Also charged were Dana Redd, a former mayor of Camden, and William Tambussi, counsel to the Camden County Democratic Committee—in addition to an executive of a property-development firm, and the CEO of a   trucking company. In a scene worthy of "The Sopranos," Mr. Norcross, the back-room godfather of New Jersey Democratic politics, showed   up uninvited to sit in the front row and stared Mr. Platkin down as he announced the charges. Paulie Walnuts couldn't have put in a better showing.  Mr. Norcross, Mr. Tambussi and Ms. Redd have denied the charges.
 

 The press conference took place the day before jurors reconvened in the federal corruption trial against Sen. Bob Menendez, charged with bribery and   extortion as part of an alleged scheme to benefit businessmen and a foreign   government. The prosecution has called more than a dozen witnesses, including   an FBI agent who testified to gold ingots found in the Menendez residence (which were shown to the jury), as well as a businessman (also in the   trucking industry) who said he worked with others to bribe Mr. Menendez by   giving the senator's wife a Mercedes-Benz.
 

 Corruption is an old story in New Jersey, and it has historically been bipartisan. Yet the meltdown of the state's Democratic machine comes at a moment when that party is working to make Mr. Trump's conviction a central feature of the presidential election, and as voters grow more bitter over dysfunction-as-usual and shift party lines.
 

 That confluence, combined with Democratic infighting in the wake of the indictments,   leads to the not-impossible prospect that New Jersey will be in play this   fall. Mr. Menendez has yet to mount his defense, and he beat the rap in an   earlier corruption trial, in 2017, which ended in a hung jury and charges   weren't refiled. Democrats abandoned him after the new charges, and the   senator initially bowed to calls to step aside as chairman of the Foreign   Relations Committee and not run in the Democratic primary. But in June he   filed to run as an independent, putting him on the ballot alongside Democratic nominee Rep. Andy Kim, and opening the possibility of a split   liberal vote. 

Mr. Bashaw, a   self-made hotel entrepreneur who is pro-choice and openly gay, is running an   optimistic campaign focused on economic revival and opportunity...

Republicans got   a boost last month when primary voters chose businessman Curtis Bashaw over a   more Trump-aligned—and Trump-endorsed—candidate in a blue state. Mr. Bashaw,   a self-made hotel entrepreneur who is pro-choice and openly gay, is running   an optimistic campaign focused on economic revival and opportunity, nimbly   balancing the Trump question by explaining that while he and the former   president have "different missions," "we're on the same   team." He's also seizing on the corruption question by running against   the "entrenched" Democratic "machine."
 

 New Jersey hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, and Mr. Kim   would be a heavy favorite in a head-to-head race with Mr. Bashaw. At the same   time, New Jerseyites are showing signs of discontent with a one-party   monopoly. Republican Jack Ciattarelli nearly unseated Gov. Phil Murphy in   2021 and recently filed for a second run next year. Republicans flipped a   House seat in 2022. And New Jersey Democrats have steadily lost ground in   voter registration over the past four years; unaffiliated and Republican   voters make up 60% of the state electorate. Add this: We live in wild times.
 

 Democrats understand the corruption vulnerability, which explains the initial   near-deafening silence from the New Jersey delegation in response to the   Norcross news. Sen. Cory Booker, who once compared himself to Spartacus while   moralizing against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, barely managed to muster an   observation that the indictment was "sad." Mr. Kim is attempting to   confront the liability by running on a promise to "restore integrity to   the Senate"—a line he hopes will inoculate him, but risks reminding   voters of the stink.
 

 New Jersey Republicans hope the Menendez-Norcross swamp, at the very least,   helps neutralize the Democratic claim that it is the GOP that has a   "criminal" problem. Some are even banking that voters will compare   the flimsy lawfare case against Mr. Trump over bookkeeping entries to federal   and state indictments of Jersey bribery, extortion, and racketeering—and   judge the latter to be more disqualifying when choosing between parties.   Crime is certainly on New Jerseyites' minds, but maybe not the way Democrats   hope.
 

