Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, left, and Governor Chris Christie, on the Belmar boardwalk last summer. Freeholder Director John Curley, the the background, right, will not be challenged by Doherty this November.
Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, a Democrat, told MMM that he will not be a candidate for Freeholder this year.
“John Curley is doing a good job. He was the right choice to be Director,” Doherty said in a phone interview, ” as a mayor, I find John to be very responsive. He acts without regard to partisanship.”
Doherty is not aware of any Democratic candidates in the field for Freeholder.
Regarding the race for the Monmouth County Democratic Chairmanship, Doherty said he thought either candidate, Frank “LaHornica” LaRocca or Vin Gopal, would do a good job. “What those guys ( LaRocca and Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornick) did to win control of Marlboro is impressive. But Vin is really hustling and I know him better.”
“charged with ‘manufacturing’ 17 marijuana plants that he used to treat his Multiple Sclerosis. Wilson faced 20 years in state prison for this crime. At trial, Superior Court Judge Robert Reed would not let the jury hear the reason that Wilson grew the marijuana plants, essentially removing Wilson’s only defense.“
Senator Raymond Lesniak, who was a chief proponent of New Jersey’s medical marijuana law, had this appeal to Gov. Chris Christie:
“I am disappointed by the recent decision of the Supreme Court to deny the appeal of John Ray Wilson. He was merely trying to alleviate the symptoms of a dreadfully painful and regressive disease. It is unconscionable that this Friday he will be behind bars. Three years ago, I called on Gov. Corzine to commute the sentence of Mr. Wilson. After inaction with the last governor, I was hopeful Gov. Christie would better understand the unfair reality of this situation. Unfortunately, Gov. Christie has been just like Corzine, refusing to use his and only his power to make things right when the true intentions of the law were misapplied. (Ironically) before John Ray Wilson completes his prison sentence, the State of NJ will have its medical marijuana program up and running, and Mr. Wilson may likely be using medical marijuana behind bars or the prescription pain killers he couldn’t afford, paid for by the state’s taxpayers. Governor Christie should commute his sentence immediately.”
Chris Goldstein from the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in NJ wonders,”how many more seriously ill residents are we going to send to prison? We call on Governor Chris Christie to demonstrate his compassion for qualifying medical marijuana patients and his commitment to a new stance on non-violent drug offenders by issuing a pardon for John Ray Wilson.”
In a widely published OpEd piece, Rob Eichmann, the GOP State Committeeman from Gloucester County, questioned why the the State Legislature’s Democratic leadership has made gay marriage their top priority of the year.
Assembly Minority Conference Leader Dave Rible says the Democrats putting the issue on the front burner is a “slap in the face to the guy on the unemployment line.”
Both men have a point.
Garden State Equality, the gay rights organization behind the push for same sex marriage, boasts of 86,000 members on its website. That makes them, they say, the largest civil rights organization in the state.
That 86,000 number is questionable.
Steve Goldstein, Chair and CEO of the GSE, told MMM that they consider any person who takes two affirmative actions for equality to be a member. How they track that, he wouldn’t say. I’m pretty sure they consider me a member. Goldstein was aware that I signed up for their email list this week. I told him that I noticed that shortly after I signed up that the the number changed from 85,000 to 86,000. “I promise you, Art, we’re not counting you as 1,000 members.”
Goldstein finally acknowledged, sort of, that the membership claim is based upon a combination of their email list of 70,000 plus the 17,200 facebook friends they have, less a fudge factor to eliminate overlaps. Given that there is a facebook plug in on the GSE page, the fudge factor should probably be more than 1,200.
Even if GSE’s membership numbers were accurate, they would be representing less that 1% of New Jersey’s population.
The number of same sex couples who have committed to each other in the form of civil unions is a more reliable indicator of just how big this “civil rights” problem is.
According to Daniel Emmer, spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, 5,790 couples have been joined in civil unions since 2007 when the legislation designating the unions become effective. That’s 11,580 people, statewide, that this issue impacts directly, if we generously assume that none of those unions have been dissolved by divorce. Do they call it divorce?
One might conclude that Goldstein’s political skills are remarkable. He has managed to make his small, be it 11,580 or 86,000 people, constituency’s concern the top priority of our state government during a time when our economy is anemic, municipal governments are making significant changes to balance their budgets and our urban schools are not educating their students. Unemployment and foreclosures are not our top priority. Another generation of minority students are not getting educated, and Steve Goldstein has managed to make same sex marriage the most important issue of the State Legislature.
Or has he?
Goldstein has been played by the Democrats before. Jon Corzine, while he was governor got Goldstein to agree to back off the same sex marriage issue during the 2008 presidential election cycle and the 2009 gubernatiorial election cycle. Corzine made passionate speeches before gay audiences about how important their rights were. He was blowing smoke.
Are the Democratic leaders of the legislature playing Goldstein again? I think they are.
The Democrats and their special interest donors want nothing to do with Governor Christie’s agenda for this year. They want to raise taxes, not lower them. They don’t want to reform education. They don’t want to reform the civil service system so that municipalities can lower their costs and taxes.
