Keystone Cops in the Garden State

Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Chris Christie rode around the city recently on patrol after a news conference at the Newark Public Safety Complex on Orange Street. Despite being potential political rivals in 2013, the two leaders say they have partnered to reduce crime and improve education in the state's largest city.

Booker has been running the patrols -- usually comprised of residents, off-duty police and other city employees -- since September.

Chris Christie leads volunteers on patrol in Newark.

Rob Andrews will wet his pants when he sees this

3rd district GOP Assembly candidate Lee Lucas, whose “survival of the fittest” letters to local newspapers made him controversial in Republican circles to begin with, and whose alleged use of a racial slur to a neighbor during a dispute, quoted in a 2006 police report, made him persona-non-grata and forced party leaders to publicly renounce him, said in a phone interview that he plans to run for office again, starting with seeking the party’s nomination against U.S. Rep. Andrews in 2010.

“I’m running for congress, running for assembly. I’m running for something every year. I’ll never stop,” said Lucas, who denied the police report’s quote of his racial slur but said that it did not hurt his candidacy.

I'm sure there are Democrats who wish he never stops running either.

Maybe ignorance is bliss

NJ-3 GOP Congressional candidate (after he stops playing football) Jon Runyan told an interviewer he still has a lot to learn about politics. "This is something that's very new to me. I had to learn a lot of stuff, do a lot of reading and ask a lot of questions to see what my comfort level with it was. And apparently my comfort level is good," Runyan said. "I'm talking a lot on the phone. My computer is being very well used right now, and through e-mails I'm reading up on current issues."

Who's sending him emails on health care reform, Terrell Owens?

Hal Turner need not apply

Republicans in the Garden State acknowledge it will be difficult to solidify their gains in South Jersey. "There were fractured parties down in South Jersey this year that resulted in less than our best candidates winning primaries. In the future, we will certainly encourage participation in the party but try to put our best candidates forward," NJGOP State Chairman Jay Webber vowed.

I guess that means there won't be any KKK poster boys like Lee Lucas running for Assembly in the 3rd district.

Pennsylvania motorists beware

According to published reports Chris Christie says Christmas for him came early on Election Day and becoming governor was the only gift he wanted this year. He also says the family will drive to his mother-in-law's in Pennsylvania over the holiday weekend.

I hope he doesn't forget his car insurance and registration.

$50,000 to clean out an office?

In response to recent reports of pension abuse Chris Christie said he generally has no problems with people who have more than one public job as long as they are only being paid and receiving benefits for one job. "I don't want to preclude public employees from being involved in public office, but not two public paychecks," Christie said, adding that he made running mate Kim Guadagno give up her part-time teaching job at Rutgers Law School.

"I told her, 'If we win, you have to quit,' Christie said. "So she cleaned out her office last Friday and she said that cost her, like, $50,000."

That must have been some office.

Does Christie need target practice?

Chris Christie refused to single out examples of Corzine nominees that he wanted scratched, and his spokeswoman, Maria Comella stressed that point when asked about certain individuals. "We're not going to go out and start putting targets on anybody's heads,'' she said.

Even if Christie took shots at them he'd more than likely miss his targets anyway. Besides, if Christie was going to put targets on anybody's heads I don't think they'd be Corzine's nominees.

"It's the economy, stupid!"

Toms River Councilman Maurice "Mo" Hill is thinking about challenging football player Jon Runyan for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Congressman John Adler. "My fear is what's going on in DC. It's the economy, and yet they're dealing with everything but that right now," said Hill, who at the moment appears to be the Ocean County Republicans' leading choice to run for congress.

I guess he never heard of "Cash for Clunkers".

Chris Christie stars as Ebeneezer Scrooge

Chris Christie was asked about the possibility of using millions in state revenue to keep the struggling New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority afloat. "In the end, they’ve got to understand that, despite the season, I’m not in a giving mood," he said.

