Tom Kean Jr.’s payback: NJ Senators who opposed him removed from leadership (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. has purged his leadership ranks of two men who attempted to oust him last year. Kean (R-Union) announced the Senate Republicans’ leadership team in a press release today. Absent from the list were…
Four New Jersey Tea Party groups and a Southern California Tea Party group joined forces today in warning national Republicans not to nominate a moderate for president in 2016. In their joint statement released this morning, the Bayshore Tea Party Group, the East Jersey Tea Party Group, the NJ TEA Party Caucus and the Ventura County Tea Party from California claimed credit for the 2008 and 2012 electoral victories on President Barack Obama and promised more of the same if a moderate or liberal Republican is nominated in 2016.
In the event a moderate or liberal republican is nominated by the GOP in 2016, the Tea Party groups that joined together in this statement, have pledged to refuse any support for that nominee and urge all concerned Americans who believe in liberty, prosperity, smaller government and fiscal responsibility, to join them in their action. Other groups throughout the nation are expected to join within the weeks and months to come.
A moderate Republican will result in the continuation of lower Conservative Republican voter turnout that began in the late 1990’s and was a significant contributor to Republican Presidential loses in 2008 and 2012.
Bayshore Tea Party Group Co-founder Barbara Gonzalez said the groups have polled their members and found that the majority will not support a Republican nominee who does not pass their litmus tests. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 10th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2016 Presidential Politics, Barbara Gonzalez, Bayshore Tea Party Group | Tags: 2016 Presidential politics, Barbara Gonzalez, Bayshore Tea Party Group, East Jersey Tea Party, Highlands, NJ TEA Party Caucus, President Barack Obama, Skip Ross, Tea Party, The Sand Witch Shop, Ventura County Tea Party | 13 Comments »Monmouth GOP has its pants on the ground
Larry Luttrell and Joe Grillo. Photo via facebook
Their nominating convention is not until March 22 at the IBEW Local 400 union hall in Wall Township, but Monmouth County Democratic freeholder candidates Larry Luttrell and Joe Grillo are off and running full speed ahead.
Luttrell, the Holmdel attorney who came in last against Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso, as well as his running mate Brian Froelich, after being endorsed by the Asbury Park Press last year, announced he was running again almost immediately after his sad showing.
Grillo is the former Executive Director of the Monmouth Democrats and the municipal chairman of the Asbury Park Democrats. Like Luttrell, he has never held elected office. Grillo was briefly a candidate for the Asbury Park City Council last year, withdrawing from the race prior to the filing deadline. Since leaving his position as ED of the Monmouth Dems, Grillo has worked for his family’s tile company in Howell.
Grillo stepped up his game over the weekend with a fundraising email blast that announced his candidacy. He raised $6,200 online through Sunday. A Democrat who does not want to be known for talking to a Republican leaning site told MMM that Grillo has raised over $20,000 for his campaign including checks collected offline. His stated goal is to raise $50,000 by the June 3rd primary.
Posted: March 10th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 Elections, Monmouth County, Monmouth Democrats, Monmouth GOP | Tags: Andrew Lucas, Bayshore Tea Party Group, Bob Walsh, Burke Farm, Gary Rich, Joe Grillo, John Bennett, Larry Luttrell, Lillian Burry, Lucas Farm Deal, Monmouth Democrats, Monmouth Dems, Monmouth GOP, Monmouth Republicans, Peter Burnham, primary, Vin Gopal | 3 Comments »
Property tax battle: Deadline looms on expiration of key law (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — Mayors say a group with an obscure and achingly bureaucratic name has been the most important tool in slowing the growth of New Jersey’s property taxes, the highest in the nation. For the last three years, arbitrators who decide contract…
State Aid to New Jersey Municipalities Frozen for Third Consecutive Year (via NJSpotlight)
New Jersey municipalities would see no increase in state aid for the third year in a row under the $34.4 billion budget proposed last week by Gov. Chris Christie. While the $1.5 billion being distributed is better than the aid cuts municipalities had…
Immigrants in the country illegally could legally drive in NJ under bill (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — A new effort is underway in the state Legislature to allow unauthorized immigrants to legally drive in New Jersey, setting up what could be the next state debate over immigration policy. Under the measure, New Jersey would be required to…
Essex County authorities’ mistake puts innocent man in jail for 27 days (via NJ.com)
Our story begins one evening six years ago, when Omar Sullivan opened an envelope from Essex County authorities and slowly read the document inside with rising terror. He’d had his share of parking tickets and moving violations, but this notice was…
Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal just can’t help himself from practicing the “politics of yesterday,” as Governor Chris Christie said of him last year.
Friday evening on the Political Roundtable segment of the NJTV News with Mike Schneider, Gopal reacted to the news that the federal government had cleared Christie Administration of any errors or wrong doing with the AshBrit contract for cleaning up much of New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy by sticking to the Democratic/Star Ledger talking points. “The bigger issue is,” Gopal said, “why was so much money wasted in the process?” “Costs were higher,” he said, without saying higher than what. Certainly they were not higher than what the Army Corp of Engineers charged New York for their clean up.
What Gopal didn’t say is that he was busy helping AshBrit get business in the aftermath of Superstrom Sandy.
Click here to read an email Gopal sent me three weeks after Sandy hit asking for my help in introducing AshBrit’s agent, Laura Matos of M Public Affairs, a veteran of the Corzine administration, to Highlands Mayor Frank Nolan.
GOP political consultant Chris Russell joked on the segment that he was waiting for apologies from all the Democrats who criticized Christie over the AshBrit contract. Gopal should have apologized on the spot, especially since he was an active participant in recruiting municipalities to sign with the clean up company.
I don’t know if Gopal got paid for helping AshBrit get business but it is a safe bet that Matos and her fellow Corzine administration veterans at M Public Affairs did. Vin should ask Matos why the AshBrit contract cost so much.
I didn’t get paid. Nolan had Highlands almost entirely cleaned up without AshBrit before Vin reached out to me.
Posted: March 7th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Chris Christie, Christie Administration, Frank Nolan, Superstorm Sandy, Vin Gopal | Tags: AshBrit, Chris Christie, Chris Russell, Christie Administration, Frank Nolan, Highlands, Laura Matos, M Public Affairs, Mike Schneider, NJTV, Superstorm Sandy, Vin Gopal | 4 Comments »
The race for Senate: Another Republican declines to run against Booker (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — Yet another Republican has declined to seek the party nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker in November. Chris Isola, a marine veteran who had the backing of powerful Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore, said today…
Christie broke no rules in awarding no-bid Sandy contract, audit finds (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — A federal audit released today concludes that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration did not violate any rules in awarding a no-bid contract to a politically connected company to haul away debris left by Hurricane Sandy. But the audit by the…
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