Tessa Bitterman, State Senator Barbara Buono’s 23 year old daughter, sent a fundraising email to her mother’s supporters this morning where in she declared she is gay and blasted Governor Chris Christie for vetoing same sex marriage.
Growing up, my mom was always there for me no matter what. I’m gay and from an early age I felt free to express myself with my mother, knowing she would always support me for who I am.
As a gay American I have a stake in what our governor says about marriage equality. And I have been deeply shocked by Chris Christie. As governor, he has been a giant roadblock to New Jersey achieving equality for all. By failing to support marriage equality, Christie is blatantly delegitimizing an entire group of people.
I have also seen Chris Christie misrepresent himself as a moderate to New Jersey – that’s why it’s even more important to stop him before he takes his radical show on the road when he goes national after this election.
Brian Froelich, a Democratic candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder, signaled that he wants to use the Birdsall Engineering scandal as an issue against his incumbent Republican opponents earlier this month when he told NJ.com’s cub reporter Christopher Robbins, “There’s no way that we’re going to out-fundraise a 30-year incumbent institution,” Froelich said. “They may not have Birdsall anymore, but they have a lot more people willing to support incumbents and entrenched leaders.”
If Froelich wants to make an issue of the no longer secret donations that Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso received from Birdsall employees, he will have to first question Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal. Gopal received $1600 in Birdsall funds for his 2012 campaign for Chairman. Gopal’s opponent in that race, Marlboro Councilman Frank LaRocca received $4000.
Kevin McMillian’s name will be above Froelich’s on the ballot in the 11th Legislative District. The Democratic Assembly candidate received a ‘secret’ Birdsall donation of $300 for his 2011 campaign for Neptune Township Committee.
The Star Ledger this morning published a list of the illicit donations throughout the state from Birdsall employees that were reimbursed by the company in a scheme to get around New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws. Both Democrats and Republicans statewide received donations. Of the 1476 illegal campaign contributions made between 2008 and 2012, 761 were made to Democrats. 651 were made to Republicans and 64 are listed as “Other.”
Dr. Alieta Eck is not likely to be a U.S. Senator come October 17. She’s yet to choose a campaign manager for her primary race against Steve Lonegan in the August 13 special primary. She does not have a fundraising base nor the personal wealth to pay for a statewide campaign.
Lots of New Jerseyans lost personal wealth when Jon Corzine was governor. Eck told me she lost $200,000 to Corzine in the MF Global debacle. Fortunately she got $180,000 back, but that won’t fund a statewide primary or general election.
Based upon my interview with her, I don’t think she is quite ready to debate Lonegan, or the eventual Democratic nominee, most likely Cory Booker, on any issue other the healthcare, yet. But that could change. Eck is smart.
The Special Senate Primaries will go forward on August 13 and New Jersey will elect a new U.S. Senator in a Special Election on October 16.
The New Jersey Supreme Court effectively upheld the Appellate Division’s ruling that Governor Christie acted legally in calling for the Special Election yesterday when they declined to hear an appeal of the lower Court’s ruling.
The Special Election had been challenged by Marie Corfield, Joe Grillo and Joseph Danielson. Somerset County Democratic Chairwoman Peg Schaffer was their attorney.
Corfield is a Democratic Assembly candidate from the 16th district (Hunterdon, Middlesex, Mercer and Somerset counties). She lost a special Assembly election to Republican Donna Simon last November. Corfield first came into the public eye when the YouTube video of her exchange with Christie at a 2010 Town Hall meeting went viral.
Grillo is the Executive Director of the Monmouth County Democratic Organization. Danielson is the Chairman of the Franklin Township (Somerset County) Democratic Committee.
The Appellate Division’s ruling can be found here.
Now that she survived Steve Lonegan’s challenge to her petitions, it worth getting to know the political novice who was able to get 2,285 nominating signatures in three days, Dr. Alieta Eck. That was a task that was too much for many seasoned politicians.
From the looks of how the Special Election Senate race is shaping up, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is going to win in a landslide anyway. Booker has a huge lead over Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt in the independent polls for the Democratic nomination. Lonegan is within striking distance of Pallone, Holt and Oliver in the Monmouth University Poll released last Friday, but loses to Booker by 16 points.
The only hope for a Republican to win the Senate seat in October is for someone other than Booker to be the Democratic nominee or for Booker to be badly wounded, politically, in a bloody Democratic primary. That doesn’t look like it is going to happen.
So far, Pallone and Holt are playing nice. Pallone is sending out emails asking people to recruit their friends to ‘Like’ his facebook page and volunteer for his campaign. Holt is posting on facebook asking non-Democrats to change parties in order to vote for him in the primary. If Oliver is doing anything, we haven’t noticed.