GET TO KNOW CURTIS

Curtis Bashaw is a hotel entrepreneur, job     creator, and preservationist. He's running for United States Senate to     provide greater freedom and opportunities for all New Jerseyans.
 

   A lifelong New Jersey resident, Curtis grew up in Camden County and spent     his summers at the Jersey Shore working as a bellhop and waiting tables at     Congress Hall in Cape May. He has spent his life in the real estate and     hospitality industries, and is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cape     Resorts, a hotel company focusing on the restoration and operation of     classic American resort properties in New Jersey and New York.
 

   Throughout his career, Curtis has worked to build communities and bring     people together. He is widely recognized for leading the landmark     restorations of Congress Hall and the Virginia Hotel in Cape May, and for     launching creative programming to dramatically extend Cape May's season, a     catalyst for the economic rebirth of one of the Jersey Shore's most     beautiful communities.
 

   Curtis is a successful businessman and job creator, employing more than     1,000 people in New Jersey and New York. Curtis' company owns and operates     eight hotels, ten cottages, six restaurants, four retail outlets and a     working farm, all on the Jersey Shore and Long Island's East End. Curtis     lives in Cape May with his husband, Will. 

Stand       with Curtis Bashaw! 

Congressman Chris Smith Endorses Mohan (R) for US Congress in NJ's 3rd Congressional District 

Congressman Chris Smith, proudly representing New Jersey's 4th District in the United States House of Representatives, endorses Dr. Rajesh Mohan as the Republican Candidate for New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District. "I am proud to endorse Dr. Rajesh Mohan's candidacy for the United States Congress."

This endorsement is a testament to the shared values of exceptional leadership, dedication, and vision for serving the people of New Jersey that both Congressman Smith and Dr. Mohan embody.

Dr. Mohan has an exemplary public service record and a steadfast commitment to addressing all Americans' pressing issues. He commends Dr. Mohan for his compassionate approach and emphasizes his unwavering dedication to putting service before self and improving the well-being of his fellow citizens.

Dr. Mohan's stance on key issues includes border security, healthcare affordability, and safeguarding vital programs like Medicare and Social Security. Dr. Mohan is committed to promoting economic growth, reducing bureaucratic hurdles, and preserving jobs in New Jersey and nationwide.

Dr. Rajesh Mohan expressed his profound gratitude for Congressman Smith's endorsement, "I am deeply honored to receive Congressman Smith's endorsement and support. "I am committed to serving with diligence and integrity for all New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District residents."

Quraishi agrees with Kim that county lines represent irreparable harm to candidates

By Joey Fox, March 29 2024 12:06 pm

New Jersey Globe

In a monumental decision released today, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi struck down the county organizational line, the ballot design system that forms the core of New Jersey political power, in this year’s elections.

The suit against the line had been filed by Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), who is running for U.S. Senate, and two congressional candidates, Sarah Schoengood and Carolyn Rush. They argued that the line, which groups party-endorsed candidates together on primary ballots, represents irreparable harm to their campaigns, necessitating a preliminary injunction to eliminate it.

Quraishi’s decision agrees with them in no uncertain terms.

“The integrity of the democratic process for a primary election is at stake and the remedy Plaintiffs are seeking is extraordinary,” Quraishi wrote. “Mandatory injunctive relief is reserved only for the most unusual cases. Plaintiffs’ burden on this Motion is therefore particularly heavy. Nevertheless, the Court finds, based on this record, that Plaintiffs have met their burden and that this is the rare instance when mandatory relief is warranted.”

Quraishi’s decision specifically applies to this year’s primary; while his opinion clearly points towards a belief that the overall county line system is unconstitutional, it’s still something of an open question what will happen to the line in future years. It will impact all elections on the ballot this year, from Senate to county committee, mandating an office-block ballot across the board.

The case is not over yet, though. The county clerks named as defendants in the case are likely to appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and could ask for a stay on Quraishi’s decision while the potentially lengthy appeals process plays out.

“With ballots required to be printed in one week and voting starting in 20 days, many county clerks have significant concerns about the feasibility of compliance with the Court’s order,” said Jack Carbone on behalf of defense counsel. “Counsel are evaluating their options to appeal.”

