District Office Of Congressman Frank Pallone On Facebook

A new facebook page from Frank Pallone’s district office showed up on facebook today.

There is no information posted yet and your favorite blogger was the first one to “Like” the page.

Won’t you join me in “Liking” Frank Pallone’s District Office Page?

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Drinking With Democrats

Our friends at Politickernj have gone old school in the new media age.   They are using a long abandoned journalistic tool to find out what their subjects are really thinking:  Alcohol.

Last week Max Pizarro got some tipsy Democrats to reveal what they really think of President Obama:

“But I’m at the point with Barack Obama where I don’t like him,” the source added – then whispering under the bar buzz – “I hate him.” 

“He’s not a leader,” a second high-powered Democrat groaned. “Say what you want about Christie, but he knows how to wield power. Barack doesn’t.”  

“He’s very thin-skinned,” said the source. “He can’t deal with criticism, that’s why he’s going to Africa with his family on a safari. Is he nuts? A safari in this economy?”  

The Democrats Pizarro drank with think Obama is still a lock to win New Jersey’s 14 electoral college votes handily next year.    That is the conventional thinking.  However, I bet those same Democrats thought in 2008 that the equally disliked Jon Corzine was a lock for reelection.

Turning their attention to New Jersey gubernatorial politics, Politickernj’s Back Room got blank stares from two “Democratic Party bigshots” drinking on condition of anonymity when asked to speculate who would challenge Governor Christie in 2013.

Newark Mayor Corey Booker?  “Newark is too much of a wreck,” and “his time has come and gone.”  Congressman Bill Pascrell?  Would have been great “ten years ago.”   Senator Barbara Buono?  “We need someone outside of Trenton,” like Christie was in 2009.

Looking outside of Trenton, the drinking Democrats see Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt:

“If Frank gets banged up in redistrcting he may be the best guy to do it,” said the first source. “He’d be ticked enough, angry enough, he could easily unite the progressive wing of the party. He’s got the money. Obviously, he has no strong friends among the bosses. That could be a problem. The question goes to whether he would want to be governor. I’ve always heard his primary interest is senator.”

MMM hereby throws its unequivocal support behind Pallone for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2013.  We’d love to see him get “banged up” in redistricting….like putting Long Branch into Chris Smith’s district…setting up a race between the two most senior members of the New Jersey congressional delegation that Smith would win easily, assuming Pallone chose to compete.   Given the choice of running against Smith for congress or retiring and launching a gubernatorial bid, we think Pallone would challenge Christie.  After losing his first statewide race against Christie, Pallone could launch his 2014 U.S. Senate campaign, assuming Frank Lautenberg retires again.

Holt for Governor?   We hope those guys had a designated driver.

“Yes, I admit he’s not the world’s greatest speaker, but he’s gotten better,” said the second source. “Plus, he’s a good campaigner. Rolls up his sleeves. He gets it. He realized he had a legitimate challenge from Scott Sipprelle (last year), and he rose to the occasion.”

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Pallone Wins Lottery, Loses Moran and Influence On The Redistricting Commission

By Art Gallagher

Frank Pallone split a $75,000 lottery jackpot three ways and still ended up with more money than Anna Little has raised in her quest to unseat him. 

 The Wall Street Journal says that Pallone pocketed just under $25K after splitting the prize with his father and brother.  Little raised no money and spent $5K on her campaign according to her most recent FEC reports.

However, Pallone’s winnings and war chest can’t buy him love from the New Jersey Redistricting Commission now that his ally Maggie Moran has been booted off the commission, just as NJ.com’s Auditor predicted.

The Democrats on the Redistricting Commission are former Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, former Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez, former Assemblyman Michael Baker of East Brunswick, former Pascrell Chief of Staff Ed Farmer, former Corzine deputy chief-of-staff Jeannine LaRue of Trenton, and Essex County Democratic Committee Chairman Phil Thigpen.

The Republicans are political strategist Mike DuHaime, former Burlington County Freeholder Director Aubrey Fenton, Morris County attorney Eric Jaso, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Cape May Freeholder Susan Sheppard and National Federation of Republican Woman President Sherine El-Abd.

Not a Pallone loyalist on the list.   As the senior Democrat in the NJ congressional delegation, Pallone’s seat should be safe from redistricting.  However the commission is heavy with members loyal to Democratic power broker Donald Norcross and Republican Governor Chris Christie, neither of whom are fans of Pallone.

By the population numbers, the northeast part of the state should lose a congressional district when the new map is adopted.   But Donald Payne’s 10th and Albio Sires’ 13th are minority majority districts that have to be protected.   Combining Bill Pascrell’s 8th district with Steve Rothman’s 9th would make sense on paper, but the Democrats will never agree to surrender a seat without an election.

After both sides propose maps that guarantee the other side loses a seat, the commission will likely settle on a map that pits one incumbent from each party against each other.

MMM would love to see the southeast portion of Pallone’s district combined with Congressman Chris Smith’s district.  Smith would crush Pallone.  Phoney Palloney would probably retire from the House and run for governor rather than face Smith head to head.

The other reason we would love to see such a district is because it would likely mean that the Northern Monmouth portion of CD 6 would be folded into Rush Holt’s CD 12, setting up a four way race for the GOP nomination to unseat Holt between Strong New Jersey Chairwoman Diane Gooch, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre (the only mayor in the universe to lower property taxes four years in a row), Little, and Lincoln Club of NJ President Scott Sipprelle.   That would be a great race for web traffic and advertising revenue!

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Gooch would challenge Pallone or Holt

Strong New Jersey Chairwoman Diane Gooch told NJ.com’s Auditor that she’d be an enthusiastic candidate for congress against either Frank Pallone or Rush Holt:

A scandal — and an opportunity

Diane Gooch may be looking to transform U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner’s shame into her political gain.

Gooch, who wanted to take on U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) last year but lost the GOP primary to tea party favorite Anna Little, last week launched a “nationwide internet campaign” with the website WeinerMustResign.com. It is paid for by a nonprofit political organization that Gooch set up last summer.

In addition to the website, Gooch has been interviewed on a dozen radio shows and denounced Weiner (D-N.Y.), who is under fire for sending lewd photos of himself to women over the internet. She also plans to air radio ads on WABC, which features a stable of conservative talk show hosts.

So why does a wealthy Rumson Republican care so much about a Manhattan
congressman’s sex scandal?

“I care because he’s a congressman, and I think all congressmen should have integrity and common sense,” said Gooch, publisher of the Two River Times in Red Bank.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the effort builds Gooch’s name ID in case she wants to run again for a House seat. Visitors to the political committee’s website are hit immediately with a picture of Gooch, and a 451-word bio of her is just one click away. The committee, Strong New Jersey, raised $239,000 in 2010 — $99,000 from Gooch and $140,000 from her husband, Mickey.

Gooch said she hasn’t decided whether she’ll run because New Jersey’s congressional districts have yet to be redrawn.

“If they hand me a great district and I think I can beat (Democratic U.S. Reps.) Frank Pallone or (Rush) Holt, you better believe I’ll be there,” she told The Auditor.

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Could Pallone Be A Redistricting Target?

By Art Gallagher

The Star Ledger’s Auditor  is raising the question. 

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.

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Pallone Wants A Progressive Senate Slot

Photo credit: Politickernj.com

With Congressional redistricting and the certain loss of one House seat on the minds of most New Jersey Congressmen, Frank Pallone is looking ahead to a 2014 run for U.S. Senate.

Pallone distributed slot buckets paid for by Pallone for Senate to delegates of the NJ Democratic convention in Atlantic City last week, according to Politickernj.

Pallone passed on a chance to run for Senate in 2002 when a scandal plagued Robert Torricelli dropped out of his campaign for reelection.  Frank Lautenberg came out of retirement and won Torricelli’s seat after the State Supreme Court ruled he could run even though the statutory deadline for replacing candidates on the ballot had passed.

Pallone raised and spent over $1 million in the hopes of going to the Senate in 2005 as Jon Corzine’s replacement.  Corzine resigned from the Senate during his only term to become governor.  Corzine selected Robert Menendez over Pallone as his replacement in the Senate.

