The $24K Question: Laborers throw late cash to Cesaro Team in testy Morris tilt
The NJ State Laborers Council forked $24,600 to the team of John Cesaro in the Morris County Freeholder contest, according to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), or more than half of what the team reports in its closing balance today. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
ELEC: Realtors pour $124,724 into LD20
Two independent expenditures associated with realtors have jumped into the 20th District Assembly race in a big way down the stretch of the Democratic Primary season, according to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
ELEC: Realtors pour $124,724 into LD20 | New Jersey News, Politics, Opinion, and Analysis
Cesaro Team to Sette: Recuse yourself from Board of Elections
Shaking off the news of the chairman’s endorsement this week of their rivals, the Morris County Freeholder slate of John Cesaro, Christine Myers and Angelo Tedesco wants Morris County GOP Chairman John Sette to recuse himself from his position on the Board of Elections before the June 2nd primary. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
Rutherford Mayor DeSalvo makes case to GOP mayoral primary voters
RUTHERFORD – Rutherford Mayor Joe DeSalvo, set to face off against fellow Republican Daphne Williams-Fox in next week’s GOP mayoral race primary, stared down the literary lineage of his rival, descended from Rutherford’s arguably most famous son, and didn’t blink. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)
Christie: Common Core ‘simply isn’t working’
Affirming the fears of some education leaders during a policy speech in Burlington County today, Gov. Chris Christie suggested the state back off Common Core standards in its schools and instead develop “new and stronger” education guidelines going forward. (Brush/PolitickerNJ)
Christie: Common Core ‘simply isn’t working’ | New Jersey News, Politics, Opinion, and Analysis
$7,500 Buy: Batista and Bell go up on cable TV in LD20 Dem Primary
Just when you thought it was all mano-a-mano between Monteiro and Quijano, a third candidate surfaced, intent on reminding LD20 voters that there is yet another option. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
LD20: SEIU backs Quijano and Holley
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) New Jersey State Council, representing 40,000 service workers in the private and public sectors around the state, today announced its endorsements in the June 2nd primary election. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
LD20: SEIU backs Quijano and Holley | New Jersey News, Politics, Opinion, and Analysis
DCCC launching digital ads attacking MacArthur’s Amtrak vote
Already preparing for another Democratic challenge in the battleground South Jersey district come 2016, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is doubling-down on their targeting of Republican U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-3) this week with paid digital ads attacking him on his recent vote against a Democratic-sponsored bill that would have increased funding for automated train control systems in the wake of this month’s deadly Amtrak crash. (Brush/PolitickerNJ)
Williams-Fox looks to Rutherford GOP mayoral primary to better borough, live up to famed family name
RUTHERFORD – Daphne Williams-Fox, the Republican mayoral candidate facing off against incumbent Rutherford Mayor Joe DeSalvo in the June 2 GOP primary, sat in front of a bookshelf in her Vreeland Avenue home that contained not just words, but her family legacy. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)
Ace GOP Operative Teams With Dem Lawyer in SBA Race
It’s on like Donkey Kong. Balloting for the runoff for SBA Secretary—irresistible inside baseball to New Jersey’s legal community—has begun. PolitickerNJ has been covering the race in which the nominating committee’s choice, Kim Yonta, was forced into a runoff by insurgent candidate Fruqan Mouzon. (Kurson/PolitickerNJ)
Chris Christie to Pull New Jersey Out of Common Core
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will announce Thursday he is pulling his state out of the Common Core education standards, bowing to pressure from teachers and parents, as well as conservative fears about government overreach. (Miller/TIME)
http://time.com/3900299/chris-christie-common-core/
Chris Christie Ready to Desert Common Core Standards
Gov. Chris Christie said on Thursday that New Jersey could abandon Common Core education standards, changing his position as he tries to reconcile policies that he embraced as the moderate governor of a blue state with his bid to win over conservative voters in the presidential contests. (Zernike/The New York Times)
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie Orders Review of Common Core
PEMBERTON, N.J.—New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said the Common Core academic standards weren’t working and asked his education chief to tap a group of parents and teachers to review the program and possibly recommend new guidelines. (Brody and Haddon/PolitickerNJ)
http://www.wsj.com/articles/n-j-gov-christie-says-common-core-not-working-1432840536
New Jersey Faces a Transportation Funding Crisis, With No Clear Solution
SECAUCUS, N.J. — Bridges across the state are falling apart. Roads are rife with potholes. Frustrated New Jersey Transit riders are facing another fare increase.
