Christie vs. NJGOP on bail reform

From: POLITICO New Jersey Playbook - Friday Mar 10,2023 02:56 pm

Mar 10, 2023

Editor's note: New Jersey Playbook is publishing late today due to a production issue. We apologize for the delay.

It’s amazing to look back on how in lockstep New Jersey Republicans were under Chris Christie when the state GOP now publicly denigrates one of his signature achievements.

Two tweets yesterday, made less than an hour apart, illustrate this. First, the Republican State Committee tweeted a promo for a discussion tomorrow titled “Ending the Revolving Door Panel: Combating Crime and Addressing Cashless Bail.”

About half an hour later, Christie tweeted a Wall Street Journal op-Ed defending New Jersey’s bail reform, which he spearheaded in 2014, and compared it favorably to New York’s system.

The recent (and apparently diminishing) spike in car thefts is often attributed to bail reform by its critics, but the numbers don't back that up. Car theft decreased substantially after bail reform’s implementation, before rising during the pandemic. Yes, there are anecdotal tales of suspects being released again and again and repeatedly committing crimes. I'm sure that happens sometimes. What I haven’t seen is any evidence of a statistical connection between bail reform and increased crime.

Overall, the political transformation of this issue has been remarkable. It wasn’t a partisan thing before. When Christie pushed through bail reform — which was approved by a huge margin by voters — it passed the Legislature by pretty wide margins. While there were a bunch of abstentions and non-votes on the bill, they weren’t dominated by one party. This was a bipartisan effort. And on the federal level, Cory Booker and Rand Paul became the bipartisan faces of criminal justice reform.

To the extent that there’s bipartisanship on bail reform now, it’s in rolling it back. Trenton Democrats, seeing political vulnerability, have recently introduced several bills that would toughen certain punishments, including one to increase penalties for fentanyl sales.

Crime is a complicated problem with myriad causes. But democracy often incentivizes politicians to look for easy answers.

TIPS? FEEDBACK? HATE MAIL? Email me at mfriedman@politico.com.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I don’t want to take away your right to kill yourself by smoking. I do want to take away your right to kill someone else by smoking in a casino.” — Assembly member Don Guardian (R-Atlantic), a former Atlantic City mayor, on the proposed casino smoking ban.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Angela McKnight, Nohemi Soria-Perez. Saturday for Lou Greenwald, Andrew McGuire, Danielle Esser. Sunday for Jay Springer, John Bartlett, Scott Shields, Jim Jefferson

WHERE’S MURPHY? Nothing public.

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WHAT TRENTON MADE

NORCROSSING THE RUBICON — “Ex-N.J. Senate president Sweeney won’t seek old seat 2 years after stunning loss. Run for gov could be next,” by NJ Advance Media’s Brent Johnson: “Ending months of speculation, former state Senate President Stephen Sweeney told NJ Advance Media on Thursday he will not run to regain his old Senate seat in this year’s elections, two years after losing it in a stunning upset to a little-known Republican. But Sweeney, 63, once again insisted he is not done with politics. Though he hasn’t declared or confirmed his candidacy, the Gloucester County Democrat will now likely focus on a potential candidacy for New Jersey governor in the 2025 race to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy. Sweeney, the longest-serving Senate president in state history, said in a statement he has spoken to friends and colleagues in recent months about seeking ‘a potential return’ to the state Legislature, the body in Trenton that passes New Jersey’s laws and helps craft its budget. ‘After great consideration, I have decided not to return to the Legislature, not because the work is done, quite the contrary,’ he said. He added ‘by no mean does this mean my elected days are over’ and that ‘we must come together, combining leadership and experience to face the challenges of the Garden State.’”

—“Burzichelli to run for Senate”

CUSTOMERS WHO WILL GET CANCER BEG TO DIFFER — “Dealers with cancer beg for Atlantic City casino smoking ban,” by The AP’s Wayne Parry: “Tammy Brady began her career as an Atlantic City casino dealer at the age of 18. Now 55, she has stage 2 breast cancer. “While I’m not sure we will ever know the exact cause of my illness, I can’t help but wonder if it would have happened if the casinos hadn’t forced me to work in second-hand smoke,” said Brady, who works at the Borgata casino. Holly Diebler, a craps dealer at Tropicana, is undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer. ‘I don’t even know how long I’m going to live,’ she said. ‘I love my job; I don’t want to leave it. But all my oncologists have told me this is a life-and-death choice.’ They were among numerous casino employees who testified Thursday before two state Assembly committees in favor of a bill that would prohibit smoking in Atlantic City’s nine casinos. No vote was taken on the bill, as in an identical hearing on Feb. 13. Gov. Phil Murphy has promised to sign the bill if it passes the Legislature, but thus far, leaders of the Democrat-controlled Assembly and Senate have not committed to allowing the bill to move forward and be voted upon.”