Now Pallone is betting that Lautenberg, who is 87 years old, will not seek another term.

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Pallone Raises $163K, Spends $144K In First Quarter, Has $3.1 Million

Congressman Frank Pallone raised $162,678 in campaign cash during the first quarter of the 2011-2012 election cycle.  He spent $144,185 on entertainment, travel, salaries, an auto lease and contributions.  Pallone has $3,148,393 in cash.  His March 31 FEC report can be viewed here.

Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, who has been positioning himself to be Pallone’s Democratic successor in Congress since 2005, raised $1500 in the first quarter, spent $155, and has $45,894 on hand.

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ObamaCare Will Bankrupt The Country

By Henry Vaccaro, Sr

I recently saw a article written by Congressman Frank Pallone that demanded my response.  Headlines “GOP reforms would break covenant ”

In that story Pallone berated the budget plan prepared by Congressman Ryan as he felt that it dealt too harshly with Medicare reforms.  The first thing he does is to resort to fear mongering and scare tactics  aimed at seniors and then the blame game.

The headline should have said ” Obamacare will Bankrupt the Country.” 

Last year Pallone and his gang, for the first time in our history failed to pass a Budget even though they controlled all three branches of the government.  Instead they kicked the problem  to the next guy.  How courageous of him. Congressman what may I ask is your solution to our staggering 14 Trillion dollar debt.  Where is your plan or is it more convenient to just second guess the guy who actually has a plan.  If we follow your history it’s to give sweet heart deals to the unions,  Give phony cost numbers to the GAO so as to give Obamacare a high score.  Give waivers to over 1000 unions and businesses  to opt out of your Healthcare scam once they find the real cost. 

Congressman the country is broke, how are you going to fix it.  Don’t worry folks, Pallone knows how to work the system.   Ask him how his wife got a cozy job with the EPA paying over $144,000,00 and a pension just after Obama’s election.  They say “To the victor belongs the Spoil’s ” well these spoils  are rotten.   The job even has a fancy title Deputy Associate Administrator of Intergovernmental Relations of the EPA.  This is the same out of control agency that has stopped oil drilling , closed down clean coal operations  and is killing our manufacturing base with overzealous regulations.

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Anna Little For Senate?

By Art Gallagher

Anna Little told NJ.com’s The Auditor that she is thinking of challenging U.S. Senator Robert Menendez rather than Congressman Frank Pallone in 2012:

Tea party darling Anna Little has made no secret that she wants to challenge U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) again in 2012. But Little told The Auditor she is thinking about setting her sights even higher by going after Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez next year.

“There are a lot of people pushing me to do it,” said Little, who upset a millionaire Republican in last year’s 6th District congressional primary, but lost the general election to Pallone. “It’s has been suggested I consider a statewide Senate race. I have not ruled that out, but right now I’m just focused on Pallone,” she said.

” A lot of people” include Independence Hall Tea Party President Teri Adams of Cheltenham Pennsylvania, according to The Auditor and and RoseAnn Salanitri of the Sussex County Tea Party, according to Terry Hurlbut at Examiner.com.

It is telling that there are no 6th district Tea Party activists quoted by either The Auditor or Hurlbut.   Those who know Little best in the Tea Party movement don’t consider her a darling.  Disappointment, distraction and destructive is how Little is considered by many local Tea Party leaders and activists now.   What is left of “Anna’s Army” is little more than a platoon.

It doesn’t matter what office Little seeks in 2012.  The only way she gets nominated next year for any office higher than Councilwoman in Highlands is if no one else wants the nomination.   The Monmouth and Union County GOP leadership are not happy with her.  The local Tea Parties say she will have no leg up over any other candidate in 2012 as they will consider all candidates before granting the Tea Party seal of approval.

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Pallone Silent On Planned Parenthood Controversy

By Art Gallagher

What’s up with Frank Pallone’s silence on the Planned Parenthood controversy?  I realize Perth Amboy is not part of the 6th congressional district, but after all, Phoney Palloney was given PP of Central Jersey’s Leadership Award last October.

Pallone gave a twit about Groundhog  Day this morning.  Not a word today or yesterday about Planned Parenthood.

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