Joan Quigley

QUIGLEY: CHRISTIE ADMITS DEMOCRATIC APPROACH
TO BALANCING BUDGET THE RIGHT WAY TO ATTACK
STATE'S FISCAL PROBLEMS

(Jersey City) – Assemblywoman Joan Quigley today welcomed Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Chris Christie back to reality with the news that he has realized his economic proposals would doom the state to fiscal ruin.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, right, with Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City) and Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus)

HARRISON - Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy agrees that North Hudson will be selfishly motivated to land decent numbers for Gov. Jon Corzine next Tuesday. 
 
But South Hudson?
 
"Corzine will be fine," said the Jersey City mayor, refusing to go into detail. "I think he wins the election by two points."
 
At the heart of North Hudson Democratic Party turnout is a fierce warlord rivalry between state Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-North Bergen) and state Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Union City) for northern bragging rights.
 
In addition, operatives are confident that a mayoral race in Hoboken will drive numbers up in that overwhelmingly Democratic town and help the incumbent governor.

But broken local infrastructure in South Hudson (Jersey City and Bayonne), owing to summertime corruption busts; and political standoffs taking the heart out of intraparty rivalry mere months after local elections in Jersey City, dog the party, despite county coordinator Jason O'Donnell's best attempts to revitalize those towns for the governor and despite Obama hoopla.

Gov. Jon Corzine arrives Thursday night in Harrison.

HARRISON - Shoved into the swamps of Hudson and for years all but forgotten except to post-industrial artifact watchers on passing trains, disgruntled people whose cars got towed from Newark to the impound lots, and the clutch of blue collar workers who live between bridges, Harrison welcomed Gov. Jon Corzine tonight to the Polish National Hall.

"What's he doing here?" wondered a hard-nosed party insider observing the governor as Corzine pressed into the packed crowd with Mayor Ray J. .McDonough and a band of Hudson diehards, including Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, County Executive Tom DeGise, Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus), and Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City).

After distributing 1,000 pumpkins to North Bergenites, state Sen. Nick Sacco (D-North Bergen) arrived at the event when Corzine, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, McDonough and attendant dignitaries were already onstage.

He offered an explanation.

Referring to the disparity between Democrats and Republicans in the town (2,835 to 276), Sacco told the cheering crowd, "You know, I've always said the best organization is in Harrison, which continually turns out the largest plurality of Democrats in the state."

Gov. Jon Corzine, Eva Quntana of North Bergen, and state Sen./Mayor Nicholas Sacco (D-North Bergen)

NORTH BERGEN - When Gov. Jon Corzine goes to the front of the packed room at the annual senior picnic in Scheutzen Park, he embraces state Sen./Mayor Nicholas Sacco (D-North Bergen) and then turns to the crowd and calls Sacco the "best mayor in the State of New Jersey."  

"I love working in North Bergen because he delivers," Corzine shouts.

Sacco grins.

Although they live just a town apart here in Hudson County - which, of course, Corzine made certain to point out - there's more than concrete between Hoboken on the Hudson River side of the county with its Lipton Tea view of Manhattan - and North Bergen, which juts above Secaucus and the swamps of North Jersey.

QUIGLEY ON SPEAKER ROBERTS’ DECISION TO NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION

(TRENTON) – Assemblywoman Joan M. Quigley (D-Hudson) – the Majority Conference Leader – issued the following statement after Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr. (D-Camden) announced he will not be seeking re-election:

“Joe Roberts was one of the most policy driven legislators I have ever had the good fortune to work with. While his presence will be missed, his work on election reform and gun violence will continue to positively impact the state..."

The NFL Giants office building on Route 3, built by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority on the Meadowlands site.

As State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove) prepares to introduce legislation that will stop professional sports teams who don't use New Jersey on their uniforms from receiving any public dollars, two key lawmakers today praised the New Jersey Devils for their state pride.

"The New Jersey Devils are a class organization who have made our great state their home. And we share in the pride that the words ‘New Jersey' represents in their name," said State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge).

Teams that play in New Jersey and don't use "NJ" on their uniforms are beginning to face criticism from public officials.  Earlier this week, O'Toole slammed the Nets for their decision to remove "NJ" from their team uniforms while on the road. 

Vitale is objecting to a super-sized "NY" that appears on the side of a Meadowlands office building that a state agency built for the Giants.

"It is my hope that the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority will feel that same level of pride and recognition that we all do by removing the ‘NY' logo from a building that real New Jerseyans have mostly paid for," Vitale told PolitickerNJ.com.

Last year, Assembly Majority Conference Leader Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City) strongly objected when the NY/NJ Metro Stars changed their team name to Red Bull New York after taxpayers helped the soccer franchise finance a $165 million stadium in Harrison.

"I've got to hand it to the Devils for not only making New Jersey home, but doing it with pride as other teams have kicked New Jersey around, even as they benefited from support from New Jersey fans and taxpayers," Quigley said.

But Gov. Jon Corzine said he is unlikely to support legislation to tie state funding to team uniforms.

"It would be an overreaction for us to demand that they put the logos on their jerseys. Would there be an advertising value for us if they put 'New Jersey' on their jerseys? Yes," Corzine told PolitickerNJ.com.

Another legislator, Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Oxford) says that he opposes the use of public funds to subsidize any professional sports teams, no matter what.

"I hope the Nets stay in New Jersey and we should not use any tax dollars to support professional sports teams regardless of whether they use New Jersey of their logo or not," said Doherty.

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

ASSEMBLY DEMS COMMENTARY ON ENACTMENT OF BILL LIMITING HANDGUN PURCHASES TO ONE-A-MONTH

(TRENTON) – Assemblywoman Joan M. Quigley and Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman today issued a multimedia package on their legislation – signed into law by Governor Jon S. Corzine – making it illegal to purchase more than one handgun a month in New Jersey.

New Jersey is the fourth state to place such restrictions on handgun purchases, behind Virginia, Maryland, and California.

QUIGLEY BILL LIMITING HANDGUN PURCHASES TO ONE A MONTH SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOVERNOR

(TRENTON) – Legislation Assemblywoman Joan M. Quigley sponsored to make it illegal to buy more than one handgun a month in New Jersey was signed into law today by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

New Jersey becomes the fourth state to restrict handgun purchases to one per month, behind Virginia, Maryland, and California.

“There’s no good reason why anyone would need to purchase large quantities of handguns all at once,” said Quigley (D-Hudson). “Providing criminals and gang leaders one-stop shopping to outfit themselves with weapons is the obvious implication of bulk handgun purchasing.”

QUIGLEY STATEMENT ON DEATH OF JERSEY CITY POLICE OFFICER MARC DINARDO

(JERSEY CITY) - Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Hudson) today praised the valor of Jersey City Police Officer Marc DiNardo, who died from injuries sustained during a Thursday shootout in which five other officers also suffered gunshot wounds.

QUIGLEY / CONNERS / MORIARTY ’VOTE BY MAIL’ BILL SIGNED INTO LAW

Measure Streamlines Steps Voters Use to Cast Absentee Ballots in Elections

(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assembly members Joan Quigley, Jack Conners and Paul Moriarty to create the state’s first vote-by-mail law is now law. The measure was signed by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

“Choosing who to vote for can be a confusing and stressful process,” said Quigley (D-Hudson). “Casting a ballot shouldn’t. be. Moving to a true vote by mail system will make it easier for people to exercise their right to vote and increase public participation in the democratic process.”