LIKE ERASING HISTORY WITH LIGHTNING — “Woodrow Wilson's bust banished from the NJ State House? That's a missed opportunity,” by The Record’s Charles Stile: “In the-actions-speak-louder-than-words category, the bronze bust of Wilson that once stood in a kind of hallowed status inside the Statehouse rotunda, will not be reinstalled when the 230-year-old building reopens next month after a five-year renovation … Still, notwithstanding any concerns about equity optics, the failure to re-install the Wilson bust is a missed opportunity — and a misread of how Princeton University grappled with the name-removal crisis. For one thing, Princeton didn’t eradicate Wilson from its history, but tried to strike a reasonable balance between the ignoble and the noble sides of Wilson's legacy.”

THE SPACE RACE — “The gas tax ghost in the LD-24 GOP machine,” by InsiderNJ’s Fred Snowflack: “Their main challengers are Senate candidate Steve Lonegan and Assembly candidates Josh Aikens and Jason Sarnoski. The Assembly candidates are officially running as a team, but Lonegan is on his own. Nonetheless, these three are seeking to convince primary voters that they are the genuine conservatives in the race. Which brings us back to the gas tax. Just for the record, Space voted ‘no’ on raising the tax in 2016 when he was in the Assembly. His Assembly ticketmates, of course, didn’t vote on it. Nonetheless, Lonegan is suggesting that Space wants to raise the gas tax – again. The ‘connection’ here is Lonegan’s assertion that Space has taken $13,200 from ELEC 825, which represents workers in the construction industry. Here is Lonegan’s conclusion: ‘A Vote For Space Is A Vote For Another Gas Tax Hike.’”

COPS —State leaders pressured to reform police, mental health services after deadly Paterson police shooting, by POLITICO’s Dustin Racioppi: The Murphy administration and state lawmakers are under renewed pressure to overhaul policing policies and increase transparency after Paterson police shot and killed a 31-year-old man experiencing a mental health episode last week. The fatal shooting of the man, Najee Seabrooks, is even more tragic to the community and social justice advocates because he’d been a member of the violence intervention group Paterson Healing Collective — which tried to de-escalate the standoff with law enforcement but was not allowed to try to help Seabrooks, project director Liza Chowdhury said.

—“Lawyer for Paterson cops who shot Najee Seabrooks says they tried to help him”

—“N.J. withdraws threat of appeal in federal challenge of gun law”

—“Ex-N.J. judge barred from the bench, Supreme Court rules after Catholic school dispute”

—“WATCH: N.J. Whale deaths are surreal beach funerals. How did they become political?”

—Details on pharma compromise from Murphy’s office

BIDEN TIME

MORE CHRISTIE vs. REPUBLICANS — ‘Don’t Be Fooled’: Why Leading GOPers Are Taking Aim At Both Trump and DeSantis, by POLITICO's Jonathan Martin: "AUSTIN, Texas — When former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took his turn on stage at a Republican donor conference here late last month, he brought the crowd alive with a rousing and extended denunciation of Donald Trump. Demanding his party “stop whispering” about their unease with Trump, Christie excoriated Trump for falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen, propelling a series of lackluster candidates last year and generally presiding over the decline of the GOP over the last half decade. “If we continue down this road it’s a road that will lead us to another four years of Joe Biden,” Christie warned, repurposing Trump’s memorable vow that Republicans would become tired of winning on his watch to lament their “losing and losing and losing and losing.”

Yet what was even more revealing about Christie’s half-hour remarks, a recording of which I obtained, was the less direct but unmistakable and certainly not whispered criticism he leveled at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Christie called DeSantis’s warnings about sliding into a proxy war with China “one of the most naïve things I’ve ever heard in my life” — arguing America is already locked in such a conflict; he told the donors “don’t be fooled by false choices” being pushed by “a fellow governor,” a reference to DeSantis’s argument that Biden was too focused on Ukraine’s border at the expense of America’s border; and, most pointedly, Christie wondered how exactly “they teach foreign policy in Tallahassee.”

