At 80, former N.J. Gov. Tom Kean is still a force to reckon with

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Up By 33%, Christie Making a Push For Legislative Seats

Gov Chris Christie and Sen Brian Stack. Photo credit Mykwain Gainey, ChristieforNJ.com

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning indicates that Governor Chris Christie is running away with his race for reelection with 64% of the vote among likely voters, including support from 31% of Democratics.

More voters say they don’t know enough about Barbara Buono, the Middlesex County State Senator challenging Christie, than say they will vote for her.  35% say the have no opinion of her. 31% say they will vote for her.  Of those saying they will vote for Buono, 7% said there is a good chance they will change their minds before they cast their ballots.

48% said they would like to see Christie run for President of the United States.  41% said they would rather he didn’t run for President.

“From the banks of the Delaware to the beaches of the Atlantic, New Jersey voters like their governor, Christopher Christie.  On the banks of the Potomac?  Less like the governor, but still a lot” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

With his reelection virtually assured, Christie has devoted campaign resources to pick up three State Senate seats, according to a report in PolitickerNJ.

Democrats now control the 40 seat Senate 24-16 and have thwarted much of Christie’s reform agenda throughout his first term, including failing to confirm 5 of the 6 State Supreme Court nominees the governor has put forward. There are currently 3 vacancies on the Court.

If Christie’s help propels Republicans Peter Inverso (14th District, Mercer-Middlesex), David Stahl (18th District, Buono’s Middlesex seat) and Fernando Alonso (38th District, Bergen) into the Senate, Senator Tom Kean, JR could follow in his father’s footsteps by leading a New Jersey Legislative Chamber while being in the partisan minority. In 1972, four Democrats crossed the aisle to elect Thomas H. Kean Speaker of the General Assembly.

In order for Kean, JR to be elected Senate President in a 21-19 Democratic Senate, two Democrats would have to cross the aisle.  Hudson County’s Brian Stack and Essex County’s Teresa Ruiz would be the most likely to cross over.  Stack has endorsed Christie’s reelection.  Ruiz is the Deputy Chief of Staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, a Democrat who has also endorsed Christie.

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Buono’s Best Friend

She hasn’t officially secured the Democratic nomination yet and the wheels are falling off State Senator Barbara Buono’s gubernatorial campaign.

Buono will be the nominee.  Her only competition on the ballot is Troy Webster, an aide to East Orange Mayor Robert Bowser.  Webster isn’t really running for governor.  He agreed to through his hat in the ring on the same slate as Bowser for ballot positioning purposes in the primary.

But the wheels are falling off the Buono wagon. She can’t raise money.  She defiantly divided the party and broke with the legislative leadership with her choice of State Democratic Chairman. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews dubbed her Dawn Quixote.

Buono is on track to be the first major party candidate not to qualify for state matching funds for her campaign. She named Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell her choice as State Chairman, against the advice of Senate President Steve Sweeney and over the objections of Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver.  A prominent Monmouth County Democrat told MMM “Buono should never go on TV again,” after her appearance on Matthew’s Hardball.

Just when things couldn’t get any worse for Buono they did. Over the weekend former  Democratic Governor Brendan Byrne, on a teleconference with former Republican Governor Tom Kean, told The Star Ledger that Buono should consider dropping out of the gubernatorial race.

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Is Sweeney violating copyright law with political stunt?

Senate President Steve Sweeney has been waging a little noticed campaign over the last few weeks to get Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr to commit not to accept campaign contributions from Ashbritt and other contractors who cleaned up New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy.

This morning, Sweeney ramped up the campaign with a video parody of the viral Harlem Shake.

Harlem Shake is owned by songwriter Harry Bauer Rodrigues, who records under the name “Baauer”and the record label Mad Decent.

The song’s viral popularity in recents weeks has spurred claims of copyright infringement on the part of artists whose voices are in the song who have not been credited or compensated by Baauer or Mad Decent, according to the New York Times On the flip side, Mad Decent and Baauer stand to collect millions of dollars from people, like Sweeney, who “steal” their song, according to Hollywood Reporter.  YouTube and a company called INDMusic have created a program, ContentID, to track copyright piracy and collect from the offenders.

