New jersey politics

By Patricia Campos Médina

The 2020 presidential election results are in and in New Jersey, more than 4.6 million people have voted.

Joe Biden collected 460,000 votes more than Hillary in 2016. President Trump has, however, increased his number by 280,000 votes.

This allowed Trump to receive 716,000 more votes than Gov. Phil Murphy in his first gubernatorial candidacy in 2017.

For a strong Democratic state like New Jersey, this increase in voter turnout for Trump will have a significant impact on the future of our politics; Jeff VanDrew saw this wave coming and changed parties to secure his re-election. But the impact runs deeper than his change of alliance or the impact on congressional races in South Jersey.

The bipartisan system of state Democrats and Republicans has been swinging right into political ideology for a few years now. Let reformists and progressives be damned.

Eight years of tyrannically-styled populist politics from former Governor Chris Christie laid the groundwork for the exit of many well-established moderate New Jersey Republicans who ceded party leadership to an earlier version of an anti-establishment politician to the harsh rhetoric that based his rise on his ability to cut backstage deals with Democratic bosses, rather than party building.

Under Christie’s leadership, the Republican Party falters. Its decline has not been helped by demographic shifts in New Jersey, which are driven by the growth of voters of color and their outflow from cities to the suburbs.

The lack of moderate Republicans in New Jersey, however, has not encouraged state Democrats in our urban centers to act more gradually when dealing with political positions. Instead, these local and state party leaders began to push to the right and chose to appeal to New Jersey Republicans and conservative Democrats not entirely comfortable with Trump’s rhetoric but to appeal to comfortable with his politics.

These Democratic leaders can easily, on the one hand, praise Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries, but repeatedly refuse to provide emergency COVID-19 assistance to essential undocumented workers and New Jersey taxpayers during the pandemic.

It’s the Democrats who allow local county budgets to be supplemented by the lucrative program of incarcerating immigrant families under ICE contracts.

These are the same type of Democrats who think there is no problem leaving women of color and 20% of the state’s population (i.e. Latinos) without a voting member in the State Reallocation Commission, a body that decides on the political representation of citizens for the next decade. They might call themselves progressives, but by taking political positions at the whim of the leaders of the conservative wing of the Democratic Party, they have shown respect for the politics of the status quo.

I still remember sitting in front of a Democratic county leader in 2016 who openly said his strategy for the next election was not to register new voters of color. Mobilizing these voters, he said, was costly and there was little possibility of return. His strategy was to appeal to suburban working class whites who quit the Democratic Party for Trump because they did not trust Hillary.

Damned urban voters of color.

Those words simply meant that the New Jersey Democratic Party would continue to pretend to speak to 14% of the state’s Latino voters because “where else will Latinos go?” They will not vote for Trump.

Well, the results are in and in two key New Jersey urban districts – Passaic and Hudson County – Latino support for Donald Trump has actually increased. by more than 5%. Additionally, Trump voters in New Jersey came out in greater numbers than in the last gubernatorial election.

This is something to think about as we enter 2021 and Governor Murphy seeks re-election.

Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise has expressed what it means to be a Democrat who revere the status quo and not comfortable with his political party’s shifting electoral coalition today.

In a recent editorial, he referred to undocumented immigrants being held in his county jail awaiting an immigration hearing as criminals and “convicted of serious crimes like rape, assault, possession of weapons and more ”. Although the truth is different, his willingness to use Trump’s rhetoric has not been lost on anyone.

He even went further and accused protesters, citizens of his own county, who feel betrayed by his failure to deliver on his pledge to end the ICE contract as radical leftists. And using alternative facts, they even accused them of being linked to the movement to abolish the police and further wreak havoc on the streets of Hudson County. These were obvious lies, but his dog whistle was obvious to Trump supporters.

In 2021, Trump will not be president because he was rejected by a coalition of voters of color, women and young voters. But in New Jersey, its impact on our politics will persist as long as New Jersey Democrats continue to ignore the interest and concerns of voters of color, women and young voters.

Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina is a union and political leader. The opinions expressed here are his own.

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By Debbie Walsh

Every 10 years, after the decennial census, the New Jersey Allocation Commission meets to redraw the lines of the state’s 40 legislative districts so that population changes are reflected in the 40 Senate seats and 80 seats in the state. the General Assembly of the New Jersey Legislature. This commission will determine the contours of New Jersey politics for the next 10 years. They will have in their hands the fate of incumbent lawmakers, partisan control of each legislative constituency, and the hopes of newcomers awaiting the opportunity to present themselves.

The first indications are that, out of the 10 members of the bipartite commission selected for the next redistribution, only one member will be a woman. There will be zero democratic women. The next decade of New Jersey politics will be challenged in an environment created almost entirely without the input of women, further distancing them from the levers of state power.

I have no doubt that the people chosen to serve are dedicated public servants, but they do not reflect the diversity of the state. They were selected by political agents of the state who historically reassigned power from those who are already powerful.

During the last redistribution, women were three of the 10 members of the commission, which, although still far from parity, was significantly better than the future commission. Even then, the negative impacts of last disproportionate redistribution women affected. In 2011, when women made up 28% of the New Jersey legislature, four of the lawmakers ousted by the repercussions of their district’s redistribution – 57% of the total – were women.