No one is mentioning all the shootings in Newark this week, that, if they were happening in Marlboro or Newtown, CT would be making national news. No one is asking Booker for his travel schedule or where he spends his weekends. Pallone tried to make an issue of Booker’s relationship with Governor Chris Christie, but Democrats seem to like Christie more than they like Pallone. No one is making an issue of Booker’s relationship with Wall Street, because Wall Street is investing a ton of money in Newark.
Administrative Law Judge Edward J. Delanoy, Jr rejected the Steve Lonegan for Senate campaign’s challenge to Dr. Alieta Eck’s nominating petitions for the August 13, 2013 Special Republican Senate Primary this afternoon. Barring an appeal by the Lonegan campaign, Eck will be on the primary ballot. Delanoy’s order can be downloaded here.
Dr. Alieta Eck is on the GOP Special Senate Primary Ballot.
At the conclusion of the hearing on the matter yesterday, Lonegan’s attorney, F. Michael Daily, withdrew his challenge based up a failure to collect 1000 signatures from registered Republican or unaffiliated voters, leaving the challenge only to the veracity of Eck’s witnessing of the petitions.
Delanoy found that Eck may have failed to physically witness approximately 50 of the 371 signatures she collected on June 9 at her church in Somerset, but that even if she did not physically witness them, she had a right to cure the defect in her petition books. He further ruled that curing the defect was not necessary because, even if she had not verified all 371 signatures collected at the church, she still had more than the 1000 signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.
Delanoy found that Eck acted in good faith and that Daily presented no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing on Eck’s part.
Lonegan’s spokeswoman, Nachama Soloveichik said, “We had serious concerns about the origin, collection, and notarization of Dr. Eck’s petitions and those concerns continue.”
Soloveichik did not know if Lonegan plans to appeal Delanoy’s ruling. The Star Ledger is reporting that Eck’s attorney Ted Maciag said that Lonegan is appealing the decision to Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, the New Jersey Secretary of State.
There was a Monmouth County twist to Delanoy’s ruling. He cited the case of Scudiery vs. Falzone from 2010 when then Monmouth County Chairman Victor Scudiery challenged Mark Falzone’s primary petitions for a bid against Congressman Frank Pallone.
Hundreds of Monmouth County residents got the hell off the beach this morning to witness Adam Schneider, the Democratic Mayor of Long Branch, endorse Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, for another four year term leading the Garden State.
Guv Chris Christie accepting Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider’s endorsement. Photo by Art Gallagher. Click for larger view.
Christie was swarmed by boardwalk visitors anxious for a photograph and to shake his hand as he exited his vehicle outside of McLoone’s Pier House. It took him 20 minutes to work through the crowd while making the short walk to the veranda for Schneider’s announcement.
Schneider declared that he is a proud Democrat who took the difficult step of making a cross party endorsement because “Christie doesn’t care what national Republicans think, he is working for the people of New Jersey.”
Schneider said mentioned to a Christie staffer, Christopher Stark, that he might vote for the governor at a meeting in January after Christie chastised House Republicans, particularly Speaker John Boehner, for holding up legislation authorizing federal relief for Superstorm Sandy recovery.
“He wrote that down,” Schneider said of Stark, “I knew I would be hearing from the governor. He called from his cell phone, not a government phone number.”
After agreeing to endorse Christie, Schneider called 30-45 of his Democratic friends to give them the news before it became public. “Some were disappointed. Most said, What’s taken you so long?”
Steve Lonegan, the GOP front runner in the August 13 Special U.S. Senate Primary has filed a challenge to the candidacy of his only opponent, Dr. Alieta Eck based allegedly invalid signatures.
Calling Eck a “prospective candidate,” the Lonegan campaign alleged that Eck herself claimed to witness signatures that she did not in fact witness.
Lonegan’s attorney, F. Michael Daily, said in the challenge that “numerous books contain signatures purportedly witnessed by Alieta Eck and investigation has disclosed that contrary to her affirmations she did not witness such signatures.”
Daily, who has been retained by the Lonegan for Senate campaign, also alleged in the objections that other witnesses, some of whom also claimed to have gathered hundreds of signatures, are similarly invalid.
Our friend Matt Rooney at Save Jersey reports that New Jersey’s Superior Court’s Appellate Division ruled that the Special Election for U. S. Senate called by Governor Christie passes legal muster.
Rooney says that an appeal to the State Supreme Court is possible.
Tessa Bitterman, State Senator Barbara Buono’s 23 year old daughter, sent a fundraising email to her mother’s supporters this morning where in she declared she is gay and blasted Governor Chris Christie for vetoing same sex marriage.