The Democrats don’t want Christie to be an effective spokesman for Mitt Romney, especially if Romney wins the GOP presidential nomination.
That’s what this is about for the Democratic leadership. Avoiding Christie’s agenda and changing the public conversation. It’s not about civil rights and benefits for Goldstein’s small constituency.
Whether or not it’s really about civil rights for Goldstein and GSE is another question which will be the subject of a future post.
Same sex marriage will not become law in New Jersey this year by way of legislation or referendum.
Governor Chris Christie assured the Marriage Equality and Religious Excemption Act will not become law when he announced that he will veto it. He was always going to veto it. Yet, his call to put the question on the ballot for the voters to decide assured that it will not pass in the legislature with a veto proof majority, if it passes at all. Legislators, from both parties who are in difficult positions personally and politically over the issue now have cover not to vote to pass the bill.
Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver assured the marriage equality question will not be on the ballot as a State constitutional amendment this fall. A constitutional amendment requires 60% approval in the legislature before it goes to the people in a referendum. Sweeney and Oliver have both said that they will not even allow the referendum question come before their chambers for a vote. They say its a civil rights issue that should not be subject to the whims of the majority. David Duke, the Klan and the Jim Crow south have been invoked in the heated rhetoric in response to Christie’s call for a referendum.
All the noble rhetoric on this issue, from both sides, is political theatrics. Presidential and gubernatorial political theatrics. It has been since 2008.
Governor Corzine asked the gay community not to push for marriage equality during the presidential election year of 2008 or the gubernatorial election year of 2009. Corzine couldn’t get it gay marriage passed in the lame duck legislative session of 2009. Had Corzine been reelected, a same sex marriage bill, without protections for the religious community included in the current bill, likely would have become law early in 2010.
Despite their holier-than-though rhetoric about civil rights, and despite Quinnipiac’s poll showing that a majority New Jersey voters favor same sex marriage, Sweeney and Oliver really oppose putting the question on the ballot this fall because they fear it will bring out conservative voters in large margins. They fear that New Jersey’s 14 electoral votes could be at stake and that the congressional delegation could be at risk. They remember what happened in California (of all places) and Ohio when gay marriage was on the ballot.
Christie remembers California and Ohio too. Once again the great compromiser as outmaneuvered the Democrats and made Steve Sweeney curse. He knows that Sweeney and Oliver would never let the question on the ballot, this year of all years. Yet by calling for a referendum, he has killed the legislation’s chances of passing with a veto proof majority, if at all.
It’s back to court, and to the confirmation hearings for Chrisite’s nominees for the State Supreme Court, for Steve Goldstein and Garden State Equality.
Or, if what the gay community really wants if equal rights and benefits, rather than changing the definition of marriage, Goldstein and GSE could put their considerable skill into making the civil union law work. Quinnipiac says 69% of New Jersey voters support the same sex civil union law. The problem has been that Goldstein and GSE don’t support it. That will be the subject of a follow up post.
The Marriage Equality and Religious Exceptions Act passed the New Jersey Senate Judiciary committee this afternoon on a partisan 8-4 vote. Democrats Nicholas Scutari, Nia Gill, Nellie Pou, Paul Sarlo, Brain Stack, Loretta Weinberg, and Joe Vitale voted for the bill. Republicans Kip Bateman, Michael Doherty, Joe Kyrillos and Kevin O’Toole voted no.
While at a Town Hall meeting in Bridgewater, Governor Chris Christie called for putting the question on the ballot in November. Back in Trenton, Senate President Stephen Sweeney quickly rejected Christie’s call for a referendum, calling it a civil rights issue that should be decided by the legislature, not the people.
Former Governor Jon Corzine’s Public Advocate, Richard Chen, said that Women’s Suffrage was on the New Jersey ballot in 1915 and was defeated, passing only in Ocean County.
Yes, there was a GOP presidential debate last night. Mitt Romney tried to go after Newt Gingrich. Gingrich brushed off the shots, calling them lies, and referred the national audience to his website for his rebuttals.
The entertainment value has been on the under-card; the battle among the front runners’ surrogates. Chris Christie called Newt Gingrich an “embarrassment to the party” and an “influence peddler.” Sarah Palin responded by calling Christie a “rookie” with his “panties in a wad.”
Palin went on during her appearance on Fox Business to call Christie an embarrassment, citing his use of a State Police helicopter to attend his son’s baseball game last June.
Christie doesn’t think much of Palin. He kept her out of his 2009 gubernatorial campaign and let it be known to 2010 Republican congressional candidates that she was not welcome in New Jersey if the GOP candidates wanted his help on the trail.
But Christie can’t restrict Palin on the national stage and he can’t respond to her in-kind. Gender sensibilities prohibit Christie from commenting on Palin’s underwear or taking another personal shot at her. A woman can get away with taking a shot like that against a man, but not the other way around. Palin, and Gingrich, know that.
