Elections are not Horseshoes

The most optimistic supporters of Barbara Buono’s gubernatorial campaign are quick to point out that the gap between the challenger and the governor in the poll numbers is closing. Let’s assume that this gap continues to get smaller and that Buono loses the election by a small margin, say two percent.

Some Buono supporters will be mildly disappointed, but nevertheless ecstatic. Disappointed because their candidate lost, but ecstatic that she almost toppled the most popular politician in America. Buono’s campaign staff will move on and put this statistical “upset” on their résumés as they seek jobs for the 2014 campaigns.

There’s a saying that goes, “coming close only gets you points in horseshoes and thermonuclear war.”

Don’t ever assume that a close and underwhelming victory by Chris Christie will humble him. Remember when his mentor, George W Bush lost the 2000 election? Despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court decided to disenfranchise Florida voters and the fact that Al Gore won the popular vote, upon taking office Bush acted as if he had a mandate to promote the conservative agenda. Christie will do the same if our election is close. He’ll use state resources in court to fight the anticipated override of his veto of marriage equality. He’ll continue to throw lucrative state contracts to his cronies. And he’ll move further to the right on disenfranchising the poor and middle class in order to enhance his presidential ambitions.

A close loss for Buono is still a loss. Not only for her, but also for the people of New Jersey. That’s why it is critically important to pull off the electoral upset of the decade. Her own party is not helping her, so it’s up to the people to pull out all the stops to send Chris Christie back to his Mendham mansion permanently.

Despite the numerous missteps of Buono’s campaign staff, it’s time for anyone who gives a damn about this state to volunteer for the campaign. You hate making phone calls? Well, do you hate making phone calls more than you hate what Christie is doing to your state? You can’t afford to contribute to the campaign? Well, if you’re poor or in the middle class, the dollars that you don’t contribute will come back to bite you as higher fees and fewer services if Christie is re-elected.

Bush “won” in a close election, and the nation is still trying to recover from the mis-steps and damage he precipitated. A second Christie term will result in similar damage to the state – social, economic, and political – and it will take years to recover. A close election is not good enough. Let’s not make the same mistake twice.

Balderdash

According to the NRA, we don’t need gun safety laws because criminals will not obey these laws. The NRA’s argument is that law-abiding citizens would be the only ones affected, and they would be inconvenienced by new gun safety laws.

According to a Florida jury, George Zimmerman is a law-abiding citizen. So by the NRA’s logic, his behavior would not change one iota if there were more stringent gun safety regulations in Florida.

Balderdash.

Suppose Florida had a law requiring law-abiding gun owners to carry liability insurance, just as most states require automobile owners and home owners to carry liability insurance.  Since insurance is sold on the open market by private companies, the cost of this insurance would be market-driven and risk-based.

I don’t know whether Zimmerman would have had trouble getting liability insurance before he murdered Trayvon Martin. If that were the case, and Zimmerman had gone out on his vigilante patrol without the required insurance, he could have been convicted and sentenced on those charges, regardless of how the altercation had played out. On the other hand, if Zimmerman was a law-abiding citizen and could not afford the insurance and consequently was not carrying a gun, Trayvon Martin would be alive today.

It puzzles me why liability insurance has not been a big part of the gun safety debate. If gun dealers and gun owners required proof of insurance at every sale, like auto dealers do today, we would not eliminate gun violence but we could reduce it and have more convictions of murderers.

Even if you accept the preposterous assertion that Trayvon Martin started the altercation, and given Zimmerman’s verdict of “not guilty”, it’s clearly demonstrated that Zimmerman has a propensity to get into trouble with guns. A market-driven insurance mandate would today raise his rates, just as if I were in an auto accident that was the other guy’s fault, my rates would go up. The insurance company’s logic is that I would have a propensity for accidents. If there were laws mandating gun liability insurance, today Zimmerman would be required to pay a substantially higher premium before the Florida police return his gun to him (which they did today.) Seems like a good idea.

New Jersey Marriage Equality Rally and Press Conference

On Thursday, June 26, there was a rally on the steps of the State House in Trenton to urge New Jersey's elected officials to enact marriage equality in the state. Sponsored by Garden State Equality, Lambda Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union, a vociferous crowd gathered under the hot sun and heard from advocates and legislators. Afterwards, a press conference was held inside the State House Annex. Below are links to videos of the various remarks.

