Saturday, July 21, 2007

A little political humor
I had to share this joke I received today.
Five surgeons were discussing who makes the best patients to operate on.
The first surgeon from NY says Accountants. When you open them up all the parts are numbered.
The second surgeon from Chicago says electricians because all the parts are color coded.
The third surgeon from Seattle says librarians are the best everything is in alphabetical order.
The fourth surgeon from LA says, I like construction workers they understand if you have a few parts left over.
The fifth surgeon from Washington DC says you are all wrong. Politicians are the best to operate on. There's no guts, no balls, no brains and no spine. Plus the head and the ass are interchangeable. LOL

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Legislative Races

As we roll through the summer the legislative races are heating up.

Monmouth Republicans running for state office are in an interesting position. While the voters might be unhappy with local republicans it also looks like there is some dissatisfaction with the ruling party in Trenton. The challenge for them is to distance themselves from the local issues and become the alternatives to dems in Trenton. Interesting note; the County Democrat website does not even mention legislative candidates.

The breakdown by district is as follows.

13th;

This district should be an easy winner.

Amy Handlin has strong reformer credentials and her running mate Sam Thompson is popular in his home county of Middlesex. Amy has not showcased her liberal tendencies and in light of events since her election her criticisms of previously popular politicians is no longer much of an issue. She is gaining in popularity in her district because she has been doing a good job.

The challenger Pat Walsh is better and has more name recognition then the typical democrat candidate. She seems savvy and intelligent. However it will not be enough in this round. While she is a 4 term Middletown Board of Ed. member, that position in that town might be a minus. Plus she has two lead weights for running mates Her Assembly running mate is Bob Brown. Who? enough said. Well not really we also need to say that he could not even get his petition right.

Senator Joe Kyrillos is a popular politician and a good fundraiser. The Democrat Leonard Inzirillo appears incompetent next to Joe. He also has had his own "filing issues"

12th;

Probably the most interesting race. First we Pit Republican Assemblywomen Jennifer Beck against Democratic Senator Ellen Karcher. Beck is a tireless and experienced campaigner. While she is not a favorite of conservatives neither is Karcher. Beck is also extremely personable. Much more so then Karcher. Plus Karcher while a savvy politician who has bucked her own party when she needs to has ticked off a fair number of Dems, especially the trial lawyers.

Declan O'Scanlon came within a whisker of beating Assemblyman Panter last go around. While Panter is another savvy politician who bucks his own party when he has to, the last election was to close to give him a pass. I think he is viewed as opportunistic and there will be a slight trend against Democrats at the state level.

Caroline Casagrande the other republican candidate is young, energetic and well connected but not well known.

Then again neither is the other Democrat candidate Amy Mallet.

I would call this district too close to call except for two things MONEY and local issues.

I have not checked elec reports but I hear the dems have a lot and we do not.

Additionally two local issues may have an impact on this race.

The first (if the insipid blog "Da Truth Squad" is to be believed) is that Caroline Casagrande is being blackened by local politics in Manalapan where she is the Township attorney.

The second issue appears to be a little complex but the short version is that Panter has introduced legislation concerning the issue of who educates children of non military families who reside on Earle Naval Base. Tinton Falls Borough Council (while Tinton Falls has a non partisan form of government I believe the current council consists of all Republicans) unanimously passed a resolution supporting Panter's legislation. It is also reported that Michael Laffey the Republican Chairman of Tinton Falls and a member of the Board of Education testified in support of the Bill. Colts Neck opposes the Bill as has Jennifer Beck. While there is no evidence that any republicans are supporting Panter , only this legislation, one has to wonder what impact this will have on the many independent voters who reside in Tinton Falls.

In a close election either one of these local issues could be a deciding factor

In this race give an edge to the Democrats but that edge could be overcome if the State party will pump substantial resources into the race or the candidates themselves can raise substantial funds. Let us hope that is the case.

11th;
I say another win for Republicans.
Assemblyman Sean Kean running for Senate is well known and well liked in his district. I hear he is supported by the teachers union as was his predecessor Joe Palia. In my opinion he needs to concentrate more on important legislation and less on fluff but in all honesty from an electability stand point it seems to be working for him. His latest legislation on tougher penalties for "illegal guns" is a good move and good legislation.

No question he is a savvy politician and well connected. The small amount of backlash he will get from Steve Coredemus partisans will have little effect.

His running mate (for Assembly) Mary Pat Angelini is a nice counterbalance to Kean. A hard worker with strong conservative credentials. She should be a strong candidate. Dave Ribble in my mind is an unknown quantity but from what I have seen is a capable speaker.

Kean's opponent Villipiano has a well known name and is a real veteran but my feeling is it's a little late for a come back and the public mood does not favor Democrats at the state level right now. He has a shot but I would not give good odds.

John P. Napolitani will run well in Asbury Park and do well with the teachers (being a teacher and living in Asbury) but that is not where the Democrats needed help. The other Democratic Assembly candidate John J. Pimat does not even show up on a google search.

For what it is worth that is my take on the legislative races.

Monday, July 16, 2007

I am disappointed.

I must be failing to write things that will generate discussion.

I know about 50 people read this blog. I can not believe that Art was the only one who had anything to say about the post on reformers.

