| | | | |  | | By Matt Friedman | Welp, Chris Christie didn’t make it to the New Hampshire primary. Or even Iowa. The former governor dropped his second presidential bid Thursday evening. “I would rather lose by telling the truth than lie in order to win,” Christie said in New Hampshire. “It’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign tonight.” I’m sure I’m not the first person to call this bid quixotic. Trump is still popular in the Republican Party. Christie is deeply unpopular with, well, pretty much everyone except cable news bookers. It never seemed realistic that a sudden political sea change would usher in a new era for a politician whose favorable ratings are deep underwater in poll after poll of Republican voters. Still, I’ve heard people call Christie a lot of things over the years, but never dumb. He’s smart and politically-astute. So he must’ve known that his chances of winning the GOP nomination this environment was something around Ron DeSantis’ height without boosters. I’m sure everyone has a theory as to why Christie ran. I like a simple one: To stay relevant as an unusual Republican willing to go against Donald Trump. It’s just always strained credulity that Christie really thought differently of Trump when he was the first major mainstream elected official to endorse him eight years ago. TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at mfriedman@politico.com QUOTE OF THE DAY: “She's going to get smoked, you and I know it, she's not up to this." — Christie on a hot mic talking about Nikki Haley HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Sonny McCullough, Francisco Maldonado-Ramirez, Jeff Curley WHERE’S MURPHY? — In Little Falls at 10:15 a.m. to see the flood damage |  | WHAT TRENTON MADE | |
HE’S WORKING ON SOME NEW BITS — State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union) has an “important announcement” to make later this month. When asked by POLITICO about a run for governor he said he would expects to make an announcement “in the next couple of weeks” Bramnick declined to say exactly what he would announce although he added: “It will be an important announcement, probably around [January] 27th.” — Daniel Han
LAME DUCK— “The big plans that failed (while N.J. lawmaker raises passed) during crazy lame duck session,” by NJ Advance Media’s Brent Johnson: “It’s a usually consequential timeframe when often-controversial legislation is pushed through because some lawmakers are on their way out and others aren’t as worried about possible blowback in an upcoming election. But the joke around the Statehouse in Trenton in recent days was that this year’s lame duck was pretty much a quiet quack. Big plans to ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos and overhaul affordable housing, public records law,and liquor license regulations fell by the wayside — though the Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly did approve pay raises for themselves, the next governor, and other public officials over the objection of Republicans.” R.I.P. — “Raymond Zane, represented South Jersey in N.J. Senate for 28 years, dies at 84,” by New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein: “Raymond J. Zane, who served in the New Jersey State Senate for 28 years as a maverick before switching parties and losing to Democrat Steve Sweeney, died Monday. He was 84. Zane was a 34-year-old Democratic freeholder from Gloucester County when he won the third legislative Senate seat under bizarre circumstances: the Republican incumbent had been convicted of planting drugs in the home of a Democratic assemblyman but had refused to get off the ballot. For much of his political career, he was the most conservative member of the Democratic caucus but remained an exceptionally strong vote-getter in his Gloucester-Salem district. His tenure ended in 2001 after he had fallen out of favor with Democratic party leaders. Rather than fight Sweeney in a Democratic primary, he became a Republican and sought a ninth term in the Senate.” OK, BUT WHAT ABOUT STATE LAWMAKERS? — “We should be paying important people more money,” by The Trentonian’s Jeff Edelstein: “There’s a bill that passed in the New Jersey legislature that would give its members a hefty pay raise, from $49,000 a year to $82,000 a year. It awaits the Governor’s signature. It’s not enough. Yes, that’s right. I sit here before you today and say we should pay our legislators more money. In fact, I’d pay them enough so that they don’t even need to take another job … By the way, I think there’s a few other professions that we should be paying more. Teachers, for instance. They should be making a ton more. Let’s throw social workers into the mix while we’re here … And this isn’t some crybaby lefty socialist viewpoint — this notion of mine is borne of pure greed and capitalism.” —“Lagana will chair Senate Labor Committee” —“Cryan is new Senate Higher Education Committee chairman” —“N.J. weather: Latest flood maps show some rivers still rising, posing major flooding threat” | | BIDEN TIME | |
OLD MCDONNELL DID SOME HARM — Menendez adds lawyer with corruption success at Supreme Court to legal team, seeks dismissal of charges, by POLITICO’s Dustin Racioppi: Indicted New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez has brought Yaakov Roth onto his legal team, adding a young but highly accomplished attorney who has successfully argued some of the country’s biggest corruption cases before the Supreme Court. The addition of Roth, disclosed in court papers Tuesday, seems to reinforce the Democratic senator’s forceful denunciations of the criminal charges against him as a prosecutorial “hunting.” Roth, a partner at Jones Day, represented former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in his bribery case and argued on behalf of “Bridgegate” defendant Bridget Kelly and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco at the Supreme Court — which overturned all three convictions. On Wednesday, Menendez’s lawyers also asked a federal judge to dismiss the charges, saying in court papers that prosecutors portray routine legislative activity as made-for-tabloids corruption or entirely unrelated to his elected office. The attorneys cited the McDonnell case, which narrowed the definition of corruption and was later used in the Bridgegate appeal.
—“Menendez case puts focus on foreign-agents law,” by NJ Spotlight News’ Benjamin J. Hulac: “In the 86 years since Congress established a law to track foreign agents and propaganda efforts within American borders, no sitting member of Congress had been charged with working as an asset for another country. That changed in September with the indictment by officials in the Southern District of New York of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who is accused of working for years to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar by trading sensitive information and using his position of power in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. … ‘It really is a first, and it’s pretty astonishing,’ Joshua Rosenstein, an attorney. … whose work includes foreign-lobbying compliance, said he could not recall another case against an elected official in office ‘that so clearly set out a pattern of acting at the behest of a foreign government, effecting change in U.S. policy.’” | | | LOCAL | | |
'DEEZ NUTS’ TO WIN EVERY NEWARK SCHOOL BOARD SEAT WITH WRITE-IN VOTES — “N.J.’s largest city lowers voting age to 16 in school elections,” by NJ Advance Media’s Steve Strunsky: “Newark residents as young as 16 will be able to vote in the city’s annual April school elections under an ordinance adopted by the City Council on Wednesday. City officials say the council’s 9-0 vote to lower the school voting age from 18 makes Newark the first city or town in New Jersey to do so. … Just 3% of registered voters went to the polls in April to choose three school board candidates and approve the district’s $1.3 billion budget for the 2023-24 school year. Supporters of the lower voting age hope it will reverse Newark’s traditionally low voter turnout and not only in school elections. They say it will also boost turnout in the city’s May non-partisan races for mayor and council, statewide primaries and November general elections for state and federal office by putting Newark teens on a lifetime path to voting when they are most impressionable.”
SAYREVILLE BOE INSISTS IT’S THE REAL VEAL —“'Phony bologna': Sayreville's new mayor won't partner with BOE on school buses,” by MyCentralJersey’s Susan Loyer and Cheryl Makin: “Mayor Kennedy O'Brien says he has no intention of entering into a business agreement with the Board of Education over a proposed joint transportation complex. ‘I do not want to be part of this bus terminal,’ O'Brien, who returned to office last week, said. … The district is seeking a court declaration that it has "been harmed" by the borough's breach of its promises and that the district is entitled to enforce the terms of the agreement. … The mayor questioned why the school district took ownership of its busses before having an agreement on a place to park them.” ATLANTIC CITY — “Atlantic City officials plead for help stopping violence after 4 killings in one week,” by The Press of Atlantic City’s Michelle Brunetti Post: “Saying he is giving law enforcement all the tools they need, Mayor Marty Small Sr. on Wednesday addressed the four homicides in the first week of the new year in the resort by saying that preventing violence is everyone’s responsibility. ‘It’s extremely concerning. We are going to hold each other accountable,’ Small said during a news conference at City Hall, flanked by police Chief James Sarkos and members of the administration’s anti-violence and reentry services programs.” TOWN FINALLY LIVES UP TO ITS NAME — “'One of the greatest honors': Bergen County town installs its first female mayor,” by The Record’s Philip DeVencentis: “Violetta Berisha was just a baby, she said, when her immigrant parents made the uncertain voyage in search of a better life. They landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens with a single suitcase and very little in the way of prospects. But they were in possession of some precious cargo: Berisha, then 3 months old, and her brother. Berisha, recently installed as the first female mayor in the 129-year history of Fairview, said she owes much of her success to her parents. Her father died in February 2006.’” —“A loud ‘clunk’ and ‘flaming fireballs’ from a Jeep. Witnesses recount start of fatal Port Newark fire” —“Middlesex Borough sued over firehouse sexual assault 40 years ago” —“A vindicated Kugler will make second bid for Bergen sheriff” —“Plainfield's new council president emphasizes city's need for more affordable housing” —“Flooding in Burlington County damages homes and leaves riverside residents wading in the mud” —“Ocean City to revisit Boardwalk busker rules” R.I.P. — “Ellen E. Benson, longtime Lawnside postmaster, local historian, and celebrated church leader, has died at 88” | | EVERYTHING ELSE | |
