WINNERS
Patrick Rosenello
The Republican mayor of North Wildwood slapped back at Gov. Chris Christie’s mischaracterizations of his post Winter Jonas town and secured a personal apology from the shoot first and answer questions afterwards governor. Might Rosenello emerge as a 2017 prospect?
John Wisniewski
The chairman of the Bernie Sanders Campaign in New Jersey conducted a very successful kickoff event in his hometown of Sayreville and a day later welcomed the endorsement of Bernie Sanders for President rendered by the progressive, Newark-based outfit the People’s Organization for Progress (POP). Moreover, Sanders has walked rival Hillary Clinton down to a five-point Iowa lead.
KIvvit
Maggie Moran, Laura Matos, Chris Donnelly and the entire public affairs team received an infusion of new talent this week, including the professional services of former Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell.
Andre Sayegh
In that fast-developing, closely watched Ward 6 duel between Councilman Sayegh and his challenger, Al Abdel-aziz, the incumbent this week seized the ear of U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9) on the important constituent service issue of revising maps so that residents are not unfairly impacted by flood insurance requirements.
LOSERS
Chris Christie
While campaigning in New Hampshire, the Republican governor was unnecessarily flip and rude when responding to questions about the storm in his home state and offered mischaracterizations of the storm’s impact. For all the bravado too and power projection as a presidential candidate, Christie found little to celebrate in polls showing him bunched up with other establishment types far behind real estate tycoon Donald Trump.
Elias Chalet
A Grand Jury indicted the Bloomfield councilman, a Democrat, for allegedly soliciting and accepting a bribe of $15,000 from a business owner, promising the owner that he would use his position on the council to ensure that the township went ahead with its planned purchase of the man’s commercial property.
Mark Lohbauer
At today’s Pinelands Commission Planning and Implementation Committee meeting, the commission announced that Christie replaced Chairman Lohbauer with Sean Earlen. A member of the Pinelands Commission since 2011, Lohbauer voted against the South Jersey Gas Pipeline. Sean Earlen, on the other hand, is the newest member of the Commission with the least amount of experience, according to NJ Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel, who bemoaned the governor’s dismissal of Lohbauer and called it “political payback.”
Ras Baraka
The mayor of Newark had to absorb numerous scathing comments about his administration’s failure to adequately handle response to Winter Storm Jonas.
Patrick Council
East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador called for the resignation of the Director of Neighborhood and Recreational Services following last weekend’s blizzard.
Laquanda Tate
The former senior payroll clerk for the New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS) was sentenced to a year in jail today for using her work computer to generate false insurance cards for herself and others.
