| | | | |  | | By Matt Friedman | | Presented by |  | | | Good Tuesday morning! Last weekend, a pro-Trump group called the America First Republicans for New Jersey said in a press release it would “move to ensure the County Line system deemed unconstitutional by a federal court is not unjustly imposed on Republican voters during the June 4, 2024 Primary election.” “The basis of our Republic is equality under the law,” podcast host Mike Crispi, co-chair of the group, said in a statement. "If a federal court can protect the rights of Democrat voters, it must protect our rights too." The press release was in response to Judge Zahid Quraishi’s clarification that his injunction against the county line in the June primary applied only to Democrats, not Republicans. That’s because Republicans didn’t challenge it. And that brought up a question I’ve occasionally thought about: Why has the fight against the line been so dominated by the left? The lawsuit that, pending appeal, has destroyed the Democratic line at least for this year, was filed by three Democratic candidates. And it built off a three-year-old lawsuit in which the plaintiffs were overwhelmingly progressive. It’s not as though Democratic county chairs are the only ones who wield the power of ballot design to their advantage. I called America First Republicans for New Jersey co-chair Michael D. Byrne, a state Senate candidate, about this. He told me that he had conversations about joining the previous lawsuit with then-New Jersey Working Families Alliance Executive Director Sue Altman, but they “just sort of dissipated after that call.” Byrne speculated that his suggestion of mobilizing some right-wing groups, including gun rights organizations, may have “scared them away.” Byrne also noted that he in 2021 sued Essex County Clerk Chirs Durkin over awarding the use of a slogan he owned to the county Republican organization. (A small group of longshot GOP candidates did seek to intervene in the line lawsuit on Kim’s side Monday.) But Altman suggested the reason for the left’s domination of this movement is because it grew out of Trump’s election in 2016, which touched off a wave of grassroots political involvement on the left in New Jersey. She called it a “historical direct line from the anti-Trump movement: Wanting to get involved in politics, wanting democracy to be better, and realizing a big part of that was abolition the line.” “This is the party that since Trump, has been denying elections, supporting Jan 6, Limiting voter rights — this is the segment of the R party that’s most energized at the moment,” Altman said. “The moderates and the reasonable people have been pushed aside. So it feels natural to me that the pro-democracy movement in NJ has been anchored by Democrats — eager to reform our own party.” TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at mfriedman@politico.com QUOTE OF THE DAY: “History tells us we need to defy the odds in the next governor's race. That after two terms [for Democrats] in power, voters will choose to send a Republican to the governor's mansion in 2025. So we need to defy history, bring people together, and move New Jersey forward. As a mother of four kids who deeply loves this state, I'm invested in that cause — to protect our democracy and the freedoms that make New Jersey and our country great.” — U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill at a Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship last week, sounding like the gubernatorial candidate she all-but-officially is. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Linda S. Carter, Ashley Bauer, Bryana De Veaux, Doug O’Malley, Dana Rubinstein, David Vitali WHERE’S MURPHY? — In Metuchen at 11 a.m. to tour the Forum Theatre with Speaker Coughlin and others to "highlight the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's Cultural Arts Incentive Program"
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KIMJUNCTION — Federal judge denies clerks in county line lawsuit, appeal goes to Third Circuit, by POLITICO’s Daniel Han: U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi on Monday denied a request from county clerks to stay his preliminary injunction that would eliminate the county line for the Democratic primary this June. The judge’s ruling does not come as a surprise, since clerks essentially asked him to block his own ruling from going into effect. County clerks appealing Quraishi’s decision have another shot to block the preliminary injunction from going into effect by asking the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals to weigh in. It is unclear when the third circuit will make a decision on the matter. “Defendants do not raise any new facts or law suggesting their appeal is likely to succeed on the merits,” Quraishi wrote in his order. “The Court declines to retread the same ground a second time.”