I guess Santa Chris won't be climbing down anybody's chimney this Christmas.

The pile on Christie's night stand

Chris Christie has yet to read the Inspector General's report on alleged pension abuse for Gloucester County Democratic Chairman Michael Angelini, but he's getting to it. Christie said the 62-page report, which outlines how Angelini worked 12 different part-time public jobs over the course of 27 years to accrue a pension of over $100,000, is part of the "pile on my night stand."

Probably stuck between packages of Hostess Twinkies and a box of Krispy-Kreme donuts.

Paul Mulshine channels Steve Lonegan

Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine is channeling his inner Lonegan when he compares Chris Christie to Tom Kean because the Governor-elect supports a bond issue that will finance transportation projects already budgeted for. Mulshine refers to Lonegan as "the tightwad former mayor of Bogota who lost to Christie in the GOP primary last spring" and then quotes him as referring to Christie, “This guy comes from the school of thought that says the government is there to create jobs, taxpayer-funded jobs for everyone."

Lonegan knows about taxpayer-funded jobs which paid his campaign consultants and staff in his primary loss to Christie.

Football uber alles

3rd district GOP congressional candidate Jon Runyan explained to an interviewer recently why he's still playing football instead of discussing issues like health care and Afghanistan:

"I kind of came [to San Diego] to just kind of prove my point to people telling me that I could not recover from this knee injury and play football again."

I don't think Adler has anything to worry about.

Chris Christie, Paula Dow & paperless immigrants

It seems Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine is not exactly doing cartwheels over Christie's appointment of Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow to be the next Attorney General. Evidently Dow was Prosecutor when an undocumented immigrant was linked to the shooting of four Newark students, and Mulshine seems to imply that Christie's alleged reluctance to aggressively pursue undocumented immigrants had something to do with it. He then quotes Morristown Mayor Don Cresitello saying, “This is the job of the federal prosecutor to start cracking down on this, but he seems only to want to deal with political prosecutions.”

I guess Mulshine, Cresitello et. al. would prefer Christie giving Sharpe James and Wayne Bryant a pass in favor of busting motel maids and grass cutters.

Can Christie "bend" without falling?

Chris Christie said in an interview with the Asbury Park Press his primary intent is to fulfill his No. 1 campaign pledge. "We are going to balance the budget without raising taxes," Christie said. "I will not bend on that principle."

It would be interesting to see Christie bend at all, especially after he's had a full meal.

Time for lunch. Anybody disagree?

Chris Christie said he opposes legislation a member of his transition team, State Senator Sandra Cunningham, sponsored to let local governments put off paying part of their pension contributions this year. He added the issue does not affect his "respect" for Cunningham.

"It will be shocking for you to know that I don’t agree with everything that everyone around me proposes," Christie said.

Except when somebody proposes they take a break and go to lunch.

Steve Lonegan is "not very happy" with Chris Christie

Steve Lonegan, who ran against Christie in the GOP primary this year, called Christie's support of a $1 billion bond deal to pay for highway and mass transit projects “a travesty” that will merely continue the policies of Democratic administrations that relied heavily on borrowing to pay state expenses.

“If that's an indication of things to come, I'm not very happy with that,” said Lonegan, who is state director for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative public policy organization. “This is an underhanded gimmick.”

If Lonegan was happy, I'd really be scared.

Politicians in "over-politicized" glass houses should not throw stones

On radio station 101.5FM Chris Christie took yet another potshot at those who did not support him for governor: The NJEA, who has been attempting to set up a meeting with Christie, to no avail. He said, “Teachers are not the problem. It’s the over-politicized of the leadership of their union.”

"Over-politicized" former US Attorneys should not be casting stones, lest they be without sin.

Christie finds band to replace Springsteen

A post on PolitickerNJ.com reports that Todd Christie, the brother of Chris Christie -- a devoted Springsteen fan despite their political differences -- offered Springsteen a large donation to the charity of his choice if he performed at Christie’s inauguration. Springsteen declined, however, signaling he did not want to get involved in state politics.