Do I have to call people names and trash their reputations in order to get a response. I hope not because I am not going to do that.

Come on people let's step it up a notch.

How about this is their a subject out there of interest ( that somehow relates to Monmouth County) that you would like me to blog about? I am always open to suggestions.

Monday News

I have been following this superintendent story out of Middletown. This is another good story about what is wrong with this state.
From what I can gather this Witmer guy tried to get a bunch of days he was not entitled too carried over. The administrative law Judge found that to be the case but said since it is unlikely he would have succeed you can not fire him. By the way people have been convicted of criminal offenses for similar things.

So let me get this straight a school superintendent can not be fired for attempted theft. Am I missing something here?

And then you have the morons who are commenting in the article that "I can not believe that the school spent so much money suing to have the guy fired. Couldn't they just work it out internally?" Obviously they have no concept of how the system works.

If this had been private industry this guy would have been shown the door with no problem.

School administrators should be employees at will just like you and me.

Maybe one day I will write a piece on my other radical ideas to reform education.

Thursday, July 12, 2007


The Reformers

Previously I have discussed some of the mistakes the reformers have made.

So what should the reformers now do? Well first of all if we do not loose any seats this year we should acknowledge that the Chairman knows what he is doing and then shut up.
However, that scenario while it has attractive qualities to Republicans is probably unlikely.

Just for the heck of it let us assume that does not happen. The party will then be in tatters and if the reformers play there cards right they could wind up in a very influential position and rebuild the party.
To get there here is the road map they should follow.

1. ORGANIZE. That's right form an organization dedicated to working to reform the party from within. Get a name. Elect officers and have members. Do it all out in the open. If we hang at least we will all hang together.

2. Develop a platform. Have a meeting and reach a consensus on what reforms you want adopted.

3. Don't trash mouth other republicans, talk issues not personalities. OK I know some of you are saying look whose talking. Yes I have been intemperate at times in my commentary but what has it accomplished for any of us? I have seen the light (for now). Additionally it has left us open to criticism. There are exceptions to every rule. Some people seeking power are so loathsome that a light must be shined on them but in all honesty many of us have abused the exception.

4. On the other hand be careful of who you associate with. Make it clear to those who wish to ally with you must buy into your platform. They can not join you and continue there double dipping patronage job giving funny money raising ways. Also do not let the loony tunes (and we have a few, like guys who think they are dead presidents)) take control of your organization. Be careful there are those who will associate with you for the wrong reasons. Now that does not mean someone who was part of the system and was working it can not see the light. We are all capable of repentance and redemption.

5. Get on the county committee and get people who are like minded on it. I am not suggesting that you try to take over a town because you do not like the municipal chair. That will ignite a war we do not need. But every town has vacancies or people who want to retire. An occasional contested district never hurt anyone but do not over do it. There are already a fair amount of people on the committee who will follow you.

6. Finally someone or preferably some people will have to be willing to step up and take a leadership role in both the organization and ultimately (hopefully) the party. It will be a thankless aggravating and frustrating job but someone will have to do it.

This is what it will take if the Monmouth County Republican party is to be rebuilt into what it should be.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Happy Independence Day and God Bless America

Please take a moment to read the Declaration of Independence posted on

http://moremonmouthmusings.blogspot.com.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

PAY TO PLAY

I had not planned on this subject for my next pontification but it is prominent in the news of late so I will say a few words on it.

Pay to play is an obnoxious distasteful corrupt process. However, on the scale of problems with politics in NJ it is in the category of a gnat.

It hurts the people who practice it the most. here is how it works. I am an engineer or lawyer or planner who wants a job in a particular town. I give money to Joe Candidate for mayor. Usually somewhere between $500 and $2500 dollars although it could be more. Joe Candidate wins. Now two people want the job me and Bill Didnotgive. After the election I let Joe know I would like the job. Guess who gets it?

Truth is in 90 % of the cases the town will get the same services for the same price whether it hires me or Mr. Didnotgive.

I suspect most professionals will be happy to see this system go and it should go because it is wrong. I do not think advocates of reform are correct in there assumption that professional fees will go down and I doubt they have data to support that contention.

There really are bigger fish that we should be frying. Ending pay to play while a correct action diverts attention from the real corruption.

Of course it creates a problem for candidates because it makes it more difficult to raise money for campaigns. This is not really a problem on the municipal level because there are ways to run effective campaigns with less money. In fact, it will level the playing field in most instances in municipal elections.

At the state level where they are not getting jobs these professionals give to candidates to show they are good R's or D's (or in the case of some both)

It is at the county level and state level where doing away with pay to play becomes a bigger problem, because big campaigns take money. Here is where the public has to take some blame. They want to restrict how politicians raise money but most of them are unwilling pony up $10 for a candidate. In fact if citizens actually engaged in the political process politicians would not need pay to play. The public is schizo. They complain but will not take the time to learn the issues or support candidates. You politicians out there. How many times have you gone door to door only to have the door slammed in your face.

If as many people paid attention to political issues as paid attention to Paris Hilton a lot of corruption could be avoided. Don't get me wrong I am not letting corrupt politicians off the hook but...

Maybe the public is getting what they deserve?

Food for thought.