For his own political future, and for his present role as a Romney surrogate, Christie needs to come up with a way to neutralise counter-punches coming from Palin. He needs to do so in a way that increases his standing with both women and men, while diminishing Palin’s.
Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre was nominated by Governor Christie today to become the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The nomination requires the advice and consent of the State Senate.
Halfacre, who is expected to resign as Fair Haven’s mayor and from his prosecutor jobs in Rumson and Little Silver, is replacing Jerry Fischer who has held the ABC job since 2000.
Halfacre will be leading the 50 person division which regulates nearly 10,000 liquor licensees throughout New Jersey. The division is charged with implementing the new law that allows New Jersey wineries to ship their products to out of state customers on a limited basis and that allows out of state wineries to ship into New Jersey.
When reached for comment, Halfacre said to pull his ad. He referred all other questions to the Governor’s office.
Nominees Bring Experience, Distinctive Career Paths and the Highest Integrity to New Jersey’s State Supreme Court
Trenton, NJ – GovernorChris Christie today made two historic nominations to the New Jersey State Supreme Court with Bruce A. Harris, Mayor of Chatham, a lawyer with over 20 years of legal experience, and Phillip H. Kwon, First Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Law and Public Safety and former Deputy Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division. Both Harris and Kwon will not only bring accomplished and respected legal careers and records of service to the state’s highest court, but also a historic level of diversity to the membership of the Court.
“I am extraordinarily proud to announce these two historic nominations to the New Jersey State Supreme Court. Bruce and Phil are each accomplished and talented individuals with skilled legal minds who are highly respected in the legal community. Just as importantly, each of them has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to serving their state and communities,” said Governor Chris Christie.
“Additionally, not only do their different backgrounds and career paths bring distinctive and important perspectives to the Supreme Court, Bruce and Phil also capture our state’s diversity in a way never before seen in the history of the Court,” continued Governor Christie.
Today’s nominations build upon Governor Christie’s commitment to diversity on the courts in four historic ways. Bruce Harris will become the third African-American to serve on the State Supreme Court and the first openly gay member of the Court. Phil Kwon will become the first Asian-American to serve on the Supreme Court and the first immigrant to serve since the 1947 Constitution created the Court. Furthermore, Justice Anne Paterson, nominated by Governor Christie and confirmed, created the first female majority in the history of the Supreme Court, one of only five in the nation.
“Today is an important and historic symbol for New Jersey and our country. I am proud to be nominating two legal professionals who not only have a passion for this state and a dedication to the legal system, but also capture New Jersey’s great diversity,” concluded Governor Christie.
Bruce Harris is a lawyer with over 20 years of legal experience, most recently working at the law firm of Greenberg Traurig and previously at Riker, Danzi, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti. His work has focused primarily on issues of public finance and commercial lending. Harris graduated magna cum lade from Amherst College and graduated with honors from Boston University Graduate School of Management and Yale Law School.
Harris has a long record of service to his town and community, including his recent election as Mayor of Chatham Borough and previously service as a member of the Chatham Borough Council. He has served on the Chatham Environmental Commission, the Chatham Historic Preservation Commission, and on the boards of the UMDNJ Foundation and the New Jersey Health Foundation.
Phillip Kwon currently serves as First Assistant Attorney General where he has been the principal legal and strategic adviser to the Attorney General. Previously, he served New Jersey as part of the United States Attorney’s Office as the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, the Chief of the Violent Crimes Unit and the Assistant US Attorney of both the Special Prosecutions Division and the Criminal Division. In that capacity, he was the lead prosecutor on a diverse range of federal crimes and public corruption matters, in addition to taking on cases against some of New Jersey’s most notorious and violent groups, such as the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings.
Kwon graduated from Georgetown University and from Rutgers Law School where he was an editor of the Law Review.
Both nominations are subject to Senate confirmation. In an agreement reached last May to end the impasse over the nomination of Justice Anne Patterson, Senate President Sweeney promised an expedited confirmation process for these nominations, with an appropriate review process and up-or-down vote taking place in time for each to be seated by March of this year.
·Senator Sweeney: “The Governor has a couple of nominations come March of next year and one of the things I hope the Governor keeps in mind is racial diversity of the courts. We need to make sure we have a racially diverse court that looks like the state of New Jersey but there’s a commitment from me to move the nominations come March also.” (Senator Steven Sweeney, Press Availability, 5/2011)
Governor Chris Christie went on Meet the Press this morning and called Newt Gingrich an embarrassment to the Republican party.
“I think Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party over time,” Christie said. “Whether he’ll do it again in the future I don’t know, but Gov. Romney never has.”
“We all know the record, I mean he was run out of the speakership by his own party, he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. This is a guy that’s had a very difficult political career at times and has been an embarrassment to the party. I don’t need to regale the country with the entire list again … but sometimes, past is prologue.”
What do you think MMM readers? Is Newt Gingrich an embarrassment to the Republican party or will Governor Christie being singing a different tune come August?
Same sex marriage will not become law in New Jersey this year by way of legislation or referendum.
Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre was nominated by Governor Christie today to become the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.