Your State

Democratic endorsements don't scale much higher than POTUS. From a statement released this morning by the Jerramiah Healy campaign, the quote from President Obama:

To continue moving America forward, we need more leaders like my friend, Jerry Healy. He's made Jersey City a vital engine for economic growth, innovation and opportunity. Mayor Healy is also one of the leading voices on urban sustainability and getting illegal guns off our streets. I enthusiastically endorse Mayor Jerramiah Healy to keep the progress going in Jersey City.

Sometimes loyalty is

He is the star product of George Norcross' stable of South Jersey Democratic politicians, and a key reason why many in South Jersey feel better represented in Congress than before 1990, before him. A popular congressman, who received more vote

There have been a couple of posts on Blue Jersey lately (here and here) regarding Governor Christie's plan to privatize the state lottery and ship jobs out of New Jersey. It's hard to understand the governor's motivation since the state lottery is one of the few revenue streams that are meeting projections. Today, I interviewed Seth Hahn, the Legislative and Political Director of CWA, to learn

That was the testimony of Jacob Rudolph, a young man who underwent gay conversion "therapy" when he was a minor.

Today, the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee heard three hours of testimony concerning a bill sponsored by Senators Lesniak, Sweeney, and Weinberg (and co-sponsored by Senator Buono) that would protect minors by prohibiting counseling attempts to change sexual orientation - so-called "gay conversion therapy."

The panel heard compelling stories from gay individuals who have been traumatized as children when forced to undergo these conversion attem

Prodded by the right wing truth-challenged propaganda machine, the mainstream media are relentlessly looking for a smoking gun in the dealings of Senator Robert Menendez. Now that the prostitution allegation has been shown to be a false sensationalistic report promulgated by the Breitbart Bunch, the media have shifted their attention to campaign contributions and a grand jury investigation, implying that Senator Menendez granted a quid pro quo to a longtime friend, ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen.

Melgen is not only a contributor to Menendez, but also has given money to many other politician

It never ends with Chris Christie, who like so many in the GOP wants to open more and more government function to privatization and tycoon opportunism. CWA began running this ad this week, charging that Christie's lottery plan would outsource work to foreign corporations, put even more New Jerseyans out of work and hurt small, local businesses. In a state where the famous governor distracts voters with his carefully crafted Jersey guy act and more TV exposure than Snooki, will this really fly in a state with the 4th-highest unemployment in the USA?

Republican Gov. Chris Christie has been asked to apologize for referring to the first black female leader of the state Assembly by race and gender, not by name, during a church-hosted meeting. Christie, who's white, told an audience Tuesday that an "African-American female speaker of the Assembly" is blocking a vote on a school voucher bill that would let children in failing districts attend classes elsewhere.

Democratic Speaker Sheila Oliver later said she was "appalled" that Christie injected race into the discussion on education. Oliver, who represents a district with some failing schools, has said she believes the state should make a larger investment in public education.

The flap comes at an inopportune time for Christie, who has been courting the black and Latino vote for his re-election bid in November.

The conference speaker list is a who's who of possible 2016 Republican presidential contenders: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, among them.

Star Ledger gets all snarky on Senator Joe Kyrillos and the Republicans who can't stand people questioning our King, Chris Christie.

Here's what Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) said after Friday's hearing by the joint oversight committee: "There are some who, in their relentless campaign to criticize the governor, will even politicize a natural disaster. That is perhaps the most important lesson from today's political theater, and it is disgraceful."

Really? Pardon our skepticis

ICYMI, a Marlboro man snapped a great shot of the Rutgers campus from the air that has been getting a lot of shares the last few days. We talk a lot about Rutgers here, and several of our writers are deeply connected to the school. I'll post this for them, and for all the people who defended Rutgers in some of the misguided merger proposals of last year, cheer on the (rather well-funded) sports programs, and are walking into the wo

Paterson kids need books - can you help?

Best wishes to Albio Sires, recovering from surgery.

Christie, making himself a media sensation - on your dime

Christie's branding of town halls costs taxpayers.

2013

Today, a joint legislative committee heard testimony from Randal Perkins, the CEO of AshBritt. That's the company that has close GOP ties and was awarded a no-bid cleanup contract immediately after Hurricane Sandy by the Christie administration.

Perkins is a smooth operator, able to disagree without sounding disagreeable, often complementing the investigators, and able to evade direct answers when he so chooses. At times, this was one of the most contentious hearings I've been to - at least when the Democrats were questioning him. Republicans threw softball questions and accused the Democra