Assembly Democrats — and maybe Senate Republicans — to get new leaders today (via NJ.com)
TRENTON —It’s changing of the guard day for the New Jersey Legislature. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) is on her way out, with Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) set to formalize his support among the Democratic caucus to succeed her…
Control of the N.J. Legislature is up for grabs today (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — Will Gov. Chris Christie turn the blue state Legislature red? With the Republican governor leading Democrat Barbara Buono by anywhere from 20 to 36 points in the latest polls, that’s the question on everyone’s mind. All 120 seats —…
We’ll find out tomorrow night if Governor Chris Christie’s 11th push for coattails is working, but an FDU Public Mind Poll released this morning indicates that the Republican brand has been damaged by the antics of Congressional Republicans and that Christie’s personal popularity is not enough to overcome New Jersey’s Democratic tilt.
FDU surveyed 1206 registered voters last week on how they feel about the job Christie is doing in New Jersey, President Obama’s handling of the federal budget negotiations and Congressional Democrats and Republicans handling of the federal budget negotiations.
As has consistently been the case over the last year, Christie’s approval numbers are very strong. The governor’s approval rating is positive 61%-24%. Obama’s handling of the federal budget is disapproved of by 52% of NJ voters and approved by only 38%. Congressional Democrats got a negative rating from 57% with only 32% approving. 75% disapprove of how Congressional Republicans have handled the federal budget, including 79% of Independents and 58% of Republican voters. Only 14% of NJ voters, 33% of Republicans, approve of the job Congressional Republicans are doing on the budget.
FDU altered the order of their questions before asking participants their partisan identification. Those who were asked about Congressional Republicans immediately before being asked their party ID, were less likely to say they are Republican or that they would vote Republican.
Posted: November 4th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2013 Election, 2013 Gubernatorial Politics, FDU Public Mind Poll, NJ State Legislature, Republican Party | Tags: Chris Christie, FDU Public Mind Poll, NJ State Legislature, republicans | 3 Comments »There’s little hope for Republicans anyway if they don’t win a legislative chamber this year.
Vin Gopal’s ambitions are bigger than winning Democratic control of Monmouth’s county and municipal governments. He wants to make sure New Jersey never again has another Republican governor or U.S. senator.
“Once we turn Monmouth County blue, a Republican will never win statewide,” Gopal said last night at the annual Monmouth County Democrats Annual Chairman’s Ball, according to a report on PolitickerNJ.
State Senate President Steve Sweeney was on hand to boost Gopal’s plan of taking over Monmouth County from the bottom up.
“Build the party, bring as many people as you can to strengthen this organization, … and then once you create it you can win, there’s no reason why not,” said Senate President Steve Sweeney, who was invited to speak at the Monmouth County Democrats Annual Chairman Ball.
“It’s the effort that you put in and you’ve got to build from the foundation up,” he said, explaining first it’s the councils and then the freeholder boards.
“No Republican can win statewide if we can win this county,” Sweeney said. “It’s just a matter of attitude, energy and focus, and that’s what I’m seeing out of this county.”
Unless New Jersey Republicans win at least one chamber of the legislature on November 5, it is unlikely that a post Chris Christie Republican will be elected statewide for the foreseeable future anyway or that Republicans will ever control the legislature again.
If Republicans can’t pick up seats this year when they have a hugely popular governor cruising to a 30 point win on the top of the ticket, when will they? Not until there is another Jim Florio or Jon Corzine in Drumthwacket, or a Democratic version of Richard Nixon or George W. Bush in the White House, if even then.
Christie is going to be reelected by huge margins.
Posted: October 23rd, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2013 Election, Monmouth Democrats, Monmouth GOP, NJ State Legislature, Vin Gopal | Tags: #NJGov, 2013 Elections, Chris Christie, Monmout, Monmouth Democrats, NJ State Legislature, republicans, Steve Sweeney, Trenton Democrats, Vin Gopal | 14 Comments »
Guv Chris Christie accepting Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider’s endorsement. Photo by Art Gallagher.
Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider, a Democrat, today endorsed the all female Republican team of legislators in New Jersey’s 11th district, Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywomen Mary Pat Angelini and Caroline Casagrande.
“I have a worked closely with our legislators on a variety of issues,” said Schneider in a statement issued by the Republican legislators, “They always have the best interests of Long Branch in mind and have gone out of their way to help our residents. Senator Beck, Assemblywoman Angelini and Assemblywoman Casagrande manage to keep partisan politics out of the picture and focus on the issue at hand. I am proud to work with them and offer them my endorsement.”
In addition to endorsing the Republican legislators from his district, Schneider is one of over 50 Democratic elected officials who have endorsed Governor Chris Christie.
“Oh, that was nice of him,” said Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich, a Democratic candidate challenging Angelini and Casagrande, when informed of Schneider’s endorsement.
Monmouth County Democratric Chairman Vin Gopal was surprised that Schneider endorse all three Republican women representing the 11th. “He endorsed all three of them?” Gopal asked twice, “No, I have no comment.”