Rally Senator Barbara Buono Troy Stevenson, GSE Udi Ofer, ACLU Hayley Gorenberg, Lambda Legal Marie Corfield, LD-16 Candidate Interview with Udi Ofer

Press Conference Senator Barbara Buono Asm. Reed Gusciora Asm. Tim Eustace Hazel Gluck Senator Loretta Weinberg Senator Ray Lesniak Q&A

You may also be interested in:

NJ Legislature Hearings on Marriage Equality - February 2012

Voter Suppression in New Jersey

Today’s Supreme Court decision is historic. Lest you think voter suppression is a problem for the Deep South, and not a problem in New Jersey, think again. A lot has been written about today’s Supreme Court decision effectively rescinding Congress’ power under Section 2 of the 15th Amendment. In a conference call this afternoon, Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP summarizes today’s decision as follows (audio): Governor Chrisite may not be as blatant about voter suppression as his buddy Ted Cruz, but he’s an acolyte of the GOP line of restricting access to the ballot box. He vetoed an early voting bill, claiming that it would cost too much (even though he concocted another costly voter suppression scheme by holding the Senate vote 20 days prior to his attempt to maintain his power in the State House.) Governor Howard Dean minces no words in describing today’s Supreme Court Decision. And the re-election of Governor Christie will certainly exacerbate the right to vote here in New Jersey as he takes a sharp tack to the extreme right in his quest for the White House.

Yes to Oprah. No to Suffering Kids

Yesterday, the New Jersey General Assembly passed a bill that would facilitate palliative care for children by allowing them access to certain marijuana-related drugs. The bill next goes to Governor Christie's desk where he will decide whether or not to allow parents to access these drugs in order to ease the pain and suffering of their children. These small kids suffer seizures and other medical conditions and often require expensive hospitalization. The drugs would not cure these symptoms, but would make the little children's lives less unpleasant and do not produce the "high" that is associated with marijuana.

After the bill passed, several parents asked for an audience with the Governor, presumably to urge him to sign the legislation. Incredulously, the Governor refused to grant them even a few minutes - instead pawning them off on a staffer.

It's difficult to understand the Governor's priorities. He apparently has time to gallivant across the country to promote himself and his education-industrial complex buddies. But he doesn't have the time to meet with parents of New Jersey kids suffering from debilitating diseases. He has the time to be in photo ops celebrating Federal dollars that Senator Menendez and the late Senator Lautenberg secured for hurricane relief, but says the use of medicinal marijuana is a slippery slope to making New Jersey more like California.

I don't see the right-wing using the term "compassionate conservative" any more. Perhaps even they can't live with that lie.

Barbara Buono - #NN13 Rock Star

Barbara Buono came to Netroots Nation in San Jose to extend her campaign to a national audience, and she did not disappoint anyone. Each year at this conference, there are a few candidates who become rock stars at the event. Last year that included Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin. This year, it was Barbara Buono's turn. After each appearance, the friendly audience of liberal bloggers and activists lined up to speak with her and have their picture taken. She mingled with a crowd at a reception sponsored by Emily's List, and gave a rousing speech (the best I've seen from her) at a candidate's forum which included other progressive icons like Senator Jeff Merkley and Congressman Keith Ellison. Earlier in the day, I met Buono at a café down the street from the Convention Center. Below is that interview. She talks about her mission at the conference, the special election, the budget, women's issues, and the choosing of a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Below the fold: some photos of her interactions with the Netroots crowd.

---

Emily's List Reception Candidate's Forum

Fools

“I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.”

- Chris Christie’s mentor and patron, George W Bush

In a column extoling the support that Chris Christie is receiving from certain “Democrats”, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Matt Katz discusses the reasons why the governor has received accolades. Unsurprisingly, it boils down to money and power.

What Katz and the general public fail to see is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Christie is one of the most astute politicians of our lifetime. He rarely blunders in his quest for political power and influence, and his taxpayer-funded squad of spin doctors is among the best in the business.

They say that history repeats itself, and that is becoming apparent in the political ascent of Chris Christie.

Christie’s boss won re-election to a second term because the nation was traumatized by the 9/11 disaster. As Katz points out, Christie’s surge in popularity is based primarily on the governor’s handling of another disaster, Hurricane Sandy. This, despite the fact that any chief executive worth his or her salt would have handled similar disasters with compassion and decisiveness. Christie had the added advantage of learning from his bungling of previous natural disaster, “snowmageddon,” during which he took a hands-off approach while he was unsurprisingly out of state.

If he’s re-elected, Christie will make every decision of his second term through the lens of the 2016 Presidential election. That means he will accelerate his right-wing anti-middle class, anti-environment agenda while cleverly presenting the persona of a bipartisan leader. In a field of Republican candidates who are typically extreme, irrational, and bigoted, Christie will position himself as the sane and rational choice for the presidential nomination. (Whether the irrational core of the GOP power structure opts for a sane candidate is the subject of another article.)

As a result, New Jersey will suffer. Not only because Christie will keep his eye off of the ball locally, but because he will take a sharp tack to the right if he wins a second term.

Of course, things would be much worse in a second Christie administration if the Democrats lose control of either or both houses of the legislature. But as we have seen, and as Katz points out, many powerful Democrats are complicit with Christie’s consolidation of power into the hands of unelected officials and the governor’s office. The way New Jersey’s government is set up puts the governor in the driver’s seat.

We saw what happened after George W Bush won a second term. The economy tanked and despite the intransigence of the GOP House, President Obama and his team were able to rescue the nation from the brink of financial disaster after Bush went back to Texas. Let’s not be foolish again and give Chris Christie the opportunity to do similar damage to New Jersey.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

- Chinese Proverb