MMM wondered if Sweeney’s video was funded by New Jersey taxpayers and if the Senate President had obtained a license from Mad Decent for the use of the song.  The YouTube channel that hosts the song is called NJSenDemsMajority, a similar name to the state funded website, njsendems.com.

MMM called Sweeney’s West Deptford and Trenton offices to find out.  Within a half hour, a well known political hired gun who asked not to be named in this story called back.

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Did Christie Throw The Election to Obama?

As someone who has witnessed the destruction of my hometown and the devastation Sandy wrecked upon the lives of so many people I care about, I really don’t care if the partnership that Governor Chris Christie forged with President Barack Obama contributed to Obama’s reelection.

As I embraced my dear friend while we were standing in the wreckage of what used to be her mother’s home while she was crying, “she’s going to die,” the last thing I cared about was politics.

For over a week I’ve witness my neighbors’ possessions be piled into a garbage transfer station that used to be a parking lot and then be loaded into trailers be be trucked away.  Soon many of those neighbors will be living in trailers in a park while someone else decides when, how and if their homes can be rebuilt.

I won’t complain that I haven’t slept in my own bed and there is no power at my house.  I still have a house.  My friends don’t.  My friend, the mayor, his wife and three young children are sleeping on cots in a gymnasium.

I could care less that Christie wept when Bruce Springsteen called him a friend.  I care even less that Obama facilitated the friendship.

I am comforted that Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well.  I am comforted that he assembled such a competent team to form his administration three years ago and that they work so well together.

I can’t imagine Jon Corzine, Richard Cody, Jim McGreevey, Christie Whitman, Jim Florio, Tom Kean or Brendan Byrne being as hands on or as competent as Christie has been in this crisis.  I also can’t imagine Cory Booker doing the job that Christie has done or assembling as good a team to do it.

Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well.  He’s witnessed far more of the devastation to New Jersey than I have. I’m pleased that for the last weeks he hasn’t cared about politics either.

Pundits on both sides of the aisle are saying that if not for Hurricane Sandy, Obama may not have been reelected.  That could be true.  But given Obama’s record, the state of the world and the economy, the election should not have been close heading into the last weekend in October.

Obama said he will be a better president as a result of the campaign. He said he heard those who opposed him and his policies.  I hope that proves to be true.  We’ll know soon enough.

I don’t think Chris Christie will be a better governor because he has Obama’s cell number.  I think it is more likely that Obama will be a better president because he has Chrisite’s number.

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Doctors Organization Endorses Little for Congress

Republican Congressional contender Anna Little  received the endorsement of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons this evening, at an event in New Brunswick.

“Anna Little understands that medical decisions are the most personal decisions in our lives, and should be kept between doctors and patients,” said Dr. Alieta Eck, President-elect of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), who  announced the endorsement on behalf of the AAPS. “Anna understands that the government takeover of health care will be damaging to our citizens’ abilities to choose their own doctors, make their own medical decisions, and receive the quality care of their choice.

“Government bureaucrats simply don’t know what’s best for patients,” continued Eck. “They cannot. Only patients and their doctors should make those decisions. Ann Little understands that, and Frank Pallone clearly does not. That’s why endorsing Anna Little was an easy decision.”

“I’m honored to receive the endorsement of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons,” said Little. “They’re battling on the front lines of health care every day, and they know better than most just how destructive ‘PalloneCare’ is going to be.

“We need to repeal this bill as soon as possible – that’s why I’ve signed the Independent Women’s Voice ObamaCare Repeal Pledge, and that’s why I’m committed to fighting with everything I’ve got to get this law overturned once I get to Washington.

 “If you think we’re headed in the right direction, then Frank Pallone is your man,” said Little. “But if you think we’re moving in the wrong direction, then I need your vote – because you cannot change Washington without changing the people we send to Washington!”

New Jersey Senator Tom Kean, Jr was on hand to introduce Little.

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