As many commuters bemoan the mounting delays and disruptions, state officials say New Jersey is confronting a transportation funding crisis with no easy way out. Voters are so fed up, support is growing for a revenue option long viewed as politically untenable: raising the state’s gas tax, which is the second lowest in the country. (Fitzsimmons/The New York Times)
More swatting incidents plague New Jersey
Toms River Police Public Information Officer Ralph Stocco said in a statement that the mall received a call at 7 p.m. warning of a bomb inside the shopping center on Hooper Avenue that would hurt people. The mall was evacuated out of caution and a specially trained K9 explosive sniffing team was brought it for a search of the mall.
The mall was declared safe at midnight. (Alexander/NJ101.5)
More swatting incidents plague New Jersey
Atlantic City sues over failed community loans
Atlantic City, N.J. • A 2-year-old loan program that was supposed to lend as much as $40 million to struggling homeowners and businesses in this cash-strapped resort city has given out nothing and has instead led to a federal lawsuit.
Atlantic City is suing to get back $3 million it gave to the company that has failed to run the Community Loan Program, launched in 2013 by Lorenzo Langford, the mayor at the time. (Cornfield/Associated Press)
http://www.sltrib.com/home/2561865-155/atlantic-city-sues-over-failed-community
Morris County Freeholder DeFillippo issues a Shermanesque statement on the race
Responding to numerous requests to endorse a team in Tuesday’s Republican primary election, Morris County Freeholder Director Kathy DeFillippo today announced that she will remain neutral and urged both sides to end the animosity and to focus on the important issues facing the county. (PolitickerNJ Staff)
Krickus and Scapicchio zero in on Cesaro’s labor ties with late artillery in Morris
Fighting back through a blizzard of late, labor cash-infused mail in Morris County, the team of incumbent Freeholder John Krickus and Dave Scapicchio savaged their rival this week with a mail piece depicting Freeholder John Cesaro as a puppet of liberal special interests. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
Mazzeo doesn’t want gaming outside of Atlantic City
Up for reelection this year in a battleground district, Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo (D-2) stepped away from his fellow Democratic lawmaker State Senator Jim Whelan (D-2) today by adamantly opposing gaming outside of Atlantic City, according to Harry Hurley of WPG Talk Radio.
Read the story here. (PolitickerNJ Staff)
Moran and Tedeschi, after Christie curse-filled speech kerfuffle, make up
NEWARK – It was a small moment magnified by an intellectual battle waged between two New Jersey wordsmiths over Governor Chris Christie’s dirty words.
Yards apart at the Wednesday night opening of NJTV’s new television studio in downtown Newark stood Tom Moran, the editorial page editor of The Star-Ledger, and Bruno Tedeschi, former State House editor at The Record and a former colleague of Moran at The Star-Ledger. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)
Bluewater Operations surfaces on Cesaro Team ELEC filing
The Campaign Team Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) filing of John Cesaro contains an allocation to Bluewater Operations, a campaign consulting outfit run by veteran Passaic County Democratic operative Ryan Yacco. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
Flashpoint: Roselle
Under the increasingly scrutinized LD20 contest, Roselle Mayor Christine Dansereau is battling hard for a four-year term against former Councilwoman Cecilia Dallas Ricks.
The former is closely aligned with Assemblyman (and former Mayor) Jamel Holley, who’s at the top of the ticket and campaigning vigorously with his hand-selected successor. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
Flashpoint: Roselle | New Jersey News, Politics, Opinion, and Analysis
A Good Cause come Tuesday – and no, it’s not the Primary Election
Operatives from both parties will once again head to the Dublin House in Red Bank in support of respected veteran GOP operative Rob Cressen, who is battling a rare health condition called CRPS.
The fun, food, prize and music-filled event for Cressen is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2nd from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Dublin House on Monmouth Street.
If you can’t be there in person, consider making a secure online donation here. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
Source: ‘a major blitz’ by labor in the closing days for Cesaro
Labor cash coursing through Morris County constitutes a “major blitz,” according to a source close to the campaign of incumbent Freeholder John Cesaro.
The source said eight waves of mail are scheduled to go out this week in support of Cesaro and his running mates, firefight Angelo Tedesco and businesswoman Christine Myers.
The source said this weekend – the final one before June 2nd Election Day – will include 150 bodies mobilizing for campaign duties out of Team Cesaro’s Route 10 headquarters. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
Lance jumps into Morris Freeholder GOP Primary with checks to Krickus Team
Alert to longtime Tea Party rival David Larsen and 2016 implications, U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7) ponied up some cash for those Morris County freeholders running against the team assisted by Larsen’s ally, King Penna. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
