N.J. Democrats pick up 4th new Assembly seat as Republican concedes in close race

TRENTON — State Assemblywoman Donna Simon conceded Central New Jersey’s 16th District race Monday, nearly two weeks after the legislative contest was deemed too close to call. Simon’s loss is a gain for state Democrats, whose Nov. 3 election wins expand their 48-31 majority by four seats, taking down four Republican incumbents. Simon (R-Mercer), an assemblywoman… Read the rest of this entry »

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Republican Assemblywomen Call for NFL Commissioner’s Resignation

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande

Republican Assemblywomen Caroline Casagrande, Nancy F. Muñoz, Mary Pat Angelini, Amy Handlin, Alison McHose, Holly Schepisi, DiAnne Gove, BettyLou DeCroce, Donna Simon and Maria Rodriguez-Gregg today called for the resignation of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over his handling on domestic violence issues on the part of NFL players.

The legislators jointly issued the following statement:

“When someone sucker punches an innocent woman or takes a switch to his son, something is terribly wrong. The league either delays disciplinary action or issues a slap on the wrist of the offender. The victims are vulnerable to the power of these men. Commissioner Goodell is unsuccessfully trying to appease the fans and advertisers that the league takes these actions seriously. If he were truly serious, he would apologize and submit his resignation over his failure to take immediate steps to prevent these kinds of assaults. The NFL should send a message to society that it will not tolerate these actions, and implement a no-tolerance policy with severe repercussions.”

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CASAGRANDE-MUÑOZ-SIMON-O’SCANLON: STOP PAYING PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR UNUSED SICK TIME

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS AGREE WITH GOVERNOR’S CALL  TO

END BIG PAYOUTS FROM PROPERTY TAXPAYERS TO RETIRING  PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

Assembly Republicans Caroline Casagrande, Nancy Muñoz, Donna Simon and  Declan O’Scanlon, who sponsor legislation to end the practice of  paying public employees for unused sick time, were pleased that Governor  Christie remains committed to providing this vital property tax relief that has  been blocked by some Trenton politicians.

            “We have capped property taxes and saved billions by reforming public  employee benefits. It’s time to finish the job and save property taxpayers from  giving big checks to retiring public employees,” Assemblywoman Caroline  Casagrande, R-Monmouth, said. “Anyone who is serious about winning the war  against sky-high property taxes should embrace this common sense  reform.”

            Governor Christie repeated his call for sick pay reform during  yesterday’s budget address as part of the items needed to further improve  New Jersey’s  fiscal health.

            “The historic bipartisan reforms we supported resulted in the slowest  growth of property taxes in 24 years, after a decade of crushing increases,”  Assemblywoman Nancy F. Muñoz, R-Union,  Somerset and  Morris, said. “We can do even better for property taxpayers by enacting a  sensible law that requires the use of sick days for what they  were intended.”

            Assembly Bill 2495, sponsored by 23 Assembly Republicans,  would prohibit payments to public employees for unused sick leave. The  legislation would also prohibit sick leave for those who have been indicted and  require medical documentation for absences of six or more consecutive  days.

            “Bringing governments’ workplace policies in line with those in the  private sector should be a no-brainer,” Assemblywoman Donna Simon, R-Hunterdon,  Somerset, Mercer  and Middlesex, said. “In the public sector, the taxpayer is the boss and we can  improve the bottom line for both property taxpayers and our state’s finances  with this logical reform.”

            A few recent examples have highlighted how much money unused sick time  costs property taxpayers:

• $2.2   million to 15 retiring Atlantic City employees this   month
• $306,000amount former West New York mayoral aide claims she’s   owed
• $150,000 to Hackensack Police   Chief

“Governor Christie has proposed a budget with the highest  level of school aid and largest debt payment in state history, while we have  achieved the smallest property tax growth in state history,” Assembly Republican  Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, said. “Governments throughout  New Jersey  could deliver even more for taxpayers if Democrats in the Legislature agreed to  work with us to eliminate these grotesque payments that have no practical  purpose other than personal profit.”

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Clifton Says Bail Reform Needed

Assembly Republican Rob  Clifton, R-Monmouth, Burlington, Middlesex and Ocean, said he believes it is  appropriate for legislation approved by an Assembly committee last June that  would allow voters to decide if judges should have the authority to deny bail to  defendants deemed dangerous while awaiting trial, to be considered as part of  Thursday’s Assembly voting session.

The legislation, ACR-153,  was unanimously released by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, but has yet to  receive consideration by the General Assembly. Under the resolution, a court  must find that no amount of bail, pretrial release conditions, or combination of  bail and pretrial release conditions would assure the defendant’s appearance as  required or to protect the public safety.

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Bill Spadea Can Win In November

By Harold Kane, Monroe Township

There is an old cliché in New Jersey Politics. The cliché states “When it is the Republicans to lose, they will lose.” The district 16 special election this year will be theirs to lose unless they wake up. The electoral composition of the district has radically changed since the 2010 census. In 2007 the Republican Assembly candidates won 58-42. With the elimination of parts of Somerset and Morris counties and the inclusion of South Brunswick and the Princetons the Republicans managed to win the 2011 Assembly race 52-48, a drop of 12 points. The special election will be to replace the deceased Peter Biondi. At first the Republican “leadership” offered William Mennen of Tewksbury, but he didn’t live in the district. Mennen said that he would move, but then changed his mind. They then offered Donna Simon, a councilperson from Readington. Ms. Simon has absolutely no name recognition outside of Readington. The name recognition becomes even more important in the 2012 general election in that the Democrats will have Barack Obama at the top of their ticket. With Obama every Democrat and Democrat leaner in Middlesex and Mercer counties will be coming out of the woodwork to vote. The Republicans have a candidate that can overcome the Democrat advantage in the special Assembly Election. That candidate is Bill Spadea of Princeton. Spadea has run for Congress garnering 40% of the vote which is twice what the “experts” said that he would get. He is a party activist with great name recognition in precisely the portion of district 16 where it is needed most. Spadea has already assembled a campaign team with many years of experience. This is in comparison to Simon. Exactly when was the last time the Somerset/Hunterdon Republican parties had to fight for an Assembly seat? A Democrat victory in the 16^th would further impede Governor Christie from achieving his goals.

The Republican chairpersons in Somerset County (Al Gaburo), Hunterdon County (Henry Kuhl), and Mercer County (Dave Fried, Maria Bua) need to put their support behind Spadea at the special convention this month. Spadea can win in November, Simon cannot!

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2012 Predictions

Serena DiMaso will be elected Monmouth County Freeholder at the Title 19 convention of the Monmouth GOP Committee on January 14.   Bob Walsh will withdraw during his speech before the convention.

Bill Spadea defeats Donna Simon and John Saccenti at a Title 19 convention of the 16th legislative district to fill the assembly seat vacated by the death of Peter Biondi.  After recounts and law suits, the November special election for the seat is declared a tie between Spadea and Democratic Princeton Committeewoman Sue Nemeth.  Another special election is scheduled for January of 2013.

Joe Oxley will be named Township Administrator and In House Attorney for Wall Township.  The appointment will forward a statewide trend of municipalities hiring either attorneys or engineers as their administrators as a cost saving measure.   Oxley is reelected GOP County Chairman by acclamation.  Senator Jennifer Beck will give the nominating speech.  Christine Hanlon will be Vice Chair.

Middletown will get a new Parks and Recreation Director.  It won’t be Linda Baum or Pam Brightbill.

Jim McGreevey is ordained an Episcopal priest.

Jon Corzine remembers where he put the $1.2 billion.

Senator Joe Kyrillos will be the GOP nominee for U.S. Senator, defeating Anna Little and Joseph Rudy Rullo in the primary. 

Congressman Steve Rothman defeats Congressman Bill Pascrell in the Democratic primary for the 9th Congressional District nomination.  In the only surprise of the primary, former Bergen County GOP Freeholder Anthony Cassano, who had agreed to take one for the team in the 9th, was defeated when the Bergen County Tea Party Group organized a write-in campaign for Anna Little.  Little was on the ballot as a U.S. Senate candidate.  Having lost the Senate nomination to Joe Kyrillos, Little accepts the nomination, asks Kyrillos to host a fundraiser for her, and promises to move into the district if she wins.   She doesn’t.

Maggie Moran defeats Vin Gopal and Frank “LaHornica” LaRocca in a close election for the Monmouth County Democratic Chairmanship.

James Hogan of Long Branch is the GOP nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District.  Frank Pallone is reelected by 8%.

Jordan Rickards of North Brunswick  is the GOP nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District.  Rush Holt is reelected by 15%.

On August 28, the second day of the Republican National Convention, the National Weather Service warns that Hurricane Chris is heading towards the Jersey Shore.  Acting Governor Kim Guadagno gets on TV and says, “Get the heck off of the beach please.”

Mitt Romney will be the GOP nominee for President of the United States.  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be the Vice Presidential nominee.

President Obama nominates Vice President Joe Biden to be Secretary of State.  Biden submits his resignation as VP effective upon both houses of congress confirming his successor.  President Obama nominates Hillary Clinton as Vice President.   Speaker of the House John Boehner refuses to schedule confirmation hearings for the VP nomination on the constitutional grounds that their is no vacancy in the office.   Obama makes them both recess appointments.  Clinton is nominated for VP at the Democratic National Convention and Secretary of State Biden spends October in China.

Despite losing their home states of Massachusetts and New Jersey, the Romney-Christie ticket wins the electoral college by one vote, 270-269.   The winning vote comes from Maine, one of two states that awards electoral votes by congressional district.  Romney-Christie lose Maine 3-1 but win the election.  Obama-Clinton file suit to challenge Maine’s method of awarding electoral votes.  Romney-Christie counter with a suit in Nebraska, which they won 4 electoral votes to 1, using the same arguments that Obama-Clinton use in Maine.  The U.S. Supreme Court decides both cases for the plaintiffs, 5-4, and determined that in all future presidential elections that electoral votes are awarded on a winner take all basis nationally.  Tea Party leader Dwight Kehoe calls for the impeachment of the Justices who voted affirmatively, claiming that they don’t understand the 10th Amendment.

Robert Menendez defeats Joe Kyrillos for U.S. Senate by 1%.

U. S. Senator Frank Lautenberg resigns.   In one of his last acts as Governor before ascending to the Vice Presidency, Chris Christie appoints Kyrillos to Lautenberg’s Senate seat.

What do you think will happen?

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Bye Bye Mennen. Really

Hunterdon County Freeholder William Mennen, heir to the Mennen deodorant fortune, has dropped his bid to to run for the 16th district Assembly seat vacated by the untimely death of Assemblyman Peter Biondi, according to a report on Politickernj.

Mennen was the GOP establishment choice for the seat.  He does not live in the district.  A proposed legal challenge from Bill Spadea, Princeton, also running, doomed Mennen’s candidacy.

Spadea still faces competition.  Donna Simon, a Readington Township Committeewoman announced her candidacy upon Mennen’s withdrawal, according to Politickernj.  South Brunswick Health Board Member John Saccenti is also running.

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