News : POLITICO New Jersey Playbook: A campaign against Payne

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

POLITICO New Jersey Playbook: A campaign against Payne

Jul 07, 2021

Good Wednesday morning!

Rep. Don Payne Jr. is getting a primary challenge to his left.

Imani Oakley, a progressive activist who has worked for Sen. Cory Booker, Assemblymember Britnee Timberlake and the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, announced early yesterday that she would challenge Payne, a Democrat who has represented the district since 2012.

Any challenge to Payne will be an uphill battle. While he raises little money and has received some embarrassing headlines recently — showing up to a virtual hearing in his underwear and voting almost entirely remotely for the past year and a half — someone with the surname "Payne" has represented the 10th Congressional District since the late 1980s. And Payne is all but guaranteed to run on the coveted "party line," which will give him advantageous placement on the ballot.

The 2020 primaries also saw several progressive challengers looking for similar upsets against established New Jersey congressional Democrats. All failed by large margins.

But Oakley says that now is her time.

"New Jersey's 10th District deserves a Representative in Congress who isn't afraid to take on the establishment, stand up for democracy, and fight for marginalized communities," Oakley said in the press release announcing her candidacy. "However, despite pressing issues around health, housing, and safety, we haven't had that."

WHERE'S MURPHY?: Joining African American faith leaders for an announcement in Newark at 9:30 a.m., holding a coronavirus briefing at the George Washington Ballroom in Trenton at 1 p.m.

BRUCE NEWS OF THE DAY — "Bruce Springsteen's daughter makes Olympic equestrian team."

WHAT TRENTON MADE

SOME GOOD NEWS! — New Jersey reports no new Covid-related deaths, by POLITICO's Carly Sitrin: For the first time since the pandemic began in March 2020, New Jersey health officials on Tuesday reported no confirmed Covid-related deaths in the state. "We're reporting zero new confirmed COVID-19 deaths in New Jersey today," Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted on Tuesday, adding, "there's only one way to make sure we have more days like today: Get vaccinated." The state previously reported no in-hospital deaths on July 30, 2020 and June 25, 2021. There have been 23,774 confirmed Covid-related deaths statewide with another 2,703 deaths deemed "probable."

NJ TRANSIT — "Why NY, NJ and CT are warring over how to split $14B in transit aid (and it's been months)," by the Record's Colleen Wilson: "Imagine there's a sandbox where the transit agencies from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are supposed to be playing nicely together. Except, in this sandbox, there's $14.2 billion that needs to be shared. Let's just say not everyone is playing nicely. The states have been at war for six months over the federal stimulus funds from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), according to letters penned between the state agencies and obtained through a public information request. New Jersey and Connecticut say they are in agreement about how the funds should be split. New York says it deserves a larger share of the money. If New York gets its way, the agencies that serve New Jersey and Connecticut commuters — many of whom work in New York — could lose out on hundreds of millions."

— "NJ Transit reduced overtime in 2020 but some still doubled their salaries"

THAT'S A LOT OF LEFTOVERS — Incumbent lawmakers head into general election with $9.6M left over from primaries, by POLITICO's Daniel Han: Incumbent state lawmakers are heading into the general election with $9.6 million in leftover cash from the primary — a strong advantage over challengers, according to preliminary data from New Jersey's Election Law Enforcement Commission. There is about $10.5 million in unspent campaign money from legislative primaries that candidates can roll over to their general election campaigns. Of that figure, incumbents have access to $9.6 million while challengers have just $920,556 remaining, according to ELEC's post-election reports. "One advantage of being an incumbent is you usually have a much easier time raising campaign funds. We are seeing the same trend this year," ELEC's executive director Jeff Brindle said in a statement. "The incumbent advantage is clearly reflected in this year's numbers. Incumbents have ten times more cash in reserve than challengers."

BUDGET — "Ten years and more than 50% bigger. How NJ's budget has grown," by NJ Spotlight's John Reitmeyer: "What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, New Jersey's governor at the time, Chris Christie, used his line-item veto powers to keep total state spending under $30 billion after lawmakers sought to increase the budget by nearly $1 billion. But last week, current Gov. Phil Murphy signed a new state budget that included all the Legislature's proposed add-ons, pushing total spending to a record high of $46.4 billion. Christie's budget cuts came as New Jersey was still struggling to recover from the 2007-2009 Great Recession, and as the two-term Republican was attempting to shift the focus in Trenton to fiscal discipline and lower taxes."

— Craig Coughlin: "OPINION: I fought for $100M to get childcare back on track"

I LOVE CHERYL'S COMMITMENT IN THE FIRST FILE PHOTO — "Ban over, smokers lighting up again at Atlantic City casinos," by the AP's Wayne Parry: "Smoking is indeed back at the nine Atlantic City casinos. But not everyone is happy about it, and even the state's governor is hinting he might look favorably on a bill that would permanently ban it inside the gambling halls. Democrat Phil Murphy said last week, 'I would be very constructive on that,' stopping short of saying he would sign the legislation. Smoking foes are making a major push to eliminate the so-called 'casino loophole,' the one big exemption to New Jersey's law banning smoking in most indoor places, including restaurants and bars. They held a rally last week on the Boardwalk calling on the state's legislative leaders and Murphy to enact a permanent smoking ban in the casinos."

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BIDEN TIME

MORE ETHICS COMPLAINTS — "Malinowski faces another ethics complaint over late stock trade disclosures," by the New Jersey Globe's Nikita Biryukov: "A conservative non-profit filed another ethics complaint against Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) over his continued failure to comply with stock disclosure requirements imposed on members of Congress Tuesday. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust on Tuesday filed a second complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics over Malinowski's failure to timely disclose nine stock trades worth at least $186,000 in line with deadlines set under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. That law requires members report stock transactions 'within 30 days of notice of the transaction, but in no case later than 45 days after the transaction.' The latest trades were made in April, and Malinowski was notified of them at the end of that month. They weren't disclosed until June 12."

ALL THINGS ARE KIM-POSSIBLE — "DiMaso mulling challenge to Andy Kim in NJ-3," by the New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein: "Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R-Holmdel) is considering a challenge to Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) in New Jersey's 3rd district, the New Jersey Globe has learned. 'All things are possible,' said Tom Scarano, who managed DiMaso's recent re-election campaign. 'Everything is on the table. We're not ready to make any statements.' DiMaso, 58, lost her bid for renomination to a third term in the legislature last month after Monmouth County Republicans declined to support her for re-election. Holmdel Board of Education President Vicki Flynn defeated her by 1,955 votes. A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that former Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore has encouraged DiMaso to run against Kim. Gilmore was a paid political consultant to DiMaso's 2021 re-election campaign."

LOCAL

POLICING — "BLM activists criticize Paterson mayor for leaving council meeting before they spoke," by the Paterson Press' Joe Malinconico: "Mayor Andre Sayegh has come under criticism for leaving last week's City Council meeting before Black Lives Matter members had a chance to speak about Paterson's latest police brutality case. Sayegh walked out of Thursday night's meeting at the start of the public comment portion of the meeting. He left the room even though the council president, Maritza Davila, suggested he stay and listen to the residents who came to speak about the city's handling of the video-recorded incident that resulted in the arrest of Paterson Police Officer Spencer Finch … As a result, activists at the meeting added the mayor's departure to their list of grievances involving the Finch case. Several of them noted that Sayegh had gotten strong support from Paterson's African American community when he won the 2018 mayoral election."

LOCAL ELECTIONS — "Campaign to move Montclair's elections to the fall crosses key hurdle," by Montclair Local's Talia Wiener: "The group hoping to shift Montclair's municipal elections to the fall has collected enough signatures to force a ballot referendum on the matter, organizers say. A committee of five petitioners and advocacy group Vote Montclair plan to present the Montclair Township Clerk with the signatures Tuesday. If the clerk certifies their petition, voters will be asked in the November general election whether Montclair should continue holding its municipal elections in the spring, or move them to the fall, when most other elections are held. Montclair elections would remain non-partisan — which is to say there would be no primary races or party nominations."

— "After Surfside, Fulop to propose measures to protect waterfront high rises"

— " Shootings in Paterson spike, on track to outpace last year's number"

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EVERYTHING ELSE

UH, WHAT — 'They're good ghosts': A South Jersey school district ponders what to do with a vacant — some say haunted — school, by the Inky's Melanie Burney: "Shortly after the Elizabeth V. Edwards School closed in 2004, strange things began happening: ghost sightings, creaking sounds echoing in the halls of the empty building, music playing, and telephone ringings. Some locals believe the two-story school on North Main Street in Barnegat, Ocean County, is haunted by its namesake and other friendly ghosts. The supernatural encounters drew the attention several years ago of the Syfy network's Ghost Hunters, a reality show that follows paranormal investigators."

MEADOWLANDS — Meadowlands Racetrack posted some gaudy numbers during the first half of 2021, by NJ Online Gambling's John Brennan: "By 2018, the Meadowlands Racetrack clearly needed a shot in the arm from somewhere. In the first half of that year, 539 harness races went off on 52 race cards for a total handle of $110.1 million — an average of $2.1 million wagered per card and $204,367 per race. That was well off traditional norms for the track. In the first half of 2021, meanwhile, a total of $169 million was wagered on 51 programs, this time with 660 races. Even with the uptick in races, that worked out to an average daily handle of $3.3 million and a handle per race of $256,302. So what happened? Two key 'shots in the arm' is what happened."

— "N.J. becomes slightly more Republican in June"

— Lassiter: "A safer fix in Atlantic City"

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