Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

An LG from the left

It appears that Loretta Weingberg, staunch progressive from Bergen County, will be Jon Corzine’s No. 2 on the November ballot. Weinberg’s “legislative record,” according to The Star-Ledger,

has earned her praise as a champion of women’s issues and progressive causes.

“To progressive voters all across New Jersey, Governor Corzine’s selection of Loretta Weinberg is like adding a jolt of a million volts. We are electrified,” Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality, New Jersey’s leading gay rights group, wrote to supporters. “He named a legend. It’s a selection that says volumes about his exemplary leadership and his progressive vision of our state.”

In the weeks leading up to the choice, a number of names have been bandied about, the politics of the choice appearing the major point of contention. Does the governor select a black candidate to sure up the black vote for his party? Does he pick a woman? Does he go to a county he absolutely must carry? Chris Christie, the Republican, faced far fewer of these questions — the GOP’s base being somewhat more homogeneous.

But the politics — a woman from Bergen County whose progressive credentials could solidify Corzine’s left flank — are less important than what the lieutenant governor could bring to an administration. What roles might Weinberg or Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno — Christie’s LG pick — play after the election?

I like Weinberg. She has a great track record on the issues I believe are important — health care, civil rights (including the rights of same-sex couples), ethics. She understands Trenton, but has not become entrenched — she had to withstand a challenge from her own party’s leadership to retain her seat two years ago.

The culture of corruption strikes New Jersey again

The culture of corruption was on full display today as federal investigators announced indictments of 44 people in New York and New Jersey on bribery and money-laundering charges — a perp-walk that featured three New Jersey mayors and two state Assembly members.

The politicians are accused of taking bribes. And five rabbis are accused of laundering it through their non-profit religious institutions, while keeping a cut for themselves. One Brooklyn man, who was among the 44 charged today, was even accused of trying to broker a $160,000 deal for a kidney transplant.

The story hit like a lightning bolt, sending shockwaves through a state political culture one might assume had become inured to charges of corruption and malfeasance.

But the sheer size of the sting — considered a record — makes it difficult to fathom, especially coming in the wake of the conviction of several high-profile New Jersey pols. I would have assumed that the fate of powerbrokers like John Lynch (former New Brunswick mayor and state Senate president), Sharpe James (former Newark mayor and state senator) and Wayne Bryant (former head of the Senate Budget Committee) would have left other pols a bit gunshy when it came to bad behavior.

But I guess one should not assume anything.

The fallout so far has included the resignation of Joseph Doria, state commissioner of community affairs, and calls by members of both parties for the resignation of those now under indictment.

It’s been a rare show of bipartisanship — bipartisan revulsion? — that I suspect will fade in the coming days as the Republicans attempt to make political hay out of the indictments and Democrats respond.

But I think FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun summed up the reality of what we face here — the nonpartisan nature of corruption:

“The fact that we arrested a number of rabbis this morning does not make this a religiously motivated case. Nor does the fact that we arrested political figures make this a politically motivated case,” Dun said. “This case is not about politics. It is certainly not about religion. It is about crime and corruption. It is about arrogance, and it is about a shocking betrayal of the public trust. It is about criminals who used politics and religion to engage in criminal activities and enrich themselves while betraying those who trusted them.”

One would hope that today’s arrests lead to a renewed effort to tighten ethics rules and strengthen penalties in corruption cases. With each public official under indictment, the fog of suspicion grows, trust weakens and the work of government — the public’s work — becomes that much more difficult to accomplish.

It is over for the Mets this season

The title of this post says it all, but what else can I say? The Phillies are hot and not likely to go into a tailspin, the Mets can’t get out of their own way (losing two of three to the Nationals?), the Braves seem rejuvenated and the Marlins remain in the hunt.

It wasn’t supposed to go this way, but injuries, ineffective pitching (Ollie Perez’ meltdown, Mike Pelfrey’s inconsistency, and injuries to John Maine and JJ Putz), sleeping bats and all-around bad play have conspired to make this a lost season.

