Just as we predicted at the start of the year, Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik has started his tour of Democratic clubs and committees around the state, not running for governor.
The Star Ledger’sAuditor reports that Hornik spoke to the Warren County Democratic Committee last week, has met with several Democratic County Chairs and plans many other such meetings, not running for governor.
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.”
South Jersey Democratic boss George Norcross invited the “reconfigured power elite” of the state Democratic Party to dinner in Colts Neck last night, according to a report at PolitickerNJ.
Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal was not there; not invited to a high powered Democratic gathering in his county.
Also not present, gubernatorial nominee and head of the party in name only, State Senator Barbara Buono. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, not there. U.S. Senate nominee Cory Booker represented Essex County. Essex County Executive Joseph Divencenzo, who has endorsed Governor Chris Christie for reelection, was not invited.
Gopal would not comment on this story. He said via text that he is traveling and would call back Monday.
Former Monmouth Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery
Former Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery is breaking with the organization he lead for over 20 years by endorsing Newark Mayor Cory Booker over Congressman Frank Pallone in the Special Senate Primary on August 13.
“I was born and raised in Newark,” Scudiery told MMM, “I have great admiration for Mayor Booker and what he has accomplished in the city and with their schools. I believe he is the right person to move up to be our next United States Senator.
“Newark is not an easy city to govern, but they’ve made great strides under Mayor Booker. I am proud to support him.”
Scudiery said that the Monmouth County campaign headquarters of the Booker campaign will open on Thursday in the Airport Plaza Shopping Center which he owns.
NJ Media trips over itself to give the Senate President cover
Photo credit: nomblog.com
Senate President Steve Sweeney referred to Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell, Barbara Buono’s choice to be the new Democratic State Chairman, as “Cryan’s beard” yesterday while condemning the choice as divisive. Buono is the presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee. By tradition the gubernatorial nominee of both parties chooses the state chairman of the party. Cryan is former Democratic State Chairman, Assemblyman Joe Cryan.
“Beard” is a slang term for a person, most often a woman, who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, as a date or spouse to conceal their ‘partner’s’ homosexuality.
Can you imagine the media outcry if Governor Chris Christie or another prominent Republican denounced an advisory as a beard?
NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) is having another tantrum.
The puerile legislator who called Governor Chris Christie a prick over a budget veto and responded to Superstorm Sandy by calling for the elimination of beach badges on the Jersey Shore is upset that he will face competition in November.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) had the audacity to recruit a strong candidate, Niki Trunk, to challenge Sweeney in the 3rd legislative district. Sweeney’s been pissed about that for months, as if he is entitled to being reelected without having to make his case to the voters in November.
Sweeney went off the deep end when he learned that Kean donated $8200 to Trunk’s campaign.
Yesterday Sweeney knocked all Republican sponsored legislation off of the Senate’s agenda. The following bills won’t be heard in committee next week:
S1071, permitting conversion of fines for violation of certain municipal ordinances into tax liens; S1726, requiring municipalities to comply with state audit prior to receiving state aid; S1852, authorizing municipalities to deliver property tax bills, construction permits and receipts for payment via email; S2494, permitting municipalities to use beach fees to improve tourist areas; S2617, properly closing the hazardous Fenimore Landfill; S2618, concerning valuation of properties condemned for dune construction or beach replenishment; and S2457, making discretionary driver’s license suspension for first offense of driving without motor vehicle liability insurance.
Assemblyman Joe Cryan and Senator Barbara Buono. Photo credit: NJ Assembly Democrats
Assemblyman Joseph Cyran, the former Democratic State Chairman, used the computers of his legislative office and computers of the Union County Sheriff’s Office where he is employed as an undersheriff to exchange sexually explicit emails with a woman he repeatedly denied being involved with, according to a New York Post report.
In the emails, which can be viewed here, Cryan and Karen Golding, a former Corzine staffer and a lobbyist, read like cyber foreplay. The couple wrote graphic details, during work hours, of what they will do to each other in coming trysts. Cryan frequently describes his state of arousal and on at least one occassion invited Golding to his legislative office for a sexual encounter on his desk. “Surprise visits are welcome”, Cryan wrote in addition to the specific invitation for the desktop encounter.
The emails are part of a pleading in Morris County Superior Court wherein Golding argues for a sentance reduction for her conviction for stalking Cryan after their relationship ended. The NYPost says that Cryan has fought for years to keep the emails from becoming public.
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.
State Street Wire, the pay sister site of Politickernj, is reporting that Governor Chris Christie said that the controversy State Senator Ray Lesniak is making over former Monmouth County Sheriff Joe Oxley’s nomination as a Superior Court Judge is “just another excuse” by Lesniak and the Democrats not to give Christie’s judicial nominations confirmation hearings.
Lesniak wants the FBI’s files from their investigation into Solomon Dwek’s allegations that Oxley, while sheriff, tipped off the real estate swindler to foreclosures in Monmouth County prior to the information becoming public. Oxley has refused to authorize the release of the files and the Justice Department has declined Lesniak’s appeal that the public interest outweighs Oxley’s privacy.
Christie said that his successor as US Attorney, Paul Fishman, found “no factual basis” in Dwek’s claims.
Christie said he knows first-hand how the data provided by cooperating witnesses can be.
“Sometimes it can be reliable, sometimes it can be fiction,” he said. “I think it’s unfair to put that kind of fiction on the public stream.”
Christie said that the judiciary committee should do its job and hold a confirmation hearing for Oxley.
Oxley has referred requests for comment to the governor’s office.
As a practicing attorney, Oxley could have legitimate reasons, including attorney-client privilege, for refusing to authorize the release of his recorded conversations.
Former Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery was honored by Democratic leaders from throughout New Jersey last week at the annual Democratic Chairman’s Ball. Scudiery retired as chairman if June after 23 years of service.
The following video was shown at the event which occured at Windows on the Water in Sea Bright on Thursday evening September 27:
Just as we predicted at the start of the year, Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik has started his tour of Democratic clubs and committees around the state, not running for governor.
