2009 New Jersey Governor's Race

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

And, of course, papers and the networks are crediting Chris Christie as instrumental in the investigation leading to these arrests. They're part of Operation Bid Rig, a ten-year-long corruption sting.

[cinyc]

Doria hasn't been charged with anything yet, but Corzine asked for his resignation anyway.  Other places were raided today, including the office of the president of St. Peter's College.

29 of the 44 people indicted were arrested on corruption charges.  Most of the politicians arrested appear to be connected to the Hudson County Democratic Party political machine, including the mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield*, the City Council President and a deputy mayor, one current and one former assemblyman from Jersey City, and a big time Jersey city political operative.  There's at least one Republican on the list, Assemblyman Van Pelt from Ocean County.  The mayor of Hoboken has only been in office for 3 weeks. 

Corzine and Christie have each released official statements:

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*Bergen County

[Verily]

Ridgefield is not in Hudson County; it's in Bergen County.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Ridgefield is not in Hudson County; it's in Bergen County.

Yea, I noticed that too.

Verily, I don't like to assume so I must ask, are a Corzine or Christie supporter?

[Verily]

Ridgefield is not in Hudson County; it's in Bergen County.

Yea, I noticed that too.

Verily, I don't like to assume so I must ask, are a Corzine or Christie supporter?

As of now, I'm probably a Daggett supporter. But I actually like Corzine, and I don't really understand why he's so unpopular (other than general anger at the establishment, of course, anger I share but don't direct at Corzine).

[Rowan]

Corruption in NJ? I AM SHOCKED. SHOCKED I TELL YA.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Ridgefield is not in Hudson County; it's in Bergen County.

Yea, I noticed that too.

Verily, I don't like to assume so I must ask, are a Corzine or Christie supporter?

As of now, I'm probably a Daggett supporter. But I actually like Corzine, and I don't really understand why he's so unpopular (other than general anger at the establishment, of course, anger I share but don't direct at Corzine).

As much as I hate Corzine, I do agree with you that a lot of anger is misplaced his way.  I also laugh at how corrupt some of these people are that he isn't that corrupt

[cinyc]

Ridgefield is not in Hudson County; it's in Bergen County.

You are correct - I've edited the post.  I've also re-checked which Ocean Township Van Pelt is from - he's from the one in Ocean County, not Monmouth.

[Verily]

Ridgefield is not in Hudson County; it's in Bergen County.

You are correct.  And Ocean Township is in Monmouth County, so Assemblyman Van Pelt is from Monmouth County, not Ocean.  It's near Deal, where the "cooperating witness" lived and two of the indicted rabbis were based.

Wrong Ocean Township

Van Pelt's district (AD 9) consists of central and southern Ocean County plus the extreme southeast of Burlington County and the extreme northwest of Atlantic County.

[cinyc]

Ridgefield is not in Hudson County; it's in Bergen County.

You are correct.  And Ocean Township is in Monmouth County, so Assemblyman Van Pelt is from Monmouth County, not Ocean.  It's near Deal, where the "cooperating witness" lived and two of the indicted rabbis were based.

Wrong Ocean Township

Van Pelt's district (AD 9) consists of central and southern Ocean County plus the extreme southeast of Burlington County and the extreme northwest of Atlantic County.

Yup - I was double checking that as you posted that.  The one in Monmouth made more sense given who else was indicted.

[Keystone Phil]

Christie's mother is Italian, his father is Irish. 

I know.

Looks like the Corzine pick for LG will be the relatively uncontroversial State Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex). The official announce will come on Saturday.

Italian\Italian ticket vs. Dutch\Italian ticket

I know which side I'm rooting on. 

Christie and Guadagno are Irish.

...and also Italian.

[East Coast Republican]

I wonder what this will do to Corzine's numbers.

Hey, Phillip!  Saw you had my post deleted a couple of pages back.  Real smooth.  Why don't you deal with criticism instead of being a big poopy faced complainer to administrators.

[Keystone Phil]

Why don't you deal with criticism instead of being a big poopy faced complainer to administrators.

Mature

[Rowan]

Corzine picks Weinberg.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/corzine_picks_sen_loretta_wein.html

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Flip-to-the-mothafuckin-flop.

I wonder if Christie wins Middlesex now.

[Ronnie]

hahaha

[JohnnyLongtorso]

So, how about Cory Booker '13?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

So, how about Cory Booker '13?

He was smart enough to tell Corzine "no," but then again, that's a pretty big club. Even the mayor of East Orange said no. Sinking ships ain't popular.

[Verily]

Corzine picks Weinberg.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/corzine_picks_sen_loretta_wein.html

I'm now voting for Corzine. So at least he has that going for him. I'm pretty unabashed in my idolization of Loretta Weinberg.

[Ronnie]

Corzine picks Weinberg.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/corzine_picks_sen_loretta_wein.html

I'm now voting for Corzine. So at least he has that going for him. I'm pretty unabashed in my idolization of Loretta Weinberg.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were the only person in the state whose vote has changed because of this.

[Verily]

Corzine picks Weinberg.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/corzine_picks_sen_loretta_wein.html

I'm now voting for Corzine. So at least he has that going for him. I'm pretty unabashed in my idolization of Loretta Weinberg.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were the only person in the state whose vote has changed because of this.

You should be supporting the best politician in the whole goddamned country for Lt. Gov. of New Jersey, too

Unfortunately, this means I actually care about this race now even though my candidate will probably lose.

[Ronnie]

Corzine picks Weinberg.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/corzine_picks_sen_loretta_wein.html

I'm now voting for Corzine. So at least he has that going for him. I'm pretty unabashed in my idolization of Loretta Weinberg.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were the only person in the state whose vote has changed because of this.

You should be supporting the best politician in the whole goddamned country for Lt. Gov. of New Jersey, too

What's so special about her?  I would really like to know.

[Verily]

Corzine picks Weinberg.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/corzine_picks_sen_loretta_wein.html

I'm now voting for Corzine. So at least he has that going for him. I'm pretty unabashed in my idolization of Loretta Weinberg.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were the only person in the state whose vote has changed because of this.

You should be supporting the best politician in the whole goddamned country for Lt. Gov. of New Jersey, too

What's so special about her?  I would really like to know.

She's been an incredible.. well, force of nature would be a good description... for anti-machine politics in Bergen County for the past couple of decades. She has absolutely no fear about standing up to the party bosses, about exposing corruption and behind-closed-doors dealings, about calling out people like Rep. Rothman when they try to look the other way. She's sponsored candidates running against the machine consistently, and many of those candidates have won. She's the sole reason that we have such a strong anti-establishment political grouping in central Bergen. (Well, not to belittle the other contributors, but Weinberg really muscles people like Valerie Huttle, Gordon Johnson, and local politicians into doing the right thing, and it's her advocacy for them that makes a lot of local anti-machine revolutions in Democratic primaries successful.)

She has been the singular voice for reform of New Jersey's party primaries in the Assembly and then in the Senate, and has pushed for extremely stringent anti-corruption, anti-influence peddling legislation at the state level all on her own for her entire career. There is not a single politician in NJ who has done more to fight everything that is wrong with New Jersey's political system than Loretta Weinberg.

She's also been a powerful voice for things like cleaning up and restoring the Meadowlands, fixing the property tax system by unifying municipalities, same-sex marriage, and pretty much every other piece of legislation I care about at the state level. That helps.

Disclaimer: She is my state Senator.

[FloridaRepublican]

Go Christie!

[Rowan]

She's ancient.