Bill Orr Posts

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) yesterday in a Blue Jersey post, Transparency & The NJSE, raised six important questions about the abrupt closure of the Meadowlands Izod Center Arena. She has good reason for her concerns. She is seeking answers and is known for her persistence and success.

It seems inevitable that the Republicans will take control of the U. S. Senate in January, but not at a veto-proof level. Republicans will retain control of the House and add some compatriots but not reach the veto-proof level. The House could hardly get more dysfunctional. With so many close races, all results may not be known for days or even months. So assuming that the inevitable comes to fruition, what will that mean for the country in the coming years?

There has been a lot of speculation that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will resign as early as February next year. Senate President Steve Sweeney recently said, he has "no idea" whether Christie will leave office early, but his guess is Christie will leave before the next budget has to be passed in June 2015. So what would happen next?

Compared to William Livingstone, the first governor of the state of New Jersey in 1776, Chris Christie is a far cry from what the founders intended, with powers well beyond what the state constitution had ever envisioned.

New Jersey is in the earliest stages of its 2015 fiscal budget, but a lot can be told from the excerpts released last night in anticipation of Gov. Chris Christie's address today. The main take: "We are sacrificing university research, support for K-12 education, funding for the environment and energy and infrastructure of all kinds on the altar of these three things: pensions, health, and debt."

It's an ongoing war, but the next battle over the Supreme Court begins with NJ Gov. Christie's decision whether to grant Chief Justice Stuart Rabner (a Democrat) tenure. There are three scenarios facing Christie in his pursuit of a super-majority on the state's high court, all of which are dissected beyond the fold.

This fund was started by Governor Christie whose name early on successfully garnered large donations from politically connected donors, including Hess and AT&T. Direction of the fund, rather than being turned over to a non-profit professional, was entrusted to his wife Mary Pat Christie, as Board Chair.

This fund was started by Governor Christie whose name early on successfully garnered large donations from politically connected donors, including Hess and AT&T. Direction of the fund, rather than being turned over to a non-profit professional, was entrusted to his wife Mary Pat Christie, as Board Chair.

Newly minted U.S. Senator for the state of New Jersey Jeff Chiesa has acted according to GOP protocol after being appointed by Gov. Christie to replace the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg last week. His term is up in four months after October's special election, but could he be headed towards the state's Supreme Court next?

The main bill provides $17 billion in relief to rebuild infrastructure directly destroyed by Sandy. An amendment made would add another $33.7 billion to prepare for a future storm - for a total of $50.7 billion.

An interview article in today's Star-Ledger with Mary Pat Christie indicates that the embryonic Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund is taking steps to create a credentialed and more robust organization. The interview addresses concerns about the fund raised in three Blue Jersey diaries, particularly, Think Twice Before Donating to Christie's Hurricane NJ Relief Fund, as we...

In the wake of instantly launching on November 3 the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund (HSNJRF), Governor Christie and his wife, who serves as Chair of the fund, appear to be on shaky legal ground and to have created a foundation which is not advisable, which is rife with potential conflicts of interest, and which need not provide much transparency.
Legal Status

The legal status of this organization remains in question regarding both State and Federal law.

As we rapidly approach elections, SuperPac's keep spending money in support or opposition of NJ candidates. There has been only one new local House poll this past week, and we have seen only small and not statistically significant changes in the presidential election race, with Obama continuing ahead of Romney in NJ.
We may lack the most closely contested, hottest local races in the country, but SuperPAC's are still spending money for and against NJ candidates. Just in the last two months alone, according to Federal Election C...

Polls - love them or hate them - are here to stay. Polls may be statistically significant ("outside the margin of error") or statistically not significant (within the margin of error). Often people calculate statistical significance as twice the reported margin of error of the poll.

There are other factors to consider: how recent was the poll, how large was the sample size, does the pollster have a reputation for bias, and are there other polls with which to compare it. If there are more than two candidates in the race or a substantial number of undecided respondents the results may be confounding.

Governor Christie's economic/jobs policies have resulted in NJ now having the 47th highest unemployment rate, a decrease in last year's GDP of half a percent, a disastrous home forecloure rate, numerous warnings and downgrades from rating agencies, a precipitous decline in public sector jobs, and very slow gain in private sector jobs. His policies have failed. This is all the more serious when one considers the steep increases required next year in pension costs, transportation borrowing, already-approved business tax cuts, and the mor...

Super PACs, introduced in 2010 and officially known as "independent-expenditure only committees," unlike traditional PACs, can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals. They are supposed to operate and spend their funds independently from the candidate(s) they support (or in some cases oppose).
PAC's, super PACs, corporate donors, and other committees are growing in importance bringing with them outside influence, huge sums, secretive donors, and stealthy moves.  The casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is just one individual who from far away Las Vegas is buying influence in two New Jersey political campaigns.

Many of the 09/30/2012 congressional candidate reports to the Federal Elections Commission are now available. The reports cover the 2011-2012 election cycle. The reports at this juncture are one indication of the likely winner in most races.
Congressional Districts in which the opponent has reported spending less than $80,000 - an insufficient sum to launch a successful campaign against an incumbent

 CD 01  Likely winner: Incumbent Democrat Robert E. Andrews

 CD 02  Likely winne...

For the first three months of the State's fiscal year the Treasury Department reported today that its revenue collections were $175 million (4%) below budget. It recorded a meager increase of 1.9% above the same quarter last year.
Our governor continues to maintain his record of inaccurate and over-optimistic revenue projections. And he is the person who is responsible for certifying state revenue figures to be used in each year's budget.
Thinking that possibly Christie consults a poor quality fo...

Earlier this week, Governor Christie crudely referred to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll as "crap." The poll revealed 47% of respondents say it is time for someone new as governor while 44 percent would re-elect him. That was  not to his liking. Now another Rutgers-Eagleton poll indicates:
 57% support the US Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Af...

A Princeton professor, a N. J. former student, a N. J. Assemblyman, and minister/activist who used to live in NJ weigh in on today's U. S. Supreme Court hearing on affirmative action in admission to public universities. The last such case was in 2003, when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the majority opinion allowing race to be considered in admission decisions, as one factor among many. She has since left the court. Today's NY Times indicates the decisive vote will al...