Women are already struggling in the politics of New Jersey, a state in which consolidated party power creates few opportunities for advancement for newcomers and foreigners. In the state legislature, women hold less than a third of the seats, which means New Jersey isn’t even in the top 20 states in the country for women’s representation in its legislature. Women lag behind in county leadership positions, as free landowners and as mayors, never reaching one-third of those positions.

Behind those elected positions, however, are the presidents of the Democratic and Republican county parties, who wield inordinate influence over the recruitment and approval of candidates. Of the 42 county party chairmen, there are only nine women – five Democrats and four Republicans. With men occupying 79% of these positions of power, the opportunities for women to advocate for other women in their personal and professional networks as candidates for office are reduced.

It becomes clear fairly quickly, between the predominantly male party presidents and an almost all-male redistribution commission, that New Jersey’s political power system remains unwelcoming to women in the state. In the wake of NJ.com/The Star-Ledger reporting on the misogyny, harassment, and even sexual assault that permeates our state’s political institutions, there has been a lot of talk about how to change the culture. One of the most obvious answers is to include more women at all levels of government and politics. It should start with the representation of women on the commission that sets state policy.

The decision to almost completely exclude women’s voices from the redistribution process sends a powerful message to New Jersey women that they are not valued by the men who wield power in that state. Optics are bad, but it’s more than optics. It’s about substance. The research described last year in Harvard Business Review have shown that gender inclusiveness, authentic and not just decorative, improves business results, measured by both market value and income. In 2014, American scientist reviewed a variety of research showing that diversity, including gender diversity, leads to more innovative and creative thinking and better results across a range of organizations.

Excluding women from decisions that will impact a decade of politics in New Jersey not only deprives women of a voice in those decisions, but also robs the commission of the wisdom and innovative thinking that is a a natural by-product of consulting a wide range of opinions. and experiments and that deprives New Jersey of better results. For the outcome of the 2020 redistribution to be fair, the New Jersey Allocation Commission must be fairer.

Debbie Walsh is the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University.

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Ralph S. Passante, Sr., owner of one of New Jersey’s most famous printing companies, died on January 27. He was 77 years old.

Passante owned Royal Printing Service, a West New York-based company that over the past decades has grown into New Jersey’s unofficial political printer. It was a union shop that worked for both sides, which candidates often trusted in primary and general elections statewide to maintain confidentiality.

A former teacher, he took over the company in 1963 at the age of 21 after the sudden death of his father, Ralph F. Passante. Passante has grown the business from a 4,000 square foot store to a 30,000 square foot facility with 50 employees and constant upgrades to ensure the most modern printing technology.

Passante once ran for public office, seeking a seat on the Englewood Cliffs Board of Education in 1971. He lost by just 45 votes to Ilan Plawker.

Plawker then served 15 years on the school board, 17 years on the district council and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate and the State Assembly. After the 1971 school board race, Plawker used Passante as a printer.

Passante played basketball at Memorial High School in western New York and at St. John’s University. He has coached young basketball players for decades.

Two of his sons, David and Kevin, eventually joined him at RPS.

A visitation will be held at Vainieri Funeral Home in North Bergen on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by a second visitation to Pizzi Funeral Home in Northvale from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. on Monday at St. Pius X Church in Old Tappan.

New Jersey’s oldest and highest ranked lawmaker on Thursday launched an effort to change what she called a “toxic culture” for women in New Jersey politics, but said she didn’t expect any changes. easy or quick reforms.

“I don’t want to use the word solution,” said Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), the majority leader in the upper house who formed the task force on harassment, sexual assault and misogyny in the New Jersey Politics, at a press conference. conference Thursday. “I’m old enough to know that it won’t happen in two hours or two days, in a few months or three years, maybe in my lifetime… This is just the beginning of the change and we will change things, shine the spotlight on the things that we believe need to change.

Weinberg, who began serving in the Assembly in 1992 before moving to the Senate in 2005, noted that the group – currently a dozen women but likely to grow – is not a creature of the legislature or the government, but an independent effort that she decided to undertake after reading a NJ Advance Media Report on the stories of 20 women involved in politics who have been harassed or sexually assaulted.

Watch NJTV News video report of Thursday’s press conference

The report paints a grim picture. From floors of the two legislative chambers in Trenton to the annual convention of the NJ State League of Municipalities in Atlantic City to the annual “Walk to Washington” of the NJ Chamber of Commerce on a special Amtrak train, harassment and misogyny are rife in New Jersey politics for decades.

“Everyday, Everywhere,” is how longtime political strategist Julie Roginsky, who, along with former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, co-founded Lift Our Voices, an education and advocacy organization. rights to end non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) that silence victims. sexual harassment and discrimination.

“Our guard is constantly up”

While longtime lobbyist Jeannine LaRue, formerly of the New Jersey Education Association, said many of the worst actors have died, retired or left the legislature, young women say sexual harassment continues today. ‘hui.

