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David Richter should run for congress in CD-12

By Art Gallagher

David Richter

David Richter, the former CEO of Hill International, a global construction management firm, has had a tough start to 2020. Richter, of Princeton, was the front runner for the GOP nomination for Congress in the second district of New Jersey and was poised to end the political career of Congressman Jeff Van Drew.

The impeachment of President Donald J. Trump upended Richter’s self-funded path to Congress.  In a deal brokered by former Governor Chris Christie, according to the NY Times, Van Drew became a Republican and pledged his undying support to the President. Trump, seeing a opportunity much larger than picking up one congressional seat in New Jersey, provided Van Drew with a first class political operation and cleared the path for the freshman congressman to win the GOP nomination for reelection.

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Posted: January 31st, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: 2020 Congressional Races, 2020 Presidential Politics, Opinion | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Bramnick for Governor?

By Art Gallagher

Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso, Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon, “top contender for governor” Jon Bramnick and Freeholder Director Tom Arnone on the Walk to Washington train last winter.

The pre-primary of the 2021 GOP nomination for NJ Governor got a lot more interesting this morning.

In a Star Ledger Friendly Fire interview with Democrat strategist Julie Roginsky and Republican strategist Mike DuHaime that Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick shared on facebook, DuHaime declared Bramnick to be a “top contender for governor after a strong 2019.”

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Posted: December 27th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Chris Christie, Jon Bramnick, Monmouth County News, New Jersey, NJ GOP | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Murphy vs. MacArthur: Trump tax plan vote ignites feud

TRENTON — Incoming Gov. Phil Murphy wasted little time in igniting a feud against the only federal lawmaker from New Jersey who supported the House Republican tax bill that would curb the deduction for state and local taxes. Murphy, a Democrat, this weekend singled out U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., who backed the legislation even… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: November 20th, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: New Jersey | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Murphy vs. MacArthur: Trump tax plan vote ignites feud

What if Menendez resigns?

Senator Bob Menendez, left, and Congressman Frank Pallone, making like chimpmunks at the 2012 Belmar St. Patrick's parade. Photo credit Charles Measley

Senator Bob Menendez, left, and Congressman Frank Pallone, making like chimpmunks at the 2012 Belmar St. Patrick’s parade. Photo credit Charles Measley

First of all, Senator Bob Menendez might not even be indicted.  Leaks out of the Justice Department have been notoriously unreliable since Chris Christie resigned as U.S. Attorney in 2008.

If Menendez is indicted, he probably will not resign. In his press conference this evening, the Senator defiantly insisted on the “appropriateness and lawfulness” of his relationship with Dr. Salomon Melgen, the Florida ophthalmologist who is Menendez’s friend and benefactor. He declared that he is not going anywhere.

If, as CNN speculates, Menendez is charged with corruption this month, it could be Halloween before he goes to trial. Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was indicted in January of 2014.  His trial didn’t start until late July and didn’t end to early September.   Unless Menendez makes a deal to avoid prosecution that includes his resignation, there is not likely to be a Special Election to fill the Senate seat until next year….2016, the year of the next presidential election.

If Chris Christie is still Governor in 2016 and Menendez’s seat becomes vacant, he will get to choose the next Senator and set the date a special election.   There could be a mid-year Special Election or the Special Election could be on the same day as the presidential election.  There’s no way to know now what is likely to happen.

Still, the prospect of a Senatorial vacancy stirs speculation and the phone lines among both Democrats and Republicans have been burning this afternoon since the news of the possible prosecution broke.

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Posted: March 6th, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Bob Menendez | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Broken Promises

By Ernesto Cullari

Ernesto_Cullari_GDA1If Republican Congressmen Chris Smith and Tom MacArthur vote for John Boehner (R-Ohio) to be the Speaker of the 114th Congress then they will both be breaking two foundational campaign promises: the first to defeat Obamacare and the second to end Obama’s policy of Executive Amnesty for Illegal Aliens. If they break either campaign promise both are certain face a mutiny at home by voters in two years.

On the issues of Amnesty and Obamacare, Speaker John Boehner has given Obama’s policies the Congressional stamp of approval. In the $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill that Boehner fought for and passed in December 2014, there were provisions that provided short term funding of Obama’s amnesty program.

Prior to the Republican Congress’s financial support, Obama was on shaky legal ground; however by providing funding for Executive Amnesty Boehner breathed new life into Obama’s strategy. The U.S. Supreme Court in Youngstown, a case dealing with the executive seizure of private property in the absence of congressional approval, established that, “Presidential authority is strongest when acting with the expressed or implied consent of Congress.” Through Boehner Congress has shown consent.

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Posted: January 5th, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Chris Smith, Ernesto Cullari, Opinion | Tags: , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

FDU Poll: 36% of NJ voters approve of Obama, 42% will vote for Booker

photo via facebook

photo via facebook

The political landscape in New Jersey is ripe for a historic shift this November. But a shift in New Jersey’s representation in Washington is not likely to happen because the New Jersey Republican Party is wholly unprepared for the opportunity.  The nincompoops who lead the NJGOP gave up on the U.S. Senate race in January.  They gave up on picking up seats in the Congressional Delegation in 2012 when the new congressional map was drawn.

According to a Fairleigh Dickinson Univeristy Public Mind Poll released this morning, President Barack Obama’s approval rating among New Jersey registered voters is a dismal 36%.  49%, including 21% of Democrats and 45% of Independents, disapprove of the President’s job performance.  Senator Cory Booker is 8 points below the magic number of 50% that an incumbent needs to be comfortable in a reelection race.  Those are the kind of numbers any opposition party/candidate would pray for 8 weeks before an election.

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Posted: September 10th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 2014 Elections, 2014 U.S. Senate race, Cory Booker, Jeff Bell | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

MacArthur counter-punches Lonegan In CD-3

Tom MacArthur

Tom MacArthur

In the race to replace Congressman Jon Runyan as the GOP nominee in the 3rd congressional district (Ocean and Burlington counties) former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan is doing what anyone who has observed New Jersey politics for the last twenty years expected he would do.  He’s attacking his opponent, former Randolph Mayor Tom MacArthur, as a tax and spend RINO who paid for the GOP establishment support.   In the race between carpetbaggers, Lonegan is attacking MacArthur for be a worse carpetbagger.

MacArthur has the support of the Burlington and Ocean GOP machines. Lonegan, who beat Cory Booker in the district in last October’s special U.S. Senate election, has superior name recognition, a PolitickerNJ commissioned poll that gives him a huge lead, and his trademark attention getting rhetoric.

MacArthur counter-attacked Lonegan in a Open Letter last week by calling him desperate, negative, angry, caustic and creepy.  All the things Lonegan’s supporters love about the guy.

MacArthur took particular umbrage to the fact that a Lonegan supporter did some opposition research by visiting the facebook page of MacArthur’s 16 year-old daughter and blogged anonymously about it.

Moreover, I am appalled that you are promoting an anonymous internet blog by a person or organization who has clearly spent a considerable amount of time spying on my 16-year old daughter’s Facebook page in search of an issue to use against her father in a political campaign.

Frankly, Steve, it’s creepy.

 

What salacious dirt did Lonegan’s blogger dig up on MacArthur’s daughter on facebook? She lists herself as a student at Randolph High School which is 90 miles away from the 3rd district.

Posted: April 8th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, Steve Lonegan, Tom MacArthur | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on MacArthur counter-punches Lonegan In CD-3

Lonegan Should Challenge Pallone

Lonegan PC presserSteve Lonegan is not going to win the GOP nomination to replace the retiring Congressman Jon Runyan in New Jersey’s third congressional district.

The party bosses in Ocean and Burlington Counties that comprise the district have settled on endorsing former Randolph Mayor Tom MacArthur.  Ocean County Republicans with the stones to defy Chairman George Gilmore are lining up behind Toms  River Councilman Maurice Hill, a retired Navy rear admiral.  If Lonegan continues to compete for the nomination in the party conventions, he’s likely to come in third in Ocean and second in Burlington.  Lonegan does not have an organization to compete with the Ocean and Burlington Republican organization should he run a primary race against MacArthur.

Lonegan should stop fighting fellow Republicans in Ocean and Burlington and come north to Monmouth and Middlesex where we need his considerable talent.  If Monmouth GOP Chairman John Bennett and Middlesex GOP Chairman Sam Thompson have not been on the phone pleading with Lonegan to take on ObamaCare author Frank Pallone in the 6th Congressional district, they are missing an opportunity.

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Posted: March 4th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, Frank Pallone, Opinion, Steve Lonegan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

Holt Bolts

Rush HoltCongressman Rush Holt announced this afternoon that h.e will not seek a 9th term in the House of Representatives.   In a statement posted on facebook, the rocket scientist/Jeopardy champion said it was a honor to serve and that there are no hidden motives in his decision to retire. “For a variety of reasons, personal and professional, all of them positive and optimistic, the end of this year seems to me to be the right time to step aside and ask the voters to select the next representative.”

Holt couldn’t debate healthcare with Rhoda Chodosh.  He certainly doesn’t want to debate Dr. Alieta Eck this fall.

Holt was a candidate for U.S. Senate for the Democratic nomination in the Special Election to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg last summer, losing then Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the winner of the nomination and the seat, and Congressman Frank Pallone.

Democrats are lining up to compete for the nomination to replace Holt in the 12 district which includes parts of Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Union Counties and is considered a safe Democratic district by most political experts.

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Posted: February 18th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »