Governor Chris Christie will be named one of the Top American Leaders of 2011 by The Washington Post and Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership tomorrow morning at Ford’s Theater in Washington.
The other honorees are Jared Cohen of Google Ideas, Michael Kaiser, president of The Kennedy Center of Performing Arts, Sheila Bair, former Chair of the FDIC, Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Ahmed Zewail, Nobel Prize winner and professor of chemistry and physics at the California Institute of Technology, and Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist.
The Washington Post’s profile of Christie is here.
The event, which will be webcast here at 9AM, will consist of an awards ceremony followed by a discussion moderated by David Gergen, Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, Mary Jordan, editor of Washington Post Live, and Steven Pearlstein, columnist for The Washington Post’s On Leadership website.
Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman will not be joining Governor Chris Christie on the campaign trail for Mitt Romney.
Whitman is a director of Americans Elect 2012, a PAC that converted into an educational group so that it would not have to disclose its donors. The group wants Americans to nominate a “centrist” Independent presidential candidate via Internet voting. They are working to secure ballot positions in all 50 states. So far they’re on the ballots in Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, and Utah. There are reports that they’ve submitted petitions in California and Hawaii.
Despite their success in collecting signatures to get on ballots, there is a lot of controversy about the group that will likely hamstring their efforts going forward. There is a clause in their by laws that allows the group’s directors to disqualify “America’s” candidate. They’ve got a rule restricting how their nominee selects his/her vice presidential candidate. The group says it doesn’t support or oppose any particular candidate at this point, but Whitman has been promoting Jon Huntsman as a third party candidate and Mark McKinnon, another director of the group, said Mitt Romney doesn’t have the cojones to be president.
Sounds more like a three ring circus than a third party. Besides, the Republicans look as though they are going to nominate a centrist in either Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich.
As an aside, how long will it be before a highly paid national pundit writes a column about what it means about America that the three front runners for president have weird first names?
Even without the other controversies surrounding Americans Elect 2012, Whitman joining their board should be a sign of that the group is doomed to fail. Her legacy as New Jersey’s Governor and as Administrator of the EPA under President George W. Bush is beyond embarrassing.
The messes that Governor Christie is cleaning up now….the broke pension system, broke transportation trust fund, broke unemployment insurance fund, Abbot and COAH, were all started or made worse by Whitman and her appointees. Shortly after 9-11, EPA Administrator Whitman declared the air at Ground Zero safe to breathe, thereby sending clean up workers to slow deaths and long term disabilities.
Despite Americans Elect’s foibles, a third party presidential candidate might be a good news for those who want President Obama to be a one termer.
In modern times, i.e., during the lifetimes of anyone likely to vote in 2012, there have been only two elected incumbent presidents denied a second term by the voters; Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush. Both had significant third party challengers during their reelection bids. John Anderson, a Republican Congressman from Illinois ran against Carter and Ronald Reagan. Reagan won. Ross Perot, the populist Texas billionaire ran against Bush and Bill Clinton. Clinton won.
The bad news, from a historical perspective, is that Carter and Bush 41 also faced significant primary challenges prior to being renominated. Carter was challenged for the Democratic nomination in 1980 by Teddy Kennedy. Bush was challenged for the 1992 GOP nomination by Pat Buchanan.
Reagan’s primary challenge against Gerald Ford in 1976, preceding Carter’s election, may indicate that an incumbent’s problems within their own party may be more of a detriment to reelection than a third party challenge. Unfortunately, there is no Democrat seriously challenging Obama.
New York Post columnist John Podhoretz says New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg is “clearly eyeing” a third party run for president. A Bloomberg run might be America’s best hope of defeating Obama next year. The Mayor has the resources to make a credible run and a nanny state record to appeal to enough dissatisfied Democrats and left leaning Independents.
Now Pascrell, 74, should announce his retirement and save the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission a lot of work. Doing so would eliminate all controversy over naming a state highway after him.
Barney Frank, 71, the Massachusetts Congressman from Bayonne, announced his retirement after the Bay State announced their new congressional districts. Frank said he didn’t want to raise the money or do the electioneering necessary to get elected in his new district.
Pascrell announcing his retirement prior to the new congressional districts being determined would be a selfless act of public service. The rest of New Jersey’s congressional delegation would want to name a more prominent road after him. The Resdistricting Commission’s work would become easy and appropriate, as the district to be eliminated should be from North Jersey where the population has declined vis-a-vis the rest of the state.
If Pascrell announced his retirement, the bill to name Route 19 after him could be fast tracked in the lame duck legislative session. Governor Christie might even sign it, despite the fact that Pascrell was a Corzine caddy, second only to Frank Pallone, during the 2009 gubernatorial campaign.
If Pascrell does not take this opportunity to retire, the question of the appropriateness of naming public facilities after sitting office holders should be hotly debated. Every member of the Assembly Transportation committee except Burlington County Assemblyman Scott Rudder voted to release the Pascrell naming bill to the full Assembly. Rudder said that naming a road after a sitting office holder was hypocritical and that the state has more pressing issues.
Rudder is right, but there is a stronger argument against giving away the names of public facilities. In these difficult economic times, we should sell and resell the names of our roads, bridges and buildings, with all of the proceeds going to either retire debt or build new facilities, thereby avoiding new debt.
There is precedent for this type of revenue generation. Former Governor Brendan Byrne’s name was taken off the Meadowlands Arena in favor of Continental Airlines and later Izod who both paid handsomely for the naming rights.
Glassboro State College was renamed Rowan University after Mr. Rowan donated $100 million.
The State and New Jersey’s counties and municipalities could benefit greatly by selling naming rights to businesses and philanthropists.
Governor’s Recidivism Initiative Builds on State’s Strong Record with Expansion of Successful Drug Court Program, Improved Program Management and Coordination and Accountability for Results
Trenton, NJ – Taking action to build on the nationally recognized success of New Jersey’s prisoner re-entry, rehabilitation and prevention programs, Governor Chris Christie today outlined an initiative to help even more offenders get the support they need to successfully re-enter society, break the cycle of criminality and lead productive lives.
Governor Christie outlined this cross-departmental Administration initiative at Cathedral Kitchen, a community service organization that serves meals to those in need in Camden. Cathedral Kitchen operates a culinary arts program which gives job training to unemployed, unskilled, homeless citizens, re-entering prisoners and parolees, helping them transition to a successful, productive life once they are out of prison.
The Governor’s re-entry initiative includes the expansion of the state’s successful Drug Court Program, the appointment of a Governor’s Office Re-entry Coordinator, the creation of a Governor’s Task Force on Recidivism Reduction, an ongoing program assessment, and the development of a real time recidivism database. These changes will allow New Jersey’s re-entry and rehabilitation efforts and programs to work together, to be guided and properly resourced based on results, and to ensure effective programs are expanded to serve as many individuals as possible.
“New Jersey has a strong record of helping rehabilitate offenders and providing the services they need to be successful in society, significantly decreasing their likelihood of reoffending and improving public safety,” said Governor Christie. “But we can do better to make our re-entry programs more efficient, successful and effective – helping even more individuals get the support they need to change their lives for the better and break the cycle of offending and reoffending.”
Today, New Jersey is widely recognized as a national leader in reducing incidents of recidivism and reducing its prison population. The Pew Center on the States’ State of Recidivism report, “The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons,” identified New Jersey’s 11 percent recidivism decline as among the steepest declines for any state during the report’s study period, from 1999-2002 and 2004-2007. Since 1999, New Jersey’s prison population has declined more than 20 percent.
New Jersey spends over $225 million, not including over $40 million for the Drug Court Program, on its system of various re-entry and prevention programs across state government, but it is done in a decentralized manner with no mechanism to implement these resources strategically or measure program performance. The Governor’s initiative builds on the relative success of New Jersey’s existing system of re-entry programs in breaking the cycle of criminality and helping offenders lead successful lives after prison by addressing existing shortcomings and expanding those programs that are getting results.
Existing programs like the Drug Court Program, which serves as an alternative to incarceration for drug-addicted, nonviolent offenders, have already been effective in reducing recidivism rates among those they serve.
According to their October 2010 Drug Court Report, the rate at which drug court graduates are re-arrested for a new indictable offense is 16% and the reconviction rate is 8%. This is compared to re-arrest rates for drug offenders released from prison that stands at 54% with a re-conviction rate of 43%. According to that report, an average institutional cost per inmate is approximately $38,900, whereas the cost for an active drug court participant is roughly $11,379.
The Governor’s initiative will focus additional resources on this successful, demonstrably effective program and allow others to be similarly identified and prioritized to further reduce recidivism with programs that work.