—“Office block voting will mean very long ballot draws” WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, PLEASE BAN THE COMMERCIALS — “New Jersey senator proposes doubling casinos’ online wager tax rates,” by New Jersey Monitor’s Nikita Biryukov: “A state senator has proposed more than doubling New Jersey’s tax rates on casino wins for online wages and online sports betting, a proposal that would add hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the state’s ledger as it faces a revenue crunch. Sen. John McKeon’s (D-Essex) bill would raise both tax rates to 30%, from 15% for online wagering and 13% for online sports betting. The revenue streams brought the state more than $414 million in 2023. The senator said New Jersey’s current tax rates in this area are ‘just not commensurate with where everybody else is, and we can use the revenues.’ … New Jersey’s early adoption of online wagering has left it with some of the lowest tax rates in the nation. Neighboring New York charges levies a 51% tax on casinos’ takings from online sports betting, and Pennsylvania imposes a 36% tax.” —“2025 guv candidates clash: ‘we might be living in alternative universes’” —“Passaic County to resume marital and civil trials after a pause of nearly a year” — “New push to recharge NJ’s fragile public health system with funding boost” —“Sexual assault victims will get info about DNA evidence under plan to expand N.J. law” —“Proposed budget cut puts Hispanic Women’s Resource Centers at risk”
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SHORT CIRCUIT — “My mother was just confirmed as a Circuit Judge. It’s wrong that Adeel Mangi may not be,” by Mattan Berner-Kadish for The Star-Ledger: “My mother recently finished her first week as judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. … I am unable, however, to fully celebrate her success. Why? In real time – I am watching another deserving nominee and his family be prevented from feeling the same joy. What is happening to Adeel Mangi, who was nominated by President Biden to be a Circuit Court of Appeals Judge on the Third Circuit, is a travesty, and when compared to my mother’s process, puts in stark relief how incredible this nation can be, and how incredibly cruel it can be as well. … While Adeel and my mother shared a date in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, they took separate paths. They told different stories of America, were born in different places, practiced different faiths. Yet, both the American-Israeli Jew and the American-Pakistani Muslim have been considered deserving of the tremendous responsibility that comes with having been nominated to U.S. Circuit Court Judge positions. In today’s political climate, it was not hard to see the meaning and power behind that statement.”
—Moran: “Will Christie vote for Biden? Logic demands it” —“Bashaw mounted failed effort to push Serrano Glassner out of Senate race”
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INVESTIGATORS WANT TO KNOW: DID HE DO THAT? — “Atlantic City Mayor Small says search warrants about a ‘family matter’,” by The Press of Atlantic City’s “Thursday's execution of five search warrants on his home and vehicles last week were part of a investigation into a ‘family matter’ being addressing through counseling, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said in a press conference Monday morning. Small spoke from City Council chambers with his wife La'Quetta — the superintendent of city schools — and teenage daughter and son by his side. For the first time Small made it clear the search of the Small's home and the charge of failing to report child abuse against Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days Chapman are related. Small called Days Chapman a ‘dear family friend ... as close as a family member,’ and said there will be no wedge driven between them. … Small declined to discuss specifics of that family situation, but after his family left the room he addressed rumors that have been circulating. ‘Let me confirm an undisputed fact. My daughter is not pregnant, my daughter has never been pregnant,’ the mayor said.”
OUT OF COMPTROLL — “Hudson County defies state comptroller’s order, approves $13.5 million contract for jail medical services,” by The Jersey Journal’s Ron Zeitlinger: “Hudson County defied an order from the state comptroller’s office and has approved a $13.5 million one-year contract for medical services at the county jail. The Office of the State Comptroller issued a report last week that directed county officials to not move forward with a proposed contract with Wellpath. … stating that the contracts had been illegally awarded. The county’s attorneys disagree, saying the county awarded the contract under the professional services exception. The state contends the contract must be put out for bid. ‘Our legal team holds that the contract is legal, and that if the state wants to, (we’ll) definitely accept a judiciary ruling on it,’ Hudson County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tony Romano said after the board voted 8-0-1 to approve the contract at Thursday’s meeting. District 2 Commissioner Bill O’Dea abstained. … The county commissoners’ chairman says he isn’t concerned about sanctions related to rejecting the comptroller’s office’s directive. ‘It’s never been done before,’ Romano said regarding any disciplinary action.’”
