House

GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie has been asked to testify at a May 19 congressional hearing on legislation to reform deferred prosecution agreements and the selection of federal monitors.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will consider a bill sponsored by two New Jersey Democrats after Christie, a former U.S. Attorney, awarded lucrative federal monitor contracts to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and to David Kelley, a former federal prosecutor in New York.

"The use of DPA's has multiplied many times over in recent years as a replacement for criminal prosecutions," said U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson). "But there are no rules, no guidelines, no standards and no accountability." 

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) says the subcommittee will hear the findings of the Government Accounting Office (GAO), the non-partisan the investigative arm of Congress.  The GAO launched their investigation two months ago at the request of the Senate and House Judiciary chairmen.

"Questions and criticisms have been swirling around DPA's and the monitoring contracts and now we will start to get some answers," said Pallone. "If those who issued and received DPA contracts continue to stonewall, maybe the GAO investigation will provide the information we are looking for."

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MANHATTAN – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) straightened the backs of New York’s legal community yesterday and created a ripple of discomfort when he railed against deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and government appointment of federal monitors, forcing the event's organizer out of his chair and into mild-mannered damage control mode.

Pointing to the DPAs administered by the government in fraud and alleged fraud cases perpetuated by Bristol-Myers Squibb, AIG, Zimmer Holdings, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and others – 112 deferred prosecution agreements since 1993 - Pascrell said the process as it currently exists not only diminishes consumer confidence, but breaks down the confidence the average person has in the judicial and prosecutorial system.

Pascrell called the engineers of Medicare fraud at Zimmer Holdings “the real ax murderers of our time,” and charged a weakened U.S. Department of Justice with using deferred prosecution agreements instead of administering real punishment out of a general sense of fear of “dismantling corporations. God forbid that should happen.”

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Moorestown investor John Culbertson said today that he is not interested in running for Congress in 2010.

“I’ve given a lot of thought.   I’ve actually spoken to a number of people and consulted a variety of folks, and I’ve decided that 2010 is not the right time for me to run – primarily for personal reasons,” said Culbertson.  “I am not a candidate for 2010, but I am certainly interested if the time is right in the future.”
 
Although he did not have much of a history with the Republican Party in his native Burlington County, Culbertson was an intriguing candidate to some GOP insiders because of his ability to self-fund. 

Republicans are working hard to recruit a candidate early to take on freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), who was the first Democrat to win a seat in the 3rd District since the late 19th century.  Adler, obviously aware that national Republicans plan to target his seat next year, raised almost $500,000 last quarter. 

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For New Jersey Democrats, there was never a better year than 1973.  Republicans ousted their incumbent Governor, moderate William Cahill, in the primary and replaced him with Charles Sandman, a conservative Congressman.  Democrats, helped by the Watergate scandal in Washington (two weeks before the general election, Richard Nixon fired the Watergate special prosecutor in what was called "The Saturday Night Massacre") and the criminal conviction of top GOP officeholders in New Jersey, won the governorship by 721,378 votes (68%-32%).  Brendan Byrne won every county but Cape May - Sandman's home county.  Sandman's defeat was the worst for a Republican in New Jersey history.

Democrats picked up thirteen State Senate seats and 26 Assembly seats, leaving the Legislature with ten Republicans in the Senate and fourteen in the Assembly.  Only four legislative districts out of forty elected Republicans to the Senate and both Assembly seats; 36 districts sent at least one Democrat to the Legislature, including Hunterdon, Ocean, Morris, Sussex and Warren counties.

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As he pursues his reelection campaign without the support of the local Democratic Party, Edison Mayor Jun Choi can at least boast the unbridled backing of 21-year U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), who today enthusiastically endorsed Choi.

“Over the past three years, I’ve seen significant progress in the municipal government of Edison Township,” Pallone said in a statement. “There is a renewed energy, pro-active leadership and great focus on good, efficient and open government ….I can’t say enough positive things about Mayor Choi. I have worked with him on important issues like securing money for the Edison Memorial Tower and the expansion of the parking lot at Edison Train Station. I am convinced Mayor Choi is a leader who gets things accomplished for residents. His common-sense, fiscally responsible and practical approach is exactly what Edison needs.”

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U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell) will face an opponent in the 2010 Democratic primary: Lawrenceville resident Scott Baier, a 28-year-old former Mercer County Republican Committeeman who was a Socialist Party candidate for State Assembly in 2005. His platform includes putting George W. Bush, Richard Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld on trial for war crimes, abolishing the U.S. Department of Defense, the nationalization of the media, legalization of all drugs, a constitutional amendment banning all guns, and a "total ban" on pornography.

Attendance is also a big issue for Baier: "I pledge to you that I'll work hard and be present for every vote that I can make it to and hope it'll be every vote.  I'm nowhere near perfect, but I'll try to be present for every House vote."

Baier has endorsed former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson for the Democratic nomination for Governor, and says he's backing U.S. Senator Roland Burris in the 2010 Illinois Senate race.
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As he praised the Obama administration’s diplomatic work abroad and the president’s “willingness to listen,” U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) stuck a jab at the administration of Obama’s predecessor during his opening remarks on the House Foreign Policy Committee this morning.

“His meetings went great,” Payne said of Obama’s recent trip to Europe. “I understand he was even close to ‘old Europe.’”

The crack was a reference to former Defense Department Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s shrug-off statement about Europe, and immediately prompted a laugh from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Congressional hot seat. 

Back from Africa where his plane took some fire and two days after Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo honored Payne for his work with a plaza dedication ceremony, the veteran congressman urged Clinton to pay attention to the Sudan, where he said a comprehensive peace agreement is not going well; Western Sahara; and Somalia, where Payne said there exists a great opportunity for America to assist.  

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NEWARK – When it comes to U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark), the local political battles don’t diminish his standing, and if anything, taking fire overseas only augments his party cred. 

A day after CNN reported that Payne’s plane was the target of gunfire on its way out Mogadishu, and as his nephew runs a renegade primary campaign against Democratic incumbents in the 28th District, Gov. Jon Corzine and Mayor Cory Booker both hailed the veteran congressman as a hero and endorsed him for reelection in 2010.

“He has the strongest record in the Congress in standing up to genocide in Darfur and in maintaining an ongoing dialogue with Africa,” said Corzine, who worked the Darfur issue with Payne when he was in the U.S. Senate. 

“He’s a hero and I absolutely and unequivocally endorse him,” the governor added.

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United States Rep. Donald Payne's (D-Newark) plane was fired on as it departed the Mogdishu airport, according to CNN, but Payne and the rest of the flight's passengers apparently made it out safely.

"We understand that his plane was fired on and, as he left, we understand that a mortar landed on his plane, but that they have left safely and that no one was hurt," Payne spokeswoman Kerry McKenney told the network.  "We are hoping that he's safe and on his way back home."

Payne left the United States for a trip to Africa, starting with Djibouti, on April 9.  He planned to meet with Somalia's prime minister and members of the African Union, according to a report.  In a portion of a press conference in Mogadishu aired on Fox News today, Payne discussed the crisis of Piracy off the failed state's coast. 

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PASSAIC – Joe Kennedy wasn’t in the room but he likely would have marveled at the political challenge.

Quietly wrestling with the karma of what Jose Sandoval’s entry into his party means, Passaic County Democratic Party Chairman John Currie welcomed an opportunity Friday night to reflect on the larger dimensions of his party’s history as he stood beside U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.).

“I remember when I learned of the death of President John F. Kennedy,” said Currie. “I was walking across the bridge over the falls in Paterson on my way to football practice.” 

Still, there was no escaping local politics as the younger Kennedy stood next to Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco in the crowded living room of the parents of local Councilman Kenneth Lucianin. 

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