Connecting offenders with the services they need to be successful back in society, whether it is recovery from substance abuse or the need for official identification, is critical to ending the cycle of crime. At present, a joint program between the state Department of Corrections and Motor Vehicles Commission (MVC) identifies qualified offenders on a quarterly basis, who are taken to MVC offices to obtain a driver’s license or non-driver identification card prior to the completion of their sentence. This program takes down impediments to successful re-entry resulting from the lack of official identification, which is often necessary to apply for a job, obtain housing, or connect with critical services like Medicare or food assistance.
“This initiative will build on our strengths by expanding highly successful programs like the Drug Court Program to get addicted offenders the underlying help they need, while also measuring and reforming or eliminating ineffective programs, and directing our resources in a smart, strategic and coordinated way to those programs that are making a positive difference in changing lives,” said Governor Christie.
First Lady Mary Pat Christie has made re-entry and prevention programs that help ex-offenders and recovering addicts return to normal life a priority. New Jersey’s innovative prevention and re-entry programs aimed towards at-risk populations have been highlighted by Mrs. Christie for their work in providing the building blocks to self-sufficiency and a pathway to achieve life success. Several of the initiatives have brought recognition to the Garden State as a national model for the progress made in this area. An overview of Mrs. Christie’s efforts in this area can be foundhere.
The Governor’s initiative includes the following components:
Expansion of the Drug Court Program
The drug courts presently accept approximately 1,400 new participants per year. Those new participants must volunteer for a sentence of drug court as opposed to incarceration. The Christie Administration initiative seeks to expand the drug court program by identifying eligible drug addicted non-violent offenders, providing them with clinical assessments to determine their suitability for drug court and sentencing those offenders to the drug court program regardless of their desire to enter the program.
This approach recognizes that one of the main impediments to treatment for addiction is the denial of addiction. Treatment systems that address the denial issue can ultimately be successful in treating a larger population of appropriate offenders. The Governor’s Re-entry Task Force will be tasked with working with the judiciary to facilitate a suitable expansion of this program beginning with two vicinages to be determined through this effort.
Governor’s Office Coordinator for Prisoner Reentry
A collaborative vision is necessary to improve what is a comparatively successful system of re-entry services. That vision includes, as a first phase, centralizing and providing a formal management structure on the current, decentralized system.
Governor Christie today announced that Lisa Puglisi, an attorney with more than a decade of experience with the Attorney General’s Office representing the Department of Corrections and later the State Parole Board, as his Coordinator for Prisoner Re-entry to convey and implement the Governor’s vision for an improved prisoner re-entry scheme. The Governor’s Coordinator for Prisoner Re-entry will co-chair the Task Force for Recidivism Reduction and serve as the principle policy adviser to the Governor on re-entry and recidivism reduction policy.
The Governor’s Task Force for Recidivism Reduction
There are more than just Corrections and Parole pieces to maintain and improve on the state’s public safety and prisoner re-entry mission. To address the current lack of coordination among the many treatment and reentry programs across state government, Governor Christie today signed Executive Order 83, creating the Governor’s Task Force for Recidivism Reduction.
The Task Force will be led by both the Chairman of the State Parole Board, James Plousis, and the Governor’s Coordinator for Prisoner Re-entry. Its members will include representatives from:
·Department of Corrections
·State Parole Board
·Motor Vehicle Commission
·Department of Human Services
·Department of Health and Senior Services
·Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
·Department of Law & Public Safety
·Juvenile Justice Commission
·Department of Community Affairs
The Task Force will develop recommendations for the Governor regarding how best to ensure the effectiveness and success of New Jersey’s efforts towards recidivism reduction, including an initial benchmarking study of existing program effectiveness and performance, and the development and implementation of a system to measure program effectiveness in an ongoing, real-time way.
Day-to-day implementation of the Governor’s initiative will be led by the State Parole Board Chairman Plousis, including the ongoing elements of the proposal such as collecting and analyzing performance data from various state departments for budgeting, programming and procurement purposes.
Ongoing Program Assessment and Measurement
The Governor’s Re-entry Coordinator and Task Force will work to facilitate a professional benchmarking assessment that will evaluate the effectiveness of all re-entry programs offered. The path forward to improve prisoner re-entry requires the Administration to gauge the successes, failures and the depth of gaps in program delivery – inside and outside of prison.
Programming gaps will be rectified by expanding existing, successful programs and hitting capacity thresholds, particularly relating to program delivery within prison. With the parallel development of the real-time recidivism database, this assessment will remain an ongoing accountability tool, allowing the Administration to identify and remediate or eliminate poor performing programs, ensuring that resources are directed to the most effective and successful programs.
