Tom Kean Jr.’s payback: NJ Senators who opposed him removed from leadership

Tom Kean Jr.’s payback: NJ Senators who opposed him removed from leadership (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. has purged his leadership ranks of two men who attempted to oust him last year. Kean (R-Union) announced the Senate Republicans’ leadership team in a press release today. Absent from the list were…

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As Chris Christie faces scandal, NJ Republicans wait for guidance

As Chris Christie faces scandal, NJ Republicans wait for guidance (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — New Jersey’s Republican county chairmen will gather tonight in Princeton for a dinner meeting where they’ll hear from Gov. Chris Christie’s chief strategist, Mike DuHaime. They’ll have a lot to talk about. As Christie fights two…

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Kean Sr joins the Christie feeding frenzy

Former Governor Tom Kean, Sr dealt a body blow to his former protégé today in an interview published by The Washington Post.

Governor Chris Christie and former Governor Tom Kean Sr celebrate the first annual Livingston Day, April 11, 2013. Photo by Tim Larsen/Governor’s Office

“On the one hand, I think he’s got a lot to offer. I think he’s the most able politician since Bill Clinton,” Kean (R) said in an interview with The Washington Post. “On the other hand, you look at these other qualities and ask, do you really want that in your president?”

Kean’s comments come as the current governor is beset by controversy over revelations that officials loyal to Christie engineered closure of part of the George Washington Bridge in September, inconveniencing tens of thousands of state residents in an apparent act of vindictiveness against a local mayor.

There is no evidence that Christie knew of the actions of his subordinates and appointees, some of whom he has since fired. But Kean — who has known Christie since the current governor was a teenager — faulted Christie for establishing a culture in his tight inner circle in which no one “will ever say no to him, and that is dangerous.”

He also said that Christie’s approach to governing is overly aggressive and his agenda is personal.

In a press conference last month, Christie said he had not talked to Kean Sr since the attempt to oust Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr from his leadership post.  Kean Sr has characterized Christie’s ill-fated attempt to replace Kean Jr with State Senator Kevin O’Toole as a personal betrayal.

Christie’s got some fence mending to do.

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Raia steps down as NJ GOP Chair, Stepian will take over

Governor Chris Christie’s trusted political advisor is taking over the leadership of the New Jersey Republican Party.

Bill Stepian managed Christie’s 2009 victory over Jon Corzine, became the Governor’s  Deputy Chief of Staff and then managed the 2013 reelection campaign.  Stepien was tabbed by Christie today to replace Sam Raia, the real estate executive and mayor of Saddle River who lead the NJ GOP for the last three years.  Raia resigned today, effective immediately.

In a press release, the NJ GOP characterized Raia’s tenure as “historic.”

“We’ve surpassed each of our goals during the three years of my chairmanship – we’ve reelected our Governor by historic margins, raised $8.8 million and laid the groundwork for the future success of our Party,” said Raia.  “I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity provided by Governor Christie and members of the State Committee to serve our Party.”

Winning control of the legislature must not been one of Raia’s goals.

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Forget trying to beat Booker, the NJ GOP should plan for the next gubernatorial election

photo via facebook

U.S. Senator Cory Booker is going to be elected to his own full term next November.

None of the Republicans said to be considering a challenge to Booker can beat him.

It’s not that Booker is invincible, as was widely thought prior to the Special Senate Election last October.  He is beatable.  Steve Lonegan exposed the fallacies of the Booker myth and Patrick Murray documented that Booker’s support is shallow.   Had Washington Republicans not followed Senator Ted Cruz’s lead to shut down the government in October and had State Comptroller Matt Boxer released his audit of Newark’s City Government which exposed millions of wasted taxpayer money and management practices that encourage fraud in September instead of this week, Lonegan might have pulled off the upset that Booker deserved.