But if Quraishi’s opinion stands, it would be a genuine earthquake in New Jersey politics. County political parties have long relied on the line to give their preferred candidates a substantial edge and scare off any potential challengers; without it, they will have to radically adjust their methods for promoting candidates and winning elections.

The effects could be felt in many of this year’s races. Even though the filing deadline has already passed, preventing any new candidates from entering this June’s primary contests, there are a number of races where multiple credible candidates have filed – and today’s decision gives those running without party support a significantly greater shot at victory.

In his 49-page decision, Quraishi steadily works through the arguments put forth by both the plaintiffs and the defendants, finding in virtually every case that the plaintiffs had the evidence squarely on their side.

The chief arguments put forward by Kim, Schoengood, and Rush were that the county line gives an unfair advantage to certain candidates, interferes with their First Amendment rights to free association, and violates the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which limits the ability of states to influence elections for federal offices. Quraishi largely agreed with the plaintiffs on each point.

“Plaintiffs’ evidence is sufficient to make their showing of a likelihood they will succeed in establishing that the Bracketing Structure and ballot placement is improperly influencing primary election outcomes by virtue of the layout on the primary ballots,” Quraishi wrote.

Their reasoning holds true, Quraishi said, even though First Lady Tammy Murphy has ended her campaign for Senate. (Murphy had been set to run on the county line in many counties across the state, but when she withdrew from the race, most of those lines went to Kim instead, which the defendants argued nullified much of Kim’s argument.)

“Defendants’ arguments that the changed political landscape has eliminated Kim’s associational harm is specious at best,” Quraishi wrote. “The Court reiterates that Kim’s harms are not alleviated because his main opponent withdrew from the election. Kim’s harms, like Schoengood and Rush’s, are real and immediate whether or not they are on the county line or not.”

As for the clerks’ complaints that Kim filed the lawsuit too late in the cycle – and that preparing entirely new primary ballots in time for the June 4 election represents an undue burden – Quraishi dismissed them wholesale, saying that the defendants failed to prove that the harm of preparing new ballots outweighed the harm the continuation of the current system.

“The Court finds that the harm Plaintiffs would suffer absent an injunction well exceeds the harm that Defendants would suffer should the Court grant the injunction,” Quraishi wrote. “Plaintiffs have put forth credible evidence not only that their constitutional rights are violated by the present ballot design used in New Jersey, which is used in no other state in the country … but that Defendants would suffer minimal harm in implementing the ballot design requested by Plaintiffs.”

Kim himself did not need a victory in today’s ruling to win his race for Senate; without Murphy in the race, he was the frontrunner regardless of whether the lines stayed in place or not. But in a statement, he said he was nonetheless thrilled with Quraishi’s decision.

“Today’s decision is a victory for a fairer, more democratic politics in New Jersey,” he said. “It’s a victory built from the incredible grassroots work of activists across our state who saw an undemocratic system marginalizing the voices of voters, and worked tirelessly to fix it.”

This story was substantially updated at 12:52 p.m. with more information, and updated again at 2:33 p.m. with a statement from Carbone.

By Jim Hᴏft Feb. 21, 2024 8:30 am197 Comments 

Ten residents of Mercer County, New Jersey, have taken their grievances to the Superior Court, alleging severe voter disenfranchisement due to a series of errors linked to Dominion Voting Systems and the handling of the 2022 and 2023 elections.

On February 14th, the group lodged a hefty 360-page complaint, laden with evidence, detailing the systematic failures that stripped them of their fundamental voting rights.

The complaint, accessible at Wefer Law Offices, exposes the extent of the mishaps that occurred during the recent elections.

The lawsuit highlights that in 2022, a crucial technical error by Dominion Voting Systems rendered all tabulators inoperable when they failed to update ballot IDs after the County made changes to the ballot layout. This significant oversight was initially kept from the public by County officials and only surfaced following public insistence on an explanatory hearing.

