Rosi Efthim Posts

"My heart is also in Charleston. These past few weeks and months have been an important reminder that discrimination in many forms is alive and well in America. Progress for some is not progress for all. If we're committed to equality, must be committed to justice for all." - Jim Obergefell

A key Hillary Clinton organizer will be in Atlantic City this weekend to address delegates to the National Federation of Democratic Women at Resorts Casino Saturday night. Adam Parkhomenko was co-founder (with Allida Black) of Ready for Hillary PAC, which spent the two years since Clinton left the State Department collecting donations and emails by the millions and building a social media presence. With the campaign now official, he has the title of Director of Grassroots Engagement.

Newark students are now making their way to McCarter Highway with a plan to send a loud and clear message to Governor Chris Christie!!! #OurNewark

For the past many days, Democrats have been lending their efforts to enrollment events designed to help alert New Jerseyans to the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, which ends on Sunday, Feb. 15th. Many of those events have been regional or targeted to specific parts of the population who may need additional help with the sign-up process.

Yesterday, news leaked out about the Legislative Bridgegate panel's interim report. A few hours later, the other shoe falls heavily:
Multiple sources familiar with the investigation into last year's traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge tell NBC 4 New York at least half a dozen potential federal indictments in connection with the scandal may be handed down as early as January.
Those fac

Somebody in Chris Christie's corner must have convinced him that holding an Ebola-asymptomatic nurse in a hastily-organized and inadequate tent outside a Jersey hospital was probably a political liability. In a reversal from his strongly-worded defense of his decision to trap her in a tent in New Jersey for 21 days, nurse Kaci Hickox will be going home to Maine. She has tested negative for Ebola twice. She has no fever. Let the hysteria along I-95 begin.

A Trenton, New Jersey, mural of Michael Brown, who was shot dead by a white police officer in Ferguson Missouri, has been painted over at the request of local police. Artists from the Sage Coalition painted it two weeks ago.

Five days ago, Christie hit the kind of record that does not presidents make. Washington Post had it: New Jersey's credit rating has been downgraded more under Chris Christie than any other governor. And that was just the seventh time. Wall Street hit New Jersey again yesterday, as both Fitch and Standard & Poor's cited the same kind of issues for their lack of confidence in the state's direction under Christie. Not exactly the kind of record you want to build on.

Like dominos, New Jersey cities are one after the other passing sick day ordinances that would allow all workers to accrue paid time off for illnesses. The 3-5 days a year are a pittance compared to what's available in Europe, but at least it's a start.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie might already have the Garden State in his taillights, but he's left behind a scandal-related mess that he's expecting others to clean up. And that would be the taxpayer. What's even more damning for the governor: the paltry results his legal team filed as a "comprehensive and exhaustive" report.

Chris Christie decided last year to slash the budget, and in so doing stole near a billion dollars from the state's union's pensions. In a decision Monday, Judge Mary Jacobson said that was totally fine (given the budget shortfall, which Christie caused, duh). Unions plan on appealing the ruling.

Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman won the Democratic primary in New Jersey's 12th district. The district leans heavily democratic, leading to the very likely possibility of the state's first ever black woman representative.

It's hard to imagine that a personnel change at the top will make a fundamental difference at Port Authority if the culture of abuse of its authority and resources, directed from the inner offices of the New Jersey governor, continues. But someone has to run the troubled agency, and Gov. Chris Christie just nominated John Degnan — a "Democrat."

"Summaries" of interviews – basically heresy – are being touted by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's lawyer as evidence of his innocence in wake of the George Washington bridge scandal. The interviewees were not held under oath, nor were transcripts of the interviews made available. Flimsy evidence, at the very best.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie seems to have as many scandals regarding misuse of public funds as he's had days in office. On tax day and on the heels of his 119th Town Hall — itself a GOP pep rally paid for with public funds — the good folks of Blue Jersey put together a list of the much maligned governor's lesser known expenditures.

Prominent Iowa Republicans with no ties to Chris Christie, and no family in Jersey, got some soft-sell promotional material cheery Christmas cards signed from the Christies last month. The cards have two big photos of the Christie family basking in the adulation of his victory night crowd, in case you were wondering if the Governor would be tempted to advertise the boffo victory some of Jersey's more cooperative Democrats helped him secure in November.

Prominent Iowa Republicans with no ties to Chris Christie, and no family in Jersey, got some soft-sell promotional material cheery Christmas cards signed from the Christies last month. The cards have two big photos of the Christie family basking in the adulation of his victory night crowd, in case you were wondering if the Governor would be tempted to advertise the boffo victory some of Jersey's more cooperative Democrats helped him secure in November.

The NJ Supreme Court smacked down Governor Chris Christie's attempt to abolish the independent agency COAH. The ruling ensures that a variety of voices are heard in the allocation of housing trust funds.

What happens when a transgendered waitress gets berated by an ignorant customer? The good people of New Jersey stand up and warm our heart.

ESPN inescapable on campus: On ESPN's Outside the Lines show - where the Mike Rice story broke yesterday with video outtakes of his physical and verbal abuse of players, both Sen. Steve Sweeney and Garden State Equality's Troy Stevenson were interviewed. I missed most of both - busy day here. But if you saw it, fill us in in comments, and if I can get the video, I'll post that. Much of ESPN's reporting today has been about the investigation of Rice's coaching behavior, who conducted it and who was contacted for it. ESPN was on campus today, and invited Rutgers officials to join t