Bill Clinton

MASTRANGELO CHALLENGES FONTOURA TO
FIRST DEBATE IN A DECADE

The Public Deserves an Informed Choice in
November's Sheriff Election

(Cedar Grove, NJ) -- The last time Sheriff Armando Fontoura had to defend his record and debate the issues, Bill Clinton was just starting his second term and 'Y2K' was the disaster that would end the world. The last time Fontoura faced an opponent, cell phones were a novelty and 'Seinfeld' was must-see-TV. Fontoura hasn't debated in an election since 1997, back when the biggest county threat that Emergency Management had to worry about was icy roads.

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A new radio advertisement for Tom Kean Jr.'s U.S. Senate race features the endorsement of Larry Giancola, a Hudson County Democrat. Giancola urges other Democrats to join him in abandoning Bob Menendez. But it doesn't seem like Giancola, despite his party registration, is the kind of guy who usually votes for Democratic candidates.

A series of Letters to the Editor he has written for The Record show Giancola as a fairly conservative fellow; during the 1989 gubernatorial campaign, he wrote: "I would like to comment on your Aug. 28 editorial headlined, '(Jim) Courter's ugly swipe at gays.' In it, you say that recent research suggests that biological conditions that exist before birth may be largely responsible for determining whether a person is homosexual or not. I disagree with you on this and so does the New Testament. The Bible calls homosexuality sin."

In 2005, he wrote: "How easy it is for liberals to tell us how to spend our money. These same people love to spend everyone else's money but their own. The truth is most liberals treat themselves rather well and are more likely spreading poverty through their policies than anything else. The United States contributes far more money to Africa than any other country, and what does it have to show for it? Africa today is no better off than it was 10 or 20 years ago. The miracle of turning Rhodesia into Zimbabwe has resulted in starvation. I challenge Bill McKibben's assertion that 18 percent of American children live in poverty. Our poor possess more designer jeans, sneakers, stereos and cellphones than many in the middle class of other countries."

Giancola wrote in 2002: "Regarding recent legislation proposed by Assemblyman Neil M. Cohen, D-Union, to stop the rash of sexual abuse cases in churches, specifically the Catholic Church ... Cohen proposes elimination of a limitation on jury awards that result from lawsuits generated by such abuse. His concern seems not so much for the victims of this abuse as to silence the church and its moral teachings. Where was Cohen's concern when President Bill Clinton was having sex with a girl younger than half his age? Where was his outrage, and why didn't he publicly support the president's impeachment? Besides intimidating churches, this bill also enriches the lawyer lobby. Trial and malpractice lawyers are the best friends and contributors the Democratic Party ever had. Cohen would also lead us to believe that there is now no punishment for those convicted of such abuse, and that the church today gets off scot-free. That simply is not true. There is no immunity from prosecution for any priest, rabbi, or any other type of clergy convicted for that behavior."

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The death of former Massachusetts Governor Edward King leaves Ned Lamont, Chuck Schumer and Robert Abrams as the sole living members of a very exclusive club: people who beat a Presidential or Vice Presidential nominee in a statewide primary.

King ousted incumbent Michael Dukakis in the 1978 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Schumer defeated '84 VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro in the 1998 Democratic U.S. Senate primary; Abrams beat her in 1992 but lost the general election to Republican Alphonse D'Amato. Lester Maddox, who defeated Jimmy Carter in the 1966 Democratic primary for Governor of Georgia, died in 2003.

If the club is extended to people who beat Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates in general elections, living members include: Kent Hance, who defeated George W. Bush in a 1978 congressional race in Texas; Lawrence DeNardis, who won a 1980 House race in Connecticut against Lieberman; Arkansas' John Paul Hammerschmidt, who beat Bill Clinton for Congress in 1974; U.S. Senator Norman Coleman, who won a 2002 U.S. Senate race over the last-minute candidacy of Walter Mondale; and James Abdnor, who unseated U.S. Senator George McGovern in South Dakota in 1980.

More for extreme junkies: Frank White, who ousted Clinton in the race for Governor of Arkansas in 1980, died in 2003. Paul Cronin, who defeated John Kerry in a 1972 House race in Massachusetts, died in 1997. George H.W. Bush lost two races for the U.S. Senate in Texas: in 1964 to Ralph Yarborough, who died in 1996, and in 1970 to Lloyd Bentsen, who passed away last May. Edmund (Pat) Brown won a 1962 race for Governor of California over Richard Nixon; he died in 1996. John F. Kennedy defeated Henry Cabot Lodge in the 1952 Massachusetts U.S. Senate campaign, and Pappy O'Daniel, who beat Lyndon Johnson in a 1941 special election for U.S. Senate in Texas, died in 1969. Stephen Young, who died in 1984, defeated '44 Vice Presidential candidate John Bricker in the 1958 Ohio U.S. Senate race.

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GOVERNOR CORZINE TAPS KEN ZIMMERMAN TO SERVE
AS CHIEF COUNSEL

TRENTON

– Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced that Kenneth Zimmerman, a former senior federal official and the current Executive Director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice will serve as Chief Counsel to the Governor. Read More >

Two former Presidents will be in New Jersey today campaigning for their party nominee for United States Senator. George H.W. Bush attend a $500-per-person fundraiser for Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. in Bridgewater -- $5,000-per-person with a picture. Bill Clinton will attend a $1,000-per-person cocktail party and a $10,000 VIP reception for Democrat Bob Menendez at the Elizabeth home of State Senator Raymond Lesniak.

