NJ Watchdog: No one protects Christie from himself

State troopers guard Chris Christie as he travels the nation to run for president, yet no one seems able to protect the governor from his own choices.

New Jersey voters overwhelmingly oppose Christie’s practice of sticking taxpayers with the travel bills of the state police escorts who follow him on the political trail, according to a Monmouth University poll.

Only one percent of the voters polled thought the state should pay, while 82 percent said Christie’s campaign should take responsibility for the out-of-state security costs. The same poll found 58 percent of New Jerseyans judged their governor as not honest or trustworthy.

But Christie won’t ask America Leads, his super PAC that has raised $11 million, to pay for extra public expenses created by his political ambitions. He refuses to follow the lead of Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, a fellow governor and rival GOP candidate.

“We’re going to continue to conduct this in the same way I’ve always conducted it,” Christie told reporters in New Hampshire earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the price to state taxpayers is rising sharply, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of documents obtained through the Open Public Records Act.

Last year, the travel costs for the state police’s Executive Protection Unit rose to a record high of $492,420. As chair of the Republican Governors Association, Christie attended events in 36 states to help raise $106 million in campaign contributions for GOP candidates.

Those travel expenses are 22 times higher than the $21,724 spent by EPU in 2009, Jon Corzine’s last year as governor.

EPU travel expenses increased at a rate of 66 percent during the first quarter of 2015, hitting $184,659 as Christie prepared for his White House run. With the formal announcement of his candidacy on June 30, those bills are expected to skyrocket with the frequency and duration of the governor’s trips outside New Jersey.

Instead of transparency, Christie has chosen to closely guard details of how that money is used.

More than $1.1 million in EPU travel costs have been charged to American Express cards issued to the governor’s office – more than 80 percent of the $1.3 million spent since Christie took office in 2010. But the governor's staff has refused to release the Amex statements or other accounts of the expenditures.

New Jersey Watchdog is suing the governor for those records in Mercer County Superior Court – and so far, the case is not going well for Christie.

The Christie administration argued release of the documents might reveal security information – such as the size of the EPU staff and how many troopers typically accompany the governor.

Then in a bizarre turn of events, Christie publicly revealed those supposed secrets to a Cub Scout in April during a town hall meeting in Hasbrouck Heights.

“How many bodyguards do you have?” 7-year-old Charles Tartaglia asked the governor.

“There are 30 men and women who work for me, who are in the state police, and they’re members of what’s called the Executive Protection Unit,” replied Christie.

Christie began his answer to the boy, a member of local Troop 17, by scanning the crowded VFW hall for EPU troopers in attendance.

“I count about six,” said the governor. “I’m not telling you which ones they are, but a subtle hint would be – the guys with the wires in their ears.”

After viewing a clip of the episode on YouTube posted by the governor’s office, Judge Mary C. Jacobson was clearly upset. In previous OPRA cases, she had ruled against release of the expense records, accepting the security arguments of Christie and the state police.

“I’d like to be consistent, but I have to tell you, when I saw that YouTube video, I felt that it completely undermined what I had ruled earlier,” said the judge. “The governor speaks so freely about this, how can I conclude that releasing these details on amount of food and so forth could really in any significant way undermine the governor’s security?”

Jacobson is expected to rule on the case during a hearing scheduled for Aug. 7.

Other expense records have recently embarrassed Christie when publicly released.

In May, New Jersey Watchdog revealed Christie spent more than $82,000 from his state expense account to buy concessions at MetLife Stadium during the 2010 and 2011 football seasons. To avoid a potential scandal, the New Jersey State Republican Committee reimbursed the state for the expenditures.

The story is now online at http://watchdog.org/229458/christie-security/.

Poll: Christie's lead slips 10 points

As we get closer to September people are beginning to pay more attention to Chris Christie and his bid for reelection. According to a new poll released today by Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll, Christie's perceived lead in the race has dropped by 10% from where it was in a similar poll conducted in June.

