Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Christie wins
In this very same election, on the very same ballot, we passed here in Jersey, by a huge margin, a constitutional amendment raising the minimum wage & linking it to hikes in the cost of living. You don't get much more "liberal" than that. Democrats retained control of the state senate & assembly. Christie had no "coattails," We also forced Christie, through public pressure, to drop his legal fight against marriage equality. Two weeks ago we elected a new Democratic senator, who won by 11 points while spending hardly any of the huge campaign chest he's saving for next year. That election ended the political career of the state's only prominent "tea party" type politician. We liberals are doing just fine here, thank you. We want Christie to run for president. The state is much quieter when he's not around.
Locally, a young woman I supported for Board of Ed came in 4th for three available positions. Her insurgent slate, well-financed by the County Democratic Committee, endorsed by the mayor, grabbed two of those seats. She lost because she was positioned 8th on the ballot, & all the slick flyers, robocalls & door-to-doors couldn't overcome that. An incumbent had the #1 spot, he came in second. The #2 position candidate came in first, & the #6 position came in third. There were several candidates listed not actively running - I don't know why they bothered to run. The BoE election is "nonpartisan" but pits the County Democratic machine - nothing to brag about as a "democratic" organization except they tend to be very liberal - against a BoE machine autocratically run by a single boss with right wing tendencies. The young woman took the defeat quite hard. But before BoE elections were moved to the general election in November, the BoE fortress was almost impregnable. But with the superior campaign resources of the Regular Democrats to counter the slick official mailings of the BoE paid for out of the school budget, three BoE members have been picked off in two years. This at least will bring some transparency to the Board. If the BoE were genuine progressive reformers & didn't constantly manipulate stats to make the schools look better than they are or run the system like parochial schools, I would support them.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Locally, a young woman I supported for Board of Ed came in 4th for three available positions. Her insurgent slate, well-financed by the County Democratic Committee, endorsed by the mayor, grabbed two of those seats. She lost because she was positioned 8th on the ballot, & all the slick flyers, robocalls & door-to-doors couldn't overcome that. An incumbent had the #1 spot, he came in second. The #2 position candidate came in first, & the #6 position came in third. There were several candidates listed not actively running - I don't know why they bothered to run. The BoE election is "nonpartisan" but pits the County Democratic machine - nothing to brag about as a "democratic" organization except they tend to be very liberal - against a BoE machine autocratically run by a single boss with right wing tendencies. The young woman took the defeat quite hard. But before BoE elections were moved to the general election in November, the BoE fortress was almost impregnable. But with the superior campaign resources of the Regular Democrats to counter the slick official mailings of the BoE paid for out of the school budget, three BoE members have been picked off in two years. This at least will bring some transparency to the Board. If the BoE were genuine progressive reformers & didn't constantly manipulate stats to make the schools look better than they are or run the system like parochial schools, I would support them.
Labels: education, Elizabeth NJ, New Jersey politics
