Hundreds of Monmouth County residents got the hell off the beach this morning to witness Adam Schneider, the Democratic Mayor of Long Branch, endorse Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, for another four year term leading the Garden State.
Guv Chris Christie accepting Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider’s endorsement. Photo by Art Gallagher. Click for larger view.
Christie was swarmed by boardwalk visitors anxious for a photograph and to shake his hand as he exited his vehicle outside of McLoone’s Pier House. It took him 20 minutes to work through the crowd while making the short walk to the veranda for Schneider’s announcement.
Schneider declared that he is a proud Democrat who took the difficult step of making a cross party endorsement because “Christie doesn’t care what national Republicans think, he is working for the people of New Jersey.”
Schneider said mentioned to a Christie staffer, Christopher Stark, that he might vote for the governor at a meeting in January after Christie chastised House Republicans, particularly Speaker John Boehner, for holding up legislation authorizing federal relief for Superstorm Sandy recovery.
“He wrote that down,” Schneider said of Stark, “I knew I would be hearing from the governor. He called from his cell phone, not a government phone number.”
After agreeing to endorse Christie, Schneider called 30-45 of his Democratic friends to give them the news before it became public. “Some were disappointed. Most said, What’s taken you so long?”
Governor Chris Christie is schedule to deliver an address entitled “Cooperation and Collaboration: A Conversation on Leadership” this afternoon, 4PM at former President Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative is Chicago.
Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider is the second Monmouth County Democratic mayor to publicly declare support for Republican Governor Chris Christie’s reelection.
Schneider told The Star Ledger that he will formally endorse Christie on Monday.
“He understands New Jersey and there’s no doubt in my mind is right now the last thing we need to do is reinvent the wheel,” Schneider said.
Long and Schneider are among a long and growing list of Democrats who are supporting Christie over the Democratic nominee, State Senator Barbara Buono. Earlier this week State Senator Brian Stack of Hudson County and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo formally endorsed Christie.
Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal issued the following statement about Schneider endorsing Christie:
“Adam Schenider is the Mayor of a nonpartisan town. He has endorsed numerous Republicans and Democrats in the past – as recently as 2011 when he endorsed a Republican Assemblywoman. As the mayor of a town which has nonpartisan form of governing, Mayor Schneider has said numerous times that he is not involved in either of the two major political parties in the county. Congressman Frank Pallone, the Democratic Municipal Chairman in Long Branch and his Democratic municipal committee is aggressively supporting Senator Barbara Buono’s campaign for Governor. Senator Buono opposed the cuts in UEZ funding in Governor Christie’s budget and she will also support an increase in the minimum wage – two issues which are important to Long Branch. I am confident that Long Branch residents will overwhelmingly support Senator Buono in November”
When Long endorsed Christie, Gopal issued a statement promising political retribution against the Sea Bright mayor, prompting Christie to say that “Vin represents the politics of yesterday.”
PolitickerNJ is reporting that “several Republican sources” told them that Governor Chris Christie could appoint former State Attorney General David Samson to New Jersey’s vacant U.S. Senate seat as early as today.
Samson would be a placeholder, meaning that he would not run in the Special Election Christie called for October 16 to retain the seat.
Samson was Attorney General during the first year of the McGreevey administration. He served in Governor Tom Kean’s administration as General Counsel to the NJ Turnpike Authority and as Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on the Laws Governing the University of Medicine and Dentistry (UMDNJ). In the Florio administration, Samson was a member of the Governor’s Commission on Health Care Costs.
Samson was counsel to Christie’s 2009 gubernatorial campaign and Chairman of Christie’s Transition Team. Christie nominated Samson to Chair the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, a position he has held since February of 2011.
Christie was U.S. Attorney while Samson was State Attorney General. Both of their lives were threatened by the Latin Kings street gang.
Samson is a founding member of the Wolf and Samson law firm. The firm has offices in West Orange, New York and Trenton.
It’s not even close to her turn and she’s not a white male. That’s only two good reasons that Governor Chris Christie should appoint one of New Jersey’s Rising Stars to the U.S. Senate.
Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande is smart, articulate, conservative and happy. Voters love happy conservatives. Angry conservatives are scary to moderates and Independent voters. Happy conservatives appeal to moderates and Independent voters.
Casagrande’s pro-growth, pro-family, pro-women conservative policy positions belong on the national stage. She could help rebrand the Republican Party with her fellow Penn State alumnus Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Imagine that. Two Northeast female Republican U.S. Senators.
Steve Lonegan, a scary angry conservative, has declared he’s running in the Special Republican Primary for U.S. Senate. Lonegan could win a primary against a moderate Jon Bramnick, Tom Kean Jr or Joe Kyrillos. He can’t beat Cory Booker, Frank Pallone or Rush Holt in October.
Bramnick, Kean or Kyrillos are not likely to be able to gear up fast enough to beat Booker in October either.
If Caroline Casagrande were the temporary U.S. Senator, Lonegan would have no philosophical justification to challenge her. None. Republicans best chance of winning the Senate seat in October, and again next November, is if we coalesce behind a conservative woman now.
Casagrande has already caught the eye of many national leaders. Earlier this year she was asked to be on the national leadership team of the Susan B. Anthony List. In 2010 she traveled to Nepal as a delegate of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, a State Department sponsored organization that creates opportunities for the next generation of political leaders. She’s been invited to travel to Israel this summer by the American Jewish Council.
Casagrande would be an out of the box choice. She would appeal to both the conservative and moderate wings of the Party. She would appeal to Independent voters, Reagan Democrats, women and small business owners and employees, i.e., most of the New Jersey electorate. She would be a fresh face that the local and national media would appreciate and cover.
Who else but Chris Christie could pull off an October surprise in June?
When the Governor’s announcement of a Special U.S. Senate election in October prompted knee-jerk angry responses from national Republicans, New Jersey Democrats and New Jersey wingnuts, I figured he must be onto something good.
As my young friend, New Jersey Rising Star Matt Rooney pointed out this morning, there was a better than even risk that the NJ Supreme Court would side with Trenton Democrats and overrule Christie if he appointed a temporary Senator to serve until November of 2014. The NJ Supremes could then overreach their authority and dictate that the special election be held in November of this year.
I once heard an honest Judge congratulate litigants for settling their differences, for keeping their destinies in their own hands, rather than turn their fates over to unpredictable third parties. By choosing the route to fill the late Senator Frank Lautenberg’s seat that he did, Christie limited the possibility that his gubernatorial power would be taken over by the Court.
The conventional punditry seems to assume that whichever Republican Christie chooses to temporally fill the seat until the special election will inevitably lose to Newark Mayor Cory Booker in October. I’m not convinced that is the case.