There’s nothing wrong with 4 of the 5 Republicans reported to be looking to challenge Booker.  Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, Senator Minority Leader Tom Kean JR, Senator Mike Doherty or Assemblyman Jay Webber would all serve New Jersey well in the U.S. Senate.

That Darryl Isherwood included Assemblyman Chris Brown is his list of 5 Republican of potential candidates to challenge Booker is more of a reflection of Isherwood’s sense of humor than it is of Brown’s viability as a candidate for any office in the future.  After blaming his Assembly running mate John Amodeo’s 39 vote loss on Governor Christie, Brown will be lottery winner lucky if he is even re-nominated for his Assembly seat in 2015.  “What will Brown do after politics?” MMM asked a senior Republican strategist after the gaffe.  “We’ll find out soon,” the strategist said with a laugh.

(Correction:  As a commenter pointed out, Isherwood was referring to a different Assemblyman Chris Brown (the LD 8 Brown) than the one who blamed Christie for his running mate’s loss.  My mistake makes my overall point.  MMM readers are more informed than the average voter.  How many knew there was even one Chris Brown in the Assembly prior to the LD 2 Brown’s gaffe?  There isn’t a member of the legislature with the statewide name ID to compete with Booker~ Art)

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Kean is reelected Senate Minority Leader

Senator Tom Kean Jr was reelected Senate Minority Leader moments ago, according to a tweet by PolitickerNJ’s Matthew Arco.

Cross Kean off your list of possible challengers to U.S. Senator Cory Booker in 2014.  Keep him on your list of potential candidates in the next gubernatorial election, whenever that is, either 2017 or a special election in 2015 or 2016 or Governor Christie resigns to run for president.

PolitickerNJ reports that Kean fought back a challenge by Christie’s strongest allies in the Senate to replace the son of the former governor with Sen. Kevin O’Toole.   Kean prevailed 10-6.

Today’s leadership vote marks the first time that GOP Legislators have not complied with Christie’s wishes since the governor took office in 2010.

Kean released the following statement:

“I’m honored to again lead the Republican Caucus in the Senate and I thank my colleagues for their overwhelming support,” said Kean. “The responsibility to my caucus and all New Jerseyans is one I hold with great respect. I look forward to working with Governor Christie, Steve , Vincent and Jon.”

Steve is Senate President Steve Sweeney. Vincent is newly elected Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto of Hudson County. Jon is Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick who was reelected Minority Leader by the Assembly Republican Caucus.

Republican Senators Sam Thompson, Chairman of the Middlesex GOP, Chris Connors of Ocean County, and Robert Singer, Ocean and Monmouth, were vocally critical of Christie’s bi-partisan reelection strategy and cited Kean party building in an against all odds scenario presented by the gerrymandered legislative map, according to PolitickerNJ.

SaveJersey’s source in the GOP Senate caucus said that the 10 Senators who stood with Kean were concerned that O’Toole was “too close to the Governor” and would have endangered the “co-equal” character of the executive branch.

Trenton really has been turned upside down.  Christie no longer has the only Republican spine in the Statehouse.

Senators Joe Kyrillos, Mike Doherty, Dawn Addiego, Kip Bateman and Steve Oroho voted with O’Toole.

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Breaking: Possible shake up in GOP Legislative Leadership

UPDATED: KEAN REELECTED MINORITY LEADER

The statehouse press corps is buzzing news on twitter about a possible change in the GOP leadership in the New Jersey State Senate.

Current Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean JR has been fighting to keep his leadership post since the election results…no pick ups in the Senate…on Tuesday.  Kean released a letter signed by 11 of the 16 Republican Senators pledging their support for his reelection as leader to the press yesterday.  Governor Christie declined to comment about the possible change in  the Republican leadership in the Senate, but said that the he is “committed to Steve Sweeney” being President of the Senate.

Within the last half hour, The Star Ledger’s Matt Friedman and PolitickerNJ’s Matt Arco both tweeted that Kean entered Christie’s office and left a few minutes later, looking unhappy.  Senator Joe Kyrillos entered Christie’s office 5 minutes after Kean left.

