FDU Poll: New Jersey Lacks Leadership

50% of New Jersey voters think our State’s problems are solvable, but that our politicians are not willing to stick their necks out to get our State moving in the right direction.  That’s the take away from the FDU Public Mind Poll released this morning which indicates that Governor Chris Christie approval rating is upside down, 30%-55% and that the State Legislature’s approval rating is negative 24%-44%.

28% of the 792 self identified registered voters survey by FDU from June 15-21 said that New Jersey is moving in the right direction. 57% said we are on the wrong track.

Poll results that this should indicate that change is coming in November.   Don’t count on that happening, unless Christie shocks the world and announces that he is not running for president.

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N.J. Assembly Republicans promise aggressive challenge to Democrats in November

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick addressing New Jersey Republicans in Atlantic City, February 2, 2015. MMM file photo

TRENTON — With the primaries over and the general election season upon us, state Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick has a big challenge. Bramnick (R-Union) wants to be Assembly speaker. That means in November — when all 80 Assembly seats at the top of the ballot — he’ll need to flip at least nine Democratic-held seats… Read the rest of this entry »

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Former Christie aide Bill Stepien is working again on N.J. campaigns

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Cheney coming to N.J. for Reagan celebration, which includes jellybeans

Former Vice President Dick Cheney will be making a rare appearance in New Jersey next month. The two-term vice president will join Garden State conservatives in Woodland Park as part of NJ Reagan Day, a commemoration of the country’s 40 th president, Ronald Reagan. The event will be held March 31 at the Westmount Country Club… Read the rest of this entry »

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New Jersey GOP Sours On Their Governor

ATLANTIC CITY – Gov. Chris Christie was across the pond Monday on a foreign trip to London, dealing with a series of public relations problems. First there was report in The Bergen Record about how businesses awarded state tax breaks are paying for his travel. Then The New York Times published a piece detailing how the… Read the rest of this entry »

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Republicans Rally in Atlantic City

Atlantic City– With Governor Chris Christie out of the country, New Jersey’s snow covered roads remained opened and approximately 1000 Republican activists, and a few guest Democrats, from all corners of the state gathered in Atlantic City today to nurture their dream of hitting the jackpot and winning a majority of seats in the General Assembly in November.

Under a banner that reads DON’T MOVE.  Lower Taxes Are On The Way. VOTE ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS., Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick met with reporters prior to the kickoff of his convention.  Bramnick said he would welcome an election theme that was a referendum on Governor Christie’s record in Trenton since 2010, saying that the Democrats who control both houses of the legislature stopped cooperating with Christie on his reform agenda.

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Christie campaign accumulates $800K in bridge scandal debt

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie’s 2013 re-election campaign account has accumulated $804,108 in debt from legal bills incurred in the aftermath of the George Washington Bridge scandal, according to its latest campaign finance report. The report, released today by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, shows the campaign owes $505,555 to the law firm Patton… Read the rest of this entry »

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Don’t Count On GOP Legislators Voting To Override Christie’s Port Authority Reform Veto

By Art Gallagher

In his OpEd published this morning, former Kean and Whitman Administration spokesman Carl Golden makes the case why it is safe for New Jersey’s Republican legislators to defy Governor Chris Christie and join the Democratic majority in overriding Christie’s of the Port Authority reform legislation.

The two identical bills that Governors Christie and Cuomo vetoed on the Saturday between Christmas and New Years Day had passed overwhelmingly with bi-partisan support in both houses of the New Jersey and New York legislatures. The bills would have required increased transparency and accountability on the part of Port Authority of NY/NJ.

In vetoing the bills, Christie and Cuomo endorsed reforms proposed by a panel they had appointed and urged both legislatures to adopt them instead.  But as Golden noted in his OpEd, the vetoes have been widely viewed as maintaining the status quo of disfunctionality, wasteful spending and gubernatorial abuse at Port Authority.

In his five years in office, none of Christie’s vetoes have been overridden, even if the original bills passed the legislature with bi-partisan support and by veto proof majorities.  Republican legislators have frequently “flip-flopped” and changed their votes to uphold the Governor’s will.   As Golden explains,

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Opinion: GOP Legislators May Finally Be Ready to Buck Christie, Override Veto

By Carl Golden

Rarely has a possible legislative override of a gubernatorial veto been as fraught with political implications as that involving Gov. Christie’s rejection of legislation to revise and reform the operations of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Entering his sixth year in office, Christie has run the table in having his…

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Romney Is Headlining Christie’s Birthday Fundraiser

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee, is schedule to be a “Special Guest” at Governor Chris Christie’s birthday celebration/NJGOP fundraiser on September 10.  Christie turns 52 on September 6.

The grand party will be held at the Hilton East Brunswick.  A ticket to the general reception costs $150.  Entrance to a private reception is $5,000 per person.  There are 20 “Roundtable” spots reserved for 20 well healed guests.

For an additional $75, guests can have a message inserted in Christie’s birthday card.  For $35 a family will be listed in the card, $15 for an individual listing.

In lieu of gifts for the Governor, guests are urged to bring an unwrapped toy which will be donated to Toys 4 Tots.

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