The following is a statement from District 11 Assembly candidates Marilyn Schlossbach and Vin Gopal on Dan Jacobson’s entrance to the 11th District race:
“We have both known Dan for quite some time and we appreciated him personally reaching out to both of us to give us a heads up that he would be running. We believe more people should run for public office and we welcome Dan to the race. This is a representative democracy and the voters, after examining all the candidates running, will have to make an educated decision on whom they believe will be best to represent the 11th Legislative District.”
Former Democratic Assemblyman and tri-CityNews publisher Dan Jacobson has filed his petition to run for Assembly in the 11th legislative district as an Independent.
Jacobson’s candidacy creates a five way race for two Assembly seats. The Republican candidates are incumbents Caroline Casagrande and Mary Pat Angelini. The Democratic candidates are restaurateur Marilyn Schlossbach and publisher Vin Gopal.
Jacobson said told MMM that his candidacy is not a reflection upon his opponents, but on the process. “Legislative elections in Monmouth County are stale and rarely competitive,” said Jacobson, “this is an opportunity for me to say my peace in a way that most candidates can’t because they are beholden to their party and special interests. If I can do that and perhaps make the race more interesting and competitive, that in itself will be a public service.”
Jacobson considers himself a Libertarian on economic and social issues. He said economic issues are paramount in this race. School vouchers are an example of where he thinks both parties have failed the public.
“What is an more important issue for the poor than educating their children? When I was last ran for the Assembly in 1993 I advocated starting a voucher program in the urban districts and then phasing them in throughout the state. Since then the Republicans have had control and the Democrats have had control and there has been no improvement with how we educate our kids.”
Public employees unions are another area of government that Jacobson wants to reform. “It is wrong that unions are collecting mandatory dues from our public employees and using that money for political purposes. Unions should set up PACs and let their members contribute voluntarily is they so choose.”
Of his opponents, only Angelini returned a call for comment. “Dan is a friend. I welcome him into the race and look forward to hearing his take on the issues,” said Angelini, ” I think there will be many common themes between us.”
“I don’t understand why he is doing this,” said Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery, “Dan should worry about his newspaper.” Scudiery was chairman when Jacobson last served in the Assembly.
Jacobson filed 77 signatures with his petition. He said he was told that 50 are required.
Too quiet. On the municipal level one of the major parties is not fielding a full slate of candidates in 24 of 41 towns with elections.
On the legislative level, the biggest question in Monmouth is will former Assemblyman Dan Jacobson file to run for Assembly as an Independent in the 11th legislative district. My guess is that he will not. Rather, I predict Dan will throw the support of his newspaper, the tri-CityNews, behind Republican Mary Pat Angelini and Democrat Marilyn Schlossbach in the November general election.
In the 13th legislative district, the Democrats do not have a candidate for Senate on the ballot. Former Hazlet Mayor Chris Cullen received the Democratic nod at the party convention in April but did not file his petitions. Cullen is expected to get the nomination via write-in ballot.
Republicans are not running full slates for municipal offices in Belmar, Freehold Boro, Lake Como, Manasquan, Roosevelt and Shrewsbury Township.
Democrats are not running full slates in Allentown Boro, Brielle, Colts Neck, Englishtown, Fair Haven, Farmingdale, Interlaken, Little Silver, Millstone, Neptune City, Oceanport, Rumson, Sea Girt, Shrewsbury Boro, Union Beach, Upper Freehold and West Long Branch.
Republicans have primary contests in Sea Girt and Interlaken. Democrats have a contest for an unexpired council seat in Highlands.
With so little interest in municipal government, what is is real resistance to consolidating all of these governments?
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.
The Rumson home of Peter and Judi Dawkins, named Long Point, sold yesterday for $12 million, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press. The 5 bedroom, 9 bath, 6 car garage mansion had been on the market since February 2010 with an original asking price of $29.9 million.
One source estimated that the Dawkins lost $10 million on the sale of the home that they built in 2004.
Peter Dawkins,73, a West Point grad and retired Army General, is an investment banker. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1958 and was the Republican challenger to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg in 1988.
Dawkins was Vice-Chairman of Bain and Company from 1989 through 1991, leaving around the time that Mitt Romney became CEO of the consulting firm that was in financial distress before Romney turned it around.
Hall, a major Democratic donor, was implicated but not charged in a NY pension fund investigation. Vice President Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign was fined by the FEC for accepting over the limit contributions and a deeply discounted private jet flight from Hall.
When the New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled that the state must increase funding to 31 school districts in the amount of $500 million, it was both a gross display of judicial activism and worse, it perpetuated a bad public policy.
The Governor and Legislature, not the courts, should be deciding spending priorities, and while it is tempting to oppose this ruling on that fact alone, it is not the ruling’s most fatal flaw. That is why you see the Governor avoiding a confrontation with the legitimacy of the court’s action. Turning this into a battle over “separation of powers” will divert too much attention from the main event, which is how to change the state’s arcane and ineffective school funding formula to maximize the benefit to our students. Abbott districts were created by a court ruling in 1985 to mitigate the inequity in school funding between urban districts with higher poverty and suburban districts with more wealth. Subsequent court rulings and governmental actions have followed, all in an effort to equalize funding discrepancies. Since wealthier districts were able to benefit from significant stronger property tax revenue base, the Abbotts needed the state to compensate for their lack of funding with more education aid. In the mid-90s, attempts to equalize the districts included things like capping how much wealthier districts can spend on education and changing the spending ratio based on student population. Eventually, equalization in spending was achieved by the latter part of the decade. However, the inertia behind increasing funding to the Abbotts and limiting spending by wealthier districts became uncontrollable.
A tectonic shift occurred in the completely opposite direction. The more urban districts began spending more than the suburban districts at a growing and alarming rate.
For example, the average per child expenditure on education in New Jersey is roughly $12,000. Looking at Monmouth County, a wealthier school like Rumson spends roughly the average of $13,188. In Asbury Park, an Abbott district, it is $24,428.
We don’t ever think of public policy as having an expiration date, but it seems as if our funding formula is far past its optimal effectiveness. Included in that should be the notion that money solves the problem when it comes to education. This is evidenced by the continually poor performance of the Abbott school districts, despite sharp increases in education spending and a virtual monopoly of state education aid. That is why the most recent ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court is so flawed. It props up a system that not only fails the state’s taxpayers, but more importantly our public school students. Real education reform has to be student-centered and get greater accountability for the millions of dollars invested in our schools.
Unfortunately, it seems the New Jersey Supreme Court has come down on the side of those who believe foolishly that we can just throw more money to ‘at risk’ districts to get results. In short, this court action is best defined by Albert Einstein’s description of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Shrewsbury, NJ June 3, 2011- Solutions Pregnancy & Health Center is pleased to announce the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony of its Medical Clinic in Shrewsbury, New Jersey.
Speaking at the ribbon cutting ceremony will be the center’s Executive Director, Lorrie Erli, the Medical Director, Doctor Margret Lambert-Woolley and Pastor Ty Choate, First Baptist Church of Red Bank. Congressman Chris Smith has also been invited to speak as an honored guest.
The Open House will be held on Sunday, June 5, 2011 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This event is open to the public free of charge and will be held at Solutions Pregnancy & Health Center located at 837 Broad Street, Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Doors will open at 2:00 pm and includes ongoing tours of the facility until 3:00 pm, when the ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled to begin. Light refreshments will be served during the grand opening.
Solutions offers free pregnancy testing, ultrasound exams, and STD screening, among other services, all in a safe, confidential environment designed for multi-level support.As a licensed medical facility, Solutions is able to offer clients comprehensive services that are not available at other health centers, such as emotional and spiritual support, which is desperately needed by women faced with unplanned pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections. All of Solutions’ services are provided free of charge.
Unfortunately, the MMM unscientific economic indicators are proving to be true. The horrible economic activity I wrote about two weeks ago is showing up in the main stream indicators. Unemployment is up, inflation is up, the stock market is retreating.
Barack Obama is shaping up to be Jimmy Carter. Will a Ronald Reagan show up to replace him?
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.