It takes one to know one

Republican State Sen. Gerald Cardinale had words with Sen. Nia Gill over his questioning of a witness, an advocate of marriage equality, who referenced the state’s Civil Union Review Commission’s findings in support of his point. Cardinale tried to undercut the legitimacy of the commission’s report.

When the witness noted that the commission was set up by the legislature, Cardinale said that “someone once told me that [law school] was three years of learning to lie effectively, but you aren’t lying effectively.”

Cardinale is like the madame of a whorehouse telling one of the girls she needs to do a better job at pretending to enjoy her clients.

Paul Mulshine does "Chicken Little"

Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine is doing his usual "Chicken Little" shtik about New Jersey's imminent financial collapse. Now he says there’s a real chance the state could fail to appropriate funds to pay off those bonds. He also says Chris Christie has a crisis on his hands the minute he takes the oath as governor next month.

"Things are probably worse than most people believe," state Sen. Mike Doherty told Mulshine recently. "It’s questionable if we’ll even be able to meet payroll in a few weeks."

Funny coming from a guy so desperate a few weeks ago to win election to a State Senate seat he now says is worthless.

They were against federal grants before they were for them.

Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean and Senator Diane Allen, both members of the Senate Education Committee, expressed disappointment that New Jersey is woefully unprepared to apply for federal education grants.

“It is disappointing that the state Department of Education will be unable to complete the grant application by the deadline,” Kean stated. “I believe, especially in our current fiscal situation, it is imperative to make every effort to apply for all of the federal aid for which we are eligible."

And if their fellow Republicans in Congress had their way there wouldn't be any federal aid to apply for.

Chris Christie goes to school

Gov.-elect Chris Christie and Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Guadagno met with 11 superintendents from across the state to discuss problems with and solutions for the state's education system. The meeting was closed to the media, but Christie spoke with reporters afterward and said the fiscal challenges faced by school districts have wide-ranging effects.

"The challenges we face both fiscally and from an educational perspective in New Jersey are tied together,'' Christie said. "And that was my concept and Kim's concept walking into the meeting, and what we heard from the group of superintendents just further reinforces that, that everyone in the education community understands that real change needs to happen in the state.''

Maybe if schools did a better job teaching science and math to kids they wouldn't grow up to become political hacks in empty suits.

GOP stays relevant

Disgruntled conservatives recently tried to get the NJGOP State Committee to officially adopt the National GOP platform. The motion was tabled but the insurgents issued their own statement urging support for the platform:

"Historically, our party has always taken a stand on tough social issues.
If we go back and look at the Republican Party platform of 1856 we find
strongly worded positions on the social issues of the day – about the rights
possessed by every human life, and about the definition of marriage.

In that platform, we find those social issues addressed with these words:
“It is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit those twin
relics of barbarism – Polygamy, and Slavery.”

Nice to see Republicans taking a progressive stance on issues like polygamy and slavery.

Toga! Toga!

Chris Christie says that his inaugural ball will be toned down to match the economy.

“I don’t feel and Kim doesn’t feel comfortable with the idea of having some really fancy black tie ball given what’s going on in the state. We’ll have a dignified celebration that night. I think we need to be sensitive to the idea that there are a lot of people unemployed and that are suffering,” he said.

I'll bet he doesn't cut back on food.

Rants and raves

Proposed legislation to change the way the governor appoints U.S. senators in the event of a vacancy has drawn outrage from Chris Christie. "It's garbage. It's political lying," said Christie during a press conference."There are no niceties to be put around this. This is a political power play by the party that's losing power, and it's wrong."

At one point, a reporter tried to follow up on one of Christie's points.

"Let me finish please. I'm in the middle of a rant here," Christie joked.

I'd like to see how he rants when the Assembly moves to cut the food budget for Drumthwacket.