Omar Minaya says the team will be buyers as the deadline approaches, but I think Joel Sherman is right: start planning for next season. Put Brian Schneider, Gary Sheffield, Luis Castillo and Livan Hernandez on the block. Assume you’re going into the season with your core of Reyes, Wright and Beltran, offer a contract to Jeff Francouer, find a No. 2 starter so you can slot Pelfrey No. 3 and Maine and Perez four and five and find out about the following players:

Omir Santos: He appears to be good enough defensively, but can he hit longterm. After a good start with the big club, he’s slumped. Let’s find out what he can do.
Jon Niese: Give him a shot in the rotation. Livan Hernandez is nothing more than a stop and could bring back a prospect or two.
Daniel Murphy: Let him play everyday at first until Carlos Delgado gets back and them send him to left again and leave him out there. We need to know if he is an everyday hitter.
Nick Evans: Make him the first bat off the bench and give him some time at first and in the outfield.

As for the offseason, go hard after Orlando Hudson, who is the kind of hard-nosed player and clubhouse guy this team desperately needs. And find another bat.

Jerry Manuel, Omar Minaya and Tony Bernazard — the team’s braintrust — appear safe. But Manuel, in particular, should have the shortest of leashes and Bernazard should be cut loose. And Minaya should be put on notice that his team must produce at least a playoff berth next year or he’ll be looking for work.

All in all, this has been as disappointing a season as I can remember in years — coming on the heels of a pair of huge disappointments.

Poll positions: A GOP firm issues its own numbers

OK, so we have another poll showing us something we already know — voters in New Jersey are not happy with the governor and, at least at the moment, ready to hand the reins off to his Republican challenger.

But the poll in question — conducted by Strategic Vision — may not be the best one to hang one’s hat on, primarily because of two things:

Strategic Visions has among its clients a bevy of conservative groups, including U.S. English and is run by a former campaign operative for Bob Dole’s presidential race.
The other issue with the poll results can be seen in this bit of info:

The results of the poll also showed that 50 percent of those polled approved of President Barack Obama’s overall job performance, with 40 percent disapproving; and 10 percent undecided. When asked if they approved of the President’s handling of the economy, 47 percent approved and 45 percent disapproved.

That means that Strategic Visions has Obama at about 10-12 percentage points below what other New Jersey polls have shown, and may explain why a race that most polls have at about a 7-or-so-point gap is at 15 points in this poll.

I have one other major question: Who commissioned this poll? Strategic Vision does not appear to function as the Gallup, Monmouth or Fairleigh Dickinson polls do. They seem, from their own literature, to be client-driven. So who’s the client in this case?

This description of the polling firm from a 2006 Media Matters piece may shed some light:

Far from being “independent,” Strategic Vision is a Republican polling firm. Johnson, the company’s founder and CEO, worked on former Sen. Bob Dole’s (R-KS) 1988 presidential campaign. Johnson’s personal website — which identifies Johnson at the top as a “Republican conservative” — further notes that while working “at Associated Industries of Florida, he assisted in the development of the association’s political operations department that played a pivotal role in Republicans capturing the State Senate in 1994 and State House in 1996.” Johnson was also involved in Republican Florida governor Jeb Bush’s first gubernatorial campaign. Most media outlets identify Strategic Vision as a “Republican polling company,” such as a March 13 Philadelphia Inquirer article. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted on March 12 that Strategic Vision “has a Republican history,” and the company’s hometown paper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, noted in a March 13 article that the “polling firm lists to the GOP side.”

No one would be foolish enough to argue that Corzine is actually leading or that the race is particularly close. But the prevalence of polling in the coverage, especially when polls like this one get the headlines, tend to create a momentum of their own, making the election results seem a forgone conclusion.

As reporters, we need to be very careful to identify those polls that are most reliable and, should we opt to use polls from places like Strategic Vision, make sure we identify who the polling firm is and take as close a look as we can at the results and how they match up with other more reliable polls.

All I’m asking for is a little respect, just a little bit

We haven’t even gotten out of July and we’re being subjected to this kind of nonsense. The state is facing a massive deficit, has been for ears, one created in a bipartisan manner through the use of shell games and risk avoidance, and Chris Christie wants the governor to accept responsibility for everything and to resign in shame? Please.

Can we treat voters with some respect? Jon Corzine has made little headwa toward fixing the state’s fiscal disaster, but Christie has offered nothing and the voters deserve a debate over what kinds of sacrifices will need to be made — whether it means higher taxes, an unprecedented slashing of services (many of which are popular), historic government restructuring or all of the above.

Mr. Christie has a responsibility at this point to explain what he would cut, who it would affect and why he thinks we can do without. His vague talk has been designed to avoid angering voters, but that should not be his goal. If he thinks he can do a better job governing the state of New Jersey — and it is very possible that he can — he needs to explain what he would do differently than Gov. Corzine and not just talk about making tough choices.