Chris Christie has declared over and over that this election should be about “state issues”, however the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has been running ads all summer long. How nice of them Republican folks from other states to render their opinions on our “state issues”. In the interest of openness and fairness, and knowing your sources, I’d thought I’d examine exactly just who these Republican Governors are, and whether or not they have the moral and ethical standing to render an opinion on who the New Jersey governor should be. Let us begin at the top, with just some of the folks who support Christie from the RGA. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, “Who Are These People?”.

Congressman Joe Wilson may be number one in South Carolina’s 2nd district, but Wednesday he clearly stepped in Number Two. If you heckle the president during a speech and you’re not a Congressman, you’ll usually be removed by Capitol Building police. However, if you are a member of the House, your behavior will only help your opponent raise money.

Recent crime reports have indicated two important trends in New Jersey: Violent crime is down; however, non-violent crime is up. Perhaps this second trend is directly attributable to the recently discovered driving record of gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie.

In the past several months since he announced his candidacy for governor, former US Attorney Chris Christie, has been mostly quiet about his governing plans. Long on rhetoric, but short on substance, one might say. ‘One’ might say---except Christie, of course, who was not saying much of anything.

Part One: Gorillas in the Missed: In the 1970s, Dian Fossey spent a great deal of time living in a habitat with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, in an effort to learn all about their way of life. She wanted to separate the truth about the mountain gorilla from the Hollywood "King Kong" myth of an aggressive, savage beast.

I was very inspired by her story, and so I decided to do the same thing. Just not with gorillas, though.

Last weekend, I spent three days of ‘peace, love and music' with that very rare animal in New Jersey, the Republican-Conservative-Libertarian (herein after referred to as the ‘RCLs'). I wanted to separate the truth about the RCLs from the national political rhetorical myth of being passionless, humorless, narrow-minded, and not-very-bright politicos. Nothing could be further from the truth. Normal 0 0 1 911 5193 43 10 6377 11.1282 0 0 0

The new fall television season is upon us. And with so many cable stations on local systems from Cape May to Bergen and back again, it’s time for New Jersey have its own network that truly reflects the Garden State.

Get ready this fall for a new station—WJRZ-TV.  Follows is a typical line-up of weeknight programming of Must-See Jersey:

Last week’s column reminded us all of those whose political influence in the Garden State has waned so greatly that if it weren’t for their pension checks, we wouldn’t know where they live. Once movers & shakers, but now just faces in the crowd, these people don’t even get telemarketing calls for a Star-Ledger subscription.

Here are some more folks, who various readers reminded me should have been unimportant enough to make the list the first time around. My apologies.

You may have noticed that PolitickerNJ recently posted their own Power List for 2009. Their list identifies New Jersey’s 100 most politically influential personalities. People whose phone calls get returned. People whose advice everyone seeks. People who get interviewed by CNN, Fox News, and the Star-Ledger. The Ultra-Movers and Uber-Shakers.

Well, I’ll have none of that for my list. This list identifies the most politically non-influential personalities. On my list, I don’t worry about some arbitrary number like “100”. While PolitickerNJ eliminated current office holders, former governors, former senators---we’ve eliminated no one. If you no longer matter in New Jersey, you matter to me. We include anyone and everyone whose phone calls don’t get returned, Those who never get invited anywhere anymore. Those with whom photos would be a death knell in any election campaign.

On the “Cammarano for Mayor” website, it still says: “Peter Cammarano is ready to get to work on Day One!” Day One, maybe. However, Peter is just not ready to work on Day 29. Or 30. Or 31.

Frankly, I’ve been upset with the Star-Ledger.  They have gotten very lazy.  They’re reprinting stories from two years ago, three years, five years.  I’ve seen the headlines before: "Hudson County politicians arrested on bribery charges." "Monmouth County Mayors Indicted."