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Former Mayor Sharpe James spent 20 years as the city's chief executive without having to be accountable to many people. He and his administration were investigated by government agencies on numerous occasions, but amazingly he was never indicted. There are accusations, innuendos, rumors and strong reason to believe that it wasn't just a coincidence that the mayor's former chief-of-staff was arrested and went to jail for having a few hundred grand in cash hidden in the floor boards of his home. (His chief-of-staff was also a very close relative.)

Every time Sharpe James was challenged on how a public servant with a limited income could own a huge yacht, millions in real estate and appear to live really high on the hog, his typical response would be to rhetorically ask, "Why is it that a black man in America can't have money?"

Sharpe James has been playing the "race card" forever. Every time he's been challenged by the media regarding his spending practices, the way he ran his administration, the strong-arm tactics that his police force used against his political nemesis Cory Booker in the 2002 mayoral campaign, James would never respond directly. He was the master of obfuscation. He was all smoke and mirrors. But I have always given Sharpe James credit for being Newark's best cheerleader. He was an advocate who helped bring in private investments and keep my home town of Newark afloat, even if the economic activities were disproportionately focused in the downtown area.

But now everything has changed. Sharpe James' out of control spending of public money appears to have caught up with him. In a series of front page stories that started in the Star-Ledger and now has expanded to the New York Times and other major publications, James is being challenged on his use of two credit cards that he had full access to and appeared to spend tens, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars on trips to exotic locations, lodging in four-star hotels, and eating in only the best restaurants.

It was reported that James took a trip to Rio de Janeiro during his last week in office using both credit cards, one assigned to the city, and the other to the police department. James spent nearly $7,000 for him and his private security detail to take a five day trip. James argues that he was on city business. More specifically, James said that he was following up on a 2004 trip he took to Rio in which he lectured on "affirmative action, sanitation, housing and poor people." He had his two body guards with him because "Brazil is a hot spot for crime�everybody knows that."

But one must wonder why James had to go to Rio in the last few days of his 20 year reign to follow up on a speech he made two years ago. James told reporters to call Brazilian officials and find out from them. However, Brazilian officials made it clear that James called them to ask if he could come down and have a one hour meeting with them to compare notes. Five days in a luxurious hotel with two body guards, eating at the best restaurants, for a one-hour meeting? Couldn't the mayor just have placed a call or sent an e-mail asking for feedback? No, not Sharpe James. He appears to have convinced himself that he was owed the right to use bank credit cards to live like a king, even though the state government had banned such a practice for municipal officials for obvious reasons.

Now, grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's office and the state Attorney General’s office had been delivered to city hall and to the police department. Investigators want to know more about these credit cards and exactly how the mayor and his entourage used these credit cards for what looks like private activities that should have never been funded with public tax payer money. This all at a time when Newark youngsters are being shot and killed on the streets and the new Booker administration seeking every dollar it can to hire more police to protect individual residences and businesses.

But Sharpe James couldn’t care less. Just as when he was mayor, he refuses to have an open, candid, meaningful conversation about his irresponsible spending practices. But this is no Newark issue. This is an issue for the entire state of New Jersey to deal with. It is an issue for the Democrats in the state legislature to ban the current practice of allowing candidates who amass huge financial war chests to use left over money to create bogus civic non-profit organizations that are nothing more than slush funds to keep living the good life. It appears that's exactly what Sharpe James was prepared to do with the campaign money he had and never used when he opted not to run for mayor against Cory Booker a few months ago.

Jon Corzine and the Democratic legislative leadership must tell the former mayor and current State Senator, "No, Sharpe, it's over." We're not going to stand idly by while you rape the public treasury and gorge yourself at the public trough. Sharpe James is hopeless. He'll never understand. The bigger question is whether his Democratic colleagues in the Statehouse are willing to do something about it.

Oh, yeah, the last time Sharpe James came under heavy pressure from the Feds? That investigation seemed to go up in smoke and disappear. Democrat Bill Clinton was president at the time. Sharpe James was Clinton's friend and a major political supporter. That's some coincidence, don't you think? We'll see what happens now.

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Menendez Voted To Eliminate Property Tax Deductions for Garden State Homeowners; Now Now He Says He’s For It
Senator Kyrillos and Assemblyman Merkt Say 'Don't Trust Menendez's Election Year Conversion'

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PANTER'S DISASTER PREPAREDNESS BILL RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR

(TRENTON) - Assemblyman Mike Panter was pleased today to welcome James Lee Witt, who served as the Federal Emergency Management Agency's director under President Clinton, to Trenton. Mr. Witt visited the State House to support Panter's bill, A-3236, which would help to protect and prepare New Jersey residents in advance of the next catastrophic storm to hit the state.

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MICCO SUPPORTS DEFNESE OF MARRIAGE ACT
Calls on Rothman To Support Marriage

"Same sex marriage is an affront to traditional marriage and makes a mockery of a time-honored covenant ordained by God, reserved for a man and a woman,� said Micco.

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CODEY COMMISSIONS NEW JERSEY NATIVE FOR OFFICIAL GOVERNOR'S PORTRAIT

TRENTON - Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, today announced that he has commissioned New Jersey native Paul Jennis to create his official Governor's Portrait. Sen. Codey selected Jennis from among dozens of candidates because of his unique qualifications and life-long connection to New Jersey.

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