The List: Who Spent the Most on Lobbying in New Jersey Last Year?

The List: Who Spent the Most on Lobbying in New Jersey Last Year? (via NJSpotlight)

Lobbying is a big business in New Jersey. The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission reports that more than $58 million was spent last year by businesses, organizations, and lobbyists to try to influence lawmakers, the governor, and the general…

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ASBURY PARK MAN CHARGED WITH AUGUST MURDER

NJ Department of Corrections photo

Bryan Burford, 21, of Asbury Park was arrested today and charged with the August 16 murder of Tyrell Howard, 20, also of Asbury Park, according to a statement from Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramicconi.

Burford was also charged with Unlawful Possession of a Firearm and Possession of a Firearm for an Unlawful Purpose.  He is being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. Judge Joseph Oxley set Burford’s bail at $1 million with 10% cash option.

Burford was convicted of Aggravated Assault in April of 2011.  He was released from the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility on May 23 of this year, according to the NJ Department of Corrections.

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Hazlet Municipal Race: Meet the Candidates

Courtesey of John Schneider, JerseyBayShore.com

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Russell and Gopal On The Elections

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D.C. super PAC lashes out at opponents of N.J. Democrats through TV ads

D.C. super PAC lashes out at opponents of N.J. Democrats through TV ads (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Democratic state lawmakers whose seats are in jeopardy this year are aligning themselves with popular Republican Gov. Chris Christie and snubbing their own party’s nominee, Barbara Buono, in TV ads that began airing over the last month…

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Catholic Priests Are Subject To Arrest For Military Ministry During Government Shutdown

Civilian Catholic priests employed by the federal government have been forbidden by the Obama administration from performing their ministries with military personnel during the government shutdown and are subject to arrest even if they do so voluntarily, according to John Schlageter, the General Counsel of the Archdioceses for Military Services, USA.

This morning, the House of Representatives passed a resolution, 400-1, urging Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to allow continued performance of religious services on military installations during the government shutdown.

There is no indication that the Archdiocese will defy the ban on their priests performing religious services. Rather, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio thanked Congressman Doug Collins of Georgia for sponsoring the resolution and urge the U.S. Senate to pass it.

“Military personnel enjoy, like all Americans, the First Amendment guarantee of the ‘Free Exercise’ of religion, Broglio said, “In the current political climate, however, nothing can be taken for granted. I am grateful to Representative Collins and the many other House members who recognized the importance of passing this resolution, which reflects the seriousness with which the American people take their Free Exercise rights. It can only be hoped that the members of the US Senate will act decisively in order to favor the same First Amendment rights.”

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Obama Closes The Ocean

It’s not just the WWII Memorial that the Obama administration is spending money on to enforce the shutdown.

The National Park Service informed Florida charter boat captains that the 1100 square mile Florida Bay is closed and that they are prohibited from taking anglers into those federal waters.

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Storms and Fires Aren’t the Only Disasters Our Governor Has Led Us Through

By Assembly Declan O’Scanlon

While storms and fires can’t be ignored or missed as we go through the motions of our daily lives, one of the biggest threats to the well-being of our state was silently ignored – or even enhanced – by the folks supposedly in charge for the 8 years preceding Governor Christie’s election.  When Governor Christie took office our state was on the precipice of insolvency.  Governor Corzine and the folks leading the legislature – Barbara Buono amongst them – continued, either blindly or incompetently, to steer us toward utter disaster.  Some of you public workers still upset over the pension and benefits reforms that helped to dramatically turn our outlook around?  Get real.  The only alternative would have been huge, economy-strangling tax increases, or insolvency.  You don’t want to imagine the negative impact on your pensions – or our state’s economy – had that outcome become reality.

Yet that is exactly the outcome Governor Corzine and the Democrat legislative leadership were opting for.  Barbara Buono herself voted against the unquestionably necessary Christie administration reforms that have helped save our state.  She was also the Senate Budget Chairperson that authored resoundingly irresponsible budget after budget during the Corzine era – digging the hole deeper every step of the way.

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Booker, Lonegan call each other ‘extreme’ during first U.S. Senate debate

Booker, Lonegan call each other ‘extreme’ during first U.S. Senate debate (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Democrat Cory Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan repeatedly pegged each other as “extreme” during a heated U.S. Senate debate this afternoon. In the first of two televised debate between the candidates — who are running in New Jersey’…

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Will the Senate Debates Determine the Election?

In a column on RollCall yesterday, Washington pundit Stu Rothenberg chastised conservative websites that are excited about Steve Lonegan’s internal poll numbers  suggesting his race to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg is in single digits.

“Watch the people who matter, not the folks who don’t,” Rothenberg wrote.

In New Jersey, Patrick Murray matters.  The Executive Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, Murray told Capitol Quickies’ Bob Jordon that the debates could be decisive.

 If Cory Booker tries to give the impression he’s above all this, he might up end up being on the short end of the debate because that would play into the impression that people are starting to get, which is that Booker is not fully engaged in this campaign and that he’s looking ahead to his national career.’’

Lonegan and Booker debate first this afternoon at 1PM at ABC’s Trenton Bureau.  The debate will be live streamed here and broadcast on 6ABC (Philadelphia market) on Sunday, October 6 at 9:30 am and on 7ABC in the New York market at 11am.  Noticias Univision 41 will air the debate in Spanish on Friday, October 11 at 11pm.

The second and final debate between Booker and Lonegan will be on  Wednesday, October 9 at Rowan University in Glassboro.

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