Posted: October 14th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 11th Legislative District, 2013 Election, Caroline Casagrande, Ed Zipprich, Jennifer Beck, Mary Pat Angenlini, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Adam Schneider, Caroline Casagrande, Chris Christie, Ed Zipprich, Jennifer Beck, LD 11, Long Branch, Mary Pat Angelini, Red Bank, Vin Gopal | 9 Comments »
D.C. super PAC lashes out at opponents of N.J. Democrats through TV ads (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — Democratic state lawmakers whose seats are in jeopardy this year are aligning themselves with popular Republican Gov. Chris Christie and snubbing their own party’s nominee, Barbara Buono, in TV ads that began airing over the last month…
By Assembly Declan O’Scanlon
While storms and fires can’t be ignored or missed as we go through the motions of our daily lives, one of the biggest threats to the well-being of our state was silently ignored – or even enhanced – by the folks supposedly in charge for the 8 years preceding Governor Christie’s election. When Governor Christie took office our state was on the precipice of insolvency. Governor Corzine and the folks leading the legislature – Barbara Buono amongst them – continued, either blindly or incompetently, to steer us toward utter disaster. Some of you public workers still upset over the pension and benefits reforms that helped to dramatically turn our outlook around? Get real. The only alternative would have been huge, economy-strangling tax increases, or insolvency. You don’t want to imagine the negative impact on your pensions – or our state’s economy – had that outcome become reality.
Yet that is exactly the outcome Governor Corzine and the Democrat legislative leadership were opting for. Barbara Buono herself voted against the unquestionably necessary Christie administration reforms that have helped save our state. She was also the Senate Budget Chairperson that authored resoundingly irresponsible budget after budget during the Corzine era – digging the hole deeper every step of the way.
Posted: October 5th, 2013 | Author: admin | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, 2013 Election, 2013 Gubernatorial Politics, Chris Christie, Declan O'Scanlon, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Barbara Buono, Declan O'Scanlon, Governor Chris Christie, NJ Governor, NJ Legislature | 2 Comments »Transcript from statement read at the Dec. 5, 2012 Oceanport Borough Council meeting by Councilman Joseph Irace:
Oceanport Councilman Joe Irace
Tonight we are being “asked” under court order, to approve an affordable housing plan for the Borough of Oceanport for COAH Round 2. The entire debate on Affordable Housing is one that I have trouble understanding intellectually, socially and fiscally. While we all embrace the idea of lower priced homes, where newly married couples and our aging population can remain in our town for now and years to come, I have a hard time accepting the fact that the Courts, and not our legislature, have the ability to mandate how many homes and the type of homes that a municipality must provide. This is especially troublesome to me because the rest of the town bears the tax burden of this unfunded judicial mandate.
This COAH legislation and the resulting judicial decisions have been a social planning experiment gone awry from the very beginning. The confusing and often contradictory laws and court rulings arising from Rounds 1 and 2 of COAH have led to the Borough being sued for lack of compliance and have cost our residents hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The entire system is broken and needs to be fixed.
Posted: September 27th, 2013 | Author: admin | Filed under: COAH, Joe Irace, NJ Judiciary, NJ State Legislature | Tags: COAH, Joe Irace, NJ Legislature, NJ Supreme Court, Oceanport | Comments Off on Joe Irace’s December Comments On COAHVarious news sources are reporting that Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) has “broken with Governor Christie” over the issue of same sex marriage.
The news reports are inaccurate.
O’Scanlon was never “with” Governor Christie on the same sex marriage issue. He’s been on the record as favoring the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act since February of 2012 when the bill passed both houses of the legislature and was vetoed by Christie.
O’Scanlon was absent from the February 2012 vote because he was attending Senator Jennifer Beck’s wedding in Jamaica. Upon his return to New Jersey, he told triCityNews that he would have voted for the bill had he been present and that he would vote to override Christie’s veto if it ever comes up for a vote.
triCityNews is not published online. Publisher Dan Jacobson verified my recollection of O’Scanlon’s quotes on the phone this evening.
The issue is in the news again because marriage equality advocates have been in Trenton this week lobbying for an override of Christie’s veto before the end of the legislative session in January.
The Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act passed the Senate with a vote of 24-16 and the Assembly by 42-33, with 5 Assembly members, including O’Scanlon and Mary Pat Angelini not voting. An override requires a 2/3 affirmative vote. In order for an override to succeed, the bill needs three additional yes votes in the Senate and 12 yes votes in the Assembly. O’Scanlon and Angelini represent two of the needed yes votes. Republican Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi of Bergen County also didn’t vote in 2012. Schepisi said she would vote to override, leaving the bill needing 9 votes to pass in the Assembly.
If there is a override vote, it probably won’t occur until the “lame duck” session after the November election and before the new legislature takes office in January.
Posted: September 19th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Declan O'Scanlon, Gay Marriage, Gender Equality, marriage, Marriage Equality, Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act, Mary Pat Angenlini, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Declan O'Scanlon, Gay Marriage, Holly Schepisi, Marriage Equality, Marriage Equality and Religious Exemptions Act, Mary Pat Angelini, NJ Legislature, Same Sex Marriage | 6 Comments »© Copyright 2025 | MoreMonmouthMusings | All Rights Reserved