Christie's Push For Education
by David Matthau
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here for David Matthau's report

On his first full day as the Governor-elect of the Garden State, Chris Christie made his first public appearance at a Newark charter school.

After touring the Robert Treat Academy, he said other than tax and budget issues in Jersey, "the next most important issue to me is fixing our urban education system…this is a model that we should replicate all over the State of New Jersey - everywhere - and there's no reason it cannot be replicated."

Robert Treat, which has an 11 month school year, has some of the highest test scores in the State…and a long waiting list of families who want to enroll their children

He said "it is an obscenity in this State that we are spending so much money on failure, when success is right in front of our face - I am not going to continue to allow urban children to be failed and cheated by failing public schools…if you think I'm kidding about this issue, then you haven't learned a thing over the last 8 years - we are going to get our arms around this and we're going to fix it…this administration is going to be about what works - and I don't care who comes up with the idea."

Beware The Lame Duck
by Martin DiCaro
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Lawmakers and advocates on Wednesday said they expect the Legislature to renew work on legalizing same-sex marriage in New Jersey before the so-called "lame-duck" session expires at year's end.

While the make-up of the Legislature will be nearly entirely the same next year after Tuesday's election, the difference in Trenton will be at the governor's desk. Outgoing Democrat Jon Corzine has said he would sign a gay marriage bill into law. Gay rights advocates said Governor-elect Chris Christie would not.

"I'll certainly request that the Speaker post it," said State Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D), referring to his same-sex marriage proposal. "It's still up to the Speaker, and he has said it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."

The chairman of the largest gay rights group in New Jersey said he's confident the Legislature will deliver.

"I'm just one activist among thousands of activists in New Jersey, so it's not like I have some sort of inside information,' said Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality. "But the governor and legislators have said they would work very hard to pass marriage equality in 2009 and we're confident that's what they are going to do."

Goldstein said it is unfair to criticize the Legislature as "lame duck" when lawmakers are required to serve out the rest of their term and deal with unfinished business in the post-election session.

Opponents of same-sex marriage vowed to fight any measure.

"If in fact it does pass and Governor Corzine does sign it into law, the only option we would have after that would be a state constitutional amendment," said Len Deo, the president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council. He said some Democratic lawmakers may be hesitant to go along with the legislation after Mr. Corzine's defeat Tuesday.

Christie Wins
by David Matthau
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here for Christie's acceptance speech Part 1 | Part 2

Click here for David Matthau's report

After losing his big lead in the polls in the final week of the campaign, republican Chris Christie came storming all the way back to win a convincing victory over incumbent Governor Jon Corzine last night...in the real race that counted.

After thanking his family and friends, Christie told an adoring crowd of supporters that over the next four years "I promise you one thing- that we will restore your hope, and your faith and your trust in New Jersey."

The Governor-elect also said " we need to make New Jersey more affordable and we need to do it now…starting tomorrow we are going to pick Trenton up, and we're going to turn it upside down."

Christie also promised that "we are going to take back New Jersey for our families, our friends and our neighbors."

Tough Road Ahead For Christie
by David Matthau
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

During his victory speech last night in Parsippany, Governor-elect Chris Christie acknowledged it's going to take everyone working together - republicans and democrats - to solve the State's problems.

Jersey is facing an 8 to 10 billion dollar budget deficit next year.

"Kim and will do it without regard to party or politics" he said, "we will do it without regard to what section of the state you are from, your race or your ethnicity…because New Jersey's problems are too big to conduct the petty politics of yesterday."

He also said "no matter whose idea it is, if it's a good one, Kim and I will figure out how to get it done."

The Governor-elect also said " I beg you, lets turn the page, lets put the petty politics of the past behind us and lets start a new era of hope, and optimism in New Jersey….the campaign we just went through will seem easy compared to the tasks that lie ahead of us."

Dems Retain Control Of Assembly
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Democrats will retain control of the New Jersey Assembly.

Being arrested for corruption didn't stop Democratic Assemblyman
Anthony Chiappone from winning re-election in his Hudson County
District.

In south Jersey's District 9, DiAnne Gove and fellow GOP incumbent Brian Rumpf won. Gove was appointed to replace Daniel Van Pelt, who resigned following his arrest on corruption charges.

Democrat James Beach bested Republican Joseph Adolf for the
Senate seat in Camden County's 6th District.

In Republican-leaning District 23, the GOP's Michael Doherty handily beat Democrat Harvey Baron for Leonard Lance's Senate seat in Hunterdon and Warren counties.

Democrat Donald Norcross, the brother of powerbroker George Norcross, and Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes easily won over Republicans.

A ballot question allowing the state to
borrow $400 million for open space preservation has passed, despite
worries over the economy and the state's debt load. New Jersey
voters have never turned down a Green Acres funding measure.

Corzine Concedes
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Click here for for Corzine's concession speech

Click here for Kevin's report

It's now official. Following his crushing defeat yesterday at the hands of Republican challenger Chris Christie, Jon Corzine is now formally a one-term Governor. Christie is the first Republican to win statewide office in the Garden State in a dozen years.

Corzine was magnanimous in his concession speech shortly before 11pm last night. He congratulated Chrsitie adding, "I want you to know that Chris was gracious in his response and we will work hard together to make sure the transition is smooth."

The kind words come after months during which Corzine and Christie traded barbs, insult and accusations.

"To the citizens of this great state, this is a moment where there is some little sadness I must say, but I must tell you, I have never been more honored than I have been to have a chance to serve," said Corzine. "To be the Governor of this great state has been a joy that I never, ever could have imagined. It's been a tough time, but it has been one where we're making a difference in people's lives and I'm proud of my administration."

So, what's next for Corzine now? In his concession speech he vowed to keep fighting for progressive goals, but he did not get very specific.

"There are lots of things that are on the people's agenda……I'm telling you, there's a bright future head for New Jersey if we stay focused on the things that matter in people's lives," said Corzine. "I guarantee you that I'm going to do that for the rest of my live working with all of you for the things that matter."

The defeated Governor did not talk about some potential hot-button lame duck issues like same-sex marriage. He has promised to sign the bill into law if and when it reaches his desk.

Corzine did talk about topics he had discussed throughout the campaign. He said, "It is important that we fight for health care. It is important that we make sure our children get the kind of education that I know New Jerseyans want. It is important that we fight for collective bargaining and the rights of labor and to work forward and other things."

Corzine will remain in office until mid-January which gives him plenty of time to work on those "other things."

---

Daggett Finishes Far Behind
by The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Click here for Martin DiCaro's report

Click here and hear Daggett on "shock jocks"

Independent gubernatorial candidate
Chris Daggett has conceded in the race to be governor of New
Jersey.

With two-thirds of the state's precincts reporting results, he had about 5 percent of the vote.

That was a far worse showing than a poll in October, which showed him getting up to 20 percent.

The former state and federal environmental protection official
picked up steam last month after he released a plan for reducing
property taxes.

He said he would stand behind the winner, telling his supporters
"the problems that face this state are significant."

Down To The Wire
by Kevin McArdle
Monday, November 2, 2009

Tomorrow, they will elect their next Governor and New Jersey voters are still clearly divided.

A new Quinnipiac poll out this morning gives Republican challenger Christopher Christie 42 percent to Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's 40 points, with 12 percent for independent candidate Christopher Daggett. Six percent remain undecided.

The latest Monmouth University-Gannett New Jersey suggests the only sure bet is that the winner will be either a Republican or a Democrat.

Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute says, "We see Republican challenger Chris Christie holding an insignificant lead over incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine 43%-42%........The story over the last couple of weeks has been that (Independent) Chris Daggett really has faded. He's now at 8% after reaching 14% in our poll in mid-October."

Republican voters give 86% support to their party's nominee, compared to 6% for Corzine and 5% for Daggett. Democratic voters give 77% support to their party's nominee, compared to 11% for Christie and 9% for Daggett.

"This election will be defined by turnout like few others before it," explains Murray. "Many Democrats are sitting on the sidelines and not considered to be likely voters at this point. They may be unenthusiastic about their governor, but can they be prodded to the polls for other reasons? If not, Christie may eke out the win,"

Murray feels a key dynamic in this race has been the vacillations of independent voters. The GOP nominee Christie now garners a 51% majority with this important voting bloc compared to just 29% for Democrat Corzine. The major shift is a drop in Daggett's support from 22% of independent voters two weeks ago to just 10% in the current poll. Murray says, "Independent voters are simply unhappy with the job Governor Corzine has done over the past four years. After a brief flirtation with Daggett's candidacy, many seem to have returned to Christie as their best chance for change."

73% of New Jersey voters say that Corzine has unfairly attacked Chris Christie. A smaller majority of 54% say Christie has done the same against the Governor. Independents are more likely to say that Corzine (78%) rather than Christie (46%) has launched unfair assaults. Unsurprisingly, Republicans agree, with 82% saying Corzine has attacked unfairly and 37% saying the same about Christie. On the other hand, Democratic voters are equally as likely to blame both Corzine (62%) and Christie (68%) for unfair attacks in this campaign.

"Political operatives live by the mantra that negative ads work," says Murray. "That may be true, but there is also a tipping point where too many negative ads can backfire. Perhaps we have reached that point in this race."

Corzine's job performance rating stands at 35% approve to 55% disapprove among likely voters, including an anemic 21% to 69% among independents. His personal rating stands at 39% favorable to 49% unfavorable, which has been fairly stable since July. The Republican's ratings, though, have rebounded from the steady slide they experienced throughout the year. Currently, voter opinion of Christie stands at 44% favorable to 36% unfavorable. It had dipped to 40% favorable to 41% unfavorable in mid-October.

Daggett's personal rating is now 22% favorable to 22% unfavorable, which is less positive than the 28% to 15% rating he held two weeks ago. A majority (56%) of likely voters still say they don't know enough to form an opinion about him. The shift in voter opinion of Daggett is particularly pronounced among Republicans, going from a net positive 29% to 15% in mid-October to a net negative 18% to 30% in the current poll. Murray says, "It seems that a good number of Republicans have gone from seeing Daggett as a credible candidate to an unwelcome spoiler."

Voters going to the polls on November 3rd will also be asked to approve a $400 million bond measure to fund Green Acres, water supply and flood plain protection, farmland and historic preservation projects, as well as park improvements. Just 16% have heard a lot about this public question and 43% have heard a little. 41% of likely voters have heard nothing about the bond issue they will be asked to vote on.

Currently, just over half (51%) of likely voters indicate they will support the bond, while 28% will definitely vote against it and 21% are undecided or won't vote on the question. The text of the public question and interpretive statement on the ballot mentions the word debt only once. Just 35% of voters say they know that the measure would require new state borrowing. 16% actually think that there will be no debt involved and 49% say they have no idea. After being informed that the $400 million program would require additional state borrowing, support for the bond drops to 30% in the poll.

"Past polling on public bond referenda suggests that most undecided voters will fall into the 'no' camp on Election Day," explains Murray. "At only 51 percent support, this bond issue could be in trouble, especially if voters link the word 'bond' with 'debt.' It may be fortunate for proponents of this measure that most voters don't."

The poll was conducted by telephone with 1,041 New Jersey likely voters from October 28 to 30, 2009. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.0 percent.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Tuning Out The Race
by David Matthau
Monday, October 4, 2009

With only one day left before the general election, the candidates for Governor are making one final push to attract voters - but it seems most Jersey residents have tuned the race out.

An informal Millennium Radio News poll finds the vast majority of shoppers at supermarkets and malls all over the Garden State say they're not paying attention to the race, because they're not interested in politics."

"I don't really follow it' said one man shrugging, "they all make promises and then nobody delivers."

Another shopper said she wasn't paying attention, because she had already made her choice "for the Kingdom of God".

A man standing nearbuy said "I don't think any of them pay any taxes - nothing - what a crazy world this is, I'm fed up with it!"

The polls open at 6 a.m. tomorrow, and election coverage on Millennium Radio begins at 7 tomorrow evening.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

The Final Push For Votes
by the Associated Press
Sunday, October 1, 2009

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris
Christie will continue a grueling schedule of rallies and diner visits with just two days left before New Jersey voters cast their ballots.

He's capping off Sunday's events with a get-out-the-vote rally in Republican-heavy Toms River.

Christie is not getting the same kind of celebrity endorsements as Gov. Jon Corzine, the Democratic incumbent who was to appear twice Sunday with President Barack Obama.

Christie, though, has been joined lately by several prominent New Jersey Republicans and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. And on Saturday, he stood with former primary rival Steve Lonegan at one event.

Polls show Christie and Corizne running neck-and-neck, with Independent Chris Daggett a distant third.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine says he has no plans to increase tolls or lease toll roads.

After an event Friday morning in Hudson County, Corzine said
"No toll increases, no leasing. Off the table. Not gonna happen."
The New York Times reported Friday that Corzine would consider
reviving an unpopular plan to lease the New Jersey Turnpike to
raise money for the cash-strapped Garden State. Corzine says that
was a mischaracterization of his position.

He says what he meant is that he may generate revenue by allowing advertising on some Turnpike properties, such as rest stops. He says it also could include leasing the rights of way for commercial development.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Poll: Too Close To Call
by Kevin McArdle
Friday, October 30, 2009

Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie continue to be locked in a tight battle in the race for New Jersey Governor, with Corzine holding a lead among likely voters by margin of 44% to 43%. Another 6% volunteer they will vote for independent Chris Daggett and 4% are undecided. These are the findings in the latest poll out today by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind.

Peter Woolley, a political scientist and director of the poll calls Corzine's lead, "a statistically insignificant thread," and adds, "At this point, anyone who says their vote doesn't count is mistaken and no one knows that better than the campaigns."

"The governor is struggling against a tide of discontent," says Woolley, "and if his base weren't so large to begin with, he might be sunk." 83% of democrats approve of the job President Obama is doing, but just 3 of 5 Democrats (62%) approve of the job Governor Corzine is doing, while 3 of 4 Democrats (76%) say they've made up their mind to vote for the governor, a key number unchanged from early October. Meanwhile, among likely voters, just 1 in 5 say the state is on the right track compared to 68% who say it's on the wrong track: 37% approve of the job the governor is doing, while 52% disapprove. Just 39% of voters say their opinion of the governor is favorable, against 54% who have an unfavorable opinion, including 1 in 4 Democrats (26%).

41% of voters have a favorable view of the Republican opponent compared to 44% who have an unfavorable view. Christie leads Corzine 42%-35% on the question of which candidate better understands the concerns of the average person, but the candidates tie on the question of which is more trustworthy, and Corzine leads easily, 48%-33%, on the question of which candidate has the background and experience to be a good governor. Woolley explains, "These measures suggest that, while voters are dissatisfied with Corzine, they're not convinced that the challenger could do better."

Daggett has increased his name recognition to 82% but wins few hearts or minds. Just 18% say they haven't heard of him now, compared to 50% who a month ago said they did not know him, but even now 31% say they have no opinion of him, and 28% have a favorable view of him, while 23% have an unfavorable view.

When Daggett's name is read in an interview along with Jon Corzine's and Chris Christie's names, he gets 14% of the vote, drawing slightly more Democrats than Republicans, while Christie edges Corzine in a statistical tie, 41%-39%. But when the name of another independent candidate is read-the obscure Gary Steele-Steele gets 3% of the vote, draws off slightly more Republicans than Democrats, and Corzine beats Christie 46%-41%.

Woolley says if current Daggett supporters decide not to vote for him that doesn't mean they'll switch to either Christie or Corzine. "People have other options. They have the option of staying home and they have the option of voting for any of the other nine candidates by the way," says Woolley. He admits it's impossible to tell how Daggett's supporters will really vote, "In many ways this is just unprecedented to have somebody mucking up the race like this."

More than half of voters (55%) say they think Corzine will win the election, but most Republicans aren't conceding: Half of Republicans (49%) say Christie will win and 15% say they don't know who will pull this one out.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 694 likely voters statewide was conducted by telephone from Oct. 22, 2009, through Oct. 28, 2009, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Daggett Pressured To Drop Out
by The Associated Press
Thursday, October 29, 2009

Chris Daggett

Click here to read more about Christy Mihos

The independent candidate running for governor in New Jersey says a Massachusetts Republican has urged
him to quit the race.

Chris Daggett says he's received two phone calls and an e-mail
from Christy Mihos, who warned that Daggett would be blamed if Republican Chris Christie loses a bid to unseat Democrat Jon Corzine.

Mihos ran for governor of Massachusetts as an independent in 2006 and is planning to challenge to Gov. Deval Patrick in 2010 as a Republican.

New Jersey Republicans are worried Daggett will pull enough votes from Christie to hand a second term to Corzine. Mihos spokesman Kevin Sowyrda interested in the New Jersey race because it features a like-minded fiscal conservative in Christie.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Assembly Seats Up For Grabs Too
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, October 29, 2009

All 80 seats in the General Assembly are up for grabs on Election Day and that just might be New Jersey's best kept secret. The lack of enthusiasm for the Governor's race seems to be translating into zero interest in the Assembly races.

"In New Jersey this year if you listen to people who describe races and so on they say that maybe there are three districts where they think there is real competition," says Ingrid Reed with the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics. "The voters all lose because they don't see the candidates debating. They probably do get some literature in their mailboxes from the incumbents."

The lack of competition in the 40 legislative districts is not unique to this year. It happens every year. After the U.S. Census every ten years the lines are redrawn in an undertaking called re-districting and that is set to happen next year, but don't expect things to change very much.

Fairleigh Dickinson University political science professor Peter Woolley says although the panel which decides where to draw the lines is thought to be non-partisan, "Magically, all the lines usually come out in very similar ways and produce very safe seats…….This means the guys who hold those districts can run again and again and again and every time count on a very strong party vote."

Reed says another reason there is little interest in the Assembly races is because, "Voters feel that recently the races have been so one-sided that this election looks like it will be the same and they don't know anything about the candidates……..You really should be having incumbents, even if they're elected by 30% or 40% of the vote as some are, explain to you what they're going to do next."

Partisan re-districting is not going away says Woolley, "This is probably one of the most significant problems for American democracy, not just in New Jersey, but all over the place (and) the people in charge of fixing that problem are themselves the parties and that's a problem that they happen to like."

Heading Down The Home Stretch
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

We're heading down the homestretch in New Jersey's race for Governor with Election Day exactly one week from today. It is commonplace in politics for campaigns to hold on to negative news and leak it as an "October surprise." This particularly true in close races like the one we have here. Most recent polls show Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie in a statistical dead heat. Independent Chris Daggett polls in the double-digits, but remains far behind the two major party candidates.

John Weingart, associate director of the Rutgers' Eagleton Institute of Politics says the three leading candidates are likely to spend the next week getting as much media exposure as possible, but they also have to find a way to reach the voters directly.

"The strategy for Corzine and Christie is to focus on Election Day and having as many people and as organized an operation as possible to get out voters. It seems likely that turnout will be fairly low this year," explains Weingart. "For Daggett the focus will be trying to build the message that he can so that people who are attracted to him will not decide that they're throwing their vote away."

Will there be game-changing October surprise? Weingart says, "I would doubt it. I mean there could be some events that are outside their (the candidates') control that have some kind of impact on the race, but I think it's sufficiently hard to communicate to the voters………If they have a new policy to unveil they would have done that before. Perhaps there is some further negative attacks that will emerge that we haven't heard before."

Daggett: Christie Won't Win
by the Associated Press
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The independent candidate running for New
Jersey governor has made a bold prediction: Republican challenger
Chris Christie will not win.

Chris Daggett believes he'll pull the upset victory on Nov. 3. If he doesn't, he says Jon Corzine will win re-election.

He tells The Associated Press, "It's either going to be Jon Corzine or me." Dagget says Christie's campaign "has gone backward since June."

Once ahead by double-digits in independent polls, Christie has
seen his lead steadily evaporate. Latest polls have Corzine and
Christie about even, with Daggett and Corzine gaining momentum.
Daggett believes there's enough voter discontent to propel him over the finish line first. He's been critical of "politics as usual" by both major parties.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Tired Of The Negativity
by David Matthau
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

If you're getting sick and tired of those negative attack ads from Jon Corzine and Chris Christie, you're not alone.

Most Jersey residents says they've had just about all they can take.

The Corzine commercials paint Christie as a lying, right-wing reactionary who's extremely overweight and cannot be trusted - especially behind the wheel - while the Christie ads portray Corzine as a dark, out-of-touch, odd-ball ogre who seems to enjoy raising taxes and causing economic misery.

Patrick Murray, the Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, says this has been one of the nastiest races ever, and certainly the dirtiest Gubernatorial contest in State history, "because it's just been negative attacks from the beginning, and has rarely strayed from that…it will certainly go down as one of the most infamous elections that we've had here in New Jersey, because it's so important, and yet it's just been so negative."

He adds "the upshot of all this is that everybody's been focused on the amount of money that's been spent on these negative ads, and not on the issues that are important to New Jersey."

The election takes place one week from today.

Poor Choice Of Words
by the Associated Press
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Gov. Jon Corzine says it might have been a "good idea" to use different wording in a campaign commercial criticized by some as a cheap shot at his Republican opponent's girth.

The ad accused Chris Christie of "throwing his weight around" to get out of traffic citations while he was New Jersey's top
federal prosecutor. It included unflattering images of Christie struggling to exit an SUV.

Appearing Monday on CNN's "The Situation Room," Corzine said the choice of words may have distracted viewers from the real issue: abuse of power.

Christie has acknowledged that he's struggled with his weight
throughout his adult

Chris Daggett with Jim Gearhart Independent candidate Chris Daggett joined Jim Gearhart in-studio on Monday, October 26. Segment 1 | Segment 2 | Segment 3 | Segment 4 | Segment 5

Decoding The Importance Of Turnout
by Kevin McArdle
Monday, October 26, 2009

Political pundits are always trying to gauge the importance of voter turnout. They talk about which candidate is helped by huge amounts of people heading to the polls and which candidates are harmed. They also talk about the same outcomes when turnout is light as it is expected to be this year in an off-year election. One political expert says it's not about how many people vote, it's about who they decide to vote for.

New Jersey is home to one of only two gubernatorial elections this year. Virginia has the other. Recent polls now show incumbent Democrat Governor Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie in a statistical dead heat. Independent Chris Daggett is far behind. All 80 seats in the General Assembly are also up for grabs one week from tomorrow.

When it comes to the Governor's race, Fairleigh Dickinson University-Public Mind poll director Peter Woolley says, "Anywhere they have the big edge in Republican registration, the GOP is going to focus on getting turnout maximized in those areas……..The Corzine campaign and the State Democratic Party not only have more money than everybody else, but the organization really has a lot more coverage."

"You want to say, 'Oh well turnout helps this person or that person, but underneath the general turnout everybody is trying to turn out the people who are going to help them," explains Woolley. "In a close election like this one everybody is thinking not about turnout in general. They're thinking about who is going to turn out for them."

Woolley says Daggett is likely hoping that whoever turns out is also turned off by the two major parties.

Obama Returns To Stump For Corzine
by the Associated Press
Monday, October 24, 2009

President Barack Obama will soon return to New Jersey to help boost Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign.

The Nov. 1 visit -- two days before voters go to the polls ---- will include rallies in Camden and Newark, the governor's campaign announced Saturday. It will be Obama's third campaign appearance
for his fellow Democrat and his second in recent weeks.

Obama spoke at an Oct. 21 rally at Fairleigh Dickinson University and also campaigned for Corzine in July, when he drew a boisterous crowd of thousands who waited outdoors for hours in the
summer heat to hear him speak at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

Corzine trailed Republican Chris Christie in the early stages of the campaign, but recent polls show the race about even.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Rolling Out The Endorsements
by the Associated Press
Monday, October 26, 2009

Five more New Jersey newspapers have made their endorsements in the state's gubernatorial race.

In editorials published Sunday, Republican challenger Chris Christie earned the support of The Press of Atlantic City, the Asbury Park Press and the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine won the backing of The Times
of Trenton and The Record of Bergen County.

Corzine has previously been endorsed by The New York Times and
The Philadelphia Inquirer, while the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick and the Courier News of Bridgewater have backed Christie.

The Star-Ledger of Newark, the state's largest newspaper, gave
its endorsement to Independent Chris Daggett.

Corzine Takes The Lead In New Poll
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Down by double digits just weeks ago, Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine now leads Republican challenger Chris Christie for the first time in their five-month slugfest, on top 43 - 38% among likely voters. That's according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released today. Independent candidate Christopher Daggett has 13%, with 5% undecided.

Exactly two weeks in Quinnipiac's last poll showed a 41 - 40% Christie lead, with 14% for Daggett. Only 12% of Christie voters and 19% of Corzine backers say they might change their mind.

"You could see it coming," says poll director Mickey Carroll. "Governor. Jon Corzine's numbers crept steadily up and Christopher Christie's steadily shrank and now, for the first time, we have Corzine ahead, but don't be in a hurry to mark this election as over. Christopher Daggett changed it from 'ABC' (Anybody But Corzine) to a real three-way scrap, but a lot of Daggett's voters say they might change their minds by Election Day. Where will they go?"

Among Daggett supporters, 38% say they might change their mind: 43% say Christie is their second choice, while 27% say Corzine is number two. "Can Daggett win? More than two-thirds of New Jerseyans don't think so," adds Carroll.

New Jersey voters disapprove 54 - 39% of the job Corzine is doing, still negative, but his best overall approval rating in months. Independent voters disapprove 68 - 29 percent. By a slim margin of 46-44%, voters say that Corzine is honest and trustworthy, his best 'honesty' score in months and the first time the score has been positive this year. These same voters split on Christie, with 37% saying he is honest and trustworthy and 39% saying he is not. This is Christie's worst score on this question.

"The drumbeat of denunciation has dropped Christie down to Corzine's negative level in the favorable-unfavorable match and it's produced a reversal on 'honest and trustworthy.' Corzine comes out plus; Christie tips to a minus," says Carroll. "Everyone says negative advertising is bad, but everybody watches it. Virtually every New Jersey voter has seen the Corzine and Christie ads and most think that they're more annoying than informative."

Property taxes will go up if Corzine is elected, 60% of voters say, while 2% say they will go down and 34% say they will stay the same. If Christie is elected, property taxes will go up, 37% of voters say, while 12% say they will go down and 44% say they will stay the same.

Of the 90% of New Jersey voters who have seen Corzine's TV ads: 14% say the ads make them more likely to vote for the Governor; 31% say less likely; 54% say the ads won't affect their vote; 66% find the ads annoying; and 29% say the ads are informative.

Of the 86% of New Jersey voters who have seen Christie's TV ads: 17% say the ads make them more likely to vote for the challenger; 28% say less likely; 53% say the ads won't affect their vote; 58% find the ads annoying; and 35% say the ads are informative.

From October 20 - 26, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,267 New Jersey likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Contrasting Campaign Strategies
by David Matthau
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

As the race for Governor in Jersey winds down, the campaigns of the two front-runners are markedly different.

Governor Corzine attended an upscale fundraiser at a fancy banquet hall with former President Bill Clinton, while republican challenger Chris Christie stumped for votes at a North Haledon retirement home.

After delivering a speech about slashing State spending and cutting taxes, Christie said "I'm campaigning in real New Jersey - I'm talking to the folks that I believe are going to be the ones that decide this election."

When asked if it's tough for him to compete for attention when democratic superstars like Clinton show up to campaign with the Governor, Christie replied "I don't think I'm struggling for attention - look at all of you people!...in the end, people are going to decide who's better to lead this State over the next 4 years - me or Jon Corzine - and I think that when they get down to making that decision, we're in very, very good shape."

So what's his final week campaign strategy?

"I think I just have to be myself" said Christie, "and let the voters continue to get to know me."

Christie and his Lut. Governor running-mate Kim Guadagno kick off a Statewide, 81-stop "Countdown to Change" bus tour today in Ocean County - that will last until Election Day next Tuesday.

Candidates Take On Property Taxes In Final Debate
by Kevin McArdle
Friday, October 23, 2009

Last night, the three candidates for Governor took part in the last debate before Election Day on Newark jazz radio station WBGO. Republican Chris Christie, Democratic Incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine and Independent Chris Daggett were asked about program cuts, the state's economy, the environment, corruption, arts funding, school funding and the duties of their Lt. Governor running mates. The three restated the cases they've been making for months.

The number-one issue in the state also came up as expected. The candidates were asked not only what they would do to lower property taxes, but how much they pay and if they think the property tax burden is too high.

Corzine says he pays about $36,000 in property taxes a year. He said, "It is a high burden. Not for Jon Corzine as much as it is for a lot of folks that struggle with property taxes in this state." The Governor says he's expanded a program that freezes the property taxes of some senior citizens and that has slowed the growth of the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes the last two years.

There's now a 4 percent gap on property tax increases for local governments and school boards. Corzine said he would lower it further if needed. He also said he would restore property tax rebates to households earning up to $250,000. "We already have a cap on property tax levies at a local level," the Governor said. "We have to keep looking for every possible consolidation and reduction in costs." Corzine did cut state rebates to more than 1 million taxpayers and the average bill has now passed $7,000.

Christie says he pays $38,000 annually in property taxes and, "It is an awful burden for everybody in New Jersey because we are the highest property taxed state in America." He pledged to restore property tax rebates and to make cutting other taxes a priority. He said that he would build his state budgets in a new way -- and no program would get an automatic exemption from cuts, but he admitted, "It is not going to be a program that's going to be fixed with a silver bullet."

Daggett, a former state and federal environmental protection official, continued to push a plan that would change the tax system. He wants to extend the sales tax to more services and use the extra revenue mostly to slash local property taxes. He said Corzine "led our state to near fiscal ruin," and Christie is running "a campaign that's without substance and lacking in intellectual integrity." Daggett says he pays $18,000 a year in property taxes.

The debate also turned to corruption on the day former Bergen County Democratic chairman Joseph Ferriero was found guilty of conspiracy and mail fraud. Christie, who as U.S. Attorney oversaw Ferriero's indictment, blamed Corzine for enabling him by donating $400,000 to the Bergen County party organization. Corzine said he stood up to Ferriero and called Christie's accusation "just a joke."

Daggett said both of the other candidates use money to skirt fair political practices: Corzine by spending so much of his fortunes on politics and Christie because his brother donated $200,000 to the Republican Governors Association, which is running television ads attacking Corzine and Daggett.

Was there a clear winner or loser in the debate? Fairleigh Dickinson University political scientist Peter Woolley says, "Nobody won or lost here, but I think some interesting differences emerged. In the debate they stuck to the issues……. On the other hand every question was a softball and the three guys came with their fungo bats and just hit the ball hard"

"They all said what they wanted to say and Corzine really stuck to reciting his own record which he's had a lot of practice at," explains Woolley, " Chris Christie kept hitting on the unemployment record comparing it to Pennsylvania. He hit constantly on the business climate…….Chris Daggett was really the aggressor in this debate. He attacked constantly and he attacked the other candidates much more frequently than either of the other candidates attacked each other."

The race, one of only two governor's seats in the nation to be filled this year, looks very close. Recent polls have showed Christie and Corzine statistically tied. A Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released yesterday showed Daggett with his most support so far: 20 percent.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Obama Campaigns For Corzine
by David Matthau
Thursday, October 22, 2009

After attending rallies with Vice President Biden and former President Clinton earlier this week, Governor Corzine welcomed President Barack Obama to the Garden State last night.

Speaking before an energized crowd of 35 hundred democratic supporters on the FDU campus in Hackensack, the Chief Executive praised Corzine as "a true leader - the first Governor in this country to pass a recovery plan to get this economy moving in this State…this is a Governor who's provided more property tax relief than any Governor in New Jersey's history - this is the first Governor in 60 years who has reduced the size of government."

The President also said "Jon Corzine is a serious man, and he is serious about solving the problems of New Jersey…support the guy who's fighting for you…your voice can change this election, don't give up, don't lose heart, don't get impatient."

In several recent polls, Corzine is running neck and neck with republican Chris Christie. The election takes place November 3rd.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Poll: Corzine, Christie Still Neck-and-Neck
by The Associated Press
Thursday, October 22, 2009

Another poll finds Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie running nearly even in the New Jersey governor's race.

A Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released Thursday has 39 percent of
likely voters supporting Corzine, 36 percent for Christie and 20
percent for independent Chris Daggett. The Corzine-Christie
difference falls within the poll's sampling error margin of plus or
minus 4.1 percentage points.
A Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll released Tuesday
had Corzine and Christie tied at 39 percent each.

Rutgers-Eagleton poll director David Redlawsk said the race remains so close that if the election were held on Thursday, the candidate with the best get-out-the-vote effort would win.

The telephone poll of 583 likely voters was taken Oct. 15-20.

Christie: Brown Didn't Help Campaign
by David Matthau
Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here to read the NY Times article

Click here for David's report

The Republican candidate for Governor in Jersey is dismissing a report in the New York Times that his former Assistant Prosecutor - Michele Brown - may have tried to help his campaign by holding up a Freedom of Information Act request from the Corzine for Governor camp, and suggesting the date for a widespread corruption crackdown in Jersey be moved up - so Christie could get credit for it.

During a campaign stop in Mercerville, Christie said the report was biased and had too many holes in it.

"You read the story, a story with no on-the-record sources" he said, "with the word presumed this, and presumed that in it- there's a lot of presumptions being made that don't seem to have facts that back them up…I'll take Michele's word for it - it looks like she said in the story that the allegations were outrageous and inaccurate."

The report cited three un-named federal law enforcement officials.

Christie added that Michele Brown "didn't help the campaign - that's what I'm telling you, she didn't help the campaign."

Brown resigned from the US Attorney's office a few weeks after the story broke that Christie had given her a 46 thousand dollar loan.

Bill Clinton: Corzine Has Solutions
by the Associated Press
Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Former President Bill Clinton says
that if voters are able to think about the issues in New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine will win re-election.

Clinton came to New Jersey on Tuesday on the second of three
days this week in which Corzine is getting high-profile campaign
help. The two attended a rally in Collingswood and were slated for
another in New Brunswick.

The Democratic governor appeared Monday with Vice President Joe
Biden. President Barack Obama is on the schedule for Wednesday.
Corzine and Republican Chris Christie are in a tight race complicated by the candidacy of an independent candidate, Chris Daggett.

Clinton said it's understandable that voters are angry about the state of the economy, but that Corzine has solutions.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Will Obama Sway Votes?
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, October 20, 2009

Jon Corzine

President Barrack Obama is in New Jersey today to campaign for Governor Jon Corzine. The latest Monmouth University-Gannet New Jersey poll reveals that if Corzine is hoping to sway voters by attending a rally in the Garden State with the Commander-In-Chief, he will probably be disappointed.

Poll director Patrick Murray says Obama is still popular with the New Jersey electorate. He explains, "53% approve of the job he's doing to 39% disapprove among likely voters here in the Garden State. Among those still undecided in the Governor's race, he garners a net positive 44% approve to 35% disapprove."

"For Corzine, the President's appearance is hopefully going to swing some of those undecided voters, but it doesn't seem as though it's going to have that impact," says Murray. Among undecided voters, 5% say a presidential visit would make them more likely to vote for Corzine, but 14% say it would make them less likely.

Among all likely voters, says Murray, "12% of voters say such a visit would make them more likely to vote for Corzine, 14% say it would make them less likely, and an overwhelming 73% say a presidential appearance would have no effect on their vote for Governor."

President Obama will travel to New Jersey on Air Force One. The arrival and departure in Newark are open press but closed to the public. He will attend a "Rally for Victory for Corzine/Weinberg" at Fairleigh Dickinson University's, George and Phyllis Rothman Center in Hackensack. The doors open at 3 p.m. and the program is scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m.

The poll was conducted by telephone with 1,004 New Jersey likely voters from October 15 to 18, 2009. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.1 percent.

All Tied Up
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here to read the full poll results

A new Monmouth University-Gannett New Jersey poll released today shows Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie in a dead heat in New Jersey's race for Governor. Poll director Patrick Murray explains, "It can't get any tighter than 39% for Corzine to 39% for Chris Christie. We have Chris Daggett, the Independent at 14%." Earlier this month, Christie held a narrow 3 point lead over Corzine - 43% to 40% - with 8% for Daggett.

"The big news here is the erosion of support for Chris Christie even among his Republican base," says Murray. "81% of Republicans support Chris Christie, but that's down from 86% just a few weeks ago. Jon Corzine has not had the same problem. He holds 76% of Democratic voters and while that's less than Christie's support among Republicans it has been steady all along."

"Democrats who flirted with Chris Christie earlier in the year have come back into the fold. It also looks like some GOP voters may have become disenchanted with their white knight," explains Murray. "That's not a good sign for the Republican at this late stage of the game."

A key dynamic in this race is the migration of independent voters from both major party candidates to Chris Daggett. 45% of Independent voters support Christie, 21% support Corzine and 22% support Daggett. Just three weeks ago, Christie claimed nearly half (49%) of the Independent vote and Corzine had 28%, while only 11% favored Daggett.

Voter opinion of Christie now stands at 40% favorable to 41% unfavorable among likely voters, the first time in this poll that negative views of the GOP nominee have numerically outnumbered positive views. In July, Christie held a positive 50%-26% rating among likely voters. Corzine, has an upside down 37% favorable to 51% unfavorable rating, which has been pretty steady among likely voters since July. Despite making a splash in the first candidate's debate, Daggett has a 28% favorable to 15% unfavorable rating, with more than half (56%) of all likely voters saying they don't know enough to form an opinion about him.

"Daggett may have hit his ceiling in this race," says Murray. "Lacking both ground troops and the financial resources necessary to keep his message in front of voters over the final two weeks, it'll be difficult for him to overcome most voters' inclination to go with one of the two major party candidates."

When voters are asked to choose who will do a better job on property taxes, just 16% name Daggett. Christie is preferred by 36%, and 30% choose Corzine. Christie also gets the nod on handling corruption, 39% to 26% for Corzine and 14% for Daggett. Voters are divided on who would best deal with economic issues and state spending. On the economy and jobs, Christie is preferred by 35%, Corzine by 34%, and Daggett by 13%. On the state budget, Corzine is preferred by 35%, Christie by 34%, and Daggett by 13%. Corzine is the clear favorite on education, preferred by 41% of voters on this issue compared to 29% for Christie and 11% for Daggett.

Property taxes continue to be the main issue that voters want addressed in this ever-shortening campaign. More than half (54%) name it as one of their top two concerns, followed by the economy and jobs (33%), health care (22%), other taxes (21%), state spending (13%), education (11%), and corruption (7%).

Regardless of who is elected governor next month, very few voters have a clear idea what he will do to address these issues. While about 6-in-10 voters say they have some notion what a Corzine second term or a Christie first term will look like, just 32% feel they have a clear idea what the Democratic incumbent will do over the next four years and only 18% say the same about the Republican challenger. Only 4-in-10 have some idea what a Daggett administration would do, with just 13% saying they have a clear idea.

72% of likely voters say the New Jersey governor's race has been largely negative. Only 19% would it as positive. Among those who see the race as negative 36% say Corzine is the bigger transgressor compared to just 12% who say Christie has been more negative. However, most voters (51%) feel that the two major party candidates have been equally negative in this race.

Despite their moment in the spotlight at the first ever New Jersey Lieutenant Governor's debate on October 8th, few voters have any impression of the three leading candidates for that post. Democrat Loretta Weinberg stands at 11% favorable to 9% unfavorable, Republican Kim Guadagno's ratings are 9% favorable to 4% unfavorable, and independent Frank Esposito has 6% favorable to 4% unfavorable ratings. The vast majority of voters have no opinion - 80% for Weinberg, 87% for Guadagno, and 90% for Esposito. These numbers have remained virtually unchanged since the running mates were announced in July.

The poll was conducted by telephone with 1,004 New Jersey likely voters from October 15 to 18, 2009. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.1 percent.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Bringing Out The Big Guns
by David Matthau
Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Jon Corzine

With the race for Governor in Jersey a dead-heat between Jon Corzine and Chris Christie, a trio of democratic all-stars swings into the Garden State this week.

Vice President Biden appeared at a rally with Corzine yesterday, former President Bill Clinton shows up today, and Chief Executive Barack Obama flies in on Air Force One tomorrow

Montclair State political science professor Dr. Brigid Harrison says bringing these political luminaries to Jersey is designed to "shore up support within the democratic base, get democratic voters mobilized, and perhaps most importantly, get those all-important volunteers who will be getting the vote out on election day enthusiastic about Jon Corzine's candidacy."

She says even though it's very exciting for some Jersey democrats to see the 3 biggest names in their party standing side by side with the incumbent Governor "I don't know that reminding them of that connection is going to make anybody more likely to vote for Jon Corzine."

Dr. Harrison adds she does not expect Corzine to get a bump in the polls this week either.

The Power Of Incumbency
by Kevin McArdle
Monday, October 19, 2009

Jon Corzine

Click to hear Kevin's report

Political pundits often say there is nothing more important in any election than the power of incumbency. Only Governor Jon Corzine has that which should play in his favor, but it also means polls can only ask voters what they think of the job Corzine is doing as Governor. The incumbent's numbers in that category have been consistently awful.

Quinnipiac University poll director Mickey Carroll says despite the negative approval ratings, Corzine still has a lot going for him. He explains, "He's got the job which does count. He's got an awful lot of money which he is spending and he's got history on his side. Since 1947, just two Governors have failed to win a second term and one of them lost a primary."

Last week a Quinnipiac poll showed that New Jersey voters disapprove 56 - 39% of the job Corzine is doing. A negative rating to be sure, but that is also his best approval rating in months. Independent voters disapprove 62 - 34%. In an FDU-Public Mind survey two weeks ago, just 38% approved of his job performance, compared to 50% who disapprove -numbers essentially unchanged from a month ago.

Further bolstering Carroll's point that Corzine is still in position to be re-elected is the fact that despite trailing Republican Challenger by a slim margin in most recent polls, most voters still think Corzine will win come November 3rd.

Christie Would Give Officials More Leeway With Travel
by The Associated Press
Monday, October 19, 2009

Chris Christie

Click and read the documents (PDF) $700 Limo Ride Mileage 7 Years Mileage Travel Vouchers Travel & Mileage

Republican Chris Christie says top New Jersey officials would have more leeway for business travel -- with taxpayers footing the bill -- if he's elected governor.

Christie says he'd allow his Cabinet to book posh hotels if cheaper rooms weren't available.

State officials serving under Gov. Jon Corzine are barred from all in-state and most out-of-state business travel. When business
travel is allowed, the state reimburses at the government rate, or less.

Christie stayed in some of the country's most luxurious hotels while traveling on business as U.S. attorney. His hotel bill
sometimes exceeded $400 per night.
Christie has campaigned on a platform of cutting government waste and says his business travel was necessary and his expenses above-board.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Chrstie: Daggett Not Draining Votes From Me
by Martin DiCaro
Monday, October 19, 2009

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie said on Thursday the campaign of independent Chris Daggett is not draining his support, a view held by some observers because of Daggett's strong showing in recent polls. While earlier surveys had his support in double-digits, a recent Rasmussen Poll said Daggett, who has worked for Republican administrations, had nine percent support.

"I don't think people take away votes. I dispute that kind of theory. Everyone has to go out and earn the votes they get. Whatever votes Mr. Daggett gets on election day, however many they are, he will have earned them. People wanted to vote for him," said Christie in a press conference after speaking with voters in a Westville diner for about an hour.

"I don't subscribe to this who-takes-votes-from-who thing. We are all out there competing for the same pool of votes. And the one of us who gets the most of them is going to be the next governor of the state of New Jersey."

During his remarks to voters, Christie dedicated some time to attacking Daggett's plans as well as those of his chief rival, incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine. In response to a reporter's question, Christie said he has not dismissed Daggett's campaign.

"Whatever votes Mr. Daggett gets will be votes that he's earned."

Christie Grilled About Travel Expenses
by Kevin McArdle
Friday, October 16, 2009

Chris Christie

Click and read the documents (PDF) $700 Limo Ride Mileage 7 Years Mileage Travel Vouchers Travel & Mileage

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie has come under fire this week after reports surfaced that he regularly spent beyond federal guidelines on business travel while U.S. Attorney. Travel records show that Christie occasionally billed taxpayers more than $400 a night for stays in luxury hotels and exceeded the government's hotel allowance on 14 of 16 business trips he took in 2008.

"My secretary made my hotel reservations every time I had to travel and the instructions were very clear: find a government rate if you could, and if you couldn't, get me the best rate at the most convenient hotel," explained Christie yesterday. Asked if he signed all of the accompanying paperwork, he responded, "Yes, I have to sign my own forms, but I don't always know what government rate is."

As the GOP candidate for Governor, Christie has railed against wasteful government spending and has accused Governor Jon Corzine of doing nothing to curtail it. Asked yesterday how the extravagant spending of taxpayers' money on five-star hotels is any different than the wasteful spending he constantly criticizes, Christie said, "Because it wasn't waste. I had to go someplace for part of my job. We tried to get the government rate. We couldn't so my only alternative would be to not go."

Christie was also asked if elected Governor, would he allow his cabinet to stay in five-star hotels. He replied, "I would want my cabinet to follow the same rules I followed as U.S. Attorney. If they were traveling and they could find the government rate they should use the government rate and if they couldn't they shouldn't sleep on park bench. They should find the best rate they could."

Earlier this week, Christie said he stayed in more expensive hotels only when cheaper ones weren't available. He explained, "We always went for government rates first……..I don't think there were a lot of stays in five-star hotels over seven years."

On trips in 2007 and 2008, his top deputy, Michele Brown, also exceeded the guidelines after Christie approved her requests for rooms in the same five-star hotels where he was booked. The vouchers show Christie and Brown stayed at the NineZero Hotel in Boston on Oct. 16, 2007 and each billed taxpayers $449 plus taxes and fees for their rooms, more than double the government allowance for a Boston hotel room at the time, according to a General Services Administration travel reimbursement table. Christie submitted a waiver for the room in Boston, as required. In it, he requested additional lodging expenses because there were no rooms available at the $203 per night government rate "due to a high demand for rooms."

Christie made a mortgage loan to Brown five days after they returned from Boston, on Oct. 22, 2007. He failed to report the loan on federal ethics forms and on his 2007 federal income tax returns, omissions he later described as a mistake. Brown has since resigned and joined a private law firm.

Records made available thus far reveal Christie exceeded the government lodging allowance on 23 of 30 business trips taken between 2004 and 2008. In some cases, his travel vouchers were approved first by Brown, then certified by a third person. Christie, who was Brown's supervisor, signed off on her travel, either in advance or when she submitted vouchers, the records show. The vouchers were all certified by a third party.

Brown also approved another controversial expenditure for Christie: a $700 round-trip limousine ride between Newark and Atlantic City. Christie, according to his schedules, was attending the annual dinner of the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey. He was shuttled to Atlantic City, stayed over night at the Taj Mahal, submitted $190 in expenses, and took the same limo service back to Newark the next day. Brown approved the final travel voucher for Christie's reimbursement. According to the limousine service, a $700 round-trip fare from Newark to Atlantic City gets you a stretch limo that seats 8.

"Listen, I have no recollection of that," explains Christie. "I'd have to look at records which I don't have to see it and that was not my normal practice….. Those of you who covered me during my seven and a half years as U.S. Attorney know that was not my normal practice. I drove everywhere……..I never took a stretch limousine."

Christie's hotel tab exceeded $400 per night on four trips. A night at the Four Seasons in Washington in October 2008 cost taxpayers $475; five nights in London were $401 each for Christie and Brown, the records show. The federal government policy manual states that employees "must exercise the same care in incurring expenses that a prudent person would exercise if traveling on a personal basis." The guideline says the agency will not pay for "luxury accommodations" or unjustified services.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

A Weighty Issue In The Race
by Kevin McArdle
Friday, October 16, 2009

Republican gubernatorial challenger Chris Christie's weight has become a real issue in New Jersey's race for Governor, but is that fair? One political expert says, fair or not, it is a factor. Monmouth University poll director Patrick Murray says voters are very aware of Christie's size and it does matter to them.

"In some of the research that we've done with the voters his (Christie's) weight, saying the word 'fat' or 'overweight' was one of the first words that come to mind when people think about Chris Christie," explains Murray. "It's something that his supporters know could be a detriment and it's something that people factor in to their calculation about what the character of a man is."

Simple logic dictates that if Christie's supporters know weight could be a detriment, then one can conclude Governor Jon Corzine and his campaign team are aware of it too. Corzine has been criticized for a TV ad that appears to take thinly veiled shots at Christie's weight.

"The trick to this if you're the opponent is to call attention to it without being overt about it because that could lead to a backlash," says Murray. "If you kind of keep it under the radar and just use the images, let the images speak for themselves which is clearly what the Corzine folks are doing, you let voters make their own judgment."

The issue came to a boil about halfway through the NJ 101.5 FM Lt. Governor's debate last week. After questions on campaign finance reform, property taxes and the budget, the subject came up when a caller asked if Christie's weight should be an issue in the campaign. Citing the fact that the New York Times ran a story on the weight issue that day, moderator Eric Scott asked Corzine's running mate, Democrat State Senator Loretta Weinberg directly if she thinks Christie is fat.

Weinberg said, "I don't think there are too many of us in this race who could make it on the finals of "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette," before adding that there are more important topics to discuss. Christie's running mate, Sheriff Kim Guadagno, who earlier called politics "a blood sport," said, "In terms of of Chris's weight, I think the cat's out of the bag. He's been in public service for seven years." Independent Lt. Governor candidate Frank Esposito said, "New Jerseyans are sick of this partisan game."

Poll: Voters Say "No" To Gas, Sales Tax Changes
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, October 15, 2009

Click here for the complete poll

Click here and listen to Kevin's report

With less than three weeks before Election Day, the candidates for Governor are starting to talk about real issues and Quinnipiac University wanted to know your thoughts. The university is out with a poll today asking voters' opinions on topics like a gas tax increase, a sales tax expansion, merging towns and more.

Independent candidate Chris Daggett has suggested expanding the sales tax to cover items and services not currently taxed. Poll director Mickey Carroll says, "We asked voters if the sales tax should be expanded to include things like lawyers fees', seashore rentals and stuff. No! Three-fifths of News Jersyans say no." 35% would back this move.

Daggett and Governor Jon Corzine have both talked about the possibility of hiking the gas tax to pay for road and mass transit projects. Carroll says, "Not in New Jersey! Overwhelmingly, more than 60% of New Jerseyans (61%) tell Quinnipiac, no don't do it." 36% support the idea.

By a margin of 65%-28%, voters support merging towns and schools districts if it would reduce property taxes. Carroll explains, "Policy wonks always favor the idea of merging municipalities and school districts. As property taxes soar, more and more voters agree…….The devil, of course, is in the details. Let's see how many New Jersey politicians are willing to vote themselves or their friends out of a job."

By a slim margin (51%-43%) Jersey voters support layoffs or furloughs for state workers to help balance the budget. 69% say state employees should pay more for health care.

New Jersey voters are split (44%-46% on whether teacher unions are playing a positive or negative role in improving the state's educational system. 70% support merit pay for teachers who do an outstanding job and 67% say it should be easier to fire teachers. Voters oppose school vouchers and charter schools (52%-46% and 49%-42% respectively).

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,264 New Jersey likely voters from October 7-12. The poll's margin of error is +/- 2.8 percentage points.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

No Action Against Staffer Over Memo
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, October 15, 2009

Governor Jon Corzine is defending one of his deputy chiefs of staff after word broke with the "Jersey Guys" on NJ 101.5 FM yesterday about an internal administration memo in which cabinet bosses were urged to manufacture press events touting Corzine's job creation accomplishments even if its "a stretch."

"I don't think it's a newsflash that this administration is focused on jobs, jobs, jobs," says Corzine. "I never saw the memo. I wouldn't have used the same language, but the fact that you're coordinating job creation inside an administration sounds like good policy….It's probably not unlike what we would be doing when kids are going back to school on education or any other issue that you wanted to give emphasis to."

In an memo dated October 5, deputy chief of staff Mark Matzen wrote directing some department commissioners to, "come up with an event or two or three that show job creation or economic development in the private sector……….. I know that it might be a stretch for some of you, but please be creative……While many programs might not created jobs directly, they do have some connection to job creation either through training, giving money to sustain employment or create demand for workers."

Corzine says, "There was no coordination in this effort. I can tell you there was no coordination with me. I never saw the memo…..It's not unusual for somebody to use language that would be very encouraging of what they know the boss wants to get done."

Republicans were quick to try and capitalize on the story. GOP Assembly members Amy Handlin and David Rible sent a letter to the Governor and State Ethics Commission requesting an immediate investigation of whether the memo broke ethics laws by urging cabinet members to "be creative" and stage events focusing on Corzine's job-growth record. The legislators' letter asks the governor to convene the ethics commission immediately.

"This revelation is disturbing on so many levels," says Rible. "Not only does it question whether the Governor and his staff adhere to the New Jersey's ethics laws, it suggests that the Governor and his staff are more concerned about their 'message' than the fact that unemployment is approaching 10 percent under their watch.

"The governor may want to 'stretch' the truth, but the inescapable fact is that New Jersey's unemployment rate is climbing every month and what is most disturbing is that private sector jobs fell another 12,000 in the past month," says Assembly GOP Leader Alex DeCroce. "Total unemployment has now reached 9.8 percent, the worst it has been in decades, and shows no signs of abating."

Christie Has Thin Lead In New Poll
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here for the complete poll

Click here and listen to Kevin's report

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie now has a razor-thin lead over Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine in New Jersey's race for Governor according to a new Quinnipiac University poll out today. Independent candidate Chris Daggett is gaining some ground, but most voters still think he doesn't have a prayer of winning.

Christie gets 41% of likely voters, with 40% Corzine and 14% for independent candidate Daggett. This compares to a 43 - 39% Christie lead, with 12% for Daggett, in a September 30 survey by the independent Quinnipiac. Independent voters have shifted from 46 - 30% for Christie, with 16% for Daggett September 1, to 45 - 32% for Christie, with 16% for Daggett September 30. 80% of Christie voters and 75% of Corzine backers say their minds are made up, but only 39% of Daggett backers say their mind is made up.

"It's still a nail-biter. Christopher Christie has never given up the lead, but it's been getting slimmer and now it's a dead heat," says Mickey Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Historically, third party candidates fade on election day. Apparently, voters agree. Very few of his backers are committed to independent candidate Christopher Daggett and 77% of all voters say he has no chance of winning."

New Jersey voters agree 59 - 35% with Christie's claim that Corzine has failed to make enough budget cuts, but they also agree 59 - 25% with Corzine's claim that Christie is too vague on his budget plans. By a 60 - 34% the same voters feel that Corzine's claim that Christie wants to drop mandated coverage for breast cancer exams is unfair.

By a narrow 45 - 48% margin, voters say Corzine is not honest and trustworthy. They split 42 - 40% on whether Christie is honest and trustworthy. Daggett is honest and trustworthy, voters say 29 - 8%, with 63% undecided.

"People obviously are listening to the negative ads from both sides. Both Corzine and Christie get a split, at best, on the 'honesty' question," explains Carroll. "Corzine has failed to control the state budget, Christie ads proclaim. Voters agree. Christie is too vague on what he'd do as Governor, Corzine ads proclaim. Again, voters agree. The Corzine team obviously likes the mammogram attack on Christie. They keep running it, but New Jerseyans don't like it. 'Unfair,' they say, almost 2 - 1."

Christie gets slightly negative 38 - 40% favorability, his worst measure so far. Voters have a 53 - 40% negative opinion of Corzine, but that's his best score in months. For Daggett, 73% still don't know enough about him to form an opinion. New Jersey voters also disapprove 56 - 39% of the job Corzine is doing, still negative, but that is also his best approval rating in months. Independent voters disapprove 62 - 34%.

In open-ended questions, allowing for any answer, New Jersey likely voters say what they like most and least about the candidates: 6% say Corzine's biggest plus is that he is honest/straightforward/sincere; 20% most dislike the Governor's record on taxes in general and property taxes; 11% most like Christie because he's "not Corzine" or represents "change;" 11% say the challenger's biggest negative is that he's "dishonest" or "hypocritical;" 8% most like Daggett because he's independent or non-partisan; and 6% most dislike Daggett because he's a "spoiler."

From October 7 - 12, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,264 New Jersey likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.

Christie Travel Under Fire
by The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Travel records show the Republican
candidate for governor in New Jersey frequently exceeded federal
spending guidelines on business travel while he was U.S. attorney.

Chris Christie exceeded the hotel allowance on 15 of 16 business
trips last year. The records were obtained by the campaign of
Christie's opponent, Gov. Jon Corzine, under the Freedom of
Information Act. The campaign gave them to The Associated Press.

The vouchers show taxpayers occasionally paid for five-star
hotels topping $400 a night.
Christie, has campaigned on a platform of ethical integrity and
cutting government waste. He says he stayed in more expensive
hotels when government rates weren't available and completed
paperwork justifying the expenses.
An ethics watchdog calls Christie's travel history astonishing.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Directive May Have Violated State Election Law
by Dino Flammia
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Governor Corzine may have violated state election laws by strong-arming his cabinet members to come up with quasi-political events designed to show the governor was strong on economic development.  In a memo obtained by Millennium Radio, the Governor's Office directed all cabinet members to come up with “an event, or two, or three, that show job creation or economic development -- even if it is a stretch.”  The stated goal of the memo is to get the message out and generate press coverage.

Gas Tax Increase Back On The Table
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, October 18, 2009

The Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) which is used to pay for highway, bridge and tunnel projects in New Jersey could run out of money as early as the middle of 2011. How to replenish the TTF is fast becoming a major issue in the race for Governor.

Independent candidate Chris Daggett has said that a gas tax increase should at least by an issue on the table. Governor Jon Corzine says, "There are two alternatives, the same thing I said in the (gubernatorial) debate, two unattractive alternatives. One is raising the gas tax and the other is carving out revenues that are already on the books." Corzine still calls a gas tax increase, "a last resort."

"When Jon Corzine says he'll consider raising a tax, consider it raised," says GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie. "I have said all along that New Jerseyans are the most over-burdened taxpayers in America. We have to make sure that we're cutting spending not raising taxes…..He (Corzine) wants to continue to raise taxes and I simply don't believe we can afford it."

Christie has not unveiled a transportation funding plan of his own, but he has been on record saying he prefers a pay-as-you-go system of funding.

New Jersey's gas tax rate is currently 4th lowest in the nation. Corzine acknowledges that a gas tax increase would be unpopular. It will likely prove very difficult finding stream of revenue next year. The state budget deficit for Fiscal year 2011 is roughly $8 billion.

Downplaying Endorsements
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Click here to read the endorsement

Regarding gubernatorial debate sponsorship, New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) regulations states that "to be eligible for selection by the Commission to sponsor one or both of the gubernatorial general election debates, an organization... must not have endorsed any candidate in the pending general election for the office of Governor and must agree not to make any such endorsement until the completion of any debate sponsored by the organization."

In its Sunday edition, the Newark Star Ledger, the state's largest newspaper endorsed Independent Chris Daggett for Governor. The Ledger was to be a partner in this Friday night's gubernatorial debate, but the website polickernj.com has posted a story with the following; "There were conversations yesterday with ELEC regarding the Star-Ledger endorsement," said Patrick DeDeo the Director of External Relations for William Paterson University, one of the debate sponsors and the host. "As such, the Star-Ledger is no longer a partner in the debate and their reporter, Tom Moran, will not participate on the panel."

When speaking with reporters yesterday, Governor Jon Corzine addressed the endorsement, but not the mini-controversy. He said, "I can't recall, but I don't think the Ledger endorsed me the last time."

"Endorsements are like polls. They're a lot better to be on your side than not," explained Corzine. "The fact is, the only endorsement that matters is the one on Election Day. We're working every day to make sure that we get the endorsement of the public."

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Daggett Gets Star-Ledger Endorsement
by The Associated Press
Monday, October 12, 2009

Click here to read the endorsement

Independent candidate Chris Daggett has picked up a key endorsement in New Jersey's gubernatorial race.

The Star-Ledger of Newark, the state's largest daily newspaper, gave Daggett its backing in an editorial published Sunday. It cited
the need for "radical change" in how state government operates, saying Daggett's election would repudiate the status quo and put
"a highly qualified occupant" in the governor's office.

"(Our) decision is less a rejection of Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican Chris Christie than a repudiation of the parties they represent, both of which have forfeited any claim to the trust and
confidence of the people of New Jersey," the editorial stated.

"They share responsibility for the state's current plight."

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Lt. Gov Candiates Talk Taxes, Health
by Kevin McArdle
Friday, October 9, 2009

If you tuned into to NJ 101.5 FM last night at 8pm you heard a New Jersey first. Democratic State Senator Loretta Weinberg, Republican Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno and Independent Frank Esposito, the three candidates vying to become the Garden State first-ever Lt. Governor took part in a live, 90-minute debate. The three candidates exchanged sharp-tongued, spirited words during their only debate, clashing on issues
including health care, taxes and the Republican gubernatorial candidate's weight.

The sparring started early and continued throughout the showdown. The November 3 gubernatorial election between Governor Jon Corzine, Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett is the first in New Jersey history to also have a lieutenant governor. Recent polls show Corzine and Christie in a statistical dead heat.

Those same polls consistently show taxes as being the #1 issue on the minds of New Jersey voters. despite that fact that neither Guadagno nor Christie has offered a specific tax cut plan, the republican Lt. Governor candidate asked democrat Weinberg if she thought New Jerseyans are over-taxed. Weinberg responded, "I agree that taxes in New Jersey are too high.......property taxpayers are paying a lot of money in the State of New Jersey (and) we would like to move to hold that down." Weinberg says her running mate, Governor Corzine did help keep property taxes in check by reducing the size of this year's budget.

Esposito capitalized on the question to point out that his running mate, Daggett is the only candidate to offer a specific tax cut plan, "and what it does is to reduce property taxes by 25% for every homeowner........nothing that the najor parties have said has suggested that they're even going to deal with that. It's all just kind of cut and paste, make cuts here and make cuts there. That's not going to deal with the fundamental issue."

Guadagno tried to paint Corzine as ineffective in alleviating the burden, saying she and Christie would cut taxes by eliminating unfunded mandates and encouraging shared services. Weinberg defended the incumbent for doing what he could while facing a global recession, including shrinking the budget by $4 billion from the prior year, reducing the state payroll by 8,000 positions and preserving property tax rebates for senior citizens and low-income residents.

An early question on health care gave the candidates an opening to highlight a key policy difference in the campaign: Corzine supports mandates that require health insurers to cover certain tests and services like mammograms for women over 40 and 48-hour hospital stays after childbirth. Christie wants to offer cheaper, no-frills insurance policies to people who are uninsured and open up the New Jersey market to out-of-state competition.

Weinberg said, "If in fact you allow mandate-free health insurance to be sold in the state of New Jersey any insurance company that fought us on every mandate will take all those mandates out, and then women who can't afford mammograms won't get them."

Guadagno calls the assertion that Christie's plan would eliminate mammogram coverage for women with
no-frills plans "a scare tactic." She added, "Being the champion of women's rights that you suggest you are,
Senator, I'm sorry you didn't stand up for the rights of women when they were scared away from Chris Christie for political reasons and political reasons only."

Esposito said a major focus of the next governor should be to reduce the 1.2 million New Jerseyans without health insurance. Weinberg, who spent most of the night defending Corzine's record, said the governor has reduced the number of uninsured by 11 percent and has put 90,000 more children on health insurance rolls.

About halfway through the debate, after questions on campaign finance reform, property taxes and the budget, the debate veered off course when a caller asked if Christie's weight should be an issue in the camapign. Moderator Eric Scott asked Weinberg directly if she thinks Christie is fat.

Weinberg said, "I don't think there are too many of us in this race who could make it on the finals of "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette," before adding that there are more important topics to discuss. Guadagno, who earlier called politics "a blood sport," said, "In terms of of Chris's weight, I think the cat's out of the bag. He's been in public service for seven years." Esposito said, "New Jerseyans are sick of this partisan game."

Who Won The Debate? Depends...
by David Matthau
Friday, October 9, 2009

So who won last night's Lieutenant Governor's Debate at Monmouth University?

It depends on who you ask.

Democrats in the audience said the spirited, 90 minute affair was dominated by State Senator Loretta Weinberg.
"There was not a lot of facts, there was a lot of twisting going on" said one woman, "I think in the way she gave the numbers, gave the figures, and gave the truth - she won."

Not surprisingly, republicans thought Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno was the winner.

"She just really had the answers to the questions" said one man as he left the debate, "she didn't try to avoid answering them or answer questions that weren't asked. She was victorious."

Patrick Murray , the Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said "it was a very good debate - it was a real conversation - it was a little messy, but that's what conversations are all about, back and forth…the three of them, I think, each came in with a different style and each really did well for their campaigns."

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

New Jersey's First Lt. Gov Debate Is Tonight On NJ 101.5
by David Matthau
Thursday, October 8, 2009

Tune into to NJ 101.5 FM tonight at 8pm you will hear a New Jersey first. Democratic State Senator Loretta Weinberg, Republican Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno and Independent Frank Esposito, the three candidates vying to become the Garden State first-ever Lt. Governor will be taking part in a live, 90-minute debate.

Monmouth University polling director Patrick Murray says, "This is certainly going to be a way for the Lt. Governor candidates to introduce themselves to New Jersey voters. Most New Jersey voters have absolutely no opinion of any of the three candidates……..Many voters are telling us that they're still not sure why New Jersey will have a Lt. Governor. They think it may be a good idea, but they really don't know what that Lt. Governor is supposed to do so, one of the questions that I would expect that these candidates have to answer is what they think they're supposed to do and in fact what they're running mates have told them they're supposed to do."

Murray says this is a brand new ballgame for New Jersey. He adds, "Another thing we should really be looking for tonight is how do they compare with their running mates in terms of maintaining the same party line. That's one of the key roles of a running mate."

None of the candidates can do much to help their campaigns according to Murray, but he adds they can hurt. He explains, "They can do harm by saying things that are not in line with their campaign strategy for the top of the ticket……another way they can hurt their candidates is by showing that were absolutely a bad choice or that they're not up to the task, that they seem unsure of themselves, that they don't know exactly what state government does."

Corzine Tops In Campaign Spending
by the Associated Press
Thursday, October 8, 2009

Gov. Jon Corzine has spent three times
as much so far in his re-election bid as Republican Chris Christie.

New Jersey election law monitors on Wednesday released the latest campaign spending disclosures from both candidates and Independent Chris Daggett.

Corzine is largely paying for his own campaign. He has spent $16.8 million.
Christie and Daggett are accepting public financing, which means neither can raise or spend more than $11 million.

Christie has collected $9.6 million, including public matching
money, and has spent $5.4 million.
Daggett has raised $1.1 million, including matching funds, and
spent a bit under $1 million.

The expenditures don't include what outside groups have spent.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Clueless On The Lt. Gov Candidates
by David Matthau
Thursday, October 8, 2009

History will be made this evening, when the first candidates for Lieutenant Governor in Jersey come together for a 90 minute debate - to be carried by Millennium Radio New Jersey - but many Garden State residents don't seem to be particularly interested.

The overwhelming majority of shoppers all over the State say they don't know anything about the race, and have no idea who's running.

No one was able to name democrat Loretta Weinberg, republican Kim Guadagno, or independent Frank Esposito as a candidate.

One man said "I think it's Dick Codey - Codey is running for Lieutenant Governor, right?

Dick Codey is the President of the Jersey State Senate, and he is not running for Lieutenant Governor.

Many folks said they weren't following the situation at all, because they're turned off by politics.

"They just make promises and break them" said one woman shaking her head, "it gets tiresome after a while - they should care about serving the public, but all we get are lies and nonsense."

The debate begins at 8 this evening.

Ignoring The Issues
by David Matthau
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

2009 Could be remembered as the year the two top candidates for Governor avoided talking about the issues that mattered most to the voters.

Patrick Murray, Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, says while independent candidate Chris Daggett has addressed the property tax issue, by putting forth a plan to lower them, "certainly Governor Corzine does not want to talk about this issue, because it's one of the reasons why his approval rating is so low…he really doesn't want to remind people that he actually raised their expectations that he would do something, and then hasn't come through with that."

He says on the flip side, Chris Christie decided at the beginning of his campaign he would run as a candidate for change - without offering any detailed specific plans about how he would lower property taxes, and if he suddenly came out with some kind of a proposal now, with less than 4 weeks to go before the election "he would look like he's just responding to Daggett's plan - he really hadn't thought it through, and this was just purely electoral politics "

Murray adds besides property taxes, "there are a number of issues that really aren't being addressed - access to jobs, the economy, access to healthcare- in terms of more than just mammograms…the fact that both of the major party candidates have seemingly conspired to avoid talking about those issues is something that amazes me, and amazes most voters here in New Jersey."

Biden Campaigns For Corzine
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Vice President Joe Biden will deliver remarks at 10:30am today at the New Jersey AFL-CIO 2009 Legislative Conference at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City. That's what the wschedule says, but Biden is really coming to the Garden State to campaign for Governor Jon Corzine. Corzine's Lt. Governor running mate, State Senator Loretta Weinberg sat down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with Millennium Radio News to discuss the V.P.'s visit.

"He (Biden) is going to rev up the troops," says Weinberg. "He's going to rev up those people who represent working people in New Jersey to help us get out a big vote and I think that's going to be a very important role for him this morning……to help us send a message to (President) Barack Obama that New Jersey is still a blue, progressive state with a democratic Governor, Jon Corzine, a partner."

Weinberg says the gubernatorial race is a dogfight and the White knows that. She explains, "I think the White house knows that there are the ultra-conservative, right-wing Republicans in Washington, D.C. who have been salivating over this race to use it as a statement to say that people in New Jersey don't believe in Barack Obama's policies. I'm here along with Jon Corzine to tell Barack Obama that this is a state that believes in him, that helped elect him."

Weinberg expects to meet privately with Biden during which time she hopes to talk about issues such as job creation. Does the senator expect the President to visit New Jersey any time soon? Weinberg says, "I don't have any direct knowledge of it but I am very hopeful that we will see at least one of the Obamas back in New Jersey before Election Day."

The Vice President's last visit to New Jersey came with some controversy. Biden attended Corzine's primary night victory celebration. Critics claimed, Corzine hastily struck a contract deal with a public employee union to avoid the political embarrassment of having Biden cancel his appearance rather than cross a picket line. Biden did have this to say about Corzine in June, "Barack Obama and Joe Biden are committed to Jon Corzine's re-election. Period. End of sentence. We need Jon Corzine at the helm."

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) had gotten a permit to protest outside the West Orange arena where Corzine was accepting the Democrats' nomination for a second term, then canceled their plans. That drew criticism from Republicans, including Corzine rival Christopher Christie, the GOP candidate for governor, who called the governor's victory party "a political rally at the taxpayers' expense."

Christie Explains Lack Of Specifics
by Kevin McArdle & David Matthau
Wednesday, October 7

Critics continue to relentlessly hammer Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie for his failure to give details about his plans to cut government spending and reduce taxes. Christie is now getting specific about why he won't give specifics.

Christie, a former U.S. Attorney explains, "When I said I was going to combat public corruption no one asked me exactly how you were going to do it, what number of attorneys you were going to put on, how much it was going to cost. Nobody asked me that. They said, 'Do it. Let's see if you can.'" He adds, "When they asked if I would be able to combat terrorism in this state nobody asked me how many people are you going to put on it, how many dollars is it going to take, where's it going to come from. They saw it was a priority. They agreed with the priority and they told me to get it done and I did."

"If people learned anything about me as U.S. Attorney over the last seven years, they've learned that when I say I'm going to do something I do it," claims Christie. "I'm content with pursuing this strategy. I am who I am. I have been that way from the time I started as U.S. Attorney (and) I continue to be throughout this campaign."

Christie's big lead in the polls has vanished - nevertheless, the GOP gubernatorial candidate says he's not going to change his campaign strategy, and suddenly put forth detailed, specific plans for cutting State spending, lowering property taxes and closing next years looming State budget.

During a meet and greet in Middlesex County on Monday, Christie said, "Governing is about laying out your general philosophical approach- because every day, something new is going to come across your desk - you're not going to be able to anticipate everything that's going to happen in the next 28 days, or in the next 4 years…what people really need to know, and what's most important is, what is your approach to governing- what is your philosophical approach - and this is not a strategy, this is who I am."

He also said, "People understand that this is a lot more complicated than filling out a ledger sheet- they want to know what are you going to do with the government, what's your approach going to be - that's the answers I give, and what I am going to continue to give."

When asked if his "trust me, I'm different" pitch to the voters was any different from similar kinds of pitches made by other politicians who never delivered on their promises, Christie said "none of those people have the track record I have…when I became U.S. Attorney, nobody asked me how are you going to fight corruption and terrorism- they told me get it done- and that's what I did…people know me, they know I mean what I say, and I will get the job done."

Corzine Takes Lead In New Poll
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Jon Corzine

Click here for Kevin's report

Jon Corzine is in uncharted territory, at least in this year's race for Governor in New Jersey. A new Fairleigh Dickinson University-Public Mind poll released today shows Corzine with an ever-so-slight lead over his Republican challenger, Chris Christie.

Pol director Peter Woolley says, "Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine edges Republican challenger Chris Christie 44% to 43% among likely voters in the race for New Jersey governor. Another 4% volunteer they will vote for independent Chris Daggett."

When Daggett's name is read in an interview along with Corzine's and Christie's name, Corzine leads Christie 38%-37% and Daggett gets 17% of the vote. Daggett attracts twice as many Democrats as Republicans, but when another independent candidate's name is read--in this case FDU-Public Mind chose Gary Steele--the effect is similar. Independent Steele gets 12% of the vote while Corzine and Christie tie at 38%. Compared to 77% who say they've never heard of Daggett or have no opinion of him, 85% of likely voters say they have not heard of Steele and another 10% say they've heard of him but have no opinion.

Woolley attributes Corzine's new poll position to a shift in what pollsters refer to secondary measures. Corzine has all but caught up to Christie (34%-36%) on the question of "which candidate better understands the concerns of the average person?" Asked which candidate is better described as "honest, trustworthy," a measure in which Christie originally led by 33%-24%, Corzine is now slightly ahead 31%-28%. Woolley says, "There was a time not too long ago when Christie led Corzine significantly on those questions." Corzine continues to lead easily (45%-29) on the question of which candidate "has the background and experience to be a good governor."

Corzine's slight lead may seem surprising when other factors of the survey are taken into account. 37% have a favorable opinion of him compared to 54% who have an unfavorable view. "Just 23% say the state is moving in the right direction," explains Woolley. "Only 29% say Corzine is doing a good or excellent job as governor." Just 38% approve of his job performance, compared to 50% who disapprove -numbers essentially unchanged from a month ago. But three quarters (76%) of Democrats say they will vote for him, up slightly from 73% a month ago and from two-thirds (66%) in early summer. "Corzine is still swimming upstream against heavy currents," says Woolley. "Many Democrats are voting for him despite their misgivings."

Half of likely voters (50%) now say they have heard of independent Chris Daggett, up from a third (33%) one month ago but another 27% say that, while they've heard of him, they have no opinion of him. "Daggett's support is a measure of voter discontent," says Woolley. "Rather than being a draw, he is the reflection of voters' unhappiness with the direction of the state and the campaign."

While 7-in-10 can't name a winner in the recent gubernatorial debate, 14% say it was Daggett, 12% point to Corzine and 4% say Christie. More Democrats identify Corzine as the winner than identify Daggett as the winner, but about twice as many Republicans say Daggett was the winner as say Christie won. "The debate clearly increased Daggett's name recognition and doubled his favorable ratings," (to 23% from 12%) notes Woolley.

Nearly half (49%) now say Corzine will win in November compared to 37% who say Christie will win.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 667 likely voters statewide was conducted by telephone from Sept. 28, 2009, through Oct. 5, 2009, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Chris Daggett Talks To Jim Gearhart Independent candidate for Governor Chris Daggett talks to Jim Gearhart in-studio. Segment 1 | Segment 2 | Segment 3 | Segment 4

Christie Plans No Change In Strategy
by David Matthau
Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Chris Christie's big lead in the polls has vanished - nevertheless, the GOP gubernatorial candidate says he's not going to change his campaign strategy, and suddenly put forth detailed, specific plans for cutting State spending, lowering property taxes and closing next years looming State budget.

During a meet and greet in Middlesex County, Christie said "governing is about laying out your general philosophical approach- because every day, something new is going to come across your desk - you're not going to be able to anticipate everything that's going to happen in the next 28 days, or in the next 4 years…what people really need to know, and what's most important is, what is your approach to governing- what is your philosophical approach - and this is not a strategy, this is who I am."

He also said "people understand that this is a lot more complicated than filling out a ledger sheet- they want to know what are you going to do with the government, what's your approach going to be - that's the answers I give, and what I am going to continue to give."

When asked if his "trust me, I'm different" pitch to the voters was any different from similar kinds of pitches made by other politicians who never delivered on their promises, Christie said "none of those people have the track record I have…when I became U.S. Attorney, nobody asked me how are you going to fight corruption and terrorism- they told me get it done- and that's what I did…people know me, they know I mean what I say, and I will get the job done."

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Health Care Front-And-Center
by The Associated Press
Monday, October 5, 2009

Health care reform has become a major topic in New Jersey's gubernatorial race.

Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine and his Republican challenger, Chris Christie, have been sparring over whether to force insurance companies to cover screening tests like mammograms or waive the mandates to cut costs.

New Jersey's 45 mandates -- which include requiring insurers to cover pap tests, mammograms, prostate screenings for men, autism testing for children and 48-hour hospital stays after birth -- add an estimated 5 percent to the cost of health care in the state.

Corzine favors the mandates, while Christie wants to loosen the regulations and allow companies to offer no-frills policies.

A dozen states have more mandates than New Jersey

Daggett Seen As First Debate Winner
by David Matthau
Friday, October 2, 2009

Chris Daggett

For the very first time, the 3 candidates for Governor in New Jersey got together last night to discuss the issues.

The 90 minute debate was aired on public television.

Seton Hall political science professor Dr. Joe Marbach says "the candidates acquitted themselves pretty well - there were no major flubs, and there was no major knockout blow that any candidate landed on any of the other two."

He says Christie was effective in his game-plan, "to hammer both Daggett for his plan that would raise taxes- or expand taxes- and the Corzine record of raising taxes over the past 4 years."

On the flip side, Dr. Marbach says Governor Corzine "was able to make many of his points - he stayed on message throughout - constantly referring and criticizing Christie - particularly in his lack of specifics."

So who won the debate?

Dr. Marbach says "probably Chris Daggett came out on top - in that he was the least known of the candidates, and he came out as very credible and a viable candidate…he handled himself very well."

At the same time, he says "historical evidence would point against Daggett (as an independent) having a real chance to win."

Corzine, Christie Trade Insults During Debate
by David Matthau
Friday, October 2, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here and listen to David Matthau's report

The 3 candidates for Governor finally got together and held a debate last night.

The 90 minute forum was held on NJN.

Republican front-runner Chris Christie and Governor Corzine spent much of the evening taking pot-shots at each other.

At the beginning of the debate, Governor Corzine said Christie won't discuss specifics because he doesn't have a plan to fix the problems of the State.

"Making tough decisions in a tough environment is what being Governor is all about" Corzine said, "no plan is not what being Governor is all about."

Christie shot back "Governor Corzine does have a plan- the same plan for the next 4 years that he had for the last 4 - which is raise taxes 9 billion dollars, as he did in the last 4 years, and still leave us with a deficit."

The Governor then said "the problem that Mr. Christie has is that he doesn't bother to give any specifics - he doesn't tell people what he will cut, how he is going to get this budget balanced, how he's going to lower property taxes."

Christie responded by saying "we simply cannot afford this - the people of this State are suffocating under this tax burden, and we cannot add to it - it's the highest tax burden in America."

Independent Chris Daggett, who was positioned in between Corzine and Christie, said he was in the race to win it, and he believes "that democrats and republicans in this state have not managed it well for the past 15 years or longer- I believe the people of New Jersey are looking for an alternative."

The election takes place November 3rd.

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Corzine Closes Gap On Christie In New Poll
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, October 1, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here to read the poll

Another day, another poll showing incumbent Jon Corzine gaining serious ground on his Republican challenger, Chris Christie. Yesterday, Quinnipiac University had Christie up by four points, but today's Monmouth University-Gannett New Jersey survey shows an even tighter race than that.

"Jon Corzine is trailing Chris Christie by just three points among likely voters, 43%-40% with Independent Chris Daggett at 8%," says Poll director Patrick Murray. "Just a few weeks ago Christie had an 8-point advantage and he even had a 14-point advantage going back to August so, there's been a steady erosion." When the vote preferences of all registered voters are taken into account, the race is tied with Corzine at 40% and Christie at 40%.

Independent female voters are another important factor behind the narrowing of this race. Among all registered female voters who consider themselves politically independent, the governor leads by a statistically insignificant 38% to 37% for Christie. Murray explains, "We had Christie leading among this important block of female Independent voters by as much as 28-points back in August and now Jon Corzine has a one-point lead…….. The great mammogram debate of 2009 seems to be winning converts among independent women. While these voters had been giving their soft support to Christie based on discontent with the Corzine economic record, they appear to have beaten a hasty retreat when threats to their health care access were raised."

Property taxes continue to be the main issue on voters' minds - 48% of likely voters name this among the top one or two issues they want the candidates to address, but only 20% of likely voters say they have heard a specific property tax plan from any of the candidates. It should be noted that more than four-fifths of the interviews for this poll were conducted before Chris Daggett unveiled his property tax proposal on Tuesday.

"Since most voters express initial cynicism for any candidate who reveals a property tax proposal right now, it will be very interesting to see how the Daggett plan plays out," says Murray. The poll finds that most likely voters (57%) say they would view any proposal to reduce property taxes as basically an election year promise just to get elected. Another 4-in-10 believe any such move would indicate a candidate's serious intention to change the system, although nearly all of those (33%) say it depends on which candidate does the promising.

Among likely voters, 32% say a promise from Chris Christie would make them more likely to vote for him compared to 6% who would be less likely. If Jon Corzine made such a promise 28% say they would be more likely to vote for him compared to 10% who would be less likely. And if Chris Daggett made such a promise - keeping in mind that most interviews in this poll were conducted before Daggett unveiled his plan - 22% would be more likely to vote for the independent compared to 8% who would be less likely. Between the two major party candidates, likely voters continue to see Chris Christie as better able to handle property taxes than Jon Corzine, by a 46% to 31% margin.

The poll also found significant negative movement in the Republican candidate's personal ratings. Christie's personal rating now stands at 41% favorable to 39% unfavorable among likely voters. That's down from the 48%-30% positive standing he held in September and the 50%-26% positive rating he held among likely voters in July. Corzine has an upside down 40% favorable to 49% unfavorable rating, which has been pretty steady among likely voters since July.

Even though the Republican nominee is running on a platform of "change" few registered voters believe that a new governor will have a great deal of impact on the system in Trenton. Only 1-in-3 (35%) likely voters say that a Christie victory will bring about a lot of change in the way state government operates, while 42% say that a Christie administration would probably bring about a little change. Another 1-in-5 (20%) believe that a Christie administration would have no impact on how state government is run.

This year marks the first time a Lieutenant Governor is on the New Jersey ballot, but awareness of this new constitutional position is not particularly high, and has actually decreased over the past few months. Currently just 39% of registered voters have heard about the election of a Lieutenant Governor, which is down from the 58% who had heard about it in an August poll taken shortly after the gubernatorial nominees announced their running mates. While voters say they want to hear the candidates talk about the issues, only 3% of registered voters and 5% of likely voters are aware that the first televised debate airs tonight.

The survey conducted by telephone with 785 New Jersey registered voters from September 24 to 29, 2009. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.5 percent. This report also includes analysis on a smaller group of 527 "likely voters" with a + 4.3 percent margin of error.

 

 

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Candidates Square Off In First Debate
by David Matthau
Thursday, October 1, 2009

With the general election right around the corner, the 3 candidates for Governor in New Jersey participate in their first debate this evening - on public television.

Montclair State political science professor Dr. Brigid Harrison says Chris Christie "has both the most to gain and the most to lose…more voters are less familiar with is record…so he really can make inroads in letting voters know who he is, and what he stands for…but Mr. Christie needs to be careful to hold in - reign in his temper - and I think he needs to be careful and diligent in his explanation of his policy positions that will affect the public."

Dr. Harrison says the debate isn't as crucial for Governor Corzine because "the standards for the Governor are relatively low- Jon Corzine is known as being very effective one on one as a communicator, but perhaps not the best speech giver, perhaps not always the most effective communicator on television."

She adds both of the candidates will almost certainly come out firing verbal salvos at each other, "because in their campaigns, their modus operandi is to try and find the smoking gun, the one-liner, the silver bullet that makes voters believe their opponent is the wrong man."

Corzine Closes Gap On Christie In New Poll
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Jon Corzine

In less than one month's time Democratic Incumbent Governor Jon Corzine has dramatically cut into Republican challenger Chris Christie's lead in New Jersey's race for Governor and Independent Chris Daggett is a legitimate candidate. Thos are the key findings in a Quinnipiac University poll out today.

Corzine has cut Christie's lead by more than half and now trails the former federal prosecutor 43 - 39% among New Jersey likely voters. Independent candidate Christopher Daggett has 12 points, with 6% undecided. This compares to a 47 - 37% Christie lead, with 9% for Daggett, in a September 1 survey by Quinnipiac.

"Christopher Christie is still ahead in the Garden State, but when he looks in the rear-view mirror, he sees the bearded visage of Gov. Jon Corzine getting closer," says Mickey Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "This race looks as if it will go down to the wire. Does Christopher Daggett's impressive climb measure a swing to him or simply a distaste for the two guys hollering at each other? Will Daggett fade on Election Day? At this stage, his numbers matter."

Independent voters shift from 46 - 30% for Christie, with 16% for Daggett September 1, to 45 - 32% for Christie, with 16% for Daggett today. New Jersey voters split 38 - 38% in whether they have a favorable/unfavorable opinion of Christie, his worst measure of favorability so far. By a 56 - 34% margin, voters have a negative opinion of Corzine, little changed from earlier surveys. For Daggett, 84% still don't know enough about him to form an opinion.

41% of New Jersey likely voters list taxes as the most important campaign issue, followed by 17% who list the economy or unemployment. Only 4% list political corruption, while another 4% cite honesty or morality.

If Corzine is elected, property taxes will go up, 61% of voters say, while 32% say they will stay the same. Property taxes would go up under Christie, 34% say, as 46 percent say they would stay the same.

"The attack-attack-attack style of this rugged campaign is taking a toll on Christie, whose favorability and honesty measures are dropping," says Carroll. "But the Republican is the big winner when voters turn their attention to the biggest campaign issue - taxes."

Carroll says, "New Jersey's property taxes are high and voters want to cap the increase, but they don't want to raise other taxes to do it."

New Jersey voters say 85 - 11% that there should be a cap on how much property taxes can be raised. Support for the cap is over 80% in every group measured, but voters oppose 54 - 39% raising the state income tax or sales tax in order to provide property tax relief.

New Jersey voters disapprove 58 - 36% of the job Corzine is doing, little changed from deep disapproval scores in July, August and September. Independent voters disapprove 63 - 31%, continuing the double-digit disapproval by this key voting bloc.

From September 23 - 28, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,188 New Jersey likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.

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Daggett Spells Out Tax Plan
by David Matthau
Wednesday, September 30 2009

Under the plan, the $1.6billion dollars spent in this year's budget for property tax relief programs-including homestead rebates, the senior citizen property tax freeze and the income tax write-off for property taxes-would be folded into a property tax credit that would be deducted directly from homeowners' property tax bills.

The proposal would also extend the existing 7 percent sales tax to a wide range of personal, professional and household services, including services provided to individuals by professionals such as lawyers, accountants and architects. The expansion would - according to Daggett - generate $3.9billion dollars in additional tax revenue.

His plan also calls for the income tax to be reduced 600 million dollars, and corporate taxes to be slashed by 700 million.

Daggett says his proposal would also effectively limit the annual growth in a school district, municipal, and County budgets - by tying them to the Consumer Price Index - and "any jurisdiction that approves a budget or an employee contract exceeding the CPI would forfeit its property tax cut (for the residents living there).

VIDEOS OF THE DAY

Pol: Corzine Makes Deal On Gay Marriage
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Jon Corzine

)"It is widely believed that (Governor Jon) Corzine has made a back room deal to pass a gay marriage statute in lame duck in return for support in his re-election effort," claims Republican State Senator Gerry Cardinale. "He is keeping the deal under wraps because significant elements of even his own base supporters oppose gay marriage."

Cardinale claims he was in the room when Corzine cut the deal with a "key committee chairman," but he refuses to say who that chairman is. Cardinale sponsors a Senate Concurrent Resolution that proposes a constitutional amendment that would specify that, "only the union of one man and one woman shall be valid as a marriage in the State of New Jersey." If the measure is passed, voters would be asked their opinions in the form of a ballot question in November 2010.

"In many other states, the people have been given the right to decide this issue at the ballot box," explains Cardinale. "Are the people of New Jersey second class citizens in Corzine's eyes? His secret back room deal would seem to say in no uncertain terms, he does not care whet the public wants. He just wants to maintain power."

Corzine has said publicly that he would sign a gay marriage bill when and if such a measure is passed by the legislature. Assemblyman Joe Cryan, chairman of the Democratic State Committee responds to Cardinale's allegation by saying, "It's an absolutely ridiculous accusation, but not a surprising one when you take a look at what the Republicans will do these days…..The Governor has made it very, very clear that he supports fairness and equality for everyone in our state."

"To misuse the constitution is a political tool at the Republicans' disposal in this election cycle and certainly it is incomplete and false and an absolutely ridiculous accusation that just frankly tops the cake," says Cryan. "It might be the most ridiculous of the ones that we've seen so far in the gubernatorial campaign….What they're (Republicans) looking to do is divide New Jerseyans. Their entire campaign has been about tearing down New Jersey."

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

Voters Tuning Out The Election?
by David Matthau
Tuesday, September 29 2009

We have five weeks to go before the general election in Jersey…and it seems most voters could care less.

An informal Millennium Radio News poll finds a majority of State residents are not following the race, and less than 50 percent of voters who say they are tuned in to what's going on can name the two major candidates - incumbent John Corzine, and republican challenger Chris Christie.

Only one shopper on Route one in Middlesex County was aware there was an independent candidate - and she was unable remember his name is Chris Daggett, although she thought his last name started with the letter D.

"I'm not focused on the election because I just don't have time" said one man, "it doesn't really matter anyway, because they all make promises they never keep."

"There's so much corruption in Jersey that it's depressing" said another shopper, "it's like, why even bother keeping up with it because they always wind up lying."

Another man chimed in "I don't like either candidate, so I just steer clear of the whole thing - I'd rather watch grass growing."

Gore Cites Corzine's "Compassion" In Endorsement
by The Associated Press
Saturday, September 26, 2009

Jon Corzine

Former Vice President Al Gore says New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has compassion for the people he serves and that the state's Democrats need to do all they can to help get him re-elected.

The former vice president and Nobel laureate was in Atlantic City Friday for New Jersey's Democratic State Committee convention.

He gave the convention's keynote address at a dinner honoring Corzine, calling him "the real deal." With Corzine facing a tough re-election challenge from GOP rival Chris Christie the convention was designed to rally party members.

Earlier, Corzine promised the dinner crowd of more than 500 that they will win on Nov. 3.

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Take Jim Gearhart's weekly poll on the Governor's race. A new poll begins every Tuesday morning.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Property Taxes Tops On Minds Of Voters
by David Matthau
Monday, September 28 2009

Patrick Murray, the Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, says the Monmouth University Gannett new Jersey poll finds " sixty percent of residents say the property tax is the least fair tax that they pay - far outpacing the State sales tax at 12 percent, the income tax at the federal level at 11 percent, and the State income tax at 7 percent."

He says part of the problem "is the amount that people pay seems to be taking up a bigger chunk of their incomes…since 2006, the biggest jump in property taxes is being reported by those who are middle income earners- those making between 50 and 100 thousand dollars say that their property taxes have risen by 29 percent over the past 3 years."

As a result, Murray says the survey found "52 percent of New Jerseyans give the State's quality of life a positive rating - including just 8 percent who say the quality of life is excellent, and 44 percent who say it is good - this is down from 63 percent just 2 years ago, who have positive ratings…and this has led to a feeling that - we need to leave the state - half of New Jersey residents - 50 percent- say they would like to move out of New Jersey at some point in time."

The poll also found a majority of Jersey residents think their local schools are doing a good or excellent job, but only half believe the quality of the schools is worth the amount being paid in property taxes.

The Imapct Of Negative Campaigns
by Martin Di Caro
Friday, September 25, 2009

Chris Christie

Jon Corzine

Where gubernatorial candidates Jon Corzine, the incumbent governor and Democrat, and Chris Christie, the Republican challenger place their money in personal investments may seem irrelevant to their public policy positions, but such negative attacks will impact the race to the extent each candidate successfully defines his opponent, experts said on Thursday.

Questions over personal investments have filled news reports in recent days. Governor Corzine deflected questions about his investment in a hedge fund operated by TPG-Axon which has holdings in Halliburton, a company Mr. Corzine criticized when he was in the U.S Senate. When Christie was U.S Attorney in New Jersey, he owned stock in a company his office was investigating for fraud, Cendant. Christie bought the stock directly, not through a hedge fund. He has since sold the stock.

"What they are trying to do is define one another with their negative campaigning," said Dr. Richard Harris, director of the Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden. "To the extent they are successful doing that, it's relevant to the outcome of the election. It plants a seed of doubt about the person's honesty and integrity."

Dr. Harris said such negative attacks for candidates to drift from their message and defend themselves.

"It puts the other side on the defensive in the sense they have to respond to the negative attacks instead of framing the issues they way they would want. It's terrible for the public interest. It's terrible because the voters are not allowed to focus on what they would propose for the state."

"Every dollar they spend defending attacks is a dollar they can't spend on promoting their message," he added.

Voters interviewed by Millennium Radio said the personal investments issue was not relevant to them.

"It's all God's money and however they spend it, it's up to them," said one man, who said he was leaning toward voting for Chris Christie.

One undecided voter said he has his mind on other issues. "What I care about are the issues that affect us and that's the problem with most politicians and most elections. They get side-tracked into things that are just unimportant, trying to make the other guy look bad."

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Corzine To Pick Up Endorsements
By The Associated Press
Friday, September 25, 2009

Gov. Jon Corzine is about to be endorsed by New Jersey's major police and fire unions.

The endorsement blitz begins Friday with announcements from the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association and the Firemen's Mutual Benevolent Association.

Endorsements from the Fraternal
Order of Police and Professional Firefighters Association of New
Jersey are planned for Sunday.
The state Police Benevolent Association is expected to make an
endorsement in the race at its convention next month.

Union officials cited Corzine's commitment to funding public
safety and maintaining safe staff levels even during the recession.

Republican candidate Chris Christie has riled unions during the gubernatorial campaign with his pledges to reduce the union work force and reform the pension system if elected.

Take Jim Gearhart's weekly poll on the Governor's race. A new poll begins every Tuesday morning.

Christie Has His Own Investment Questions
by the Associated Press
Thursday, September 24, 2009

Chris Christie

Financial disclosure forms indicate former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie owned stock in a company while his office was investigating it for fraud.


Christie, now the Republican candidate for governor, held shares of Cendant Corp. worth between $1,000 and $15,000 while the investigation was happening.

Christie says the stock was bought through a financial adviser who picked stocks for him. Federal financial disclosure reports show Christie bought the
stock in 2004 and sold it the next year.

As U.S. Attorney, he reopened an investigation into Cendant in 2002 that had been started by his predecessor.
Christie says he no longer buys individual stocks to avoid possible conflicts.

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Take Jim Gearhart's weekly poll on the Governor's race. A new poll begins every Tuesday morning.

Corzine: Hedge Fund Is A "Manufactured" Issue
by Martin DiCaro
Thursday, September 24, 2009

Faced with more questions about a hedge fund in which he's invested, Governor Jon Corzine said on Wednesday his investment is irrelevant and called a link to oil services giant Halliburton a "manufactured" controversy.

Mr. Corzine is invested in a TGP-Axon hedge fund which, as of Tuesday, had $231 million dollars in holdings in Halliburton, a company then-Senator Corzine criticized when it over billed the Pentagon for services in the Iraq war. Along with 27 other Senate Democrats, Mr. Corzine signed a letter calling for the Defense Department to investigate Halliburton, which eventually was made to pay fines.

"I don't know what is held in a hedge fund of $9.5 billion dollars. That's just like a mutual fund. You wouldn't have a clue what stocks people hold or don't hold," he said when speaking to reporters after a campaign event in Edison. "My concern [about Halliburton] was they were getting no bid contracts from the federal government when Vice President Cheney was there. I don't think that was appropriate. That doesn't have anything to do with the hedge fund. It has to do with Halliburton's actions."

When asked if his view of the hedge fund has changed since it was brought to his attention that it has holdings in Halliburton, the governor responded, "What a hedge fund invests in in public stock and other investments, I can't make an opinion day in and day out. In fact, I don't know what they own day in and day out."

The governor refused to say exactly how much money he has invested in the TPG-Axon fund, which his opponent in the gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie, is demanding he reveal.

"We have disclosed on every disclosure statement, both when I was in the Senate and here, what I own and within the ranges, with full disclosure," Mr. Corzine said. "It's a manufactured issue to get away from him having to be talking about the fact that he didn't report assets on his disclosure forms. He didn't pay the income taxes on it, what was required. And those are exactly the kinds of things he prosecuted other people about," a reference to Chris Christie's tenure as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey

More Questions Raised About Corzine Investment
by Martin DiCaro
Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Jon Corzine

Click here for Martin DiCaro's erport

The campaign of Governor Jon S. Corzine on Tuesday continued to downplay questions about a hedge fund in which Mr. Corzine is invested.  Millennium Radio has learned the hedge fund, TPG-Axon, is heavily invested in a company Mr. Corzine once sharply criticized.

When he was in the U.S Senate Mr. Corzine signed a letter, along with 27 other Democrats, to the Defense Department calling for an investigation of Halliburton, the oil field services giant which overcharged the Pentagon for work in Iraq. 

TPG-Axon has $231 million in holdings in Halliburton.

When Millennium Radio asked his campaign whether Governor Corzine is aware of the TPG-Halliburton connection, the campaign released the following statement:

"Christie and his fellow Bush Republicans still don't want to answer to the fact that Mr. Christie didn't pay his taxes and ignored ethics laws by failing to disclose details about a real - not imagined - conflict of interest.  Chris Christie has a well-established pattern of having one set of rules for himself and another for everyone else, and now his campaign is desperate to do everything they can to distract away from it.  Governor Corzine has no input or control over the investments TPG-Axon has made.  Factually, he has no discretion over the fund's investments and any suggestion otherwise is another desperate attempt to draw attention away from Christie's failure to pay taxes and do basic things he prosecuted other people for."

On Tuesday, Millennium Radio's David Matthau reported that Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie demanded Governor Corzine reveal how much money he has invested in the TPG-Axon hedge fund.  TPG is a part of Texas Pacific group, a corporation that owns Harrah's Entertainment, which owns four Atlantic City Casinos.

Governor Corzine responded that no conflict exists because his investment has been approved by casino regulators.  He said he has no plans to sell it.  "Why should I divest?" Corzine asked, during an event in Hoboken. "It (TPG) is not a regulated entity, it doesn't own casinos, it doesn't manage casinos, it's not a part of the casino industry."

Republican challenger Chris Christie still holds a seven-point lead - 48% to 41% - over incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in the race for New Jersey governor according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.

The latest survey of voters in the Garden State finds independent candidate Chris Daggett attracting six percent (6%) of the vote, and five percent (5%) undecided.

Earlier this month, Christie led by eight points, 46% to 38%. In late August, the Republican ex-prosecutor was out front 50% to 42%.

Take Jim Gearhart's weekly poll on the Governor's race. A new poll begins every Tuesday morning.

Corzine Brushes Aside Christie Concerns
by David Matthau
Tuesday,September 22, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here and listen to the Governor's response to David Matthau's question

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie continues to call on Governor Corzine to reveal how much money he has invested in a TPG -Axon hedge fund - and he also wants the Governor to divest the funds immediately, because, he contends, TPG is a part of Texas Pacific group, a corporation that owns Harrah's Entertainment - which owns four Atlantic City Casinos.

Governor Corzine says this is not true - his investment has been approved by casino regulators - and he has no plans to sell it.

"Why should I divest?" Corzine asked, during an event in Hoboken. "It (TPG) is not a regulated entity, it doesn't own casinos, it doesn't manage casinos, it's not a part of the casino industry."

Corzine quickly added "Mr. Christie wants to distract people from talking about the fact that he didn't pay taxes on a loan he didn't report - that was supposed to be disclosed…there's one set of rules for him and not for everybody else…there's no confusion….it's just pure utter distraction away from issues that are fact - this is not."

Christie came under intense media scrutiny earlier this summer when it was learned he loaned an Assistant U.S. Attorney 46 thousand dollars and never reported it on financial disclosure forms. He indicated he had forgotten about the loan, but then filed corrected papers.

The Assistant U.S. Attorney has since resigned.

Christie continues to lead Corzine in several recent polls, with less than 2 months to go before the general election

VIDEO OF THE DAY

GOP Questions Corzine's Investment In Casinos
by The Associated Press
Monday,September 21, 2009

Gov. Jon Corzine is responding to criticism from Republicans about his personal investments.

Republicans say he's breaking the law because he has a stake in
the state's casino industry. Corzine says that's not true. His financial disclosures show he has money the hedge fund in TPG-Axon. The fund has the same address and some common officials with Texas Pacific Group, which bought Harrah's Entertainment in 2006.

Harrah's owns four Atlantic City casinos. Texas Pacific Group says that TPG-Axon is a separate group that has no decision-making authority over it.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie says it's a "colossal error in judgment."

Corzine says casino regulators have evaluated the situation --
and found him in the clear. A spokesman for the Democratic governor says the investment isn't going well: It lost 33 percent last year.

Should Corzine Change Strategy?
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Jon Corzine

When it is getting late in a race, you're spending millions to get re-elected and you're still trailing your opponent in every poll it may be time to re-think your campaign strategy. There's less than two months to go in the race for Governor of New Jersey. Incumbent Jon Corzine is spending freely and he is lagging behind his challenger, Republican Chris Christie. Yesterday, Corzine was asked about his homestretch strategy.

Asked what needs to happen between now and Election Day in order for him to overtake his opponent, Corzine responds, "I think we need to continue to talk to the public about the contrasts that exist between the candidates…..I believe in early childhood education, but my opponent is opposed to that. He flat out called it babysitting and he would not be expanding early childhood education."

"On health care, my opponent is for offering mandate-free insurance policies which wouldn't take into account mammograms or 48-hour stays in hospitals for mothers who give birth," explains the Governor. "There are real stark differences between the individual who is in the Republican Party and ourselves and I think I have to make that be known to the general public."

In his seemingly perpetual attempt to tie Chrsitie to former President George W. Bush, Corzine points out that he went to court to stop the Bush Administration from cutting kids from the rolls of the insured. He says, "Once the public understands some of these contrasts I think we'll be able to have a winning conversation with the public.."

Christie has often criticized Corzine saying the Governor can't run on his record because his record is poor. Corzine accuses Christie of blaming him for a global economic crisis. The Governor says Christie's strategy will backfire when the public asks, "How are we doing on health care? How are we doing in educating our children when our test scores are at the highest of any of the states in the country?: How are we doing in providing early childhood education?"

Chrsitie has come under fire for a lack of specifics when it comes to his proposals. Corzine seems to agree saying, "I think it is important that we have a strong, effective dialogue on not only what we've done, but what we're going to do."

WEB SITE OF THE DAY

The Christie campaign has launched a new website, ItsMyNJ.com. According to a press release, the site is "where people from all over the state will have the opportunity to become part of an online community where they can share their New Jersey story. New Jerseyans are invited to discuss their personal experiences, challenges they face and hopes for the future."

Christie Maintains Lead
by Kevin McArdle
Monday, September 14, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here to read the poll

The Governor's race in New Jersey may be closer than a lot of people think. According to the latest Monmouth University-Gannett New Jersey poll, it looks like the race could come down to will actually be voting come Election Day.

Among likely voters, Christie now holds an 8 point advantage over Corzine - 47% to 39% - with 5% for independent Chris Daggett. While this is similar to the Republican's lead in July, it is down from the 14 point advantage he held in August, when Christie led Corzine by 50% to 36%.

"A Republican holding a steady poll lead is unprecedented in recent New Jersey elections and this shouldn't be discounted," says Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "But the results also indicate there is a lot of churning in this electorate. Despite the incumbent's continued unpopularity, there is still a sense that anything can happen."

A clear indication that this race is far from settled is how the race stands when the preferences of all registered voters are considered, including those both likely and unlikely to vote on November 3rd. Among all registered voters, the "horse race" narrows to basically a tie, 41% for Corzine and 40% for Christie. The Republican had a 4 point lead among registered voters in the August poll and a 6 point lead in July.

Christie leads among independent voters by 45% to 30%, although this 15 point advantage is smaller than the 20 point lead he held in August and the 23 point lead in July. The number of independents who say they are undecided in this race now stands at 17%, which is up by 5 points since August. Murray thinks that while this finding is within the survey's margin of error for independent voters, it could be a sign of increasing uncertainty about the challenger and bears watching.

Corzine seems to be shoring up support among his base after a summer when Democratic voting groups showed little enthusiasm for their standard bearer. The Governor now has an 77% to 8% advantage among his fellow Democrats. This marks a 10 point gain in the governor's support among his partisan base since July.

Corzine has also increased his support among black and Hispanic voters (68%, up from 50% in July) and urban voters (68%, up from 50% in July). He has regained some footing among traditionally Democratic labor groups (unions, teachers, and state workers) - now holding 38% of this group's support compared to 42% for Christie. The incumbent still has a ways to go to regain the 45% to 34% advantage he had among labor groups in July, but the current poll reading is an improvement from August, when Corzine actually trailed Christie (36% to 45%) among this group.

"Negative campaigning in New Jersey is nothing new, but past polling tells us that voters usually don't notice that negative tone until October," explains Murray. "Getting the electorate to register its disapproval of the campaign's conduct immediately after Labor Day is truly an accomplishment."

More than half (55%) of the state's electorate would characterize the tone of this year's race as negative. Only 33% say it has been positive.  Among those who see the campaign as negative, 34% blame Corzine more compared to 13% who blame Christie. However, a majority of 52% say both candidates are equally to blame for the negative tone of the race.

Corzine's job approval rating now stands at 37% approve to 52% disapprove among registered voters.  His personal evaluations are 39% favorable to 45% unfavorable. Both of these results are similar to the job and personal ratings he has held since July.

Chris Christie's personal standing among registered voters is now 41% favorable to 29% unfavorable. These results are nearly identical to his personal rating a month ago. Prior to the current poll, though, Christie's unfavorable numbers had been steadily climbing. The current results indicate that last month's slew of negative media about the Republican challenger did not have much of an impact on voter opinion.

The majority of voters say that both Corzine (57%) and Christie (52%) have given them at least some idea of what they would do in their 2010-2014 term as governor, although few voters say either candidate has given them a "clear idea" - 21% for Corzine and 14% for Christie.  Moreover, about 4-in-10 voters say they have little or no idea what either candidate - 37% for Corzine and 42% for Christie - would do in the next four years as governor.

Registered voters see Christie (43%) rather than Corzine (24%) doing a better job on property taxes, an issue which continues to be Garden State voters' top concern. Nearly half (46%) name property taxes as one of the most important issues they want the candidates to address. Christie also has the decided advantage over Corzine on handling corruption (40% to 25%) and a small edge on the state budget (40% to 35%) and the economy and jobs (38% to 34%). The two candidates run basically even among registered voters on improving New Jersey's cities (35% Christie to 36% Corzine), while Corzine has a slight edge on health care (35% to 31%).  However, Christie gets the edge on these last two issues among likely voters.

The governor leads his challenger when it comes to dealing with the environment (41% to 24%) and education (44% to 33%). The poll found some slight shifts in these issue advantages compared to a month ago. Corzine gained 8 points on handling education, while Christie lost 6 to 7 points on handling corruption and the environment.

The poll also finds that independent Chris Daggett, his running mate, and the running mates of the two major party candidates are barely registering a blip in voter awareness. More than 8-in-10 voters say they have formed no opinion of Daggett (82%) or any of the lieutenant governor candidates, including Democrat Loretta Weinberg (84%), Republican Kim Guadagno (90%), and independent Frank Esposito (91%).

Thesurvey was conducted by telephone with 752 New Jersey registered voters from September 8 to 10, 2009. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.6 percent.  This report also includes analysis on a smaller group of 531 "likely voters" with a + 4.3 percent margin of error.

No Third Gubernatorial Debate
by The Associated Press
Friday, September 11, 2009

An effort to add a third New Jersey gubernatorial debate has been stymied.

The League of Women Voters of New Jersey wants to sponsor a one-hour debate on Oct. 13 to be televised by ABC stations in New York and Philadelphia and on Univision.

Gov. Jon Corzine's campaign says his schedule won't allow him to participate. And Gannett New Jersey reported Thursday that his Republican
challenger, Chris Christie, would not agree to a debate pitting Christie one-on-one against independent Chris Daggett.

All three candidates have agreed to participate in two debates,
scheduled for Oct. 1 and Oct. 16. The lieutenant governor candidates will debate on Oct. 8.

Christie's "Countdown To Change"
by David Matthau
Thursday, September 10, 2009

Chris Christie

Republican candidate for Governor Chris Christie has delivered a "Countdown to change" speech, laying out his philosophical approach to how he would address major problems in State government if elected in November.

During the speech, Christie promised he would cut spending, reduce income taxes and lower property taxes, but he didn't offer detailed specifics to back up those promises, and he wouldn't specify how much of a cut there would be, and when it would take place.

He did say "real property tax reform must come from a cooperative effort between State and County and local governments- by reducing wasteful spending by increasing sharing of services, by consolidating services where appropriate- lowering the cost of doing business by sharing and pooling the resources that we have in the State…there is no silver bullet solution to this problem, and I refuse to run a campaign like Jon Corzine ran 4 years ago where you promise the sun and the moon and the stars, and then you disappoint people."

Christie also said he would be able to accomplish this, while other politicians failed, because "I am committed to making the difficult decisions that need to be made - without regard to what the political ramifications are for potential re-election…we are committed to doing what needs to be done in one term, and if at the end of it, we're so politically radioactive that we can't get re-elected, that's fine, I'll go home…but at least I'll know that I did a job I was sent here to do - which is to clean up this mess that Jon Corzine created over the last 4 years."

Christie is maintaining a slight lead over Governor Corzine in all of the latest polls

No Investigation Into Rove Conversation
by The Associated Press
Thursday, September 10, 2009

Federal authorities will not investigate
whether New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie violated the law by discussing a possible run for governor while he was U.S. Attorney.

The Office of Special Counsel says it won't investigate because it has no authority to discipline Christie even if a violation were found.

Christie resigned last year to run for governor. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics requested the probe after testimony by Bush strategist Karl Rove mentioned campaign-related conversations with Christie.

Christie said Rove recommended campaign consultant Mike DuHaime,
whom Christie later hired. The complaint alleged that Christie violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity.

Christie Sets An Agenda For Election
by the Associated Press
Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Chris Christie

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie said Wednesday he would try to fix some of New Jersey's big problems if elected to the office and would not worry about whether his decisions might damage his re-election prospects.

"And if at the end of it, we're so politically radioactive that we can't get re-elected, that's fine. I'll go home," he said after
a 43-minute speech at an Elks Lodge in Bergen County.

Christie is leading in polls against incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine and Independent Chris Daggett, but Christie's campaign has been besieged for the last few weeks with accusations that he used his previous job as U.S. attorney for political purposes.

On Wednesday, he tried to turn the campaign toward policy issues, laying out his priorities. The economy, taxes, education, cities and renewable energy will be his focus over the 55 remaining
days before the Nov. 3 election, he said.
In his speech, he presented a bleak view of the state with its current rising unemployment and higher taxes -- and attempted to inspire without over-promising.

He said he would cut income taxes for all individuals and for small businesses. He said he would restore property tax rebates, which were eliminated this year for about half the homeowners who
received them last year. But on both fronts, Christie would not say by how much or when. He said candidates of both parties who commit to such details have always fallen short in the past.
"It's not going to happen all at once," he said. "It took us
a long time to get here. It's going to take a while to get out."

In the suburban Democratic-leaning area where Christie spoke, he will have to do well to win. He said he would address the problems of the cities, developing
ways to measure crime and the economy so that whatever policies he would roll out could be measured -- and ditched if they didn't work.

While New Jersey is always among the highest-income states in the nation, cities like Camden consistently rank among the most impoverished. Christie said he would work closely with Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, the state's largest city -- even though Booker,
a Democrat, is supporting Corzine in the election.

Christie renewed his call for more charter schools as a way to improve education in the cities, where schools are largely
supported by state tax money. He said students in failing schools should be given vouchers, which they could use to pay tuition at other public or private schools. Christie also called for teachers
to be paid partly based on how well their students perform.

In addition, he said, he would make deep state spending cuts, but he did not say which programs he would put on the chopping block.

"There will be programs that will be cut," he said to a room of supporters. "Maybe even some that some of you in this room
like. But you would do the same thing."
He singled out one area where he wants the state to spend more money: State universities. He said they are losing New Jersey's top high school graduates to other states.

Corzine Expects Return Visit From Obama
by David Matthau
Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Jon Corzine

With Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie continuing to lead in all the recent polls, there is growing speculation "Camp Corzine" will call on President Obama to come back to Jersey campaign with the incumbent Governor this fall.

Obama drew a huge crowd back in July when he attended a re-elect Jon Corzine rally at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

When the Governor was asked whether there were plans in place to bring the President back to the Garden State, Corzine said "we have an ongoing, day-to-day dialogue with the White House- we have not set any dates - I have high expectations that our President can come and speak about the direction of our country - we feel great about what he is doing."

Asked how important it was to have Mr. Obama campaign with him this fall, Corzine replied "it's always important, but it's not going to be defining - people ultimately will make their decisions on do they think someone can lead us through this recession - this great recession…we are talking about the same thing the President is - moving us forward by investing in education, investing in health care, and making sure we're creating jobs for everyone."

More Ticket Trouble For Christie
by Angela Delli Santi, Associated Press
Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Chris Christie

New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie was not issued a traffic ticket after a 2002 accident that sent a motorcyclist to the hospital.

Christie, the state's top federal prosecutor at the time of the
accident, was driving to the swearing-in of Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow in Elizabeth when he lost his way, police records show.

As Christie started to turn the wrong way down a one-way street,
the oncoming motorcyclist braked; the bike fell and slid into the car Christie was driving, according to the police report.

"First of all, the motorcycle hit me," Christie said Friday when asked about the accident after a campaign event in Atlantic City. "He was injured at the scene, he was taken to the hospital
but I understand that he's fine now."

The incident was first reported Friday by The Star-Ledger of Newark.

Motorcyclist Andre Mendonca, who was taken to University Hospital in Newark, refused to comment Friday. His lawyer, Stanley Marcus, said he didn't remember the seven-year-old accident or how
the incident was settled.

Christie said there was no lawsuit over the accident. However, Essex County court records show that a civil suit filed by Mendonca in April 2004 was dismissed three months later. The records do not specify whether the case was settled. An official in the county
records office said the case file had been destroyed. Gov. Jon Corzine, whose re-election bid Christie is challenging, questioned why Christie was not ticketed.

Corzine said the accident fits a pattern with his opponent of "one set of rules for him and another set for everyone else." Christie campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella called the accident
"unfortunate" and said the candidate "knows he can always be a
better driver."

New Jersey motor vehicle records show that Christie has been involved in six accidents, but has not been ticketed for any of them. He's also accumulated 25 points over the years but is currently a driver in good standing.

Elizabeth Police Director James Cosgrove said Christie identified himself as the state's U.S. attorney after the Elizabeth accident. He said the car, a rented BMW, was towed, and that
Christie continued on to the swearing-in. It's not known how he got
there.

Since there were no witnesses, he said the responding officer has discretion whether to issue a ticket. "If the officer had seen the accident he would have definitely issued a summons in this case," said Cosgrove.

Asked if Christie's position could have influenced the decision not to issue a ticket, he said: "The report is the report. The facts are there. You can make your own deduction at that point." This is not the first time Christie's driving record has been an issue in the gubernatorial campaign.

Christie was stopped for speeding in Lambertville in 2005 and
issued three tickets. He pleaded guilty to downgraded charges and
paid fines.

Corzine Trails And Leads
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, September 8, 2009

According to the latest Fairleigh Dickinson University-Public Mind poll, Republican challenger Chris Christie leads incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine by 47%-42% among likely voters in the race for New Jersey Governor. 6% say they are unsure. A closer look reveals that Corzine is also leading Christie in the very same survey. Confused? Let's clear it up.

"When you ask people, Republican or Democrat, who they think is going to win they often come up with a different answer than just their partisan preference," explains poll director Peter Woolley.

Although Christie enjoys a five-point lead over Corzine when voters were asked who they want to win this year's gubernatorial race, it a different story when those very same voters were asked who they actually think will win. Woolley says, "45% of voters say they think Jon Corzine is really going to win. 41% say they think that Chris Christie is going to win."

Woolley says, "So, 45-41% that say they think that Corzine is going to win. That spread is only four points. When we looked at that last time, that difference was eight points."

The question is phrased in the following way to respondents, "Now, regardless of which candidate you want to win, if you had to guess, who would you say is going to win the election for Governor in November?" Woolley says even though Corzine's lead is shrinking when that question is asked, "There's still a sense out there that Corzine has the advantage."

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 715 likely voters statewide was conducted by telephone from August 24, 2009, through August 30, 2009, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

More Ticket Trouble For Christie
by Angela Delli Santi, the Associated Pres
Saturday, September 5, 2009

Chris Christie

New Jersey Republican gubernatorial
candidate Chris Christie was not issued a traffic ticket after a
2002 accident that sent a motorcyclist to the hospital.

Christie, the state's top federal prosecutor at the time of the
accident, was driving to the swearing-in of Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow in Elizabeth when he lost his way, police records show.

As Christie started to turn the wrong way down a one-way street,
the oncoming motorcyclist braked; the bike fell and slid into the
car Christie was driving, according to the police report.

"First of all, the motorcycle hit me," Christie said Friday
when asked about the accident after a campaign event in Atlantic
City. "He was injured at the scene, he was taken to the hospital
but I understand that he's fine now."

The incident was first reported Friday by The Star-Ledger of
Newark.

Motorcyclist Andre Mendonca, who was taken to University
Hospital in Newark, refused to comment Friday. His lawyer, Stanley
Marcus, said he didn't remember the seven-year-old accident or how
the incident was settled.

Christie said there was no lawsuit over the accident. However,
Essex County court records show that a civil suit filed by Mendonca
in April 2004 was dismissed three months later. The records do not
specify whether the case was settled. An official in the county
records office said the case file had been destroyed.
Gov. Jon Corzine, whose re-election bid Christie is challenging,
questioned why Christie was not ticketed.

Corzine said the accident fits a pattern with his opponent of
"one set of rules for him and another set for everyone else."
Christie campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella called the accident
"unfortunate" and said the candidate "knows he can always be a
better driver."

New Jersey motor vehicle records show that Christie has been
involved in six accidents, but has not been ticketed for any of
them. He's also accumulated 25 points over the years but is
currently a driver in good standing.

Elizabeth Police Director James Cosgrove said Christie
identified himself as the state's U.S. attorney after the Elizabeth
accident. He said the car, a rented BMW, was towed, and that
Christie continued on to the swearing-in. It's not known how he got
there.

Since there were no witnesses, he said the responding officer
has discretion whether to issue a ticket. "If the officer had seen the accident he would have definitely issued a summons in this case," said Cosgrove.

Asked if Christie's position could have influenced the decision
not to issue a ticket, he said: "The report is the report. The
facts are there. You can make your own deduction at that point."
This is not the first time Christie's driving record has been an
issue in the gubernatorial campaign.

Christie was stopped for speeding in Lambertville in 2005 and
issued three tickets. He pleaded guilty to downgraded charges and
paid fines.

What Is The Governor's Message?
by Kevin McArdle
Friday, September 4, 2009

The Governor continues to trail Republican challenger Chris Christie in every major poll. Some members of "Camp Corzine" think this is because the Governor is not effectively getting his message out to the voters. In an effort to uncover what that undelivered message is, Millennium Radio News went right to the source and asked Corzine.

"You will see us working very hard to get the record out," says Corzine. "We're building schools. We're extending school years. We're expanding charter schools. Our test scores are improving. The achievement gaps are narrowing. We feel that we have a very strong record in education and we're speaking about it. It doesn't always get reported, but we're speaking about it."

The Governor explains, "We are creating more private sector jobs than almost any state in the nation. We're in the top-three. That's a record to be proud of. We're speaking about that every single day……….The people of New Jersey did not create this recession. As a matter of fact, this recession is biting much harder in places like Michigan with 15% unemployment and in Ohio with 12% and California with 12 ½%."

Earlier this week Corzine ushered in his fourth communications director in less than four years. Steve Sigmund, the chief of public and government affairs at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey succeeds former Newark Star Ledger reporter Deborah Howlett who last year took over for Anthony Coley who assumed the communications director spot after the departure of Ivette Mendez.

Debate Dates Set
by The Associated Press
Thursday, September 3, 2009

The dates for New Jersey's gubernatorial
debates have been set.

The state Election Law Enforcement Commission said Wednesday
that the first debate will be televised live on New Jersey Network
on Oct. 1.

A second debate will be held at William Paterson University in Wayne on Oct. 16 and will be broadcast on Oct. 18. Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine, Republican challenger Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett are expected to participate
in both debates.

A lieutenant governor debate will be held Oct. 8.

Christie Says He Is Not Ducking The Media
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Chris Christie

The news cycle over the past three weeks has not favored Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie.

First came allegations that while still U.S. Attorney he discussed his possible run for Governor with Karl Rove which could be in violation of the Hatch Act. Then came the revelation that Christie failed to disclose that he lent money to a subordinate who is still at the U.S. Attorney's Office. Last week, Millennium Radio News has obtained copies of three traffic tickets issued to then-U.S. Attorney Christie in Lambertville in September of 2005. He was given a summons for speeding (58mph in a 40mph zone) as well as for driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle. Officers at the scene called for a tow, but Christie was allowed to drive back home.

Christie's opponents accuse him of going into hiding, but the Republican candidate denies that. He says, "I was away for a week on vacation to get away from all of this, okay? I have absolutely the right to take my family away on vacation for a week and not have to expose myself to the press."

"In the last two weeks I've been out in public any number of times," explains Christie. "There are going to be some days where I'm allowed to take a breath or two (and) do some private, closed events where I'm having either fundraising events or where I'm having policy discussions. It doesn't mean I'm not working. It just means I'm not doing things in public."

Christie says, "Let's everybody take a deep breath. I don't think I have to be out in public every day at public events……..i think this whole thing about me not being out in public, if you look at the public record it's really kind of overblown."

The public record reveals that from August 6th through the end of last month Christie had 14 open press events. They include; 8/18 Address at Apt. Complex in Cherry Hill; 8/20 Garfield Senior Center 8/24 Teleconference; 8/25 Paterson Senior Picnic; 8/30 Keansburg Fire Department meet-and-greet and 8/31 a visit to a Jersey City charter school.

In that same time span, Jon Corzine had 56 open press events. 30 as Governor and 26 as the Democratic candidate for re-election.

Christie says his failure to report a $46,000 loan he made to a subordinate was an oversight and claims he is fixing "my mistake" by amending personal income tax and financial disclosure filings that omitted the loan to fellow prosecutor Michele Brown. Christie says he will file an amended 2007 federal tax return to reflect $420 in interest payments on the loan. When he files his 2008 return, probably in October, he said it will include $2,400 in interest income on the loan. He said he's also amending disclosures he filed with the New Jersey's Election Law Enforcement Commission and U.S. Justice Department.

"I made a mistake by not putting it on the form," says Christie. "It was certainly nothing I was trying to conceal or hide because obviously we did everything the way you're supposed to do this -- we did a mortgage, we recorded the mortgage at the county courthouse where the property was located, and Michele and (her husband) Mike have been paying their monthly payments every month since that time."

Brown was the No. 4 at the U.S. Attorney's Office and Christie was her boss when he made the loan in 2007. She resigned last week as the first assistant U.S. attorney under Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra. Christie promoted her twice before resigning in December.

Christie says he does not see a conflict with the arrangement continuing now that he is running for governor. Brown pays Christie $500 a month, he said; at that rate, the loan will be repaid in 2017.

Campaign Strategist, Tom Shea says, "Serious questions remain about the loan Chris Christie gave to Michele Brown. Chris Christie had at least four opportunities to comply with the law and disclose this loan, yet he failed to do so each and every time. There seems to be no mystery that he was determined to keep it secret. The question is, why?"

Corzine was dogged during the 2005 gubernatorial campaign by questions about a personal loan he made to former girlfriend Carla Katz but failed to report on his financial disclosure filings. Corzine gave Katz a $470,000 mortgage, then forgave the debt. At the time of the loan, Katz was the head of New Jersey's largest
Communications Workers of America local.

Regarding the Lambertville traffic stop, Christie's spokesperson Maria Comella says Christie was driving his wife's car on the way to a University of Delaware football game at the time of the traffic stop. She says two police officers were at the scene and a tow truck was there too, but Christie was ticketed and allowed to go home.

Asked who was in the vehicle, Comella said Christie's wife and kids were. Comella balked when asked if Michelle Brown was also in the vehicle. She questioned the relevance of that and at first refused to answer. Comella finally agreed to ask Christie and called back minutes later to confirm Brown was in the vehicle.

Lambertville police director Bruce Coccuzza calls the traffic stop and the fact that Christie was permitted to drive away, "No big deal." He admits Christie got little loud about the possibility of being towed, but quickly calmed down.

Why was Christie allowed to drive away despite having no proof of insurance and no valid registration card? Coccuzza says, "He said he had insurance and he's a person that produced federal I.D. credentials so you could probably assume that what he was saying was the truth……..is it consistent with the policy? No, but you do have special circumstances."

Coccuzza says the "special circumstances" were Christie's children in the car not his job title. He says the fact that Christie was U.S. Attorney probably didn't even register with officer at the scene, "From what I recollect I think she (the officer) even said at the time, 'If wasn't for the fact that you had a car full of children this car would be towed.'"

Asked if the entire traffic stop was videotaped, Coccuzza said, "Yes." Asked if that tape still exists he responded, "No it does not because the normal practice or by policy we usually erase those after 120 days."

All three tickets had "No Deal" written on them. Law enforcement officials tell Millennium Radio News that typically means the person being issued the summons was uncooperative. Christie still pleaded guilty to reduced charges and paid a $250 fine. The unregistered vehicle ticket was dismissed. Coccuzza says Christie produced a registration card, but even Comella admits the car was not registered at the time of the stop. The registration had expired almost two months before the incident.

The Debate Over Debates Is Resolved
by The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 2, 2009

New Jersey's public television network has dropped a request to postpone a governor's race debate for three weeks.

New Jersey Network withdrew its petition to election officials Tuesday, one day after Gov. Jon Corzine agreed to appear no matter when the event is held.

NJN had sought to move the debate to Oct. 22 due to uncertainty over Corzine's patricipation. But Corzine reversed course Monday, saying he'd prefer a later debate but would participate no matter the date.

Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett must
take part because their campaigns are publicly financed. The wealthy Corzine is under no such obligation, but he has agreed to debate on Oct. 1 and Oct. 16.

Election officials will approve the debate calendar Wednesday.

Christie Maintains Lead In Two Polls
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here for the Public Mind Poll

Click here for Quinnipiac poll

Click here for Kevin McArdle's report

In two polls released this morning, Republican Chris Christie continues to lead incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in New Jersey's race for Governor. Does Christie enjoy a double-digit lead or is it closer than that? That's depends on whether you buy into the findings of Fairleigh Dickinson University's Public-Mind or those of Quinnipiac University.

According to FDU, Christie leads Corzine by 47%-42% among likely voters in the race for New Jersey Governor. 6% say they are unsure. Independent Chris Daggett polls 1%, but his name was not specifically mentioned by the poll director. Corzine is losing the battle of the attack ads in his campaign for reelection and now trails Christie 47 - 37% among likely voters, with 9% for Daggett, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. FDU polled 715 likely voters. Quinnipiac surveyed 1,612 likely voters.

"The most important difference between these two candidates right now is in the support each one gets from his own party's voters," says Peter Woolley, a political scientist and director of the FDU poll. Among Republicans, Christie is preferred by 85%. Meanwhile, Corzine gets the support of 73% of Democrats. "That is an improvement from his earlier, tepid support, but still lagging," says Woolley.

Quinnipiac poll director Mickey Carroll says right now it appears Corzine's negative ads are not working. Of the 77% of New Jersey likely voters who have seen Corzine ads criticizing Christie for giving contracts to people with ties to former President George W. Bush, 56% say the ads are an unfair attack, while 36% say they are a legitimate campaign issue. Independent voters say 59 - 34% the ads are unfair. Among those who know of other charges, claims or attacks, voter verdicts are; 47 - 47% for Christie ads attacking Corzine for failing to guard against economic collapse; 49 - 43% for Corzine attacks on Christie for giving a loan to a former associate in the U.S. Attorney's office; and 47 - 45% for criticism of Corzine's personal relationship with a former labor leader.

"Just about everyone has seen Gov. Jon Corzine's TV ads knocking Christopher Christie's ties to the Bush team, but most question whether it's a legitimate issue," explains Carroll. "'Unfair,' they say."

Woolley says the Governor has not convinced Democrats that the state is headed in the right direction: about half (49%) say it's on the wrong track while 38% say it is headed the right way. Among Democrats, 29% have an unfavorable view of their nominee, compared to 12% of Republicans who have an unfavorable view of their nominee. Just 8% of Republicans have a favorable view of Corzine, but 19% of Democrats have a favorable view of Christie and 18% say they'll vote for him. Among all voters, 37% say their view of Corzine is favorable, while 54% say their impression is unfavorable. Similarly 37% approve of the job he's doing and 52% say they disapprove.

The FDU survey also reveals that there are some notable undercurrents working against Christie as well. Voters who have an unfavorable opinion of Christie jumped sharply to 35%, up from 25%. "This is the expected result of an increasing volume of negative advertising," said Woolley.

"Christie wins on many questions and he is pulling away from Corzine in a three-way matchup, with a double-digit lead," says Carroll. "Daggett's candidacy is just chipping away at the edges as he fails to climb out of single digits."

Also in the Quinnipiac poll, New Jersey voters disapprove 60 - 34% of the job Corzine is doing, compared to his 58 - 36% disapproval August 11. By a 57 - 34% margin, they have an unfavorable opinion of the Governor, compared to a 41 - 30% favorable opinion of Christie. For Daggett, 87% don't know enough about him to form an opinion.

There are some notable undercurrents working against Christie as well in the FDU survey. Voters who have an unfavorable opinion of Christie jumped sharply to 35%, up from 25%. "This is the expected result of an increasing volume of negative advertising," says Woolley.

Woolley says Corzine has improved on secondary measures. Asked which candidate is better described as "honest, trustworthy," the candidates now essentially tie (31% Corzine, 32% Christie) but Christie had been the clear leader, 33%-24%, in the previous survey. In addition, Corzine continues to lead on the question of which candidate "has the background and experience to be a good governor," by 45%-32%, essentially unchanged from 42%-29%. He only continues to lag on the question of which candidate better "understands the concerns of the average person." He loses to Christie 30%-43% on that measure.

The Quinnipiac poll shows a total of 96% of New Jersey voters say government corruption is a "somewhat serious" or "very serious" problem and 50% associate Democrats more with corruption, while 16% point to Republicans, with 34% undecided. Independent voters blame Democrats more than Republicans 51 - 16%. Even 29% of Democrats blame their own party more, while 26% blame Republicans, with 45% undecided.

Voters also say 46 - 40% they would rather have the Republican Party in control of the State Legislature after the November election.

"Voters, by a narrow 38 - 36% margin, would sooner go to a Meadowlands football game with Christie. To see the 'New Jersey' Giants? Hey, look at the map; East Rutherford isn't in New York," says Carroll.

Independent candidate Chris Daggett is preferred by 1% in the FDU survey which did not mention him by name, but allowed respondents to volunteer him or any other preference. Two thirds (67%) of likely voters say they've never heard of Daggett, an improvement from the nine of ten who said in early summer they had never heard of him, but another 20% say that while they've heard of him they have no opinion of him.

Similarly, 65% have not heard of Loretta Weinberg, the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor, while another 19% have heard of her but have no opinion of her. And more than nine of ten (93%) have not heard of or have no opinion of the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor, Sheriff Kim Guadagno.

"The Republican appears to be in pretty good shape headed into Labor Day," says Woolley. "The question is whether he has peaked while Corzine still has voters to win over."

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 715 likely voters statewide was conducted by telephone from August 24, 2009, through August 30, 2009, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

From August 25 - 30, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,612 New Jersey likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.

The Debate Over Gubernatorial Debates
by The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 1, 2009

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine will take part in two gubernatorial debates even though he isn't required to do so.

The Corzine campaign affirmed the governor's participation Monday after election officials put off a decision on a request to postpone one debate by three weeks to help ensure that the incumbent would take part.

Debate sponsor New Jersey Network asked to push back the Oct. 1 debate to Oct. 22 to accommodate Corzine's schedule. Election officials said they wouldn't approve a date switch without a firm commitment from Corzine.

They'll reconsider the
debate calendar on Wednesday.
Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett must participate because their campaigns are being publicly financed. The wealthy Corzine is under no such obligation.

Christie Calls Ticket Incident A "Mistake"
by The Associated Press
Sunday, August 29, 2009

Speeding

Uninsured

Unregistered

Chris Christie

The Republican candidate for New Jersey governor said Saturday it was a mistake to speed through a Delaware
River town in an unregistered vehicle with his wife and children in the car, but insists he didn't use his position as U.S. attorney to cut a deal on three traffic tickets.

Former federal prosecutor Chris Christie said during a campaign event in Keansburg that the 2005 traffic stop in Lambertville was insignificant. The tickets were first reported Wednesday by Millennium Radio News.

Christie was driving with his family and colleague Michele Brown when he was pulled over for speeding 58 mph in a 40 mph zone. He was also ticketed for not having insurance or registration. He said the car, which belonged to his wife, was insured, but she had allowed the registration to lapse.

Christie said he did not identify himself as the U.S. attorney, but that a tow truck driver recognized him as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor. He said he was allowed to drive home to Mendham, about 44 miles away, because his four children were in the car, not because of his position.

Christie, who is trying to unseat Gov. Jon Corzine, pleaded guilty to downgraded charges and paid $700 in fines. "What I said to the prosecutor at the time was, 'I want you to do whatever you would normally do for anyone else,' and I think the court record displays that that's exactly what they did do," Christie said.

Christie said his traffic stop was no different than that of any other New Jerseyan. "You make mistakes, you speed, you get caught. I don't think this is groundbreaking stuff," Christie said.

Traffic stops can present big problems for prominent New Jersey law enforcement officials, depending on how they are handled. Attorney General Zulima Farber was forced to quit six months into the job after interfering in a 2006 traffic stop involving her boyfriend. A special prosecutor found that Farber didn't commit a crime by going to the scene, but she was found to have violated ethics provisions barring state officials from accepting favors because of their position.

Attorney General Anne Milgram avoided a similar situation when she was ticketed for speeding last year. Milgram issued a press release acknowledging that she had been stopped, apologizing for speeding and saying she planned to pay the $176 fine.

Corzine was ticketed for failing to wear a seat belt when his state police-driven SUV crashed in 2007. Christie was ticketed for failing to wear a seat belt in January. Though Christie is currently a driver in good standing, his driving record includes being involved in six accidents and accumulating more than 20 points on his license since 1985. Neither Christie nor Corzine do much driving anymore. Some of Christie's comments Saturday contradict earlier accounts. For example, Lambertville Police Director Bruce Cocuzza reported that Christie got loud during the stop, but Christie described his demeanor only as "affirmative." "I don't think I got loud or abusive, but I certainly was saying 'let me drive my car home and I will take care of the oversight on the registration on my wife's car when the DMV opens up on Monday,' which we did," Christie said.

Christie also denied a report that Brown got out of the car during the stop and flashed her badge. She resigned as first assistant U.S. attorney on Tuesday after it was revealed that Christie had loaned her $46,000. Christie said only he got out of the vehicle, at the officer's request.

Brown Quits
by David Matthau
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Chris Christie

One day after Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie accused the Corzine for re-election camp of drumming up "fake hysteria" over the 49 thousand dollar loan he made to Michele Brown, a former subordinate in the U.S. Attorney's Office - and Christie defended the loan as proper - Brown has resigned as an Assistant Prosecutor.

Peter Woolley, the Executive Director of the FDU PublicMind Poll, says "the republican storyline is going to be that Michele Brown was a victim of campaign maliciousness… while the democrats will say she was involved up to her elbows in the day to day work of the U.S. Attorney's Office, and it presented a conflict of interest."

So what kind of an effect will the episode have on the campaign for Governor?

Dr. Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University, says it's very possible it will cast yet another negative shadow on politics in the Garden State, "because in one way, it panders to the cynicism that New Jersey voters have for both candidates, and I think if anything, what that means, is we're going to see a squashing of the turnout in this election."

In her letter of resignation to Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, Brown says while she's extraordinarily proud of all she has accomplished, "I do not want to become a distraction from the critically important work we do."

Stop The "Fake Outrage"
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Chris Christie

Team Corzine continues to hammer Republican gubernatorial challenger Chris Christie over the fact that Christie failed to disclose he lent money to a subordinate who is still at the U.S. Attorney's Office. In a conference call yesterday, Christie accused Democrats of "fake outrage" over the $46,000 loan he made to a federal prosecutor he supervised. He says Democrats are deliberately prolonging the story of the loan in an effort to distract voters from focusing on Governor Jon Corzine's record.

Asked later in the day if his "outrage" is genuine, Corzine said, "The fact that there appears to be the intersection of political activity in that (U.S. Attorney's) office is striking and concerning." He asks, "Was that office operating in a way under his (Christie's) leadership that made for equal justice under the law?"

It has been a rough couple of weeks for Christie. First came allegations that while still U.S. Attorney he discussed his possible run for Governor with Karl Rove which could be in violation of the Hatch Act. Then came the revelation about the loan.

"I think there is certainly a pattern of political intersection that went on with that office and the U.S. Attorney," said Corzine last week. "I think the important issue as I've said over and over again is whether there has been a politicization of that office."

Asked directly if he thinks Christie is unethical, the Governor responded, "I think the public has to make those kinds of judgments. I think there are clear questions."

Christie says his failure to report a $46,000 loan he made to a subordinate was an oversight and claims he is fixing "my mistake" by amending personal income tax and financial disclosure filings that omitted the loan to fellow prosecutor Michele Brown. Christie says he will file an amended 2007 federal tax return to reflect $420 in interest payments on the loan. When he files his 2008 return, probably in October, he said it will include $2,400 in interest income on the loan. He said he's also amending disclosures he filed with the New Jersey's Election Law Enforcement Commission and U.S. Justice Department.

"I made a mistake by not putting it on the form," says Christie. "It was certainly nothing I was trying to conceal or hide because obviously we did everything the way you're supposed to do this -- we did a mortgage, we recorded the mortgage at the county courthouse where the property was located, and Michele and (her husband) Mike have been paying their monthly payments every month since that time."

Last week, Democratic State Committee Chair and Assemblyman Joe Cryan filed a complaint against Christie with the Election Law and Ethics Commission (ELEC) for his failure to disclose the personal loan. Cryan feels Christie is in clear violation of state law that promotes transparency, accountability and ethical behavior.

"Christie continues to fail to live up to the ethical standards he sets for others," says Cryan. "He is running for Governor -- failing to report a personal loan to a close colleague is a serious transgression and breaks both federal and state ethics rules. Christie, of all people should know - he has prosecuted public officials for similar offenses, yet, he dismisses his own unscrupulous behavior as a simply an 'oversight.' This situation demands an immediate and thorough investigation."

Brown was the No. 4 at the U.S. Attorney's Office and Christie was her boss when he made the loan in 2007. She is now the first assistant U.S. attorney under Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra. Christie promoted her twice before resigning in December.

Christie says he does not see a conflict with the arrangement continuing now that he is running for governor. Brown pays Christie $500 a month, he said at that rate, the loan will be repaid in 2017.

Greg Reinert, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Marra knew about the loan but viewed it as a personal transaction between friends; Christie, Brown and their spouses are also neighbors in Mendham.

Campaign Strategist, Tom Shea says, "Serious questions remain about the loan Chris Christie gave to Michele Brown. Chris Christie had at least four opportunities to comply with the law and disclose this loan, yet he failed to do so each and every time. There seems to be no mystery that he was determined to keep it secret. The question is, why?"

Corzine was dogged during the 2005 gubernatorial campaign by questions about a personal loan he made to former girlfriend Carla Katz but failed to report on his financial disclosure filings. Corzine gave Katz a $470,000 mortgage, then forgave the debt. At the time of the loan, Katz was the head of New Jersey's largest Communications Workers of America local.

Stop The "Fake Outrage "
by The Associated Press
Monday, August 24, 2009

New Jersey Republican gubernatorial
contender Chris Christie is accusing Democrats of fake outrage over
a $46,000 loan he made to a federal prosecutor he supervised.

Christie says Democrats are deliberately prolonging the story of
the loan in an effort to distract voters from focusing on Gov. Jon
Corzine's record.

Christie made the loan to Michele Brown when she worked under
him at the U.S. Attorney's office. She still works there and continues to repay the money. Corzine says he's troubled that Christie may have politicized the U.S. Attorney's office, which is supposed to be run independent of politics.

The governor and challenger traded barbs during separate
campaign events Monday.

Christie Won't Take Campaign Into Gutter
by David Matthau
Friday, August 21, 2009

Chris Christie

For the past few weeks, Governor Corzine and his democratic team have been strongly criticizing republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie for ethical lapses - because, among other things, Christie lent money to a former assistant prosecutor when he was U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

Many are wondering why Christie has not fired back his own ethics salvos at Corzine, questioning him over giving his former girlfriend Carla Katz undisclosed millions when they broke up and she was a State union boss.

During a campaign stop in Garfield, Christie said "the Governor and his people can get in the gutter- but I'm not going there with them- and if that means I won't win this election, that's fin - I will go home on that basis."

Christie said the false accusations coming out of the Corzine camp don't do anything "except divide us…scare us of each other, and then try to play to the lowest common denominator, so he can squeak by with an electoral win - that's Jon Corzine's career."

He also pointed out "up until 6 months ago Governor Corzine considered me to be a model of public service in New Jersey, and then the minute I decided I wanted to disagree with him on a principled basis and run for Governor I became Rosemary's baby…I'm not going to go in the gutter with this guy, I'm simply not going to do it- you deserve better than that, and you know what? I deserve better than that."

"Corzine" Wins Race
by Martin DiCaro
Friday, August 21, 2009

Forget about polls and the prognostications of political experts. We now have an authoritative prediction on the outcome of the gubernatorial election: the running of the roaches.

The New Jersey Pest Management Association held its usual election year cockroach race, using enormous Madagascar hissing cockroaches. Trust me, you don't want to find one of these creatures crawling around in your shower.

A cockroach representing Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine easily beat the one representing his Republican challenger Chris Christie in a race on a six-foot long Plexiglas track at the Association's annual clinic and trade show in New Brunswick.

The Christie campaign can take solace, however, in the results of last year's cockroach race. The insect representing John McCain defeated the cockroach running for Barack Obama. Notwithstanding last year's false harbinger, the Association claims its cockroaches have accurately predicted 84% of major elections over the past 17 years.

High Road Is A Lonely One In NJ Politics
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, August 20, 2009

Team Corzine continues to hammer Republican gubernatorial challenger Chris Christie over the fact that Christie failed to disclose he lent money to a subordinate who is still at the U.S. Attorney's Office. So far, Christie is refusing to bring up the fact that before becoming Governor, Jon Corzine lent a huge sum of money to his ex-girlfriend Carla Katz who at the time was also a state employee union leader.

The high road is typically a very lonely road in New Jersey Politics. Fairleigh Dickinson University political science professor Peter Woolley jokes, "It's news to me that New Jersey politics has a high road."

"Campaigns change their minds all the time so, even if they don't go negative today or tomorrow it's always something that they can hold in reserve," explains Woolley. "I think in the meantime the Governor's campaign is going to see what they can get out of this episode and they're going to see how far that goes with the public."

Woolley adds, "I'm not too sure there are many campaigns that decide right from the start that they're going to follow the high road all the way along…….The low road is the proven road for most campaigns in so far as negative advertising works."

It has been a rough couple of weeks for Christie. First came allegations that while still U.S. Attorney he discussed his possible run for Governor with Karl Rove which could be in violation of the Hatch Act. Then came the revelation about the loan.

"I think there is certainly a pattern of political intersection that went on with that office and the U.S. Attorney," says Corzine. "I think the important issue as I've said over and over again is whether there has been a politicization of that office."

Asked directly if he thinks Christie is unethical, the Governor responded, "I think the public has to make those kinds of judgments. I think there are clear questions."

Christie says his failure to report a $46,000 loan he made to a subordinate was an oversight and claims he is fixing "my mistake" by amending personal income tax and financial disclosure filings that omitted the loan to fellow prosecutor Michele Brown. Christie says he will file an amended 2007 federal tax return to reflect $420 in interest payments on the loan. When he files his 2008 return, probably in October, he said it will include $2,400 in interest income on the loan. He said he's also amending disclosures he filed with the New Jersey's Election Law Enforcement Commission and U.S. Justice Department.

"I made a mistake by not putting it on the form," says Christie. "It was certainly nothing I was trying to conceal or hide because obviously we did everything the way you're supposed to do this -- we did a mortgage, we recorded the mortgage at the county courthouse where the property was located, and Michele and (her husband) Mike have been paying their monthly payments every month since that time."

Yesterday, Democratic State Committee Chair and Assemblyman Joe Cryan filed a complaint against Christie with the Election Law and Ethics Commission (ELEC) for his failure to disclose the personal loan. Cryan feels Christie is in clear violation of state law that promotes transparency, accountability and ethical behavior.

"Christie continues to fail to live up to the ethical standards he sets for others," says Cryan. "He is running for Governor -- failing to report a personal loan to a close colleague is a serious transgression and breaks both federal and state ethics rules. Christie, of all people should know - he has prosecuted public officials for similar offenses, yet, he dismisses his own unscrupulous behavior as a simply an 'oversight.' This situation demands an immediate and thorough investigation."

Brown was the No. 4 at the U.S. Attorney's Office and Christie was her boss when he made the loan in 2007. She is now the first assistant U.S. attorney under Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra. Christie promoted her twice before resigning in December.

Christie says he does not see a conflict with the arrangement continuing now that he is running for governor. Brown pays Christie $500 a month, he said; at that rate, the loan will be repaid in 2017.

Greg Reinert, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Marra knew about the loan but viewed it as a personal transaction between friends; Christie, Brown and their spouses are also neighbors in Mendham.

Campaign Strategist, Tom Shea says, "Serious questions remain about the loan Chris Christie gave to Michele Brown. Chris Christie had at least four opportunities to comply with the law and disclose this loan, yet he failed to do so each and every time. There seems to be no mystery that he was determined to keep it secret. The question is, why?"

Corzine was dogged during the 2005 gubernatorial campaign by questions about a personal loan he made to former girlfriend Carla Katz but failed to report on his financial disclosure filings. Corzine gave Katz a $470,000 mortgage, then forgave the debt. At the time of the loan, Katz was the head of New Jersey's largest Communications Workers of America local.

Corzine Hits Christie's "Strength"
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, August 20, 2009

Chris Christie

It has been a rough couple of weeks for Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie. First came allegations that while still U.S. Attorney he discussed his possible run for Governor with Karl Rove which could be in violation of the Hatch Act. Then came the revelation that Christie failed to disclose that he lent money to a subordinate who is still at the U.S. Attorney's Office. Governor Jon Corzine is now employing the tried and true strategy of attacking his opponents perceived strength which in Christie's case is ethics.

"I think there is certainly a pattern of political intersection that went on with that office and the U.S. Attorney," says Corzine. "I think the important issue as I've said over and over again is whether there has been a politicization of that office."

Asked directly if he thinks Christie is unethical, the Governor responded, "I think the public has to make those kinds of judgments. I think there are clear questions."

Christie says his failure to report a $46,000 loan he made to a subordinate was an oversight and claims he is fixing "my mistake" by amending personal income tax and financial disclosure filings that omitted the loan to fellow prosecutor Michele Brown. Christie says he will file an amended 2007 federal tax return to reflect $420 in interest payments on the loan. When he files his 2008 return, probably in October, he said it will include $2,400 in interest income on the loan. He said he's also amending disclosures he filed with the New Jersey's Election Law Enforcement Commission and U.S. Justice Department.

"I made a mistake by not putting it on the form," says Christie. "It was certainly nothing I was trying to conceal or hide because obviously we did everything the way you're supposed to do this -- we did a mortgage, we recorded the mortgage at the county courthouse where the property was located, and Michele and (her husband) Mike have been paying their monthly payments every month since that time."

Yesterday, Democratic State Committee Chair and Assemblyman Joe Cryan filed a complaint against Christie with the Election Law and Ethics Commission (ELEC) for his failure to disclose the personal loan. Cryan feels Christie is in clear violation of state law that promotes transparency, accountability and ethical behavior.

"Christie continues to fail to live up to the ethical standards he sets for others," says Cryan. "He is running for Governor -- failing to report a personal loan to a close colleague is a serious transgression and breaks both federal and state ethics rules. Christie, of all people should know - he has prosecuted public officials for similar offenses, yet, he dismisses his own unscrupulous behavior as a simply an 'oversight.' This situation demands an immediate and thorough investigation."

Brown was the No. 4 at the U.S. Attorney's Office and Christie was her boss when he made the loan in 2007. She is now the first assistant U.S. attorney under Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra. Christie promoted her twice before resigning in December.

Christie says he does not see a conflict with the arrangement continuing now that he is running for governor. Brown pays Christie $500 a month, he said; at that rate, the loan will be repaid in 2017.

Greg Reinert, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Marra knew about the loan but viewed it as a personal transaction between friends; Christie, Brown and their spouses are also neighbors in Mendham.

Campaign Strategist, Tom Shea says, "Serious questions remain about the loan Chris Christie gave to Michele Brown. Chris Christie had at least four opportunities to comply with the law and disclose this loan, yet he failed to do so each and every time. There seems to be no mystery that he was determined to keep it secret. The question is, why?"

Corzine was dogged during the 2005 gubernatorial campaign by questions about a personal loan he made to former girlfriend Carla Katz but failed to report on his financial disclosure filings. Corzine gave Katz a $470,000 mortgage, then forgave the debt. At the time of the loan, Katz was the head of New Jersey's largest
Communications Workers of America local.

Dems To Christie: Explain Yourself
by the Associated Press
Thursday, August 20, 2009

New Jersey Democrats are pressing the Republican candidate for governor to explain his involvement in the
U.S. Attorney's Office.

Chris Christie acknowledged this week that he made a mistake when he failed to declare on his taxes a $46,000 loan that he and his wife had made to a friend who is the second most powerful person in the office.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-NJ, on Thursday called on Christie to disclose the extent of political overlap between his campaign and the U.S. Attorney's office. Pallone's request came after a campaign video surfaced of Christie bragging about a group of assistant U.S. attorneys that he'd bring to Trenton if elected.

Christie was New Jersey's top federal prosecutor for seven years before resigning to run for governor.

Guadando, Weinberg Honored by Women's Group
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, August 20, 2009

Senator Loretta Weinberg

Yesterday was Women's Equality Day so, it makes sense that the group "Women Advocating for Good Government" (WAGG) chose it as the day to recognize the two female candidates for Lt. Governor: Democratic State Senator Loretta Weinberg and Republican Kim Guadagno. Women's Equality Day was established by Congress in 1971 and the day marks the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote.

WAGG hosted an event in Trenton to honor the candidates. Weinberg was in attendance, but Guadagno was a no-show. Speaking of her own candidacy, Weinberg says, "This is almost, I think the first time that I'm starting to internalize all of this. It's been kind of a quick, interesting, wild road." She adds, "If I am privileged to get elected in November you know that I am going to define this office with a strong voice."

Speaking on behalf of Guadagno, former State Senator Rose Heck said, "We have two fantastic candidates for Lt. Governor but remember, we are voting for Governor." As for the Lt. Governor position, Heck explains, "this is a significant opportunity for a woman's perspective to be included in the discussions and debate at the highest level of the executive branch of our state government. Having a Lt. Governor is a milestone."

WAGG representatives say that for too long the "old boys network" has taken ownership of politics and government and has, many times, turned public service into self-service. The group is expected to endorse candidates next month.

Daggett: I'm A Bona Fide Candidate
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Chris Daggett

You may not know much about him because you're probably not seeing or reading about him much, but Chris Daggett says he's a bona fide candidate for Governor of New Jersey. The Independent gubernatorial candidate barley registers in polls as a contender although it can't be argued that he's not a factor.

"I'm out campaigning most days of the week, particularly on weekends" says Daggett. "I'm down at shore communities. I've been at county fairs, I've been out at street fairs. I've been at a number of events. I'm out campaigning a lot."

Asked is his heart is really in the campaign, Daggett says, "More than my heart is in this. My heart and my soul are in this. I've been doing this 15 hours a day, seven days a week and I plan to go all the way to November…….I'm not sure that the press corps has followed quite as closely as some of the other candidates, but I'm out there campaigning hard every day."

In a poll released last week, incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine gained a little ground on Republican challenger Christopher Christie and now trails the former prosecutor 51 - 42% among likely voters in the New Jersey Governor's race. This compares to a 53 - 41 percent Christie lead in a July 14 survey. In a three-way matchup among likely voters, Christie leads Corzine 46 - 40%, with 7 percent for Daggett.

Born in Orange, Daggett grew up partly in Linwood, close to the beach in Ocean City, where he returns almost every summer to vacation. He graduated from the University of North Carolina and earned a doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts.

Daggett spent three years as a public affairs consultant before joining Tom Kean's campaign for governor. After Kean's election as Governor in 1981, Daggett served as his deputy chief of staff, where among other issues, he specialized in education and higher education policy.

In 1984, Daggett was appointed Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the top federal environmental position for New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1988, Daggett rejoined to the Kean administration as Commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

...Nothing Wrong With Loan To Fellow Prosecutor
by the Associated Press
Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Republican candidate for New Jersey governor says there's nothing wrong with a $46,000 loan he made to a fellow prosecutor who is now the No. 2 at the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie tells New Jersey Network in
an exclusive interview that he was just trying to help out a friend
when he loaned Michele Brown the money. At the time, Brown was the
No. 4 at the federal prosecutor's office and Christie was her boss.
She is now the first assistant U.S. attorney under Acting U.S.
Attorney Ralph Marra.

Christie says he and his wife, Mary Pat, took out a $46,000
mortgage in 2007 for Brown and her husband, who live in the same
neighborhood. Christie says the couples are personal friends and that Brown continues to make monthly payments.

Is Anyone Paying Attention To Campaign? .
by Martin DiCaro
Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Governor Jon Corzine, the Democratic incumbent, and former U.S Attorney Chris Christie, the Republican challenger, are spending the dog days of summer shaking hands, making speeches and criss-crossing the state for votes. New Jersey voters, meanwhile, are enjoying summer vacations and baseball, among other pleasures, in the final weeks before their kids go back to school.

The conventional wisdom in New Jersey is voters don't start to really pay attention to a gubernatorial election until after Labor Day.

We asked both candidates if they currently sense a lack of interest in their campaigns.

"Right now in the middle of the summer, people are interested in their vacations," said Governor Corzine, who shook hands at a picnic for senior citizens in West Orange. "I think after Labor Day you'll see a lot more intensity of focus on the election. There are people paying attention, but it's not the intense way it will be in the waning days of the campaign."

Corzine said campaigning now is important even if some people are tuned out.

"There are eight-and-a-half million people in New Jersey. So you need to meet as many people as you can. If you try to do it all in the last 30 or 60 days, you'll miss speaking to a lot of folks," he said.

Chris Christie appeared on Monday in Bergen County where he gathered with supporters of Pascack Valley Hospital, one of several hospitals to close in recent years in New Jersey.

"I think the way people are staying interested in our campaign is because we are talking about issues. We are talking about issues that people care about," he said.

When asked if New Jersey voters may be tuned out because they just endured a two-year Presidential campaign that ended last year, Christie responded, "I don't know. I guess we'll find out. All I can tell you is that people show up at events like this."

Christie said when he was on vacation last week, people approached him on the boardwalk at Point Pleasant to discuss the race.

"I think there is a level of interest," he said.

Corzine Agrees To Debate
by Kevin McArdle
Fridayday, August 14, 2009

Under the law Governor Jon Corzine does not have to participate in debates. That's because he does not accept matching campaign funds. His Lt. Governor running mate, State Senator Loretta Weinberg is also not obligated to take part in debates. The question is; Will they debate?

"Yes, we will be involved in debates and the debate schedule will get organized between the two campaigns, the three campaigns," says Corzine. The Governor is referring to his campaign and those of Republican Chris Christie and Independent Chris Daggett. Christie and Daggett must participate in two debates because they are receiving public financing for the November election.

Corzine explains, "I haven't see a schedule, but we welcome debates….I will be participating in debates."

It appears Weinberg will following Corzine's lead with regard to joining in debates. She says, "I suppose I don't have to, but would I? Of course I would……..I think it's important for the public to be able to see the people that hopefully they will be voting for to understand where we stand on the issues."

According to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) there must be one separate Lt. Governor debate and it must follow the first gubernatorial debate. Millennium Radio will be co-hosting the Lt. Governor debate. ELEC says if Corzine and Weinberg are going to participate in debates they must file papers by September 1 showing proof that they've raised and spent (or committed to spend) the $340,000 threshold.

Daggett Unveils Education Reform Plan
by Kevin McArdle
Thursday, August 13, 2009

Chris Daggett

Click here to read Daggett's plan

"We need to step up and start doing right by our students," says Independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett. "If that means taking on the union, I'm ready to do that." Daggett has unveiled his platform for overhauling the public education system in New Jersey, a plan that he thinks holds teachers more accountable by eliminating lifetime tenure and abolishing a controversial "back door'' policy that allows failing pupils to earn a high school diploma.

It is almost impossible to dismiss a teacher for nonperformance," says Daggett. "The costs and burden of proof are enormous, so school boards allow poor teachers to remain at their posts year after year, collecting their paychecks as they fail to educate their students. Involved parents in every school district know "who the good teachers are," and fight to get their children into their classes."

Daggett says he'll submit legislation that calls for ending tenure for new teachers and replacing it with five-year performance-based renewable contracts, with merit pay opportunities, both for new hires and for those who have not yet received tenure. He plans to convene a panel of teachers, professors, administrators, and parents to draw up clear criteria for school boards to review. Once this is completed, the best models in the country will be determined, based on these criteria, and school districts will be required to select from one of the models.

"While approximately 60 percent of school funding goes into teacher salaries and benefits, we don't really know what is going on in the classroom because we don't do a competent job of supervising and evaluating teachers," explains Daggett. "We cannot afford to condemn our children to mediocre teaching or worse."

A spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association says if tenure was eliminated politicians would decide the fate of teachers. He says tenure doesn't mean a job for life. The NJEA has long opposed the institution of a two-tiered system like the one suggested by Daggett.

The candidate's platform also calls for abolishing the "back door'' process known as the Special Review Assessment (SRA). The SRA is a program for students who three times fail the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). Daggett says if the SRA route to a diploma is eliminated, New Jersey's graduation rate would fall from 1st to 24th. He calls that, "A shameful ranking given the fact that we spend more money per pupil than any state in the nation."

Daggett says he will also enact legislation to create a scholarship fund along the lines proposed by the Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey and the Latino Leadership Alliance to pay tuition for up to 15,000 children in ten pilot districts - including New Jersey's four largest cities - to attend charter schools, public schools in other districts, or non-public schools. He says, "Funding for this program would come from voluntary contributions made by corporations that would in turn receive tax credits. We would make the program revenue-neutral by reducing aid to the school district the child previously attended by the amount of the scholarship tax credit."

Corzine Gains Ground In New Poll
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Click here to read the poll

Democratic incumbent Governor Jon Corzine has gained a little ground on Republican challenger Christopher Christie and now trails the former prosecutor 51 - 42% among likely voters in the New Jersey Governor's race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 53 - 41 percent Christie lead in a July 14 survey. In a three-way matchup among likely voters, Christie leads Corzine 46 - 40%, with 7 percent for independent candidate Christopher Daggett.

"Chris Christie has lost a little ground, but he's still up nine points in the two-candidate matchup," says poll director Mickey Carroll. "Third party candidate Christopher Daggett is going nowhere, but he makes the race interesting, eating into Christie's lead and bringing the gap down to six points,"

A total of 93% of New Jersey voters say government corruption is a "somewhat serious" or "very serious" problem and 65% say the recent wave of corruption arrests embarrasses them as New Jersey residents. Voters say 50 - 15% that they associate the Democratic Party with corruption more than the Republican Party. Independent voters blame Democrats 56 - 9%. Even 28% of Democrats point the finger at their own party.

Carroll says, "Is corruption a big problem? Wow, is it! Almost everyone in New Jersey thinks so and two thirds feel personally embarrassed to live in a state where politicians are pictured in handcuffs……More than half associate corruption with the Democratic party. Almost a third says both parties share the blame,"

New Jersey voters disapprove 58 - 36% of the job Corzine is doing, a slight improvement on his 60 - 33% disapproval July 14. By a 54 - 37% margin, they have an unfavorable opinion of Corzine, compared to a 42 - 26% favorable opinion of Christie. For Daggett, 92% don't know enough about him to form an opinion. Christie would do a better job on the state budget, voters say 47 - 41%, and do a better job cleaning up corruption, voters say 54 - 31%.

"It's almost all bad for the Governor - a big negative on job performance, where he's down 3 - 1 in some Republican areas," explains Carroll. "He loses to Christie, too, when we ask who'd do better building budgets and fighting corruption."

There is good news for the Governor. Voters say 42 - 36% they would rather spend an afternoon on the Sandy Hook beach with Corzine. Women would rather stroll with Corzine 46 - 31%, while men favor Christie 42 - 38%. A total of 65% of voters say a likable personality is "very important" or "somewhat important" in a candidate.

New Jersey voters know little about the candidates for Lieutenant Governor: 91% don't know enough about Republican Kim Guadagno to form an opinion and 81% don't know enough about Loretta Weinberg.

"On the 'nice guy' question of who'd be a better companion on the Sandy Hook beach, Corzine outscores Christie," says Carroll. "If the Lieutenant Governor choices will make a difference, it hasn't shown up yet. Hardly anyone has heard of Guadagno and Weinberg is far from a household name."

From August 5 - 9, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,167 New Jersey likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points

Speaking on Millennium radio a few days ago, Weysan Dun, Special Agent in charge of the FBI in Jersey, said the investigation that resulted in dozens of corruption arrests last month - many involving public officials - is continuing - and dozens of new corruption cases are currently in the pipeline.

No one knows when the next FBI sweep will take place, but the Corzine for Governor re-election campaign team is no doubt hoping it's after the election in November.

Patrick Murray, the Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, says more corruption arrests in the coming weeks would be bad news for the Governor, "because he's the guy who's been calling the shots over the past few years, and even if people don't expect that he was the one who was responsible for cleaning up all this corruption in the State, he's the one who's responsible for the fact that the State has gone downhill over the past 3 years - our polling shows voters hold him responsible for the direction of the State."

He says "the issue is that Jon Corzine hasn't been effective in communicating what he's done, or why he's done it…whether it's about corruption or whether it's about property taxes, more arrests of public officials would just add to that sense of malaise that the voters feel…if the Governor is asking for people's resignations again, that makes him look impotent, and that's not a good place for a Governor to run for re-election who's already got negative job approval ratings to begin with."

Murray adds many voters have the belief that "this guy is not doing the job that he's supposed to do- so there could be a real danger for Jon Corzine if these events continue to unfold through the fall."

The Governor Gets Help
by The Associated Press
Saturday, August 8, 2009

One of New Jersey's highest-profile
political strategists will assist Gov. Jon Corzine's struggling re-election campaign.

Campaign spokesman Sean Darcy said Friday that Jamie Fox will be
an unpaid adviser.

Fox is a lobbyist who has had high-ranking positions for several prominent New Jersey Democrats over the last two decades, including a stint as state transportation commissioner. He has also been executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

He was a senior adviser last year to Barack Obama's campaign in
Florida. Recent polls have found Corzine trailing Republican former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie by as many as 14 percentage points.

As Chris Christie's website features a new area urging voters to "Stop the negativity," Bob Ingle's Politics Patrol blog highlights a new ad from the Republican Governor's Association connecting Governor Corzine to some of the 44 arrested in the FBI's corruption probe.

Corzine Talks Stimulus Transparancy
by Kevin McArdle
Friday, August 7, 2009

New Jersey received $2.14 billion in federal stimulus funds for government programs and infrastructure improvements. An analysis by ProPublica, an independent investigative group shows that funding is about $247 per capita, the lowest per capita rate in the nation. Pennsylvania has gotten $310.40 per capita, Delaware $367.20 per capita and New York $545.20 per capita.

Governor Jon Corzine often says that with Barack Obama as President, New Jersey now has a partner in the White House. How does that jibe with the state's lowest-in-the-nation ranking? Corzine says, "We're getting about 3.3% of the overall stimulus as already allocated and if that's the case, it's not possible. It's mathematically and arithmetically not possible for that to be the conclusion so, we'll have to look at it."

"I suspect what they're forgetting about analyzing are the tax cuts that are a part of this stimulus package," says Corzine. "40% of the $787 billion (in the stimulus package) is tax cuts. New Jersey is doing extraordinarily well on the tax cuts."

The Governor is right about the ProPublica analysis. It does not take into account the $7.5 billion in tax cuts for New Jersey, but the per capita ranking as far as direct funding is pure math and those numbers don't lie.

In other stimulus-related news, a new report shows the State Auditor has found ineffective controls over financial statements related to federal stimulus, a risk that funds will be inaccurately reported or accounted and audit reports that were more than six months late. The Auditor sampled how transparent and accountable 14 municipalities, seven counties and eight housing authorities were in spending four types of stimulus funds for which New Jersey has received $220.7 million from the federal government.

Assistant State Auditor Stephen M. Eells wrote in a memo, "If the historical risks identified in past audit reports are not addressed, one can expect similar transparency, accountability, and grant compliance issues to occur with these and other (stimulus) funds…..We recommend that actions to ensure transparency, accountability, and compliance with specific programmatic goals be performed by state oversight groups prior to the disbursement of substantial grant funds."

Auditors identified risks in Atlantic City, Camden, East Orange, Elizabeth, Irvington, Newark, Trenton, Union City, Essex County, and housing authorities in Atlantic City, Camden and Trenton.

Corzine points out, "Those monies went directly from the U.S. Treasury to those locales…..We didn't make the judgments about who received them. We have a responsibility to make sure that we put the checks and balances in and we will."

Republican Assembly members Caroline Casagrande and Declan O'Scanlon are questioning what exactly Corzine's federal stimulus task force has been monitoring.

"Governor Corzine rejected our calls for a bipartisan panel to ensure that federal stimulus dollars were spent openly and properly, but he chose his own hand-picked panel led by his chief of staff and the State Comptroller to safeguard the funds," says Casagrande. "Fortunately, we still have diligent state auditors who identified risks that escaped the attention of Corzine's task force. I hope this revelation has occurred before the risk became reality and we have another sorry scandal involving misuse of public dollars by New Jersey officials."

O'Scanlon says, "We were promised accountability and transparency, but received clandestine business as usual and watchdogs asleep at their posts……This audit confirms that Governor Corzine's administration is not watching how billions of dollars are being spent. He must ratchet up his administration's oversight before another illegal act of corruption is committed in New Jersey."

Christie Lays Out Corruption Plan
by David Matthau
Thursday, August 6, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here for audio of Christie's announcement

Click here to read Christie's plan

Corzine touts record on fighting crime in new video. Click here to view

A couple of weeks after that massive FBI corruption sweep in Jersey that netted 44 people - including several high ranking public officials - republican Gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie has unveiled a 10-point ethics reform plan.

During an appearance at a Paramus church, Christie outlined his proposal, which would crack down on public officials who lie, cheat and steal.

The Christie for Governor campaign team says it would…

Eliminate Dual Office Holding. Dual office holding is simply wrong. "Grandfathering" these conflicts for current dual office-holders in the Legislature, as was done by Governor Corzine, was another timid action by a politician afraid of upsetting Trenton's powerbrokers. Chris will fight for legislation to end the practice in New Jersey immediately after taking office in 2010.

Eliminate Dual Public Employment. Double-dipping politicians must stop taking advantage of the state and its funds by simultaneously holding salaried elected positions and government jobs. One publicly funded job and pension is plenty. Chris Christie will ban the practice of one person holding a full time government job while also holding a salaried elected position.

Require Forfeiture Of Public Pensions For Corruption Convictions. When public officials betray the public's trust by participating in acts of corruption, they forfeit their right to receive benefits. The Christie Administration will require any elected or appointed official convicted of a crime connected to their official position to forfeit their pension benefits.

Require Strict Disclosure Of Conflicts Of Interest In The Legislature. Good governance requires transparency. To build public trust, part-time legislators must submit to strict and complete disclosure of any conflicts of interest due to outside employment and income. Chris will propose legislation requiring members to either recuse themselves from actions affecting their private sector interests or disclose these interests prior to voting on piece of such legislation.

Establish An Elected State Auditor To Be An Independent Watchdog. New Jersey needs a public watchdog independent of the interests of the Governor or the State Legislature and accountable to the voters. Chris will fight for an independently elected State Auditor with broad authority to investigate all levels of government and to consolidate other ineffective watchdog agencies under this office's control.

End Pay-To-Play For Everyone. The partisan politics which exclude certain groups, such as labor unions, from pay-to-play restrictions enforced on other interest groups have deepened public cynicism. Chris will remove partisan politics from the issue by proposing legislation to extend the pay-to-play ban to all groups at all levels of government.

Strictly Prohibit The Use Of Campaign Funds From Criminal Defense Costs. The citizens of New Jersey do not contribute to political campaigns with the intention of funding the future criminal defense of corrupt politicians. Chris will fight to explicitly prohibit any public officeholder from using campaign funds of any kind to pay for costs associated with criminal defense proceedings.

Suspend All Public Officeholders Charged With A Crime. Allowing public officeholders to vote on legislation and to receive a public salary while they are under indictment creates a public spectacle and is an embarrassment to New Jersey. Chris will propose legislation to immediately suspend any public officeholder charged with a crime and, if convicted, require the forfeiture of their office.

Require A New, Detailed Annual Disclosure Form Of All Public Officials. Public officials should be required to disclose the same information as federal officials to give a more detailed picture about their financial interests. Chris will fight to change the current disclosure form to provide greater transparency to New Jersey voters.

Require Mandatory Forfeiture Of Convicted Officeholders' Campaign Accounts. Convicted public officials should have no say over the money contributed to their campaigns in good faith by the citizens of New Jersey. Chris will fight to have the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) seize the campaign accounts of convicted officeholders with any remaining funds being donated to New Jersey charities at ELEC's discretion.

After review is proposal, Christie criticized Governor Corzine "for his failure to stand by his principals and to set a tone in New Jersey that such conduct is not acceptable, no matter what your political party or what special interest you represent…Jon Corzine is a good man, but on this and other issues, he has simply been an ineffective and confusing leader, seemingly knowing the right thing to do, but unwilling or unable to make it happen for the people of the State of New Jersey."

Christie also said "if the Governor had the will to lead, some of these things on this list would be done - none of them are - what's his excuse for not having done any of them?"

Christie Lays Out Corruption Plan
by The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Chris Christie

Click here for audio of Christie's announcement

Click here to read Christie's plan

New Jersey Republican gubernatorial
candidate Chris Christie is laying out a plan to crack down on
corruption.

Wednesday's announcement in Paramus follows last month's arrests
of 44 people including lawmakers and rabbis in a federal sting.

The former federal prosecutor's plan includes banning lawmakers
from holding more than one elected position. Christie would also require legislators to disclose other employment and business clients or avoid voting on legislation in which they have a
conflict.

Gov. Jon Corzine, who is seeking re-election, signed a dual-officeholding ban for future lawmakers after the Legislature failed to deliver a tougher measure banning those already elected.
  
Christie has been critical of Corzine's leadership on ethics issues. However, Corzine immediately urged the resignations of any lawmaker charged in the corruption case.

Poll: Voters Not Fired Up By Running Mates
by Kevin McArdle
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Can you identify this woman?

Click here to read the poll results

"This is the first year that New Jersey will be electing a Lt. Governor," says Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll director Patrick Murray. "You'd think that there will be all this hoop-la around this brand new statewide position. Well, if you thought that you'd be wrong."

According to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey survey released today, nearly 6-in-10 Garden State voters are aware that this year marks the first time they will be electing a Lieutenant Governor. This includes just 16% who have heard a lot about this new position and 42% who have heard a little. Another 43% of the state's voters have not heard anything about it.

Less than 1-in-5 voters can identify anyone in the current field of L.G. candidates. Just 11% can name Democrat Loretta Weinberg (pictured), 6% can name Republican Kim Guadagno, and 1% can name independent Frank Esposito. Even when the survey prompted respondents with the candidates' names, few voters registered any opinion of the candidates. Personal ratings for the L.G. nominees are 13% favorable to 7% unfavorable for Bergen County State Senator Weinberg, 8% favorable to 2% unfavorable for Monmouth County Sheriff Guadagno, and 7% favorable to 2% unfavorable for Kean University administrator Esposito. The vast majority of voters have no opinion of the L.G. nominees.

"As we have seen in presidential elections and governors races in other states, the prime directive in picking a running mate is to do no harm. On this criterion, the major candidates have succeeded," says Murray. "While attention has been given to the fact that the party picks are both women, this does not translate into attracting female voters to either side."

Among women voters, 10% say the Weinberg pick makes them more likely to support Corzine compared to 7% who are less likely (this compares to a similar 11% more likely to 9% less likely among male voters). For the Republican ticket, 7% of female voters say the Guadagno pick makes them more likely to support Christie compared to 4% who are less likely (this compares to a similar 12% more likely to 7% less likely among male voters).

More than 8-in-10 voters say that that the L.G. pick will have no bearing on their choice for governor. Only 11% say that Jon Corzine's pick of Weinberg makes them more likely to vote for him, compared to 8% who say it makes them less likely. Just 9% of voters say Chris Christie's choice of Kim Guadagno makes them more likely to vote for him, compared to 5% who are less likely to support him because of his pick.

Overall, only 10% of Garden State voters say that the choice of running mate is a very important part of their vote calculation for governor, a number which includes just 4% who say it could cause them to change their vote. Another 41% say the lieutenant governor choice is somewhat important to their vote for governor and 47% say it is not too or not at all important.

Despite a lack of awareness regarding the L.G. nominations and a sense that they will have little impact anyway, most New Jersey voters do approve of having a lieutenant governor step in when the governor's office is vacant rather than having the State Senate President fill that role. Overall, 66% of Garden State voters think having a lieutenant governor is a good idea on the whole, compared to only 17% who feel it is a bad idea. Another 16% have no opinion.

While the role of New Jersey's lieutenant governor has not been clearly defined, just under half (47%) of the state's electorate say it would be a good idea to have the L.G. run a cabinet level agency as part of his or her responsibilities. Only 29% say this is a bad idea and 24% have no opinion.

The survey was conducted by telephone with 723 New Jersey registered voters from July 29 to August 2, 2009. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.7 percent.

Special interests make way into NJ gov's race
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Special-interest groups are becoming more heavily invested in the New Jersey governor's race by contributing to the Republican and Democratic national governors associations.

In New Jersey, donors can give no more than $25,000 directly to
the state party, and a mere $300 if the donor has business with the
state.

So groups such as the National Rifle Association and National
Education Association are donating to the national GOP and Democratic groups, which can spend money in New Jersey without being bound by contribution limits.
Virginia, the only other state electing a governor this fall, has less restrictive campaign finance laws, making it easier for individuals and organizations to give directly to a candidate.

Christie Lead Widens
by Kevin McArdle
Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Republican challenger Chris Christie is widening his lead over incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in the race for governor according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released this morning. Poll director Patrick Murray explains, "Among likely voters, Christie now holds a 14 point advantage - 50% to 36% - with 4% for independent Chris Daggett." Last month, Christie held an 8 point lead - 45% to 37% - among likely voters in this poll.

"When we look at registered voters, including those both likely and unlikely to vote on November 3rd, the gap narrows to 4 points - 43% for Christie to 39% for Corzine," says Murray. "As an election heats up most polls focus only on likely voters with the aim of predicting the eventual outcome. However, we are still in the early days of this race and the role of a public poll should be to increase our understanding of electoral dynamics, including which registered voters may or may not show up on Election Day."

The poll was conducted after both the July campaign stop by President Barack Obama and the arrests of dozens of public officials and political operatives. Murray says the Obama visit seems to have helped Corzine increase his support among some registered voters, but it has not made those voters any more likely to vote on Election Day. Corzine now claims the support of 65% of black and Hispanic voters, which is up from 50% last month, but only 58% of all Corzine supporters among registered voters are deemed likely to vote on November 3rd, which is down slightly from 62% in July.

Murray says, "Corzine has made some gains with black and Hispanic voters, while Christie has increased his vote share among union workers, but the bottom line is that Christie's supporters are more engaged, which is why the Republican's lead among likely voters has grown."

Christie now holds a 48% to 30% lead among voters in union households and a 47% to 37% lead among teachers. He's nearly even with the governor for state government worker support - 43% for Corzine to 40% for Christie. Among all registered voters in the poll, 78% of Christie supporters are deemed likely to turnout on Election Day, which is up significantly from 64% last month.

"Registered voters' personal evaluations of Governor Corzine continue to be negative, 39% favorable to 46% unfavorable, which is nearly identical to the 38% to 46% rating he held last month," says Murray. Christie's standing among registered voters is now 42% favorable to 30% unfavorable, but points out Murray, "His unfavorable number has gone up. It went up by 6 points since July and by 18 points since January…….. The Corzine campaign strategy so far has been to go extremely negative on Christie in order to slowly chip away at the former U.S. Attorney's reputation on ethics. Even in the wake of last week's corruption busts, for which Christie can take some credit, this slow bleed on his unfavorable ratings has not abated. The Republican has been able to make gains in voters' choice because New Jerseyans have grown more negative about the job their current governor is doing."

Currently 38% of registered voters approve of the job Governor Corzine is doing while 54% disapprove. Among likely voters, nearly 6-in-10 (58%) disapprove of the job their Governor is doing compared to just 35% who approve.

Prior to the federal arrests on July 23, no more than 6% of Garden State voters named corruption as one of their top issues. In today's poll, that number has increased, but not dramatically, to 13%. Voters continue to view property taxes (43%) as the overriding issue in this race, with the economy (21%), health care (17%), jobs (16%) and the state budget (13%) all seen as at least as important an issue, if not more so, than corruption.

Voters were asked which candidate would better handle eight important policy areas. Christie is seen as having the advantage over Corzine for handling property taxes (45% to 27%) and corruption (46% to 28%). Christie also holds the issue advantage over Corzine for handling the state budget (44% to 32%) as well as the economy and jobs (40% to 35%). The Republican challenger is basically tied with the incumbent Democrat on handling education (36% to 36%), health care (35% to 36%), and improving New Jersey's cities (38% to 35%). Christie trails Corzine only in the area of environmental policy (31% to 37%).

"It's very unusual to have New Jersey voters view the Republican candidate as more capable of dealing with urban issues and education," says Murray. "Christie's strategy of going directly after Corzine's base appears to be paying off."

The survey was conducted by telephone with 723 New Jersey registered voters from July 29 to August 2, 2009. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.7 percent. This report also includes analysis on a smaller group of 484 "likely voters" with a + 4.5 percent margin of error.

"Absolute Nonsense"
by Martin DiCaro
Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie on Monday called allegations he abused his power during his tenure as U.S Attorney "absolute nonsense" as Democrats produced a new campaign attack ad to question Christie's ethics.

The political maneuver comes after a real estate developer filed a lawsuit claiming two defense attorneys used their cozy relationship with Christie, when he was the state's top federal prosecutor, to score a lenient plea deal for their client, Morton Salkind, who was charged in an enormous tax fraud.

The lawsuit was filed by Samuel Yarosh, Salkind's former business partner. According to several published reports, Yarosh tipped off the IRS to prosecute a tax case against Salkind. As a whistle-blower, he would have been entitled to a portion of the money the government recovers. In his lawsuit, Yarosh contends he was shortchanged because Salkind was allowed to plead to a smaller fraud.

Christie said he knew nothing of the case when he was U.S Attorney. "It was not brought to my attention when I was there. So it's a non-story," Christie said to a Millennium Radio reporter.

The Associated Press reported Christie's name appears on the document authorizing the plea deal, but Christie said others in the U.S. Attorney's office had the authority to sign his name. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office said the tax fraud case was handled by another prosecutor and was not brought Christie's attention, according to the Associated Press report.

'Listen, if you were 15 points behind in the polls and you had no record to speak of as Jon Corzine has no record to speak of, then of course he's going to do what he's done," Christie said, referring to negative ads questioning his ethics. "Since two days after the primary, Jon Corzine has been running negative ads against me and my lead has only gotten larger."

Summer Strategy
by Kevin McArdle
Monday, August 3, 2009

The nation is focusing on New Jersey's race for Governor primarily because it's one of only two such campaigns in the country. Virginia plays host to the other.

Democratic incumbent Governor Jon Corzine trails Republican challenger Chris Christie is the polls as the race heads into the real dog days of summer. What does Corzine need to do to turn the tide? What should Christie's summer strategy be? How does Independent Chris Daggett figure into things? The answers differ depending upon who is being asked.

Political pundits agree that Daggett might peel votes away from both candidates, but the Independent's real job is to garner more name recognition.

Democratic operative Jeff Meyer, a veteran in New Jersey's political circles says, "The Governor needs to get local. He needs to get back to being the retail candidate that he was in 2000 and 2005." In 2000, Corzine successfully ran for U.S. Senate. In 2005, voters made him Governor. Meyer explains, "Politics is a contact sport. Governor Jon Corzine needs to reach out and touch people and have real conversations about what he's doing to get New Jersey's economy back on track and create jobs."

Atlantic County Republican chairman Keith Davis is another well-respected political strategist. He likes how Christie is running his race. He says, "Does he have to do anything differently? Not if you look at the polls. He's doing very well right now with the kind of campaign that he is running."

Davis thinks Christie should keep campaigning in Democratic strongholds and delivering the message that Jersey must revitalize its cities. Davis says, "He's going to be somebody who is going to pay attention to that. I don't think the Democrats were expecting that line to come out of the Christie campaign. I think it's a positive one."

The recent FBI corruption sweep would seem to help Christie because of his background as U.S. Attorney, but Meyer says Corzine has signed some of the toughest ethics measures in the nation and the Governor needs to stay on message and focus on what's really important to New Jersey citizens, "He needs to drive this race to the economics discussion and get it away from the law and order discussion because at the end of the day the voters of New Jersey care about their pocketbooks and the economy."

Davis says Christie should keep delivering his own message that he'll cut taxes, streamline regulations and change the state's business tax climate, "I think he's conveying that message very clearly and I don't think Jon Corzine has any coherent response to that because his administration has just been one mistake after another." Davis says Christie knows and is effectively capitalizing on the fact that, "This campaign is about jobs, jobs, jobs, getting this economy back on track (and) focusing on Governor Jon Corzine's failed leadership.

Meyer says one of the Governor's strength is job creation. Corzine was the first Governor in the nation to propose a state-specific economic recovery plan. Meyer thinks Corzine has to lay out his plans to create new green collar jobs and offer incentives to lure businesses to the Garden State. He says, "Governor Corzine needs to say, 'I'm going to use that growth to put New Jerseyans back to work and get New Jersey's economy back on the rails."

The Field Is Complete
by Kevin McArdle & Martin DiCaro
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Dr. Frank Esposito is announced as Chris Daggett's running mate (photo courtesy Daggett campaign)

Yesterday, Independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett announced his choice for lieutenant governor. He's chosen veteran educator Dr. Frank J. Esposito, a former top administrator at Kean University and an early pioneer in developing new school choice programs.

Frank Esposito has been in the forefront of the movement to reform our education system, which too often has failed New Jersey's children,'' says Daggett. "His extensive background in higher education will help us revitalize our colleges and universities, which is the one of the key ways that New Jersey is going to fix its long-term economic problems.''

Esposito says, "My entire career has been devoted to education in New Jersey and the only way New Jersey is going to get out of this economic mess and get back on the track to economic prosperity is to re-invest in education and higher education."

"New Jersey has not been spending wisely when it comes to educating our youth," contends Esposito. "We have poured billions of dollars into our urban school districts, but far too often the students are graduating without the skills and knowledge they need to compete in a global economy." He declares, "Here's a Daggett/Esposito equation when it comes to k-12 spending: "More" does not equal "Better".

It's not all about education for Esposito. He explains, "We need to build a new prosperous future for New Jersey by making the state the science and technology epicenter of this great nation as it once was. We need to develop new partnerships with our key industries to retain the talent-and-brains which led scientists at Bell Labs to develop many of the technologies that have powered the communications revolution."

After announcing his selection to the world by posting a YouTube video and sending out alerts on Facebook and Twitter, Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie last Monday held a press conference on the Asbury Park boardwalk to introduce his selection for running mate.

Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno learned the day before she was chosen to run for Lieutenant Governor alongside Christie, a fellow former fellow prosecutor. Guadagno earned a reputation as a corruption fighter during stints as a federal prosecutor and assistant state attorney general in New Jersey.

"What do you think the politicians in Trenton are going to think when they see two former federal corruption prosecutors leading them?" Guadagno asked rhetorically at the news conference. She said making New Jersey more affordable would be her priority.

While introducing his running mate Saturday, Governor Jon Corzine said, "She is a trusted friend, an independent and loyal friend. I know her well. I trust her absolutely, absolutely completely." He was talking about State Senator Loretta Weinberg

"Loretta has impeccable, unimpeachable conscience, a clear view of right over wrong" says Corzine. "She's a passionate advocate for our children, seniors, women, civil rights and integrity in government." Corzine says his Lt. Governor won't simply be a figurehead, "The Lt. Governor will be on point for our family agenda. She'll have the authority to drive our initiatives on healthcare, mental health, consumer protection and constituent services."

Weinberg says, "I have fought on behalf of victims of domestic violence, on behalf of women, children and people who were too poor or too busy to fight for themselves…….I have fought the tobacco companies, the insurance companies, the gun companies and even my own party leadership when it was necessary."

"I'm a feisty Jewish grandmother from Bergen County," says Weinberg. "To quote the great sailor, Popeye, 'I am what I am and that's all that I am.'"

AP: Corzine Picks Weinberg

Friday, July 24, 2009

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has chosen North Jersey state Sen. Loretta Weinberg as his running mate, according to a top Democratic official who is close to the governor.

Weinberg a feisty 74-year-old from Teaneck, gained a reputation for taking on members of her own party.

Weinberg emerged as the top contender after weeks of deliberation, said the official, who asked not to be named so as not to upstage the governor's announcement planned for Saturday.

GOP challenger Chris Christie picked Monmouth County Sheriff Kim
Guadagno has his running mate.

New Christie Ad

Friday, July 24

The Christie campaign reacts to the corruption sweep with a new video touting his record with corruption in New Jersey.

Pinkett, Corzine: What's The Real Story?
By Kevin McArdle
Thursday, July 23, 2009

Reality TV star Randal Pinkett says he'll consider running for Lt. Governor in New Jersey if an offer is made. The season-4 "Apprentice" winner admits he's met with Governor Jon Corzine, but insists the governor has not asked him to be his running mate. He claims, "The governor did not offer me the lieutenant governorship. My family and I reserve the right, if it were to be offered, that I would then decide whether this is the right time for me to enter public life."

Corzine says the vetting of his running mate has been "an internal process" that was never meant to be exposed. He denies ever having offered Pinkett the spot and says anyone who professes to have inside knowledge is being purely, "speculative."

A total of five high-level Democratic sources are now telling Millennium Radio News that they're not being speculative. They suggest Corzine and Pinkett are being misleading. They all insist that Pinkett was offered the spot and it was a done deal, but Corzine recoiled at the amount of backlash he received from some influential democratic lawmakers and he failed to get a faction of African American community leaders to commit to supporting his choice. Two of the sources still believe Pinkett will still be selected and the other three say that wouldn't surprise them.

Last week, three high-level Democratic sources told Millennium Radio New Jersey that Corzine had chosen his running mate who will be on the ticket campaigning to become New Jersey's first Lt. Governor. The sources, (one a national Democratic figure and two from within the state) said it is a "done deal," that Corzine would Pinkett.

Two of the insiders thought the formal announcement would come late last week when President Barack Obama came to New Jersey to campaign for Corzine. The third source wasn't sold on that timeline, but insists the pick had been made. The announcement is expected to be made on Saturday.

We're told the African American community had some concerns regarding Pinkett's qualifications, but one of the sources said leaders within those communities have been asked to back the Democratic ticket, at least publicly.

Randal is a Rhodes Scholar with five academic degrees, but he's never held elected office. He has no statewide political network and he's untested on the campaign trail. Corzine has been behind Republican challenger Chris Christie is recent polls and Pinkett's name has emerged seemingly out of nowhere as an out-of-the-box pick with the potential to energize the crucial African American base. Pinkett is African American.

"Go On My Website" says Chritsie
by Martin DiCaro
Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie on Tuesday responded to charges he's being purposely vague and lacks specific solutions to the state's most pressing challenge, reducing New Jersey's highest-in-the-nation property taxes. In an interview with Millennium Radio, the former federal prosecutor-turned-politician directed critics to his website (ChristieforNJ.com) where he said there's a list of his plans.

"I've already told New Jersey voters a lot about what we're going to do to reduce property taxes," said Christie at a campaign stop in Toms River. He said his plan to encourage to shared and consolidated services among municipalities was among his plans.

"I'm not going to order consolidation of towns or school boards from Trenton because I think Trenton would just mess it up if they do it," he said. "But I'm going to offer grants and programs to help towns study shared services and study consolidation. And if they take the grant money to do those studies and those studies show that money can be saved, they have to implement those programs. And if they don't, I want my grant money back. Just because there are some people in this state who don't believe that's a property tax plan, that's up to them."

Christie was asked about changing the state's school funding formula so state aid is more evenly distributed to municipalities.

"I think the school funding formula is a step in the right direction but no far enough. You've heard me talk about my urban plan where I think the money should follow the children, whether that's in voucher form or to charter schools or to other schools outside the district. We're going to have to take a look at the school funding formula. It's better than it used to be, but there's a long way to go on it."

Christie has been charged with keeping details of his plans to a minimum as a deliberate strategy to starve his opponents of ammunition. Many New Jersey voters will recall that during the last election in 2005, both Republican Doug Forrester and Democrat Jon Corzine campaigned on promises to reduce property taxes or increase rebates by certain amounts. Forrester promised to cut the tax burden 30 percent over three years. Corzine said he'd increase property tax rebates 40 percent over four years.

"What politicians have done previous to this campaign is to pander to people," Christie said. "Here we are four years later, and most New Jerseyans can't get any property tax rebate. I'm not going to pander to the people of the state of New Jersey and give them make-believe numbers to make them vote for me."

When I asked if he would make a formal campaign announcement on a property tax plan, Christie said, "I have already. Go on my website."

Pinkett Attempts To Clear The Air
by Martin DiCaro
Wednesday, July 22, 2009

In an attempt to clear the air and his name, season 4 Apprentice winner Randal Pinkett, who reportedly had been offered the position of Lieutenant Governor by Jon Corzine says that wasn't exactly the case.

High-level democratic sources insist Pinkett is not being honest. The say Corzine did offer the Lt. Governor candidacy to the former reality TV star, but pressure from many fronts has caused the Governor to back away from actually selecting Pinkett. We’ll have more on the real story tomorrow morning.

Pinkett is an African-American businessman who co-chaired Newark
Mayor Cory Booker's transition team.

   Corzine must make his lieutenant governor selection by Monday.

   Republican Chris Christie has picked Monmouth County Sheriff Kim
Guadagno as his running mate.

Does Anyone Care About The Campaign?
by David Matthau
Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Democrat Jon Corzine and republican Chris Christie are in full gubernatorial campaign mode- making appearances all over the State - but most Jersey residents don't seem to be paying attention.

An informal Millennium Radio News poll finds 3 out of 4 residents are not following the race - and many folks admit they don't even know who's running for Governor this year.

"I just don't know" said one train traveler at the Secaucus rail station, "I'm not really too keen on politicians because no matter what they say, they never seem to keep their promises."

Another commuter said she wasn't sure who the candidates were. When informed she could vote for Corzine or Christie, she said " I think I like Christie."

When asked why, she admitted she liked the sound of his name better than Governor Corzine's.

"I find listening to these guys very boring" said another commuter. "I'd much rather be drinking beer and playing golf."