77.8 MASTROS — Biden budget adds funding for Hudson River tunnel and Second Avenue Subway projects, by POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: President Joe Biden’s proposed budget includes a $700 million boost to build the two new rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River. The plan, released Thursday, includes a huge chunk of money to create the new rail link between New Jersey and New York to supplement century-old tubes that are in shambles. The budget line is the largest in Biden’s proposal for the Federal Transit Administration’s “new starts” projects. The budget also includes $496 million for the New York Metropolitan Transit Agency to extend the Second Avenue Subway into East Harlem.

LOCAL

GILLESS — “Gilmore suffers first loss back in Ocean County GOP chair: ‘The organization has spoken’,” by The Asbury Park Press’ Erik Larsen: “George R. Gilmore suffered his first political defeat since his return as chairman of the Ocean County Republican Party, losing a vote to wrestle back control of the GOP’s flagship municipal organization here in the county seat. The vote was 116 to 109 on Wednesday night at the Ocean County GOP nominating convention and the consequences were immediate: State Assemblyman Gregory P. McGuckin, R-Toms River, perhaps Gilmore’s most powerful antagonist in the party, is firmly secure in the Republican nomination for his reelection in the 10th Legislative District this year … After the convention at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Route 37, Gilmore said he accepted the results and was ‘not going to advocate for a primary challenge’ in June. After the convention … The chairman attributed his loss to ‘one small town’ — he declined to identify which — that had come under pressure from two senior elected officials in county government — he declined to say who — who had used the power of their offices to work against him, flipping that municipal GOP organization’s support between Tuesday and Wednesday.”

A BAD DAY FOR BOSSES NAMED GEORGE — “The Implications of Hughes and other bar note reflections,” by InsiderNJ’s Max Pizarro: “Insiders saw the larger implications of Dan Benson’s blowout of Brian Hughes on Sunday, unable to quell an impulse to endlessly endzone dance over the charred, unmanned swivel turret remains of the South Jersey Democratic Party. On the abbreviated Risk map that constitutes New Jersey politics, power broker George Norcross III had positioned his calvary behind Hughes, only to get tank treaded by Benson, in a stunning 80-20% ravaging, or more than just a cocktail party win for Middlesex County. Not that the results lacked a certain conversational appeal. But the tenor of polite debate more pointedly revolved around whether the Norcross empire went down with Andrzejczak, or Sweeney, or the state party fracas, or redistricting, or – now, at last – Mercer … Still others insisted on seeing Hughes’ collapse as the true mark of South Jersey’s denouement, arguing for the optical absurdity of Norcross trying to buttonhole Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin, and the boss and Sweeney getting rebuffed by Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo in an attempt to mount an offensive against state Senator Linda Greenstein.”

BYE BOB — "Bob McDevitt leaving Atlantic City, NJ Local 54 presidency," by WPG's Harry Hurley: "Bob McDevitt is the longest-serving President in Atlantic City, New Jersey, UNITE-HERE Local 54 history. We have learned that McDevitt will be leaving his position as President after more than 25 years. McDevitt’s voluntary resignation will take effect on May 1, 2023. McDevitt will be leaving on a high note, as he received 70 percent of the vote in his 11th and final election. It was his highest vote total ever. McDevitt continues to do his job as President, spending today in Trenton, New Jersey before the state legislature regarding a matter of great importance … the current Atlantic City Casino exemption regarding indoor smoking. Since some may speculate about the reason for McDevitt’s departure, we have confirmed that the decision to leave his Presidency early is McDevitt’s voluntary decision and his alone ... Donna DiCaprio, McDevitt’s long-time Secretary/Treasurer will become the Acting President of UNITE-HERE Local 54."

CLEARLY NONE OF THEM WANT ANYTHING FROM CITY GOVERNMENT — “Jersey City releases list of donors that gave over $1k each to group that paid for Paris trip,” by Hudson County View’s John Heinis: “The list of over 60 donors was disclosed the day after Mayor Steven Fulop told HCV that Grow Jersey City, the non-profit arm of the local Economic Development Corporation, paid for him and seven other local officials to go to the capital of France last month. Several prominent developers contributed to the fund, which was started during the early going of the COVID-19 pandemic with the purpose of supporting economic development, Fulop said in the interview. Caulfield, Eric Silverman, Peter Mocco, Mack Cali (now Veris Residential), Ironstate Holdings, Brandywine Acquisition, and Brandywine Acquisition are all on the list, which did not include exact donation amounts. The Hurley Family Foundation, a free basketball program for students in 3rd through 12th grades in Jersey City run by famed St. Anthony High School basketball coach Bob Hurley, and the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Foundation – the owners of the Liberty National Golf Course, contributed as well. Both Hurley and Paul Fireman are linked to the group Liberty State Park For All, who have been pushing for expanded recreation at the park that includes a proposed 7,000-seat concert venue and 5,000-seat stadium.”