Real-Time Recidivism Database
After the program assessment is completed, that data will be used to populate a database, which will allow the Administration to track outcomes for individuals and trends and level of effectiveness in programs in a real-time manner.
This project is currently in development through the efforts of the State Parole Board, Department of Corrections, the Juvenile Justice Commission, Department of Law & Public Safety, the Office of Information Technology and Rutgers University.
Governor Chris Christie: I believe that the Occupy movement and the Tea Party movement come — their genesis — is from the same feeling, which is an anger that government can’t get things done. And so, now, that is the last similarity between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy movement. But I believe that the cause for their anger comes from the same place. They look at Washington D.C. and they look at a president who is a bystander in the Oval Office. You know, I was angry this weekend, listening to the spin coming out of the administration about the failure of the Supercommittee. And that the President knew that it was doomed for failure so he didn’t get involved. Well then what the hell are we paying you for? It’s doomed for failure so I’m not getting involved? Well, what have you been doing exactly? I mean, I will tell you that I think both parties deserve blame for what’s going on in Washington D.C., both parties do. They’re spending more time talking at each other than talking with each other. We all know what the solutions to these problems are, we’ve done them in New Jersey in many areas, but we don’t have the political will to get them done. And in New Jersey, the reason why they got things done is because I called people into a room and said we’re going to solve this problem and I had people of good will on the other side who said they believed it was their obligation, regardless of party, to get done things like pension and benefit reform. That Mayor Redd can tell you personally how it’s helping her and her budget situation in Camden. Why the President of the United States refuses to do this is astonishing to me. I mean, you know, if he wanted to run for Senate again and just be 1 of 100, I’m sure he could have gotten reelected over and over again in Illinois. When you’re president, it’s kind of what I was talking about before, you know 41, 21 and 1, well he’s the one in Washington. And he’s got to get something done here. And it’s not good enough just to say well, I’ll get it done after the election.
Transcript From Governor Christie’s Inaugural Address On January 19, 2010
Governor Chris Christie:
The greatest thing about New Jersey has always been New Jerseyans themselves. To truly understand this, you need only look at the New Jersey heroes we have with us today.
There is Carolyn B.T. Wallace of Newark. Forty years ago, she and her late husband James founded the international youth organization as a way to help kids in Newark. She has dedicated her life to transforming lives through education and community service.
There is Dave Girgenti of Cherry Hill, who three years ago began the wish upon a hero website. Using the power of the internet, he brings wishers and granters of wishes together. In these three short years, the power of Dave’s idea has made the wishes of 48,000 people come true.
Tammy Evans-Colquitt of Pennsauken created “image and attitude” in the year 2000 to help improve the self-image of disadvantaged men and women in Camden county. She helped women transitioning from welfare to work and men from incarceration to the workplace. Tammy’s hard work has proven once again that no life is disposable and that everyone deserves a second chance.
Jim Benedict of Freehold started and runs a lunch kitchen out of St. Peter’s church, serving hot meals to 200 people, three days a week. With no formal funding from Government, Jim calls on the generosity of New Jerseyans to feed the hungry. (Benedict told him it was four days a week. Christie said his administration goal would be to make it five)
Finally, Chip Paillex of Pittstown is the founder of America’s grow-a-row, a non-profit that feeds the hungry by encouraging the donation of fresh produce to food banks all over new jersey. He started in his own garden and last year, over 700 volunteers donated 225,000 pounds of produce to area food banks.
These folks are just a few examples of what New Jerseyans are all about. When faced with tough problems, you choose hard work over giving up. You rise to the challenge, not shrink from it. For all of us on this stage we must now resolve to use all of you as our example. We in office must not shrink from the challenge, we must rise to it.
Posted: November 23rd, 2011 | Author:Art Gallagher | Filed under:Chris Christie | Tags:Chris Christie | Comments Off on Governor Christie: Service Is What Makes NJ Great
Governor Chris Christie held a press conference this afternoon in Trenton to announce DCA Commissioner Lori Grifa’s resignation, effective January 2, and his nomination of Richard Constable, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development as Grifa’s replacement.
During the Q&A with reporters, Christie discussed fracking, telecommunications regulations, Newark’s concerns about the merger of UMDNJ and Rutgers and the politics of the state budget.
Middletown— Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth/Middlesex) this weekend reiterated his call for the Legislature to enact reforms to New Jersey’s public education system in the closing weeks of the 2010-2011 legislative session at a roundtable discussion on principal and teacher evaluations at Princeton University.
“New Jersey is a national leader in student achievement,” said Kyrillos, “yet too many students still move through the system without receiving the quality education to which they are entitled. Reforming our public education system will not just make the good schools better, it will help children trapped in failing school districts obtain the education they need to build better lives and futures.”
Senator Kyrillos provided opening remarks to the forum, “Leading the Charge”, hosted by education reform advocates Better Education for Kids, Students First, and Princeton Students for Education Reform. They day’s panel discussions included public school teachers and administrators, representatives of the Department of Education, as well as leaders from the American Federation of Teachers and New Jersey Education Association.
Kyrillos said he is proud to sponsor two bills that are part of Governor Christie’s education reform agenda, the Opportunity Scholarship Act and the School Children First Act. “Quality education starts with an effective teacher in every classroom. That is why it is so important that we modernize teacher evaluations, tenure protections, and pay structure to value student achievement over seniority. In addition, children in chronically failing districts need options to improve the instruction they’re receiving immediately. The Opportunity Scholarship Act will provide these students an opportunity to enter a high quality school setting in the short term while we work to fix the systemic problems that are all too common in certain districts in New Jersey.”
With Just 56 Days Remaining In The Session, Let’s Hope The Legislature Gets Back From Their Current Vacation Ready To Finally Address Some Of New Jersey’s Most Pressing Issues
“You know we have more work to do, the tool kit has to happen. We have to find a way to put a tool kit together, again I’m sure it will be some kind of a compromise, but the core principles will be the same. … We need to continue to work now and seize the momentum that the Governor said to continue to make improvements in New Jersey.”– Senate President Steve Sweeney, Press Conference On Bipartisan Property Tax CapCompromise, July 3, 2010
THE LEGISLATURE HAS FAILED TO TAKE ACTION ON KEY ELEMENTS OF GOVERNOR CHRISTIE’S REFORM AGENDA
Education Reform
Failed to take action on the Opportunity Scholarship Act (S-1872/A-2810) which establishes a five-year pilot program to provide tax credits to entities contributing to scholarships for certain low-income students.
Failed to take action on the School Children First Act (S-2881/A-4168) to provide for an educator evaluation system based on multiple measures of teacher effectiveness.
Failed to take action on the Urban Hope Act (S-3002/A-4264) which provides for the creation of as many as ten “transformation school projects” in the worst performing districts.
Failed to act on Charter Reform (A-4167) to provide critical updates to strengthen and improve New Jersey’s charter law.
Civil Service Reform
Legislature-passed Civil Service Reform failed to include the critically needed opt-out and furlough options for municipalities.
Sick Leave Reform
Public employee unused sick leave and vacation payouts cost New Jersey taxpayers over $43 million in 2010.
Ethics Reform
Failed to take up Governor Christie’s Ethics Reform Package, Introduced back in September, 2010.
Failed to Act to bring Accountability and Transparency to the Legislature through Increased Disclosure (CV of A2768)
Shadow Government Reform
Failed to Act on Bipartisan Legislation to Extend Oversight and Accountability to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners and the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.
Failed to Act on Governor Christie’s Comprehensive Shadow Government Reform Legislation.
MEANWHILE, SEVERAL OTHER CRITICAL TOOL KIT REFORM BILLS LANGUISH IN THE LEGISLATURE
A-1646/S-1781
Directs that one sample ballot shall be delivered to each residence address where at least one resident thereof is registered to vote.
A-2951/S-2174
Eliminate eligibility for State retirement systems for non- government groups and associations.
A-2958/S-2012
Allows gross income tax refunds to be credited against a taxpayer’s delinquent local property taxes.
A-2953/S-2024
Permits layoff plans as substitute for employment reconciliation plans for joint meetings or shared service agreements under certain circumstances.
A-2955/S-2135
Employee Discipline Reform. Limits right of appeal of disciplinary action taken by employer against certain public employees.
A-2960/S-2043
Concerns collective negotiations for school employees; repeals law prohibiting school boards from imposing terms and conditions of employment.
A-2961/S-2025
Authorizes executive county superintendent of schools to require implementation of shared services arrangements and to approve school district collective negotiations agreements prior to execution of agreement.
A-2962/S-2027
Concerns collective negotiations for public institutions of higher education.
A-2963/S-2026
Amends State college law to remove certain employees from civil service system and allow boards of trustees to conduct collective bargaining.
A-2964/S-2172
A-3219
A-3220
Authorizes the establishment of probationary periods for non-tenured faculty members at State colleges.
Amends State college law to allow boards of trustees to conduct collective bargaining.
Amends State college law to remove certain employees from civil service system.
It is no secret that the Republican field in New Jersey’s 11th legislative district ran a tough campaign this election cycle with mail pieces, some controversial, going out almost daily leading up to the election (I had the pleasure of getting 2 in one day), robocalls from everyone and their mother, door knocking and lots of fundraising. But the question is why? Why are these three popular incumbents running like their seat depends on it when the 2011 election pretty much became a lock when the Democrats announced their field?
The answer is 2013. The Republicans were 1% worried about 2011 and 99% worried about 2013
The next time New Jerseyians vote for a new state legislature is 726 days from now for those who are counting. By then the London Summer Olympics will have ended, we will hopefully still be here (granted the end of the world predictions are wrong), if all goes accordingly we will have a new President of the United States and Chris Christie will be so popular there wont even be a need for an election in New Jersey. Well that last one is a bit far fetched. But there is still a question as to why the District 11 incumbents are so concerned with 2013 and I think I have an answer for you.
Background
The redrawn 11th district gave democrats a voter registration advantage over Republicans of approximately 10,000, removing Republican heavy Wall Twp. and Rumson from the district and adding the Democrat saturated towns of Asbury Park, Neptune, Ocean and Long Branch.
Asbury Park, Neptune and Ocean are home to a large number of minority voters.
In 2009 Chris Christie won the new LD-11 65%-35% over unpopular incumbent John Corzine.
The Democrat map, which was chosen by Alan Rosenthal, the 11th member of the redistricting team put the 11th district in play.
What does this all mean? After the map was drawn parties only had a limited number of days to recruit candidates to run for office. The Republican Party had the clear advantage in the process as the LD-11 looped three Republican incumbents together, all with established support and campaign structures. The Democrats on the other hand were rushed to choose candidates, all of whom would be running for the first time. On top of that the Republicans had candidates in numerous other districts, most notable, 1,2,7,14,18 and 38 who were able to divert the resources of the Democrat State Committee Unions and big democratic donors from seats like LD-11 that could be possible pick ups to seats they needed to save.
In 2013 Gov. Christie will be running for re-election and although there is no clear cut Democratic challenger there is a chance Newark mayor Cory Booker will be nominated. Bookers possible nomination plays a big roll in the outcome of the Legislative election in D-11 come 2013. Why so much emphasis on Cory Booker? Mr. Booker has become somewhat of a popular national figure having appeared on The Oprah Winfrey show with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg to receive a $100 million dollar grant for Newark Public schools, he is everywhere on twitter, pioneering the way politicians use the popular social media site, his nationwide appeal opens the door for large amounts of out of state money, especially in an off year gubernatorial election where the democrats will be looking to take back the governors mansion and the NJEA will work tirelessly and spend millions of dollars of membership dues to take Christie out and Mr. Booker is a very popular minority politician.
I will be willing to bet a large amount of money that the democrats will be targeting the 11th district in 2013 not only as a possible pick up in the Legislature but for big democratic turn out in the gubernatorial election. This would hold especially true if Cory Booker were to get the nomination. The New Jersey democrats look at Cory Booker as an Obama type politician; charismatic, excellent communicator and campaigner and a candidate that will spark enthusiasm among minority voters. This spells possible trouble for the Republicans in district 11 come 2013, especially in towns with a large minority population, Asbury Park, Neptune and Long Branch, all of which are additions for to the 11th district for Casagrande who has very little name recognition in these towns. Mary Pat Angelini has had Asbury Park, Neptune and Long Branch in her district for sometime now so she has a slight advantage when it comes to name recognition especially since most of the towns she had not represented in the old 11th district are Republican strong holds.
This leads us back to the 2011 mid-term elections and the tough campaign the LD-11 Republican team ran. I don’t think it is because they were worried about their democratic challengers in this election cycle but because of their concern for 2013.
None of this is set in stone, a lot can still change in 726 days. It is not known who the Democrats will nominate as their gubernatorial candidate (Republicans get to sit back and watch the bickering for once), the Republicans will not let such a large portion of Monmouth County, which produced a large plurality for Christie in 2009 fall by the wayside, money will flow in from out of state sources for both parties and the Republicans may have an ally in the White House come 2013, especially if Mitt Romney, a close Christie ally, gets the republican nomination and wins the White House and Gov. Christies popularity continues to rise as the state see’s results from his policies. Heck, there are hundreds of factors that will play into 2013 but it seems to me like Beck, Angelini and Casagrande are taking nothing for granted. A move, I think will pay off in 2 years.