“In the current political environment, we need to take defensive measures to protect ourselves,” said Sabeen Masih, vice president of public affairs at Capital Impact Group. “We create group texts to check with our colleagues at conventions and conferences. We never walk alone and never accept drinks from anyone other than ourselves. Our guard is constantly up and we must assess whether one more event, one more connection, one more part of our night is worth walking into the unknown.

Changing entrenched attitudes can be difficult, but there can be momentum to do so. The momentum began with allegations by Katie Brennan, a campaign volunteer under Gov. Phil Murphy, that she was sexually assaulted by campaign staff member Al Alvarez, who then went on to get a job in the administration and has been gone since. This sparked legislative hearings, co-chaired by Weinberg, which led to the introduction of a package of bills designed to correct the problems identified by the committee.

Murphy enacted all but one of those bills, and Weinberg said she expects lawmakers to reintroduce the measure, which would allow one state employee to tell others about a discrimination complaint. or harassment filed by the worker, and to satisfy the governor’s concerns to get he signed into the law. She also said New Jersey has the strictest law in the country prohibiting nondisclosure agreements in cases of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

The legislature in September 2018 also adopted a stricter anti-harassment policy.

“Pernicious sexism”

In his State of the State post last week, Murphy proclaimed that “misogyny is alive and well” in politics and government, and called for an end to “pernicious sexism and abuse” that women face.

Murphy has not yet detailed how he plans to change the culture in the New Jersey government, although he wrote in a invoice signature statement earlier this week, he is unhappy with the legislature’s refusal to submit to new laws that protect state government employees – for example, the one he signed to create a hotline that employees can call to report harassment.

“I remain disappointed that the legislature refused to include itself within the scope of these reforms and rejected amendments repeatedly proposed by my staff that would have applied these reforms to the entire state government.” , wrote Murphy.

A member of the legislative staff said the reforms would not apply to legislative employees because the legislature is a separate branch of government; the legislature also has its own policy, the staff member noted.

Murphy said Thursday that he supports the goals of the task force and is happy Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver is a member.

“Assuming this is a whole-of-government approach and is action-oriented, we are all prepared to cooperate with Senator Weinberg,” Murphy said at an independent press conference.

At the press conference announcing the task forces’ plans, Oliver said women need to support each other.

“We know we have the strength among us, collectively, to change the culture,” she said. “I think we have enough women, especially in the state of New Jersey, to force a culture change.”

Work on reforms, offer support

Although not an official body, the task force is considering proposing ways to change the culture and help women who have already been harassed.

“They should be very, very, very nervous,” said LaRue, now senior vice president of lobbying firm Kaufman Zita Group, in response to a question of whether the men in Trenton should be scared.

Nearly 70, LaRue said she was no longer the target of harassment, but believes it’s important to help young women so they don’t have to continue to suffer.

“Now we all have the opportunity to try to protect young women, hear their stories, and develop procedures and resources that help them, so they don’t have to fast forward 30 or 40. years and stand in front of a microphone and tell those stories again, ”she said.

The task force plans to hold several public hearings to hear women talk about existing culture, and at least one private hearing where women who are embarrassed or afraid to speak openly can tell their stories. Counselors will be available at private meetings to talk to survivors about their experiences and help them if they wish to take further action.

Additionally, the group is working with the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault to investigate online survey attitudes and personal experiences of people towards sexual harassment and misogyny in politics in the state. In particular, the survey targets government and campaign members, elected officials, lobbyists and others involved in politics. NJ CASA will make a special effort to publicize the investigation during the House train trip next month to Washington.

Past attempts to fix the problem have been played out according to a “patriarchal game guide,” said Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of NJ CASA.

“As a culture, we have become accustomed to consuming women’s stories about sexual harassment, assault, humiliation and trauma,” she explained. “But when women try to tell us what to do about it, that’s when people get uncomfortable.”

Teffenhart said getting the survey data will help inform the discussion and advocate for change.

“We are done allowing those with the power to make real change to turn away because they are uncomfortable,” she added.

Teffenhart called on men involved in politics to “step up, intervene, set an example for their male peers, ensure women are included as equal contributors to decision-making meetings, create, sign and enforce codes of conduct for the countryside ”.

Persistent conflict over non-disclosure

The recent controversy Roginsky’s remarks in the Star-Ledger, calling the Murphy campaign “the most toxic work environment I have ever seen in 25 years of working on political campaigns.” Roginsky said she couldn’t discuss the details because Murphy was holding her to a nondisclosure agreement.

Murphy said Thursday that Roginsky “is entitled to his own opinion” and declined to expand on a statement released earlier this week in which he said the NDA only applied to “proprietary information” and that it “asked campaign lawyers to make it clear to all that they are legally free to speak out about workplace issues during the campaign.

Asked about this statement, and a letter from a campaign lawyer stating that Roginsky is “free to speak publicly” about “the campaign’s workplace issues,” Roginsky declined to comment, saying she did not want to remove the broader message from the Thursday press conference. She also said she would decide when to say more.

Members of the task force said they were determined to do everything in their power to change the environment in politics so that women feel safe and on an equal footing with men.

“Yeah, that’s a warning,” LaRue said. “If you actively bully, harass and assault women, we’ll find out who you are. And there are systems that take care of it. And we will develop the resources these women need to advance in their careers.