Christie now leads Barbara Buono among likely voters, 56 percent to 36 percent.  The difference being  36 percent of Democrats backed Christie two months ago, compared with 21 percent now.

I fully expect that as November gets even closer, Democratic support for Christie will drop further and Buono will gain support among Independents to make this a real horse race.

You can read more about this latest poll ..... HERE  

Lautenberg Announces That He Will Not Seek Reelection

The Star Ledger is reporting that U.S Senator Frank Lautenberg will not be seeking reelection in 2014. I suppose that the latest poll from Monmouth University that shows Cory Booker with a 15 point  lead over Frank Lautenberger may have had something to do with his decision not to seek reelection :

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a pugnacious and plain-spoken Democrat who has represented New Jersey for three decades, will not seek re-election to a sixth term next year.

“I am not announcing the end of anything. I am announcing the beginning of a two-year mission to pass new gun safety laws, protect children from toxic chemicals and create more opportunities for working families in New Jersey,” Lautenberg told The Star-Ledger. “While I may not be seeking re-election, there is plenty of work to do before the end of this term and I'm going to keep fighting as hard as ever for the people of New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.”

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg waits for an elevator in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. today following a Democratic leadership luncheon. Lautenberg has decided he will not seek re-election in 2014.

The decision by Lautenberg, 89, who has been giving mixed signals for months, marks the end of a political era in New Jersey and one that is likely to set off a fierce primary battle as Democrats, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker, jockey for the rare open seat.

Lautenberg, who was a successful businessman, has been one of the Senate's most strident liberal voices over an approximately 30-year career, parrying with Democrats and Republicans alike on a broad array of domestic issues.

Read more.... Here 

Winners Gamble and Gopal is Betting on Buono

Last week, Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal was named as one of PolitickerNJ's Winners Of  The Week, for coming out early and endorsing the campaign of Sen. Barbara Buono for governor before South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross III and Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo issued statements of support for Buono.

Monmouth Dems Chairman Vin Gopal

Now in an article posted yesterday on NJ.Com, Gopal is being called a gambler after he "rolled the dice" backing Buono for governor before many other Democratic County Chairmen or party leaders in the state -  who have preferred to wait for some other, higher profiled candidate such as former governor Dick Cody or Congressman Bill Pascrell  step forward.

In explaining why he came out and supported Senator Buono for governor early, instead of waiting for some other candidate to eventually emerge Gopal stated:

“I have a lot of respect for Dick Codey and the other people thinking about running, but our county committee and municipal leaders support Barbara Buono 100 percent, she is still the best candidate, and the greatest contrast, to Governor Christie.

With Barbara Buono, you have a strong, progressive woman who has been Budget chair in Trenton, who has been Majority Leader, who has raised a significant amount of money in a short period of time, and who is overly qualified for this position. Some of the men in the party are a little nervous, but she’s going to attract women voters all over the state. She’s going to connect with working-class families, who are dealing with a 9.6 percent state unemployment rate, the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, and property taxes that continue to go up. She is on the right side of all of these issues, including marriage equality, which the governor vetoed....”

Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murrary also sees Gopal's gamble on Buono as a positive rather than a negative and helps him stake a claim as a  future statewide power broker:

"Even if Dick Codey ran and got the nomination, it’s still not going to come back and bite Vin Gopal that he went out early for Barbara Buono. If Codey runs, wins the nomination, but loses to Chris Christie, it’s probably going to be his last hurrah. The party leaders are going to look beyond that, and nobody is going to hold a grudge against Gopal for not supporting Codey in a primary.

“Gopal has been working almost council seat by council seat to build up the Democratic base in Monmouth County. Now, he’s also making a statement with his support of Barbara Buono – Monmouth County should no longer be ignored by the Democratic power brokers as an afterthought.”