Neither Kean or Kyrillos would speak to reporters.

The Republican Senate Caucus is meeting to elect a their leader for the next legislative session this afternoon.

Kean’s relationship with Sweeney is not good, as Sweeney resented Kean targeting the Senate President seat.  Sweeney responded by keeping all Republican sponsored legislation off the calendar.  Since Tuesday’s election, Sweeney has been publicly taunting and teasing Kean for not gaining any ground for Republicans when the Governor was reelected by over 20%.

Christie needs Sweeney’s cooperation in order to get anything accomplished in a second term, whether Christie runs for president or not.  If Kean’s unworkable relationship with Sweeney is an obstacle, tapping his trusted friend, the ever congenial Kyrillos, as Minority Leader makes perfect sense.

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Signs of Intelligent Life in the Trenton GOP

Two weeks ago MMM gave the Trenton GOP a head slap over their idiotic strategy of trying to pick up seats in the Legislature by running against Corzine Democrats.

Evidently, someone heard us.

The Assembly Republic Victory Fund is paying PolitickerNJ to run their video, The New Republicans-Coming to a Voting Booth Near You

Call that a good first step.  But it’s far from a winning strategy.

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Double Dose of Bad News For Buono

Yet, good news for Trenton Democrats—the NJ Republicans are trying to lose

By Art Gallagher

State Senator Barbara Buono, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, received two doses of bad news today (so far) for her fledgling campaign to unseat Governor Chris Christie in November.

1) A Quinnipiac poll released today indicates that Buono has made no progress over the last month in increasing her dismal name recognition.  78% of those polled don’t know enough about Buono to form an opinion. That compares to 79% last month.  Of the few who recognize her name, 43% have an unfavorable opinion.

Christie’s numbers remain amazingly strong. 67% approve of the job he is doing as governor.  66% says he deserves to be reelected. In a head to head match up with Buono, Christie wins 58%-26%, with 13% out to lunch.

2) Even worse for Buono, PolitickerNJ reports that she is likely to be the only major party gubernatorial candidate in the history of New Jersey’s matching funds campaign program not to qualify for the maximum amount. PolitickerNJ said that Buono has raised only $29,000 per week since she declared her candidacy in December.  In order to earn the maximum $2 million in state matching funds for the primary, she would have to raise $216,000 per week over the next six weeks of the primary campaign.

Christie has opted out of the state matching funds program and has raised upwards of $5 million to date for the primary.

Trenton Republicans Trying to Lose

With Chrisite’s polling and financial numbers so strong, one would think that the Trenton Democrats that control the legislature would be concerned about Christie coattails.  Trenton Republicans seem enthused about the prospect of taking control of the legislature, but so far their campaign is deploying the stupidest strategy imaginable.

I’m not a professional political strategist, I just play one of the Internet.  In my not so humble opinion the NJ GOP‘s campaign against Corzine Democrats is the dumbest political strategy since Christine O’Donnell declared she is not a witch.

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Casagrande a ‘Rising Star’

Monmouth County Legislator Has A Message That Republicans Badly Need To Win

Gannett’s New Jersey newspapers and websites published a list of New Jersey’s political “Rising Stars” yesterday.  The editorial says those on the list are young (most are under 40, all are under 50) politicos that are likely to emerge as the “next generation” of leaders on the regional or state levels of New Jersey government and politics.

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande is the only Monmouth County leader who made the top twelve of the list.  As a three term Assemblywoman seeking her fourth term and the Assembly Minority’s Policy Co-Chair, one could argue that Casagrande is in the current generation of leadership.  But at 36, her star is still very much “rising.”

If you are fortunate enough to talk to Casagrande about policy and politics, you will quickly realize that the real power of her ‘light’ is largely ‘hidden under a bushel.’

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