New Jersey’s oldest and highest ranked lawmaker on Thursday launched an effort to change what she called a “toxic culture” for women in New Jersey politics, but said she didn’t expect any changes. easy or quick reforms.

“I don’t want to use the word solution,” said Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), the majority leader in the upper house who formed the task force on harassment, sexual assault and misogyny in the New Jersey Politics, at a press conference. conference Thursday. “I’m old enough to know that it won’t happen in two hours or two days, in a few months or three years, maybe in my lifetime… This is just the beginning of change and we will change things, shine the spotlight on the things that we believe need to change.

Weinberg, who began serving in the Assembly in 1992 before moving to the Senate in 2005, noted that the group – currently a dozen women but likely to grow – is not a creature of the legislature or the government, but an independent effort that she decided to undertake after reading a NJ Advance Media Report on the stories of 20 women involved in politics who have been harassed or sexually assaulted.

Watch NJTV News video report on Thursday’s press conference

The report paints a grim picture. From floors of the two legislative chambers in Trenton to the annual convention of the NJ State League of Municipalities in Atlantic City to the annual “Walk to Washington” of the NJ Chamber of Commerce on a special Amtrak train, harassment and misogyny are rife in New Jersey politics for decades.

“Every day, everywhere,” is how longtime political strategist Julie Roginsky, who, along with former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, co-founded Lift Our Voices, an education and advocacy organization. rights-based ending non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) that silence victims. sexual harassment and discrimination.

“Our guard is constantly up”

While longtime lobbyist Jeannine LaRue, formerly of the New Jersey Education Association, said many of the worst actors have died, retired or left the legislature, young women say sexual harassment continues today. ‘hui.

“In the current political environment, we need to take defensive measures to protect ourselves,” said Sabeen Masih, vice president of public affairs at Capital Impact Group. “We create group texts to check with our colleagues at conventions and conferences. We never walk alone and never accept drinks from anyone other than ourselves. Our guard is constantly up and we must assess whether one more event, one more connection, one more part of our night is worth walking into the unknown.

Changing entrenched attitudes can be difficult, but there can be momentum to do so. The momentum began with allegations by Katie Brennan, a campaign volunteer under Gov. Phil Murphy, that she was sexually assaulted by campaign staff member Al Alvarez, who then went on to get a job in the administration and has been gone since. This sparked legislative hearings, co-chaired by Weinberg, which resulted in the introduction of a package of bills aimed at correcting problems that the committee identified.

Murphy enacted all but one of those bills, and Weinberg said she expects lawmakers to reintroduce the measure, which would allow one state employee to tell others about a discrimination complaint. or harassment filed by the worker, and to satisfy the governor’s concerns to get he signed into the law. She also said New Jersey has the strictest law in the country prohibiting nondisclosure agreements in cases of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

The legislature in September 2018 also adopted a anti-harassment policy.

“Pernicious sexism”

In his State of State Message Last week Murphy proclaimed that “misogyny is alive and well” in politics and government, and called for an end to the “pernicious sexism and abuse” that women face.

Murphy has not yet detailed how he plans to change the culture in the New Jersey government, although he wrote in a invoice signature statement earlier this week, he is unhappy with the legislature’s refusal to submit to new laws that protect state government employees – for example, the one he signed to create a hotline that employees can call to report harassment.

“I remain disappointed that the legislature refused to be included in the scope of these reforms and rejected amendments repeatedly proposed by my staff that would have applied these reforms to the entire state government,” Murphy wrote. .

A member of the legislative staff said the reforms would not apply to legislative employees because the legislature is a separate branch of government; the legislature also has its own policy, the staff member noted.

Murphy said Thursday that he supports the goals of the task force and is happy Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver is a member.

“Assuming this is a whole-of-government approach and is action-oriented, we are all prepared to cooperate with Senator Weinberg,” Murphy said at an independent press conference.

At the press conference announcing the task forces’ plans, Oliver said women need to support each other.

“We know we have the strength among us, collectively, to change the culture,” she said. “I think we have enough women, especially in the state of New Jersey, to force a culture change.”

Work on reforms, offer support

Although not an official body, the task force is considering proposing ways to change the culture and help women who have already been harassed.

“They should be very, very, very nervous,” said LaRue, now senior vice president of lobbying firm Kaufman Zita Group, in response to a question of whether the men in Trenton should be scared.

Nearly 70, LaRue said she was no longer the target of harassment, but believes it’s important to help young women so they don’t have to continue to suffer.

“Now we all have the opportunity to try to protect young women, hear their stories, and develop procedures and resources that help them, so they don’t have to fast forward 30 or 40. years and stand in front of a microphone and tell those stories again, ”she said.

The task force plans to hold several public hearings to hear women talk about existing culture, and at least one private hearing where women who are embarrassed or afraid to speak openly can tell their stories. Counselors will be available at private meetings to talk to survivors about their experiences and help them if they wish to take further action.

Additionally, the group is working with the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault to investigate online survey attitudes and personal experiences of people towards sexual harassment and misogyny in politics in the state. In particular, the survey targets government and campaign members, elected officials, lobbyists and others involved in politics. NJ CASA will make a special effort to publicize the investigation during the House train trip next month to Washington.