DICK CODEY LEARNED TO SWIM THERE — “Why is flooding always so bad in North Jersey? The area was a prehistoric lake,” by The Record’s Scott Fallon: “Though a torrential downpour and 70 years of unfettered suburban development are to blame for the flooding that inundated Passaic River communities this past weekend, the problems can be traced further back. Way back. The Passaic River Basin was a massive lake that formed 25,000 years ago after a glacier that covered a large portion of of North Jersey retreated, leaving debris that blocked gaps in the Watchung Mountains. … The lake eventually drained through a rock formation in Little Falls, now called Great Notch, helping to form the modern-day Passaic River. But Great Notch has an elevation that is 110 feet higher than the basin's previous drainage point near Short Hills, which became blocked when the Wisconsin Glacier retreated north. It caused the Passaic River to flow out of the basin much more slowly, allowing for a greater risk of flooding, which lasts to this day, Stanford said Tuesday.”
—“'Entire neighborhood on edge': North Jersey residents face more hardships from flooding” YOU WOKE UP THIS MORNING, READ YOURSELF SOME PUNS — “Then and now: Revisiting the Sopranos’ New Jersey 25 years later,” by The New York Times’ Anna Kodé: “As much as it was a show about Italian American mobsters, ‘The Sopranos’ was a show about New Jersey. From scenes of domestic life in a North Caldwell McMansion to after-hours debauchery at a strip club in Lodi, the show captured a snapshot of the Garden State in the late 1990s and 2000s, beguiling viewers with its regional authenticity. ‘The reality factor for ‘Sopranos’ is what’s so important and so effective,’ said Mark Kamine, the show’s location manager and author of the upcoming memoir ‘On Locations,’ which details his time working on the show. ‘If you’re shooting suburban houses, you can go to Long Island, you can go to Westchester.’ But David Chase, the show’s creator, was insistent that his Jersey characters were depicted in the real Jersey. ‘I just didn’t think there was any other way,’ Mr. Chase, 78, said in an interview.” OOPS — “Manalapan funeral home that buried Lakewood woman in wrong cemetery fights lawsuit,” by The Asbury Park Press’ Kathleen Hopkins: “As about 60 of Janet Kay's loved ones gathered at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Marlboro for the 82-year-old Lakewood woman's burial in October 2020, it became apparent something was terribly wrong. First, there was a prolonged delay. Then, the funeral director started asking the 85-year-old widower questions that indicated the body of his late wife had been lost. It turned out the woman about to be buried in Kay's grave was not Kay, but was wearing Kay's clothing, jewelry and wedding ring. … Kay had been buried two days earlier in the wrong cemetery, wearing another woman's clothes, jewelry and wedding ring, next to a man she did not know. … Now, the funeral home that botched the arrangements, Manalapan-based Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels, is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the deceased's widower.”’ STAR CHILD —“George Clinton of P-Funk getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. How to watch,” by The Asbury Park Press’ Chris Jordan: “The Hollywood Walk of Fame is going to get a whole lot funkier. George Clinton, who founded Parliament-Funkadelic in a Plainfield barbershop, is getting his star on the famous Los Angeles strip on Friday, Jan 19.” —“AT&T paid a woman less than a man for similar job, state says” —“Sign of the times: MikeWorldWide moving its HQ to Hasbrouck Heights” —“Company owner will pay $13M to settle healthcare kickback scheme allegations, feds say”
| | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