 The complaint paints a chaotic scene on election day, exacerbated by subsequent egregious handling and counting of ballots. The plaintiffs argue that these actions infringed upon the civil, statutory, and constitutional rights of the voters of Mercer County, thereby invalidating the election results. 

See Full Article

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/02/exclusive-mercer-county-nj-residents-file-lawsuit-against/

ANDREW SIDAMON-ERISTOFF |FEBRUARY 1, 2024 | OPINION

 A rough comparison to New York state provides some useful insight

In a few weeks Gov. Phil Murphy will unveil his proposed budget for the next state fiscal year. Although we’ll have to wait for details, it’s reasonable to anticipate that Murphy’s 2025 budget will top his $53.1 billion proposal for 2024. Journalists and pundits will almost certainly point out that the governor has proposed yet another “record” for state spending, while some legislators and advocates will just as certainly decry the proposed budget’s “underinvestment” in critical services such as urban school aid, health care, or NJ Transit. New Jerseyans who pay attention to such matters will once again be justified in wondering what it all really means.

By any measure, $53+ billion is a huge amount of money, but huge in relation to what? For context, let’s undertake a rough comparison to our neighboring state of New York. Sneak preview: the results won’t be dispositive or particularly satisfying, but they will provide some useful insight into the financial and political dynamics of state budget making.

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll compare the two states’ budgets as proposed (not as adopted or amended) for the current fiscal year as generally reported in the press and debated in the two states’ legislatures — what I will call “headline budgets.” Purists will note that New York’s fiscal year begins on April 1 while New Jersey’s begins on July 1.

For fiscal 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed spending $227 billion while Gov. Murphy proposed spending $53.1 billion. After correcting for estimated population as of July 1, 2023 (19.57 million in New York and 9.29 million in New Jersey), New York planned to spend about $11,599 per resident while New Jersey planned to spend about $5,716. Due to rounding, all numbers are approximations and valid only for comparative purposes.

Does this imply that New Jersey is relatively frugal or, by contrast, that New York is wildly profligate? No. The two states have very different approaches to displaying budget information. Notably, New York’s headline number includes spending supported by bond proceeds, federal funds, and dedicated funds, while New Jersey’s headline budget only includes spending supported by state revenues, surplus fund balances, and a relatively small open space reserve fund.

To reach a credible apples-to-apples comparison, we’ll need to make a series of adjustments to the two states’ headline budgets.

First,  New York’s headline budget includes $14.5 billion in capital spending supported by bonds or federal funds, whereas New Jersey’s does not. Logically, a fair comparison would require either subtracting this spending from New York’s headline number or increasing New Jersey’s headline number by its anticipated spending supported by bonds or federal funds. Since New Jersey doesn’t publish a consolidated capital budget proposal as such, that number isn’t readily available, so we’ll go ahead and subtract $14.5 billion from New York’s headline number, leaving $212.5 billion, or $10,858 per resident.

Second, to achieve rough parity with New York we’ll need to gross up New Jersey’s budget by $32 billion to account for $21.8 billion in anticipated federal revenue, $6.5 billion in dedicated revenues, $0.2 billion in revolving fund revenue, and $3.5 billion in Special Transportation Fund revenue. This brings New Jersey’s adjusted number to $85.1 billion, or $9,160 per resident.

In sum, after making these adjustments and assuming that revenues and spending are more or less equal, we have a rough apples-to-apples comparison showing that New York state spends about 19% more per resident.

What’s the bottom line? No matter how you score it, New York state’s budget is bigger than New Jersey’s. Yet this state-level comparison is of limited value since it doesn’t take into account the fact that the two states apportion key functions and associated spending to different levels of government. For example, New York requires its localities to fund about 20% of the combined state and local cost of its Medicaid program; New Jersey does not require a local contribution. Conversely, unlike New York, the state of New Jersey is responsible for employer contributions to teachers’ pension plans and the burden of school employees’ post-retirement medical benefits.

For what it’s worth, we can correct for differences in the apportionment of spending by comparing combined state and local spending estimates compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. The latest available data indicates that state and local general expenditures per capita in fiscal 2021 were $15,899 in New York and $11,267 in New Jersey, about 2