Past attempts to fix the problem have been played out according to a “patriarchal game guide,” said Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of NJ CASA.

“As a culture, we have become used to consuming women’s stories about sexual harassment, assault, humiliation and trauma,” she explained. “But when women try to tell us what to do about it, that’s where people get uncomfortable.”

Teffenhart said getting the survey data will help inform the discussion and advocate for change.

“We are done allowing those with the power to make real change to turn away because they are uncomfortable,” she added.

Teffenhart called on men involved in politics to “step up, intervene, set an example for their male peers, ensure women are included as equal contributors to decision-making meetings, create, sign and enforce codes of conduct for the countryside ”.

Persistent conflict over non-disclosure

The recent controversy Roginsky’s remarks in the Star-Ledger, calling the Murphy campaign “the most toxic work environment I have ever seen in 25 years of working on political campaigns.” Roginsky said she couldn’t discuss the details because Murphy was holding her to a nondisclosure agreement.

Murphy said Thursday that Roginsky “is entitled to his own opinion” and declined to expand on a statement released earlier this week, in which he said the NDA only applied to “proprietary information” and that it “asked campaign lawyers to make it clear to all that they are legally free to speak out about workplace issues as part of the campaign.

Asked about this statement, and a letter from a campaign lawyer stating that Roginsky is “free to speak publicly” about “the campaign’s workplace issues,” Roginsky declined to comment, saying she did not want to remove the larger message from the Thursday press conference. She also said she would decide when to say more.

Members of the task force said they were determined to do everything in their power to change the environment in politics so that women feel safe and on an equal footing with men.

“Yeah, that’s a warning,” LaRue said. “If you actively intimidate, harass and assault women, we will find out who you are. And there are systems that take care of it. And we will develop the resources these women need to advance in their careers.

TRENTON – New Jersey politics are grappling with a frigid thriller.

Two weeks after police dragged progressive activist Sue Altman out of a Statehouse courtroom for no apparent reason, political insiders are engrossed in all the details surrounding this year’s most viral moment in Garden politics State.

It all started when George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey Democratic power broker, testified about a controversial tax incentive scheme he was accused of manipulating (he denied committing wrongdoing). Altman, his harshest critic, has come up with a group of supporters to confront him. After the hearing began, boos rang out, the committee chairman ordered state police to “clear the back row,” and instead they walked over to Altman, who was standing in another part. of the room.

Altman, the head of the state’s Working Families Alliance, said she texted and made no noise until she was dragged outside and issued a police summons.

Journalists captured the moment in photos and video. The confrontation quickly ricocheted across social media, with many calling it blatant abuse of power. The New Jersey attorney general’s office and state police conduct formal reviews. Governor Phil Murphy said “Every senator on this committee owes him a direct apology. »Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren weighed in, calling Altman’s ejection “scandalous”.

“There are moments that capture the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times,” said Ben Dworkin, director of public policy at Rowan University. “The impeachment of Sue Altman is one of those moments.”

It also became a watershed moment for Altman and his campaign to remake New Jersey politics. Campaigners used the footage to reinforce their rallying cry that unelected people like Norcross, a Camden-based insurance executive, have outsized control in New Jersey.

“I think it’s such a visual story,” said Brigid Callahan Harrison, professor of political science and law at Montclair State University. “That’s what wins now.”

John Currie, the leader of the state’s Democratic Party seeking re-election to the post, used a photo of Inquirer on a campaign sender and added a bright yellow arrow pointed at Norcross with the question: “IS THIS WHO DO WE WANT TO CONTROL OUR DEMOCRATIC PARTY? Currie is an ally of Murphy’s and an enemy of Norcross.

State police will not make the findings of their review public, “in line with standard practice,” said Sharon Lauchaire, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office. Majority Leader State Senator Loretta Weinberg this week called for it to be done.

“The decision to deport the protester was made solely by state police,” said Richard McGrath, spokesperson for the New Jersey Senate Democrats. “If they do not comply with the request by [Weinberg] to disclose the findings of the report, we will use the subpoena power to make it public.

The legislature has a number of issues to deal with, including the decriminalization of marijuana, immigrant rights, and pension reform. But the removal of Altman dominates the conversation.

“It seems to pull the air out of the room,” lamented State Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R., Monmouth). But, he added, “there is serious debate as to whether she was targeted intentionally.”

There are many theories as to how and why Altman was abolished, all of them unfounded and some far-fetched. But New Jersey political insiders have even started circulating and dissecting videos of the incident for clues.

Norcross spokesman Dan Fee said the buzz was not helpful. “A small group of people talking to each other and the media on Twitter is not what I would describe as ‘taking the oxygen out of the room,’ Fee said. it is about winning elections or changing policies, these same activists have failed time and time again. “

“No one in the Senate wanted a member of the public to be denied the opportunity to remain in the room for the hearing,” said McGrath, speaking on behalf of Sweeney and State Senator Bob Smith, who has presided over the hearing.

