Year in review: April 2015

Governor Chris Christie pardoned Shaneen Allen, the single mother from Philadelphia who was arrested on gun possession charges in Atlantic County in 2013.

Senator Bob Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges. Menendez stepped down as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

State Senator Joe Kyrillos endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

Brookdale Community College President Maureen Murphy applied for the top job at Blinn College in Bryan, Texas.  She didn’t get it.

The year in review: 2015

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Christie comes home to reach across the aisle for campaign cash

Kim Guadagno will not be the Acting Governor today. Chris Christie is returning to the Soprano State to raise money to stimulate the New Hampshire economy.

NorthJersey.com reports that Christie’s fundraiser is being hosted by two registered Democrats and will be held at the Saddle River home of a deceased trucking magnate who was once convicted of racketeering in a case involving payoffs to the Genovese crime family.

Columba Bush, wife of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will also be in Saddle River tonight.  The former Florida First Lady will be joining Jets owner Woody Johnson and State Senator Joe Kyrilllos in raising funds for husband’s presidential campaign at the home of of clothing manufacturer George Altirs and his wife Elisabeth, according to the NorthJersey.com report.

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Democrats fear Bush or Kasich the most as 2016 opponent

MINNEAPOLIS — The Republican that Democrats fear most isn’t Donald Trump. It’s Jeb Bush, with John Kasich coming on fast. Ask members of the Democratic National Committee whom they least want to face in the 2016 presidential election, and they often joke how they hope Trump stays hot. “We are all Trump supporters,” Glen Maxey, a… Read the rest of this entry »

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Monmouth Poll: Trump’s national lead in GOP presidential race widens

Christie is tied for 7th place, will likely make the “Top Ten” debate

click table for larger view

Donald Trump has a 2-1 lead over his next closest competitor, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie seems assured of a spot in the “Top Ten” prime time debate sponsored by FoxNews and facebook on Thursday evening, according to a Monmouth University Poll released this morning.

Pollster Patrick Murray also found that 74% of Republican primary voters do not like the “Top Ten” debate format designed by FoxNews. 45% would prefer to see two back to back debates with the candidates selected randomly and 29% would prefer to see all candidates in one debate.  Only 23% approve of the FoxNews formula.

Trump leads the 17 candidate field with 26% of the voters surveyed favoring him to be the 2016 GOP nominee. Bush is at 12.2% followed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at 11.1%.  Christie is tied for seventh place with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 4.4.%  Ohio Governor John Kasich comfortably holds to 10th spot in the Monmouth Poll with 3.2%.

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Bush Makes Bank In Middletown

State Senator Joe Kyrillos and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at the Navesink County Club, July 23, 2015. photo via facebook

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush held a fundraiser for his 2016 Presidential Campaign at the Navesink Country Club in Middletown yesterday evening.

The Middletown Police were not called upon to provide security at the tax payers expense.

Bush raised “a lot more” than the $500,000 his campaign told the media was raised in Middletown and at a private dinner in Short Hills following the event.  A source familiar with the candidate’s New Jersey operation told MMM that the take in Middletown was $600,000 in “hard money” donated directly to his campaign plus “big money” to the Bush SuperPAC.

In a show of support to State Senator Joe Kyrillos, the first prominent New Jersey Republican to publicly break from Governor Chris Christie’s presidential quest and a Co-Chair of the Bush fundraising effort, Monmouth County’s Republican leadership, which helped Governor Chris Christie get elected twice and some of whom have publicly endorsed Christie for president were well represented, if camera shy, at the Middletown event, according to PolitickerNJ.

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Christie’s N.J. backers now donating to Jeb Bush’s 2016 campaign

WASHINGTON — State Sen. Joe Kyrillos isn’t the only supporter of Gov. Chris Christie to pitch his tent in Jeb Bush’s presidential camp. Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), a longtime Christie friend and political ally, contributed the maximum $2,700 to the former Florida governor’s presidential campaign. So have others who financially supported Christie during his two runs for governor.… Read the rest of this entry »

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In Middletown, Presidential campaigns have to pay police overtime or go without protection

Democratic and Republican candidates for President of the United States will have to reimburse Middletown taxpayers for police overtime if they want the Township’s finest to control traffic and provide security for their fundraisers, according to Township Committeeman Tony Fiore.

The Township was left with an overtime bill of about $14,000 in 2008 when Barack Obama held a fundraiser at Jon Bon Jovi’s Navesink home, according to Fiore.  That won’t happen again.  “The Township Committee will not approve the expense.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is coming to Bon Jovi’s house today for a $1000 per head soiree, according to Star Ledger columnist Mark Di Ionno.

In 2008, the township requested reimbursement from the rocker, but didn’t have a prayer to collect.  Today, Fiore says the Police Department will not be present for the event unless Bon Jovi agrees upfront to cover the costs.

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More Bad Polling News For Christie

Graphic by Robert Hazelrigg, RobertHazelrigg.com

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush would both take New Hamsphire’s 4 electoral votes over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if the presidential election were today, according to Dartmouth University’s eighth annual State of the State Poll.

Walker beats Clinton 38.7 % – 34.8%.  Bush beats Clinton 36.9 – 34.14%.

Clinton would beat Governor Chris Christie 36.5% – 34.4%.

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 5.2%, so Walker, Bush, Christie, and all other Republicans polled except Ted Cruz are virtually tied with Clinton. Clinton beat Cruz by by more than ten points.  In all the head to head match-ups against Clinton, 30% of the voters are undecided.  This poll is meaningless and I’m only writing about it because I haven’t gotten a press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office today and don’t have a click baiting crime story to post.

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Jersey Prefers Clinton, Bush or Walker over Christie for President in 2016

Christie’s poll numbers stink

New Jerseyans would rather see former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush or Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker elected president in 2016 than their own Governor Chris Christie, according to a Monmouth University Poll released this morning.

“The message from New Jersey voters seems to be as simple as ABC – anybody but Christie,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

In fairness to Christie, it should be noted that Murray did not poll the Governor’s presidential bona fides against former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Congressman Frank Pallone, Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik, Freeholder John Curley, Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal or Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Christie isn’t even New Jersey Republicans first choice to the president.  By 44%-30% New Jersey Republicans prefer Walker to Christie in 2016.

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Kyrillos Backing Jeb Bush For President

State Senator Joe Kyrillos is backing former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

According to The Washington Post, Bush spokesman Tim Miller confirmed that Kyrillos is backing the son and brother of 41st and 43rd presidents to become the 45th.  Kyrillos contributed $10,000 to Bush’s political action committee last month.

The news that Kyrillos is supporting Bush over his decades long friend and ally, Governor Chris Christie, caps the news cycle for a day in which a Quinnipiac Poll reported that New Jersey voters don’t approve of the Governor’s job performance at home and don’t think he would make a good president. A CNN poll also released Monday places Christie in 7th place among GOP presidential hopefuls with support of only 4% or Republicans and Republican leaning Independents nationally. Just four months ago, a full year after the Bridgegate scandal broke, Christie ranked second for the 2016 GOP nomination in CNN’s poll with support of 13% of the respondents.

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