THE POLITICAL LIFE OF BRIAN — “Exit Brian, enter Benson, and hopefully, some action,” by The Trentonian’s Jeff Edelstein: “[N]o Republican has won a county-wide race since 2000 … Truthfully, this has been my chief complaint when it comes to Hughes’ reign as Mercer County king. He didn’t have to sweat, and as a result, I’m not sure he accomplished everything he could’ve. Listen: When I got here back in 1999, I was covering the county executive office. Bob Prunetti was about to win his third term, and the man hustled. He had to. He was a Republican. The switch was already happening in the county, but Prunetti narrowly held on to win. Under Prunetti, the ballpark was built. The arena was built. There was a sense of a comeback in Trenton. Why did these things happen? My take is simple: Prunetti knew his political future was tied up in Trenton. He needed votes. He did — and sought — big things. He also tried to massively enlarge the airport, which didn’t happen. Hughes, on the other hand? Never had to hustle.”

—“A mother’s nightmare: Autistic boy, 5, never came home. He was found an hour later freezing, alone on school bus”

—“Toms River superintendent vows to fight proposed $14 million state aid cut”

—“After being dropped by Democrats, Cherry Hill mayor won’t seek re-election”

—“Montclair fire chief’s request for $1.6 million for new staffing upsets residents”

—“Bellmawr’s Exit 3 is already a traffic nightmare for residents. Will a turnpike expansion make it worse — or fix it?”

—“Newark cop convicted of collecting $46K in sick pay while working as a private security guard”

—“Which North Jersey school districts got the biggest aid increases? Which lost the most?”

—“Newark native Queen Latifah gives a voice to Harriet Tubman monument in city park”

—“Nabisco asbestos cleanup almost done; tower to be imploded: Here's what we know”

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EVERYTHING ELSE

NJ AND FIFA OFFICIALS HAVE SO MUCH CORRUPTION TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER — “MetLife Stadium will host the World Cup in 3 years. Tons of work has already kicked off,” by The Record’s Melanie Anzidei and Katie Sobko: “It’s bigger than the Olympics and the Super Bowl — and in 2026 the men’s tournament will make its highly anticipated return to New Jersey for the first time since 1994. With only three years until soccer fanatics from around the world swarm North America and North Jersey's MetLife Stadium, the work has already begun. Communities have plenty to gain if they successfully host a World Cup, experts say. The temporary influx of fans can bring in an economic boon to local businesses, and the exposure of the host community to soccer fans worldwide could benefit tourism in the area long-term. Similarly, poor planning could lead to a substantial missed opportunity … Last summer, the authority received $30 million in taxpayer funds to plan designs and upgrades at MetLife Stadium and the surrounding property. They also came up with a timeline for the work. At their September meeting, the authority hired construction companies and architects to coordinate the project, and have earmarked $1.1 million for the initial work. That includes designs for stadium renovations to satisfy FIFA’s field size and playing field requirements.”

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARC TUNNEL — “Steven Spielberg’s childhood in New Jersey: the real story behind ‘The Fabelmans’,” by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Rita Giordano: “In the Oscar-nominated film The Fabelmans, it’s no secret that the real star is filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s movie-smitten childhood — from his family’s move to New Jersey, then Arizona and California. If you’ve seen The Fabelmans, you know the New Jersey years played a major supporting role. That’s where Sammy Fabelman — Spielberg’s fictionalized version of his young self — was living when he first fell in love with movies. The rest is filmmaking history … Remember the house that Sammy Fabelman and mom Mitzi and dad Burt came home to after seeing The Greatest Show on Earth, the movie that changed the life of little Sammy — well, Steven — forever? In real life, that was 267 Crystal Terrace in Haddon Township”

R.I.P .— “Louise Calloway, 93, founder of NJ Underground Railroad Museum, has died. A community celebration of life is planned”

—“The scale of local news destruction in Gannett’s markets is astonishing”

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