Charles Stile

One interesting item in Charles Stile’s column today on the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority putting premium seats to the Bruce Springsteen concert aside for the politically connected to buy at face value: 24 tickets went to the Asbury Park Press. That wouldn’t be so noticeable if the APP hadn’t held itself out to be the beacon of ethics reform over the last five years.

Tonight at 6:30 and Sunday at 10:00 a.m., catch The Bergen Record’s Charles Stile, Trish Graber of the Gloucester County Times, and PolitickerNJ.com’s own Matt Friedman on Reporters Roundtable, hosted by Michael Aron. The reporters will discuss the state budget, Gary Rose’s departure and county chairman contests.

On the Record, airing Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., will feature NJEA President Joyce Powell and Assemblymen Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) and Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen) discussing the budget.

If you can’t get enough Stile and Friedman, tune in to My9’s New Jersey Now, airing at 12:00 on Sunday, where the two will discuss political rumors. Also appearing on the show are Assemblymen Jon Bramnick (R-Union) and Ralph Caputo (D-Essex), who will debate what’s causing residents to flee New Jersey.

At 6:30 this evening on NJN, PoltickerNJ.com correspondent Matt Friedman will join a political roundtable to discuss New Jersey's current political scene. Friedman will be joined by Gannett New Jersey's Greg Volpe, Politifax's Nick Acocella, and the Bergen Record's Charles Stile, with NJN Senior Political Correspondent Michael Aron hosting the discussion.

The roundtable will recap the state's U.S. Senate primary elections, ongoing budget negotiations, legislative hearings on executive county school superintendents and the possibility that Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's emails to Carla Katz may be made public.

The race to watch next week is the contest for Bergen County Republican Chairman, where incumbent Rob Ortiz, who took over after embattled party leader Guy Talarico resigned last June, faces a challenge from former Freeholder candidate Robert Yudin and former Bergen County Utilities Authority Chairman Ben Focarino, an old hand in the BCRO who ran against Ortiz last year. Ortiz has faced criticism for, among other things, promoting the embattled Andy Unanue for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination earlier this year.

Reporters Roundtable with Michael Aron (NJN, Sunday 10AM): Dunstan McNichol, Kevin McArdle, Charles Stile and Michael Symons talk about Gov. Jon Corzine’s toll road plan, Steve Lonegan’s arrest, the $2.5 billion dollar budget cut, school construction borrowing and the presidential primary.

On the Record with Michael Aron (NJN, Sunday 9AM and 11AM, Monday at 6:30AM): Surrogates for Republican presidential candidates discuss New Jersey's February 5th primary – Bill Baroni, Joe Kyrillos, Murray Sabrin, Paul Beaudreau and George Gilmore.

Which Democratic presidential candidate is the real “agent of change”? 

That was the topic of The Record’s Charles Stile’s column on Tuesday.

In his political column previewing last night’s Hillary Clinton for President fundraiser organized by Bergen County Democrat Chair Joe Ferriero, Stile questioned the legitimacy of Clinton’s reform message.

Three newspaper columnists will join Michael Aron on Reporters Roundtable this weekend to talk about Gov. Jon Corzine’s monetization plan and the retirement of Rep. Mike Ferguson: Paul Mulshine of the Star-Ledger, Bob Ingle of Gannett New Jersey, and Charles Stile of The Record.

And if you don’t eat turkey and still want a dose of tryptophan, this week’s On the Record features Rutgers Prof. Alan Rosenthal, Jon Shure of New Jersey Policy Perspective, and Gregg Edwards of the Center for Policy Research of New Jersey. 

The Record’s Charles Stile reported today that federal agents searched the Paramus home of State Sen. Joseph Coniglio, the target of a federal criminal investigation.  That will almost certainly create some chatter at Hillary Clinton’s national campaign headquarters, where a senior campaign official had a “conversation” in recent weeks about the Coniglio probe with lobbyist Harold Hodes, an advisor to the New Jersey Clinton campaign.

The Clinton campaign, sources say, wanted to hear from Hodes about his grand jury appearance, in response to a federal subpoena, regarding allegations that Coniglio obtained state funds for Hackensack University Medical Center while working as a paid consultant. At the time, Hodes’ firm, Public Strategies/Impact, was the HUMC lobbyist. The hospital received over $1 million in state grants while Coniglio was on their payroll.

Read an e-mail sent to The Record's Charles Stile and Alfred Doblin by State Senate Gerald Cardinale, in response to Stile's column on Cardinale's re-election campaign against Joseph Ariyan: