Reed Gusciora

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton)

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) today blamed party bosses for deal-making when they should have been focused on re-electing Gov. Jon Corzine.

"Party leaders undermined the governor by having a party leadership fight," said Gusciora. "They reinforced the message that if Corzine won, the reins of power would be handed over to special interests."

Asked on Election Day morning about the intra-party deal cultivated by South Jersey Democratic Party leader George Norcross III and Newark North Ward Democratic Party boss Steve Adubato, Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) dismissed its larger-scale impact on voter production.

"It's inside baseball and affected very few people beyond Trenton," said Roberts of a North-South deal that would oust Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) in exchange for Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford), and launch Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) into the lower house leadership chair being vacated by Roberts.

Gov.-elect Chris Christie (at podium) with, from left: Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, State GOP Chairman Jay Webber, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean.

Leaders of a once fractured minority party - over the last years seemingly constantly at the verge of splitting farther apart - see unity in Gov.-elect Chris Christie.

During the campaign, Christie regularly invoked the example of former Gov. Tom Kean, a moderate, then publicly embraced movement conservative Steve Lonegan in the closing days of the general election campaign to solidify his Republican base.

Kean's son, state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) said he believes Christie's leadership abilities are expansive enough to include both the conservative wing and moderate wing of the GOP, in addition to independents and Democrats.

Not unlike his own father's skills in that regard.

Corzine enters IBEW Local 269 tonight in Lawrenceville.

LAWRENCEVILLE - Gov. Jon Corzine embraced labor here at IBEW Local 269 just before completing his day of campaigning on the night before Election Day.

"Get out there and vote," Corzine roared to a room packed with men who claim membership in this electrical workers union numbering 1,200 strong from around Central Jersey.

"Everything is what happens, not what people speculate," he told PolitickerNJ.com moments later when asked about his trust in the strength of the Democratic Party machine. "We think we have the better operation, and it's up to people to execute."

Asked why the voters of New Jersey should give him another four years, Corzine said, "I'm the best guy to get us out of this recession on the issues that matter: education, healthcare, partnership with the president; I'm in a much better position on every front, not for giving tax cuts to people making over $400,000 a year."

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton), Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-South Brunswick), and Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) were in the room.

Trenton, NJ – In response to a gross misrepresentation of the incumbents’ records on taxes that appeared in Gusciora and Watson Coleman’s final pre-election ad, 15th district assembly candidates Kim Taylor (R-Lawrence) and Werner Graf (R-Hopewell) issued the following statement:

“In their final campaign ad, our opponents, assembly majority leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and deputy majority leader Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton), claim to be ‘sticking up for us’ by reducing the property tax burden, but in reality their dismal records on taxes and fees show it’s more like they are “sticking us up” rather than “sticking up for us.”

The Trenton Times has endorsed Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee Chairman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) for re-election.  Watson Coleman, a former Democratic State Chairman, remains a candidate for Assembly Speaker, even though a majority of the Democratic Caucus has endorsed Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for the post. 

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) issued the following statement regarding Thursday's announced agreement between Capital Health Systems and Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield:

GUSCIORA / CRUZ-PEREZ / MORIARTY / RILEY BILL TARGET SIMULATED GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

(TRENTON) – Assembly members Reed Gusciora, Nilsa Cruz-Perez, Paul Moriarty and Celeste Riley are sponsoring legislation to make it illegal for businesses to advertise using a simulated government document.

The bill (A-3931) would make using such documents – whether through the mail or the Internet – a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act.

“Marketing companies that use these simulated forms are preying on the vulnerability of the average citizen during a global recession,” said Gusciora (D-Mercer). “This is not just unconscionable, but should be illegal. Many New Jerseyans who thought they were getting help from the government are instead being faced with the harsh reality that they were duped.”

GUSCIORA STATEMENT ON CHRISTIE VISIT TO EWING

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) today released the following statement in response to Bush Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie’s visit to Ewing to meet with small business owners:

Two days after then-Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano was arrested on corruption charges, Jay Lassiter, a South Jersey political activist, publicly dropped him from his Facebook friends.

"Please don't re-friend me until after you've resigned," Lassiter wrote on Cammarano's wall on July 25 - a message visible to hundreds of the disgraced mayor's Facebook friends. It was supposed to be one of those "who's coming with me?" moments. 

"It didn't go over like I thought it would.  I thought I was going to lead the parade," said Lassiter.  "I actually got snarky notes by Cammarano supporters telling me what a worthless South Jersey piece of (expletive) I was."

Outside of cyberspace, Cammarano, 32, saw his political career come to an abrupt end and his associations evaporate after he was arrested for allegedly taking bribes from an FBI informant posing as a developer. 

But that obligatory public distancing did not extend to Facebook, where many politicians, insiders and media types (including this reporter) remain Cammarano's "friends" - if only out of morbid curiosity over whether he'll update his profile or out of neglect in pruning their own profiles.  

Many politicians have embraced social networking technology, but, as the July 23 corruption sting demonstrates, there is no standard for online etiquette when your online friend has been arrested.  Some politicians (or the staffers who administrate their profiles) do "defriend" ethically troubled Facebook associates, while the thought doesn't cross others' minds.  

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) is still Facebook friends with Cammarano.

"I think he's suffered enough," said Codey, who added that he tries to be humorous and non-political on his profile.  "I try to be different, as you know if you ever read any of the things I put on there.  I try not to be political, and do different things to get a chuckle sometimes, lighten up somebody's day."

Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-Franklin Twp) remains Facebook friends with Cammarano, and with former Assemblyman Lou Manzo (D-Jersey City), who was arrested in the same sting.

"I didn't defriend either one of them. That wasn't something I consciously thought about doing," said McHose, who has 1,233 friends.  "I was curious to see whether it would be a means for them to reach out to supporters."

GUSCIORA: CORZINE PLAN ‘ANOTHER CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE’ WAY TO GET PEOPLE BACK TO WORK

(TRENTON) – Assemblyman Commerce and Economic Development Chairman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) released the following statement Tuesday on Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s plan to encourage businesses to hire New Jerseyans who have exhausted unemployment benefits:

“With so many having already exhausted their unemployment benefits, the last thing we could do was stand idle, so I’m so pleased Gov. Corzine has come up with yet another creative and innovative way to get people back to work and help businesses thrive..."