Some, including Sweeney, said Altman – who admits she was there to protest – orchestrated her own dismissal. They point to her tweet moments before her dismissal, when she said, “Not arrested !! (Still).”

“I’m disappointed with the way it turned out,” Sweeney said, according to Politico. “But she planned to be arrested, she even said so. She got the attention she wanted.”

“It was a joke in response to a tweet before“Altman replied.” I admit we wanted to be loud and I told reporters they could look for disturbances. … If the Working Families Party had a plan to get arrested, it would be much more spectacular and civil disobedience. “

Amid the fever that followed the incident, Norcross, in an appearance the next day reported by NJ.com, said he was “disappointed” with her removal, but “had never met her before. I didn’t know who she was.”

Altman also spoke about the city at an annual political convention called “The League,” which began in Atlantic City the day after the hearing. Altman attended.

“When Sue entered the room, all eyes were on her,” said Anne-Marie Principe, lobbyist and regular attendee of the convention. “Most lawmakers really didn’t know what to do and how to handle it. “

Even bona fide Liberal lawmakers have been caught in the crosshairs. Weinberg, long seen as a mentor to New Jersey activists, released a statement after the hearing praising committee members “for their work on the difficult issue of tax incentives and economic growth, despite the disruption. of today’s hearing “.

Following a chorus of criticism from Altman supporters, Weinberg offered a different perspective a week later.

“I don’t remember ever seeing anything like the embarrassing moments, which were then captured in many photos, as Sue Altman was literally dragged out of the room,” Weinberg said on facebook.

On Tuesday, Weinberg stressed the importance of an official disclosure of the facts.

“While we have no reason to believe the state soldiers have done anything wrong,” she said in a statement, “reviewing their actions and decisions will help maintain confidence public”.

TRENTON – A New Jersey lawmaker has ordered police to “clean up the back row” after a chorus of boos echoed in his Statehouse courtroom on Monday.

Sue Altman was silent. She was not near the back row. But the state soldiers decided she was the one to go. “Why would you want to fire me?” Altman asked when a cop asked for her to go.

Moments later, several police officers stormed in and grabbed Altman by the arms. They dragged the Camden political activist out of the room, out of the Statehouse and into the cold as her supporters chanted “shame, shame, shame.” She was swept away right in front of George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey businessman and political intermediary she had come to confront. Norcross smirked slightly.

The controversial scene – followed by demonstrations of support from Governor Phil Murphy and first Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth warren – briefly rocked New Jersey politics. But that shouldn’t have been a surprise:

Sue Altman has a knack for angering people in power.

Altman, 37, heads the Working Families Alliance of New Jersey, a political group within the Working Families movement that has become a growing force in progressive politics across the country (Kendra Brooks won a seat on the council Philadelphia City Council for the Working Families Party this month). Altman is known for her outspoken critiques of the state’s Democratic establishment.

She has only been in office for six months, but her goals are clear, even simple: to demolish the Democratic machine and make Working Families “the political house” for people who want to transform New Jersey politics.

“Probably in my heart I’m an activist. I have a fundamental distrust of power, ”Altman said recently. “I love the challenge of pushing against power, especially when power isn’t deserved.

If there’s a poster for anything Altman says is wrong with New Jersey politics, it’s Norcross. The executive chairman of the insurance brokerage firm Conner Strong & Buckelew is considered one of the most powerful people in New Jersey. In recent months, he has been faced with allegations, reported by WNYC and ProPublica, that he manipulated New Jersey’s controversial tax incentive program to benefit his Camden businesses and affiliates to the tune of $ 1.1 billion.

Norcross denied any wrongdoing and attended Monday’s hearing, he said, to “correct the many inaccuracies, misinterpretations and false truths” about his work at Camden and the tax credits of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The Inquirer reported that federal authorities are investigating the business tax incentive program.

Altman hopes this moment keeps the pressure on Norcross and ensures that the Christie-era program is investigated.

“Keeping it in the news is the best insurance policy to make sure that happens,” she said.

Norcross spokesman Dan Fee described Altman as hungry for the spotlight. “If her goal is to gain anything other than media coverage of herself, she has remarkably failed,” said Fee. “We’re kind of hoping that she will continue to focus on media attention so everyone can stay focused on rebuilding Camden.”

On Halloween eve last month, Altman brought his anti-establishment message to the Shore Diner in Egg Harbor Township. More than 20 activists crammed into a back room. Altman’s goal was to unravel the power of the New Jersey Democratic Party in a tight 30 minutes, working on a highly rated presentation titled “Bosses and Ballots.”

If ordinary citizens could learn how they were stripped of power by the wealthy in New Jersey, she said, it would “spur” them on and inspire them to act.

His first slide, a photo of a man, got right to the point.

“It’s George Norcross,” Altman said. “By design, George controls the members of the legislature.”

She explained how machine politics and party leaders like Norcross emerged in New Jersey, claiming they wield inordinate power in running the state. Even if politicians want to challenge bosses, she said, they often can’t without risking losing lucrative government jobs or exerting political influence.

“Much of the power in Trenton may come from [controlling] people’s livelihoods, ”she said. Politicians “have to listen to leaders, and if they don’t, bad things happen.”

Originally from Clinton, Hunterdon County in central New Jersey, Altman studied at Columbia University and Oxford, and also spent time as a professional basketball player in Europe (she recently started boxing). After teaching high school at prep schools in New Jersey and New York, she made her activism debut in late 2014.

She had just moved to Camden, where she quickly became involved with the city’s public schools. In the summer of 2016, she argued for six minutes with the then governor. Chris Christie on his proposed school fundraising plan.

After Donald Trump was elected president, she organized a group of activists and helped create South Jersey Women for Progressive Change.

In 2018, the group campaigned for Andy Kim, a former Obama administration official running for Congress in South Jersey. Kim’s victory made a long-standing Republican seat blue by less than 4,000 votes.

Altman has its fair share of criticisms. Some, like Camden City Councilor Felisha Reyes Morton, say she’s more flash than substance. “We need more Indians and fewer chiefs,” Reyes Morton said.

Reyes Morton and others have also questioned Altman’s loyalty to the Democratic Party. Records show Altman was a registered Republican until October 2008. She became independent a month later and became a Democrat in 2016. She did not vote in 2012, she admitted, claiming that she was studying in England.

Others, including Vic Carstarphen, a recent candidate for Camden City Council, call her a “Hunterdon County debutante” – the implication being that she is a wealthy white woman from the upstate who doesn’t. is not allowed to talk about Camden’s problems.

“[The machine’s] The whole premise to exist is that South Jersey isn’t going to get what it deserves because other parts of the state will take it from them, ”Altman said.

Steve Ayscue, a political strategist whose cabinet works for a Norcross-backed political action committee, attacked the Altman group for not disclosing its donors. In recent years, progressive insurgent political groups have increasingly taken undisclosed “black money”.

The Working Families Alliance of New Jersey has an annual budget of approximately $ 500,000. Altman has a salary of $ 75,000, according to spokesperson Rob Duffey. Donations come from labor groups like the New Jersey Education Association and the Communications Workers of America, as well as the allied group in Murphy New Directions New Jersey, Altman said.

“His organization is funded by some of Trenton’s biggest vested interests,” Fee said.

“People don’t want to face the machine on paper,” Altman said in response. “George’s tentacles are wide and deep, and there is real potential for retaliation.”

Altman wants to create a powerful political organization under the umbrella of Working Families that can mobilize voters on issues such as fair wages and a tax for millionaires.

“It makes the Working Families Alliance a bigger player in the state conversation,” said Democratic strategist Brendan Gill, who led the pro-Murphy New Directions.

It wields more and more power at the highest levels of state policy. “I pitched ideas with her,” said a senior assistant at Murphy. “With influence comes the ability to influence things.”

Ultimately, she wants to eradicate “the ballot line,” a New Jersey electoral quirk that places backed party candidates in a strategically advantageous column during the primaries.

And she hasn’t ruled out running for Congress in 2020. Altman lives in the Congressional district of Rep. Donald Norcross. George Norcross is his brother.

“It’s the jewel in the crown,” Altman said.

Lawyers for Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, Gov. Chris Christie’s former associates convicted of Bridgegate’s political retaliation program, argued in the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday that prosecutors had broken the law by bringing charges. criminal proceedings against them.

They said the fraud statutes used to convict the two members of Christie’s inner circle were not intended to be used to prosecute political corruption.

“Bridgegate is a case of bare-handed politics in New Jersey, not corruption,” Baroni’s lawyers wrote in a High Court brief.

The Supreme Court agreed in June to review the case – just weeks before Kelly appeared in federal prison. Baroni, who had already started his prison term, was released on bail after the court agreed to take up the case.

Kelly, former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Baroni, who was deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were convicted in November 2016 of planning to close several access routes locals at the George Washington Bridge toll booth for four days in 2013 in a bizarre political vendetta that led to massive traffic jams at Fort Lee.

Federal prosecutors said the traffic diversion on the world’s busiest bridge was meant to send a message to borough mayor Mark Sokolich after the Democratic official reversed course on an overdue approval of Christie, a Republican, during the governor’s re-election campaign in 2013.

The plot became widely known as Bridgegate.

“The alleged conduct here was petty, callous and misguided. But in our system, political abuse of power is treated politically, ”Kelly’s lawyers said. “Prosecutors may try to supplement the political backlash with criminal penalties, particularly when public anger peaks in vitriol. But the role of the courts is to ensure that this anger is channeled in accordance with the rule of law – to ensure fairness for these defendants and, more importantly, to prevent wrongdoing in the future. “

They said the rule of law in this case requires the convictions to be overturned.

“The court should order exactly that,” wrote his lawyers, including Jones Day’s Yaakov M. Roth, the case attorney, and Michael Critchley. They said that upholding the verdicts “would make it easy for supporters not only to harangue and harass political opponents, but also to prosecute and imprison them.”

Kelly was the author of the now infamous ‘Fort Lee Traffic Trouble Time’ email, sent shortly before the orange cones hit the bridge’s local toll lanes. It was a message that prosecutors pointed to as a smoking gun in the case and was a key piece of evidence used against her.