 So, is Gopal's decision to back Senator Buono really such a gamble? I think not. His decision was both  a  bold and smart political move on many levels. It has allowed the Monmouth Dems to have a significant say in defining the values that progressives in the state feel are important for their gubernatorial candidate to have and it focused attention of Party stalwarts Monmouth's way, showing them that Monmouth County, under Gopal's leadership, can't be taken lightly.

Voting machine problems force Middletown, N.J. to use the paper ballot

Nothing like getting your name mentioned ....


by Andrew Lagomarsino - newjerseynewsroom.com 

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. - You can call me Nervous Nellie, but I was always leary and afraid of the computerized vote. Afraid that it might vanish without getting counted.
Well, I got my wish today.

The voting machines in Middletown, N.J., went a bit haywire at my polling place and paper ballots were the norm.

I sensed that this Election Day would be different because New Jersey scrambled to relocate scores of polling places that had become unusable because of power failures, flooding or evacuations.

So I walk into my regular polling location, Thorne Middle School in Port Monmouth, and was given an envelope in which to place a paper ballot that would be hand-counted.

I had to borrow a pen from a voting supervisor, and then proceeded to sit at a table and fill out the ballot. I made sure I was neat as I colored in all the circles for all the candidates I was voting for. Last time I voted like this, I believe, was for class president in high school.
But it got the job done.

"I have been at the Thorne polling location since 6 a.m. this morning acting as a Democratic challenger and to say that there are issues at the polls may be an understatement,” said Mike Morris.

“This voting location at Thorne represents 15 percent of Middletown voting districts (Districts 7,15,17, 26, 27,37 and 46) and I am now hearing about similar issues at most all the Middletown polling places.”

Middletown Township, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, has a total population of 66,522, making it New Jersey’s 16th largest municipality.

For some reason, the voting machines went a bit whacky when one voted on the two ballot questions regarding the higher education bond and judges benefits.

“The machines would register if you voted “yes” on both questions or “no” for each…but if you split and divided your vote, the voting machine had a problem,” added Morris.
Oh, the marvels of modern technology.

“I think it will be a very long night,” Morris deadpanned.

The Monmouth University Polling Institute invites you to…

“A Conversation with…”
prominent national political commentators


The series kicks off with two well-known cable television personalities
who will discuss what’s at stake in this year’s national election.


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Monday, October 1, 7:00 pm – Wilson Hall

A Conversation with … MONICA CROWLEY

Monica Crowley is a host and political and foreign affairs analyst for the Fox News Channel, and the host of the nationally syndicated radio program, The Monica Crowley Show. She has also been a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group and an anchor on MSNBC. She is the author of The New York Times bestseller, What The (Bleep) Just Happened? The Happy Warrior’s Guide to the Great American Comeback. She served as Foreign Policy Assistant to former President Richard Nixon from 1990 until his death in 1994, and wrote two bestsellers about her experiences, Nixon Off the Record and Nixon in Winter. She has also written for the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Newsweek. She holds two Master's degrees and a doctorate from Columbia University.

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Thursday, October 18, 7:00 pm – Wilson Hall

A Conversation with … STEVE KORNACKI

Steve Kornacki is a co-host of MSNBC’s ensemble show The Cycle, which airs weekday afternoons. He is also Salon.com’s senior political writer. Before that, he wrote for the New York Observer and covered Congress for Roll Call. He also spent three years in New Jersey, chronicling the state’s political world for PolitickerNJ.com and co-hosting Power & Politics, a television weekly show on News12 New Jersey. His work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Daily News, New York Post, Boston Globe, Daily Beast and Capital New York. He is a native of Groton, Massachusetts and graduated from Boston University.

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Monmouth University Polling Institute’s “A Conversation with…” series gives students, faculty, and the larger community the opportunity to interact with high-profile political figures from the national stage. The discussions are led by Polling Institute director Patrick Murray, with a period for audience Q & A.

These events are free and open to the public

To RSVP, please contact polling@monmouth.edu or 732-263-5860
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