Moe Lane

Cory Booker makes it official: he’s running for NJ-SEN (special): he announced it today.  Here’s the thing, though: so is Rep. Frank Pallone.  For that matter, so is Rep. Rush Holt, but Holt’s brand of progressive is probably not envelopes-of-cash-under-the-table enough for the Democratic Senate primary.  In other words: this is a two-man show, and Frank Pallone is going to startle a lot of people outside of New Jersey by not folding like a cheap suit.  Pallone has been hungry for a Senate seat for the last decade, and absent a sudden resignation by Bob Menendez this is pretty much going to be the man’s best shot. And… well, I do not want to libel the man or anything, given that I used to live in his district; so let us just say that the Congressman may have a somewhat jaundiced view of the mayor of Newark presuming to switch jobs before Newark is fixed.  Or even stabilized. (more…)

DO NOT WANT.

Tanker truck carrying 6,000 gallons of Scotch overturns, catches fire on New Jersey road

Commuters traveling this week on the Garden State Parkway may find themselves saying “l’chaim” as they drive past Woodbrige.

If there’s a fragrance of whiskey mixed with diesel fuel in the air, that’s because a tanker truck filled with 6,000 gallons of Scotch overturned on Tuesday, spilled its load and then caught fire on King Georges Road in the Fords section.

Oh, God. The humanity. The humanity.

…but you should probably take the argument seriously.

Don’t agree with all of this, but @SeanTrende makes the case for why Christie’s Senate move was shrewd http://t.co/XRqAvbynwW

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) June 5, 2013

One thing that Sean said rings particularly true: “The battlefield of presidential politics is littered with the bones of politicians who started thinking about Iowa before tending to their own re-election efforts.” I should also note that a lot of people – including me, some days – are simply assuming that Cory Booker’s social media-friendly persona will beat out Frank Pallone’s I-buried-the-bodies-so-of-course-I-know-where-they-are machine politics methodology in a primary.  If that does not happen, then the odds of a GOP upset go a little bit higher; after all, it then becomes an off-year, off-date special election where the Old White Guy beat out that nice Mayor who gets along so well with Governor Christie.  Every little bit helps.

Again, you are not required to agree with any of this.

Moe Lane

He apparently has passed “due to complications from viral pneumonia.” He was 89 years old, and the last remaining World War II veteran in the Senate.

Our condolences to his family and loved ones.

RT @seanagnew: RIP, Technician Fifth Grade, Frank Lautenberg. 3185th Signal Service Battalion

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 3, 2013

Moe Lane (crosspost)

I was going to write something about Lincoln Chafee’s Hail Mary conversion to Democrat, prior to the 2014 RI gubernatorial election, but this passage about something entirely different made me chuckle too much:

Psst! – Barack Obama, there IS a Democrat running for Governor in New Jersey, as Shush Walshe reports:  While President Obama played arcade games Tuesday with Gov. Chris Christie at the New Jersey shore, there was no sign of the Democrat who’s challenging Christie for governor. Instead, state Sen. Barbara Buono was reduced to tweeting, “@BuonoForNJGov It was great to meet with @BarackObama today as we cheer the shore’s re-opening: a testament to all we accomplish when we work together. -BB” http://abcn.ws/174ZTbM (Shushannah Walshe)

(more…)

Well, well, well: hi, Bob.

Sen. Robert Menendez contacted the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to delay a proposed merger opposed by one of his biggest campaign contributors, according to a letter obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Menendez and two House colleagues urged then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in September 2002 to postpone any decision “until a complete review of the merger can be done,” according to the letter.  It followed an identical letter sent to  Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, which Bloomberg reported on here.

Menendez, then a U.S. representative, was aligned with Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. in objecting to a merger between Univision Communications Inc. and Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. At the time, Menendez owned from $1,000 to $15,000 in SBS stock.

(more…)

Ain’t Chris Matthews the total ass, Ms. Buono?

Barbara Buono, known more widely as the woman Democrats put forward to run against Chris Christie after Cory Booker took a pass, is asked her first question early, before the cameras go live and the set falls silent for the countdown to air. The state senator is in Hardball‘s Washington studio for a national television interview — her third-ever — and a rare chance to get her name on the screen and into the living rooms of Chris Matthews’ tens of thousands of MSNBC viewers.

But first — before any talk about New Jersey, where Buono has experience two-decades-deep in the state legislature — a query from the cable news vet, as she later recalled it:

“Can I say you’re attractive?” Matthews asks.

“No, you can’t,” Buono remembers responding.

She slogged to Washington for this?

(more…)

I do not see how this could possibly end badly for the …can we call him ‘embattled,’ yet?  Yes,  let’s! …embattled New Jersey Democrat*.

A federal grand jury in Miami is investigating Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), examining his role in advocating for the business interests of a wealthy donor and friend, according to three people aware of the probe.

Menendez has intervened in matters affecting the financial interests of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, seeking to apply pressure on the Dominican government to honor a contract with Melgen’s port security company, documents and interviews show. Also, Menendez’s office has acknowledged he interceded with federal health-care officials after they said that Melgen had overbilled the U.S. government for care at his clinic.

Melgen has provided Menendez with plane flights and hospitality at his Dominican vacation home, say people acquainted with their relationship.

(more…)

It’s hard out there for a New Jersey Democrat:

East Brunswick Mayor Dave Stahl will head to the Colonial Diner (located at 560 Route 18 N) [Tuesday] morning at 10:30 a.m. and announce his intention to (1) endorse Chris Christie AND (2) switch parties (3) AND run as a GOP candidate for State Senate this fall. That’s Buono’s seat.

‘Buono’ being ‘Christine [Barbara*] Buono,’ who Chris Christie is currently beating in a head-to-head poll 58/22; Christie is currently getting the support of 1/3 of NJ Democrats, including (the last time I checked) my mom.  I’m mentioning that last bit because my mom (who I dearly love) is practically a Trotskyite; if this keeps up then I may not even bother to declare DOOM.  It’d be… cruel.  I never did that to Alvin Greene or Tara Hollis, after all. (more…)

He’s so totally announcing the end of something, here.

“I am not announcing the end of anything. I am announcing the beginning of a two-year mission to pass new gun safety laws, protect children from toxic chemicals and create more opportunities for working families in New Jersey,” Lautenberg told The Star-Ledger. “While I may not be seeking re-election, there is plenty of work to do before the end of this term and I’m going to keep fighting as hard as ever for the people of New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.”

OK, now, for those following “…Booker!”Watch at home, this means that Cory Booker will still not be running for Governor in 2013, will probably be the next Senator from NJ in 2014… and will probably not be the Democratic nominee for President in 2016, although he’s now on the short wish for the VP nomination (and will be on top of it, should he win in 2014).  I know that this sounds vaguely counter-intuitive, given that Barack Obama jumped from state Senator to President in roughly five years… but then, “they let Barack Obama do X” is going to be a potent argument against whatever “X” is among the Washington Establishment, for at least the next twenty years.

Via email from Constant Reader BigGator5.

The New York Times (H/T: Hot Air Headlines) is in full waltzing-bear mode about the need to have Robert Menendez stop being Senate Foreign Relations chairman:

Senator Robert Menendez was never a distinguished choice for chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the position he ascended to this month by virtue of seniority. Concerns about that quality gap have sharply escalated amid new disclosures about Mr. Menendez’s use of his position to advance the financial interests of a friend and big donor. Instead of trying to protect Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, needs to remove his gavel, at least pending credible resolution by the Senate Ethics Committee of the swirling accusations of misconduct.

Which is to say that for what it is, it’s actually not too bad. A couple of points, though: (more…)

I can understand why Frank Lautenberg’s staff would program this into the Senator.

Frank Lautenberg said today he was sorry to see his fellow Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey, Robert Menendez, entangled in a controversy over trips he took to the Dominican Republic on the plane of a campaign contributor.

The contributor, Salomon Melgen, an eye doctor in West Palm Beach, Fla., is the subject of an FBI investigation. On Tuesday night and again Wednesday, agents searched his offices, although they have refused to disclose what they were looking for.

“If there are infractions as they are reported, it’s too bad,” Lautenberg told reporters.

After all, a suddenly-absent Robert Menendez would be most beneficial for Frank Lautenberg’s staff’s long-term employment prospects.

Via

Classic headline of the day – can you hear him snickering? “Lautenberg calls Menendez predicament ‘too bad’”nj.com/politics/index…

— Brian Walsh (@brianjameswalsh) January 31, 2013