WINNERS 

Sheila Oliver

An Assembly panel this week signed off on the Speaker’s bill to raise New Jersey’s minimum wage from  $7.25 to $8.50. Gov. Chris Christie also said he would be open to possibly signing the bill if he could have input.

Eric Beck

Most insiders don’t give Republicans a chance in the newly drawn 12^th Congressional District where U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) seeks re-election, but businessman Eric Beck formally locked up GOP support this week with the endorsements of Mercer County Republican Committee Chair David Fried and Co-Chair Maria Bua.

Lowell Arye

Formerly a policy advisor on family and senior services, Arye this week became the head of the Christie Administration’s newly former Division of Aging Services.

Terry Duffy

Trying to secure support for a 5^th Congressional District challenge of U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5), the Passaic County freeholder this week collected the endorsement of former Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire.

Millionaires

Gov. Chris Christie made his case this week in his budget address for a ten percent income tax cut across the board, arguing the egalitarian advantages of giving everyone relief. But the rich, as usual, have a distinct advantage. “A millionaire would get about $7,300 a year, once this cut is fully phased in after three years,” according to a Star-Ledger editorial. “A family earning $50,000 would get $80.”

LOSERS

Vincent Tabbachino

A judge sentenced the former Guttenberg councilman and police officer to 41 months in prison for attempted extortion and bribery and for laundering approximately $125,000 in funds that he believed were criminal proceeds.

Vince Giordano

When the executive director of the NJEA said “life’s not fair” in the context of ascertaining the challenges of school children, he gave Gov. Chris Christie a big opening, and Christie seized on it in his budget address Tuesday, using Giordano’s floundering rhetoric as a spring board to renew his pitch for charter schools and vouchers.

Kevin Collins

The political consultant pleaded guilty this week to arranging for deceptive “robocalls” to be made to over 12,000 voters in the June 2009 Republican Primary race for Assembly in the 40^th Legislative District, according to Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa.

5^th District Democrats

There’s no telling what kind of candidate former Giants star Harry Carson would have been, but his flirtation with a run against U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5) energized Democrats. This week he told BCDC Chairman Lou Stellato he had decided not to run.

Abbott Districts

Of the state's 31 Abbott schools, 23 will lose funding in the next school year, two will see flat funding and six will see increased funding under the provisions of Gov. Chris Christie’s 2013 Budget.

The North Bergen Department of Public Works

The state Attorney General’s Office this week served subpoenas against the NB Department of Public Works. A source told PolitickerNJ.com the subpoenas concern DPW Director Jim Wiley allegedly ordering township workers to work on his house on township time.