Christie has never been charged with wrongdoing and has denied any knowledge of the plan, although the incident weighed heavily on the failure of his 2016 presidential campaign.

The question in court is whether a public official can defraud the government by lying about the real reason for a public policy decision.

In their court documents, lawyers for Kelly and Baroni said what happened at the bridge toll booth was not a federal crime and prosecutors criminalized routine political behavior.

“The ordinary money and property fraud laws used here do not, by their terms, cover such conduct, have never before been used to prosecute such conduct, and the fundamental principles of vagueness, Leniency and federalism make it clear that they cannot be extended by courts or prosecutors to criminalize such conduct, ”said Baroni’s attorneys, including Michael A. Levy of Sidley Austin, as a registered attorney.

They said that if the government can convict a public official for fraudulently depriving a public agency of money or property simply for using his agency’s resources “with a hidden political motive,” then the federal government will have carte blanche to indict and convict officials in every way. political deals, favors and reproaches, unless these officials are “brutally frank” about their real political motives.

“If the government wins, ‘the room where it happens’ will become a crime scene,” Baroni’s lawyers wrote, referring to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song, the Broadway hit “Hamilton”, regarding a secret deal between Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

The New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office, which continued the case, will file its briefs with the court next month. No date has yet been set for oral argument in the case.

Ted Sherman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @ TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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The two mainstays of New Jersey politics, Governor Phil Murphy and power broker George Norcross III, are both very wealthy and have used their enormous wealth to secure political power. They are proof that Jesse Unruh, the powerful former speaker of the California assembly, was right when he said, “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.

Phil Murphy is the governor for one reason and one reason only. He largely self-financed his Democratic primary campaign to the tune of $ 22.5 million. Much of his largesse went to Democratic County County Committees.

Governor Murphy isn’t the first Democratic megamillionaire to spend his money, like a drunken sailor, to get high public office in New Jersey or other states. Murphy Goldman Sachs alumnus Jon Corzine spent $ 131 million on his campaign for the New Jersey Senate seat and his two campaigns for governor. Murphy and Corzine both bought their seats.

It’s important to point out that there is nothing in New Jersey electoral law that prevents the super rich from spending huge sums of their own money trying to get elected. Most recently, Bob Hugins spent $ 36 million of his own money in an attempt to defeat Senator Menendez.

Murphy and Corzine both lacked any grassroots political background. They were not educated in the vagaries of New Jersey politics and it showed that both seemed to lack the ability to build legislative coalitions and forge strong personal bonds with the electorate.

New Jersey voters from both political parties need to send a strong and clear message that they are not going to continue supporting candidates who lack practical political experience and who buy their support by paying for the party apparatus. The message needs to go to mega-millionaires who want to run for public office, that they need to dramatically tone your initial election expectations.

Business leaders shouldn’t expect their first foray into politics to be as a senator or governor of the United States. There are 565 municipalities and several levels of government in New Jersey to delve into elective politics

George Norcross is often considered New Jersey’s most powerful unelected public servant. Former state senator and ethics champion William E. Schluter wrote in Soft Corruption that Norcross “used its fundraising abilities to gain patronage power in order to gain the allegiance of the government and party officials. Norcross influence dominates four county governments in southern New Jersey. . . who collectively spend more than $ 500 million in public taxes each year and create more than 5,800 jobs. And, because of his influence over who is elected, he commands the loyalty of the twenty Democratic lawmakers who represent the districts of southern Jersey. “

According to Alex Law, in an article titled “The Untold Tragedy of Camden, NJ” in Huffpost Politics, Norcross’s power is “based on a very old and simple concept: Pay-to-Play. If you want to do business in Norcross territory, you must donate to their politicians, PACs and charities. Depending on how much you give and how little you resist their wishes, you can earn lucrative government contracts and partnerships. Business is done, the Norcross machine gets its share, democracy is rampantly stifled, and any complaint or resistance is crushed by threats of employment or other bullying. It should be pointed out that Law was decimated in a primary race for Congress against Donald Norcross, George’s brother by a 70% to 30% margin.

Recently, George Norcross made headlines due to an investigation launched by a task force appointed by Governor Murphy of the NJ Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Tax Incentive Program. The investigation was sparked by a report released by the state comptroller who found serious problems with the oversight of the tax relief program. Of the $ 4.4 billion in tax incentives provided by the EDA statewide, two-thirds of the $ 1.6 billion in tax incentives that went to Camden went to companies linked to Norcross and / or his brother Philip’s law firm.

It is too early to tell if Norcross or anyone associated with it did anything wrong by getting the tax credits. Businesses seeking tax credits had to prove that they were considering moving jobs out of state and that they had a bona fide alternative that was appropriate and available out of state. Let’s see what the paper trail says?

For decades, George Norcross deftly used his knowledge of government and his connections to earn huge sums of money with government. Many of the services provided by its businesses fall under the professional services category and are not required to be competitively tendered.

The Norcross pay-to-play business model of using political logins and campaign contributions to secure business is not illegal, unless you can find an explicit consideration. This is, however, unfair and unethical to the public and those who cannot afford to purchase access. For this reason, voters should avoid candidates who take a lot of money from the Norcross political machine.