As Chris Christie faces scandal, NJ Republicans wait for guidance

As Chris Christie faces scandal, NJ Republicans wait for guidance (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — New Jersey’s Republican county chairmen will gather tonight in Princeton for a dinner meeting where they’ll hear from Gov. Chris Christie’s chief strategist, Mike DuHaime. They’ll have a lot to talk about. As Christie fights two…

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Raia steps down as NJ GOP Chair, Stepian will take over

Governor Chris Christie’s trusted political advisor is taking over the leadership of the New Jersey Republican Party.

Bill Stepian managed Christie’s 2009 victory over Jon Corzine, became the Governor’s  Deputy Chief of Staff and then managed the 2013 reelection campaign.  Stepien was tabbed by Christie today to replace Sam Raia, the real estate executive and mayor of Saddle River who lead the NJ GOP for the last three years.  Raia resigned today, effective immediately.

In a press release, the NJ GOP characterized Raia’s tenure as “historic.”

“We’ve surpassed each of our goals during the three years of my chairmanship – we’ve reelected our Governor by historic margins, raised $8.8 million and laid the groundwork for the future success of our Party,” said Raia.  “I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity provided by Governor Christie and members of the State Committee to serve our Party.”

Winning control of the legislature must not been one of Raia’s goals.

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Forget trying to beat Booker, the NJ GOP should plan for the next gubernatorial election

photo via facebook

U.S. Senator Cory Booker is going to be elected to his own full term next November.

None of the Republicans said to be considering a challenge to Booker can beat him.

It’s not that Booker is invincible, as was widely thought prior to the Special Senate Election last October.  He is beatable.  Steve Lonegan exposed the fallacies of the Booker myth and Patrick Murray documented that Booker’s support is shallow.   Had Washington Republicans not followed Senator Ted Cruz’s lead to shut down the government in October and had State Comptroller Matt Boxer released his audit of Newark’s City Government which exposed millions of wasted taxpayer money and management practices that encourage fraud in September instead of this week, Lonegan might have pulled off the upset that Booker deserved.

There’s nothing wrong with 4 of the 5 Republicans reported to be looking to challenge Booker.  Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, Senator Minority Leader Tom Kean JR, Senator Mike Doherty or Assemblyman Jay Webber would all serve New Jersey well in the U.S. Senate.

That Darryl Isherwood included Assemblyman Chris Brown is his list of 5 Republican of potential candidates to challenge Booker is more of a reflection of Isherwood’s sense of humor than it is of Brown’s viability as a candidate for any office in the future.  After blaming his Assembly running mate John Amodeo’s 39 vote loss on Governor Christie, Brown will be lottery winner lucky if he is even re-nominated for his Assembly seat in 2015.  “What will Brown do after politics?” MMM asked a senior Republican strategist after the gaffe.  “We’ll find out soon,” the strategist said with a laugh.

(Correction:  As a commenter pointed out, Isherwood was referring to a different Assemblyman Chris Brown (the LD 8 Brown) than the one who blamed Christie for his running mate’s loss.  My mistake makes my overall point.  MMM readers are more informed than the average voter.  How many knew there was even one Chris Brown in the Assembly prior to the LD 2 Brown’s gaffe?  There isn’t a member of the legislature with the statewide name ID to compete with Booker~ Art)

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5 Republicans who could challenge Cory Booker for his Senate seat

5 Republicans who could challenge Cory Booker for his Senate seat (via NJ.com)

With Election Day behind us and the end of the year approaching, there is still one political question that has yet to be answered: Who will challenge Sen. Cory Booker in next year’s Senate contest? So far, no challenger has emerged, though several…

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Republican Legislators Unlikely To Override Christie

The eyes of New Jersey’s political junkies on are Trenton this afternoon to see if the public rift between Governor Chris Christie and the Kean family will lead to the first override of a Christie veto.

The Pig Gestation Bill is on the Senate calendar for an override vote this afternoon.   The bill, which would prohibited NJ pig farmers from caging gestating pigs in a manner such that they can not move or lay down for most of their lives passed both houses of the legislature overwhelmingly last spring.  Christie vetoed the bill, noting that the State Supreme Court upheld the Humane Standards that the State Board of Agriculture and  Department of Agriculture have set and enforced in accordance with the 1995 Administrative Procedures Act. In his veto message, Christie said he was confident the Board and Department would continue to monitor the humane treatment of gestating pigs, and that bill would inappropriately criminalize a practice that is not opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association nor the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.

Christie critics and skeptics have said that the governor vetoed the bill with an eye toward the 2016 Iowa Republican Presidential Caucuses.   Iowa is the largest producer of pork in the United States.

Don’t bet on an override, warn legislators who spoke to MMM on background.

As a matter of policy, since they voted for the bill last spring, the Republicans we talked to have learned that it is the Democrats supporting the bill, not Christie, who are playing presidential politics. The bill would not impact the quality of life for New Jersey pigs. No one knows of at New Jersey pig farmer that uses the gestation crates that the bill would prohibited.

As a matter of politics, New Jersey Legislative Republicans are united with the governor, the rift over this move to oust Tom Kean, JR as Senate Minority Leader notwithstanding.  They are not going to weaken Christie’s negotiating position with the Trenton Democrats over a bill that has no impact on what is happening in New Jersey.

“Things are back to normal,” one legislator said, “The governor underestimated the trust, respect and affection the Senate Caucus has for Tom (Kean, Jr), and mishandled that situation. But when your friend makes a mistake, you don’t trash the friendship.”

