now has been a private family matter.
For the poor San Francisco men who feel they have been victimized by the procedure, there are surgical and non-surgical restorations that would have been covered by ObamaCare, except all of the companies in Nancy Pelosi’s congressional district have been exempt from ObamaCare.
State Sen. Shirley Turner’s recent proposal to hit the state’s top taxpayers with a new “millionaires tax” is dangerous nonsense straight out of the soak-the-rich economic playbook. “It’s really about fairness,” said Turner (D-Mercer). “This governor has coddled the wealthy, but they need to pay their fair share.”
Leaving aside the fundamental question of why her proposed 10.75 percent top tax rate is the “fair” level, there is a more glaring problem with Turner’s proposal: It will make fiscal problems in New Jersey far worse.
New Jersey is in a deep financial hole because our politicians have spent money without ever evaluating whether the funding source is competitive and sustainable. The resulting debate about how to resolve these structural imbalances has become a spirited fight, as it deserves to be.
But regardless of one’s philosophical leanings or party affiliation, we should all be able to agree on one thing: We must do everything possible to encourage work and investment in New Jersey in order to fuel the economic furnace that generates government’s desperately needed tax revenues.
Politicians love the notion that they can merely increase your tax rate and generate a proportionally equivalent increase in tax revenues. But this is not the way the world really works.
Taxes change behavior. Drivers will cross state lines to save on gasoline tax. Taxpayers move to Florida to save on their income tax. When a special tax on millionaires a few years ago in Maryland failed to deliver its expected revenue boost, Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley decided against bringing it back, focusing instead on spending cuts to balance his state’s budget.
Closer to home, New York state enacted a surtax on its top earners in 2009 as an emergency measure to help manage through the recession. Today, despite a recovering economy, New York’s underlying fiscal problems are worse than ever.
Recognizing that tax surcharges don’t solve problems, only prolong them, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has decided against extending the surtax.
New Jersey, which has an identical tax rate to New York’s on its top incomes, will have a top rate that is 57 percent higher than our neighbor in 2012 if Turner has her way.
The lesson across states wrestling with revenue shortfalls is clear: Raising taxes is no panacea because wealth is mobile.
New Jersey’s residents are the most highly taxed in the nation, and employers are steering clear of the state as a result. New Jersey lost more than 10,000 jobs per month in 2009, and job erosion continued into 2010 despite an economic recovery that added 1 million jobs nationally.
New Jersey currently generates a startling 41 percent of its income tax receipts from the top 1 percent of its taxpayers, a precarious reliance that the rating agency Standard & Poor’s said could contribute to “revenue volatility,” as it downgraded the state’s credit rating.
Turner needs to confront the hard truth: There is a limit to how much businesses and high-income residents can be taxed before they simply move away, taking our best hope for new investment, jobs and economic growth with them.
Turner says let the voters decide on the millionaires tax, punting tax policy to a ballot referendum. She might be surprised by the result.
Last November, one state did put a referendum on its ballot to implement a special tax of 9 percent on incomes greater than $500,000. It happened in Washington state, one of eight states with no income tax at all. That state has also been a relative stalwart economically. Washington voters rejected the special tax by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
As a result of the recent U.S. Census, Washington will gain a seat in the House of Representatives, owing to its large population growth over the past decade, while New Jersey will lose a seat after a population gain below the national average.
Citizens vote with their pocketbooks and also with their feet.
When will New Jersey politicians learn that lesson?
Scott Sipprelle is president of the Lincoln Club of New Jersey and was the 2010 Republican candidate for Congress in the state’s 12th Congressional District
Newly Constituted Political Club Plans Greater Engagement and Relevance
Princeton, NJ – Feb. 23 – The annual re-organization meeting of the Republican Association of Princeton was no ordinary affair on Wednesday night. Many new members in a crowd of 100 assembled at the Nassau Club in Princeton to elect Scott Sipprelle as the club’s new President and to approve an amendment to the organization’s by-laws that broadens the reach of the organization beyond the Princetons while ushering in a new name, “The Lincoln Club of New Jersey.”
In a room filled with many supporters of Sipprelle’s 2010 Congressional campaign for the NJ-12 seat in the US Congress, the incoming President described his vision. “Good government is about our values and it requires good, and sometimes difficult, choices about the way we live. It is not just about doing what is most expedient to win one election.” Sipprelle vowed to expand the efforts of the Lincoln Club in the area of issues education and community engagement, while also working to support the strongest Republican candidates for local, state, and federal office in New Jersey.
Along with Sipprelle, a new slate of officers and directors was elected for one year terms. The new governing body hails from five different towns in Mercer, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties.
The Lincoln Club of New Jersey is an independent political club that educates the public on critical issues, promotes initiatives to build healthier communities, and advocates for good government by supporting the most qualified Republican candidates for local, state, and federal office in New Jersey.
Pallone’s 6th district borders the 4th, 7th, 12th and 13th districts. He resides in Long Branch which is in the south east coastal part of the district.