| | | | Access New York bill updates and Congressional activity in areas that matter to you, and use our exclusive insights to see what’s on the Albany agenda. Learn more. | | | | | SBF 250 — “Bhalla hits Rep. Menendez over $250k ad buy from SBF PAC, Menendez returns fire,” by Hudson County View’s John Heinis: “Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla hit U.S. Rep Rob Menendez over a $250,000 ad buy from a super PAC run by Samuel Bankman-Fried in 2022, with the incumbent returning fire over a 2009 case where Bhalla represented a woman who admitted to a $15 million Ponzi scheme. … ‘This was a blatant attempt to influence his father Senator Bob Menendez’s actions on the Senate Banking Committee and Rob Menendez Jr. was happy to reap the benefits and say nothing,”’Ravi Bhalla … spokesman Rob Horowitz said in a statement. … Menendez appeared eager to counter punch, calling his June 4th primary opponent desperate before pointing out when he represented Marcia Sladich, a Clifton woman who pleaded guilty to a running an elaborate Ponzi scheme on July 30th, 2009. ‘Here’s another example of Desperate Ravi grasping at straws.’” STRIFE OF BRIAN — “3 Union City officials file ‘citizen complaints’ against YouTuber, who files one back,” by Hudson County View’s John Heinis: “State Senator (D-33)/Mayor Brian Stack and Department of Public Works Commissioner Wendy Grullon have accused Leonard Filipowski, better known as Leroy Truth, of harassment with a communication in a manner to cause alarm and simple assault/scuffle by consent, respectively, sources familiar with the situation told HCV. Both have court dates in Union City Municipal Court scheduled for April 17th, while Police Chief Anthony Facchini and Filipowski have cross complaints alleging harassment against each other tentatively set to be heard tomorrow, but that date is not expected to hold. … In video initially posted to Facebook by a third party, Filipowski is shown walking into Union City First, a Stack-run non-profit organization with an office across the street from City Hall, asking for a flyer before he is confronted and pushed out of the front door by a handful of people. Grullon was knocked down along with way and was taken away in an ambulance as a result of the March 9th incident. Filipowski said he didn’t believe she was seriously injured, if at all.” —“Paterson’s Michael Jackson hit with defamation lawsuit over ‘slumlord’ claims” —“Police bodycam footage of Spotswood mayor turned over to lawyers in court battle” —“Passaic OKs accessory dwelling units to add to its affordable housing stock” —“After years of dissatisfaction with state medical examiner’s office, Hudson gladly turns to Bergen County” —“Charges dismissed against Ocean City wind energy protesters”
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SCARLET FEVER KNIGHTS — Rutgers drops Covid vaccine requirement, by POLITICO’s Daniel Han: Rutgers University is dropping its Covid-19 vaccine requirement for students and employees. The decision was announced to Rutgers students and staff Monday and went into effect as of April 1. Previously, people who were subject to the requirement were able to get exemptions on religious and health grounds. … The requirement was the subject of GOP criticism — state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon said the university should face funding cuts over the requirement — and unsuccessful litigation.
—“11 Rutgers employees will earn at least $1M in 2024. Here’s the list” SCHOOL OF CONSERVATION HAS TROUBLE CONSERVING ITSELF — ”Beloved N.J. school will shut down all classes if huge budget cut is approved, leaders say,” by NJ Advance Media’s Tina Kelley: “The New Jersey School of Conservation has been on a roller coaster for the past four years. Montclair State University — which had run the beloved environmental school in Stokes State Forest since 1981 — withdrew its support during the pandemic, causing the conservation school to close for almost a year. Then, the Sussex County school was resurrected by a nonprofit group in 2021, but it faced millions of dollars in dam repair costs to preserve its lake. Now, after requesting $3 million from the state to fix long-neglected maintenance issues, New Jersey School of Conservation is instead facing a 60% cut under Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed budget that would shut down its educational programs, its leader said. Kerry Kirk Pflugh, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the New Jersey School of Conservation, said the proposed state budget contribution of $800,000 for the upcoming fiscal year would leave the school with only a skeleton crew to keep the buildings from falling down. ‘We wouldn’t have the personnel to operate education programs,’ she said.” YESTERDAY’S BEST NJ APRIL FOOL’S JOKE — ”Teaching New Jersey drivers to pump their own gas,” by Brian Donohue SECOND-BEST NJ APRIL FOOL’S JOKE — @NJGov: “Effective immediately, “Woke Up This Morning” (the Sopranos theme song) by A3 will follow the Pledge of Allegiance in all New Jersey public schools. We will not be answering any questions at this time.” —“FIFA World Cup 2026: Work begins to widen playing surface at MetLife Stadium” —“On the street: NJ group spends time with homeless people to build trust, provide aid’ —“Bruce Springsteen epic appearance on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' was 'Spinal Tap' brilliant” —“Big solar eclipse parties coming to N.J. schools preparing kids to witness history”
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