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Breaking: Possible shake up in GOP Legislative Leadership

UPDATED: KEAN REELECTED MINORITY LEADER

The statehouse press corps is buzzing news on twitter about a possible change in the GOP leadership in the New Jersey State Senate.

Current Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean JR has been fighting to keep his leadership post since the election results…no pick ups in the Senate…on Tuesday.  Kean released a letter signed by 11 of the 16 Republican Senators pledging their support for his reelection as leader to the press yesterday.  Governor Christie declined to comment about the possible change in  the Republican leadership in the Senate, but said that the he is “committed to Steve Sweeney” being President of the Senate.

Within the last half hour, The Star Ledger’s Matt Friedman and PolitickerNJ’s Matt Arco both tweeted that Kean entered Christie’s office and left a few minutes later, looking unhappy.  Senator Joe Kyrillos entered Christie’s office 5 minutes after Kean left.

Neither Kean or Kyrillos would speak to reporters.

The Republican Senate Caucus is meeting to elect a their leader for the next legislative session this afternoon.

Kean’s relationship with Sweeney is not good, as Sweeney resented Kean targeting the Senate President seat.  Sweeney responded by keeping all Republican sponsored legislation off the calendar.  Since Tuesday’s election, Sweeney has been publicly taunting and teasing Kean for not gaining any ground for Republicans when the Governor was reelected by over 20%.

Christie needs Sweeney’s cooperation in order to get anything accomplished in a second term, whether Christie runs for president or not.  If Kean’s unworkable relationship with Sweeney is an obstacle, tapping his trusted friend, the ever congenial Kyrillos, as Minority Leader makes perfect sense.

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Signs of Intelligent Life in the Trenton GOP

Two weeks ago MMM gave the Trenton GOP a head slap over their idiotic strategy of trying to pick up seats in the Legislature by running against Corzine Democrats.

Evidently, someone heard us.

The Assembly Republic Victory Fund is paying PolitickerNJ to run their video, The New Republicans-Coming to a Voting Booth Near You

Call that a good first step.  But it’s far from a winning strategy.

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Double Dose of Bad News For Buono

Yet, good news for Trenton Democrats—the NJ Republicans are trying to lose

By Art Gallagher

State Senator Barbara Buono, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, received two doses of bad news today (so far) for her fledgling campaign to unseat Governor Chris Christie in November.

1) A Quinnipiac poll released today indicates that Buono has made no progress over the last month in increasing her dismal name recognition.  78% of those polled don’t know enough about Buono to form an opinion. That compares to 79% last month.  Of the few who recognize her name, 43% have an unfavorable opinion.

Christie’s numbers remain amazingly strong. 67% approve of the job he is doing as governor.  66% says he deserves to be reelected. In a head to head match up with Buono, Christie wins 58%-26%, with 13% out to lunch.

2) Even worse for Buono, PolitickerNJ reports that she is likely to be the only major party gubernatorial candidate in the history of New Jersey’s matching funds campaign program not to qualify for the maximum amount. PolitickerNJ said that Buono has raised only $29,000 per week since she declared her candidacy in December.  In order to earn the maximum $2 million in state matching funds for the primary, she would have to raise $216,000 per week over the next six weeks of the primary campaign.

Christie has opted out of the state matching funds program and has raised upwards of $5 million to date for the primary.

Trenton Republicans Trying to Lose

With Chrisite’s polling and financial numbers so strong, one would think that the Trenton Democrats that control the legislature would be concerned about Christie coattails.  Trenton Republicans seem enthused about the prospect of taking control of the legislature, but so far their campaign is deploying the stupidest strategy imaginable.

I’m not a professional political strategist, I just play one of the Internet.  In my not so humble opinion the NJ GOP‘s campaign against Corzine Democrats is the dumbest political strategy since Christine O’Donnell declared she is not a witch.

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Casagrande a ‘Rising Star’

Monmouth County Legislator Has A Message That Republicans Badly Need To Win

Gannett’s New Jersey newspapers and websites published a list of New Jersey’s political “Rising Stars” yesterday.  The editorial says those on the list are young (most are under 40, all are under 50) politicos that are likely to emerge as the “next generation” of leaders on the regional or state levels of New Jersey government and politics.

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande is the only Monmouth County leader who made the top twelve of the list.  As a three term Assemblywoman seeking her fourth term and the Assembly Minority’s Policy Co-Chair, one could argue that Casagrande is in the current generation of leadership.  But at 36, her star is still very much “rising.”

If you are fortunate enough to talk to Casagrande about policy and politics, you will quickly realize that the real power of her ‘light’ is largely ‘hidden under a bushel.’

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Carton Withdraws From State Committee Race

Middletown GOP Chairman Peter Carton sent an email to his fellow municipal chairs and members of the Middletown Republican Committee this afternoon announcing that he is withdrawing as a candidate for State Committee.

 

Dear Republican Chairpersons of Monmouth County,

 

I hereby withdraw my name as a candidate to be the Republican State Committeeman for Monmouth County. I believe this is best for our party and County and for the successful election of Governor Christie, Kim, Serena, Tom, Shaun and all legislative candidates. Please let the members of your County Committee know of my decision.

 

I thank all who called or e mailed to offer support and to volunteer to call all county committee members in my election effort. I greatly appreciated them, had fun talking and corresponding with you and the other chairs and office holders with whom I have already spoken and look forward, as always, to working with all of you in this year’s election effort and after.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

pete carton

Carton’s withdrawal leaves Howell Republican Chairman John Costigan running unopposed for the party endorsement.

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