Politics
Nonprofits sending vote-by-mail applications to 2M+ voters
New Jersey’s mostly-mail 2020 elections shattered turnout records, and two nonprofits are looking to replicate the trend in this year’s races. The Voter Participation Center and its sister organization, the Center for Voter Information, last week announced they would mail more than 2.4 million vote-by-mail applications to New Jersey voters in advance of November. The […]
Progressive activists call for investigation into senator for alleged ‘no-show job’
Sen. Nicholas Scutari, who was the subject of several investigations into his job as Linden’s prosecutor, is facing intensifying criticism, now from a group of progressive Democrat activists who want the state’s Joint Legislative Committee of Ethical Standards to probe Scutari’s actions. One of the activists behind the ethics probe demand, Sue Altman, director of […]
In digital campaign ads, Murphy talks Trump, Ciattarelli cites crime
New Jersey’s gubernatorial candidates have embraced divergent digital advertising strategies in the aftermath of June’s primary, with challenger Jack Ciattarelli aiming to boost his name recognition while dinging Gov. Phil Murphy, who has kept his own online spots geared to message testing almost exclusively. The Republican challenger has focused much of his messaging on crime, […]
Another town poised to join others moving local elections to November
When a 2011 law went into effect allowing certain New Jersey towns to move their May local elections to November, 86 municipalities held their nonpartisan races in the spring. That number has fallen to just 41, and the outlook for May races has improved little in recent years. Jersey City voters moved their elections to […]
N.J. continuously failed to keep women prisoners safe from sexual abuse, DOJ says
After years of repeated sexual abuse committed at the hands of corrections officers in the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, New Jersey officials reached an agreement with the federal government to overhaul the women’s prison system. On Tuesday the U.S. Department of Justice announced new reforms would be implemented at Edna Mahan, the state’s only women’s […]
N.J. cops can’t share immigration info with feds, appeals court decides
New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, an order restricting authorities from sharing immigration information with federal officials, has been upheld by a federal appeals court, ending a legal battle between the state and two counties. The three-judge panel rejected the counties’ arguments that federal law pre-empts New Jersey from implementing the directive, which immigrant advocates say has […]
N.J. lawmakers pepper Congress with pleas for SALT tax break
WASHINGTON—Congress could soon have a chance to restore tax breaks that would especially benefit New Jersey residents, and the state’s congressional delegation is making sure that everyone on Capitol Hill knows how important the issue is to people in their districts. The push is to reinstate a federal tax deduction that disproportionately helps Americans living […]
In Allen, Ciattarelli finds a champion for women
Diane Allen was already a trailblazer when she first ran for the Legislature in 1995. Allen, now Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli’s pick for lieutenant governor, had given up her role as a news anchor at a Philadelphia-based CBS news affiliate a year earlier after reaching a settlement with the broadcaster over age and gender […]
As eviction moratoriums change, who is protected in N.J.?
Moratoriums and executive orders put in place to keep renters in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic are expiring across the country while health concerns and high unemployment rates continue. But even as the Centers for Disease Control reinstates a 60-day eviction ban for parts of the country — a ban President Joe Biden has […]
State legislators rally in D.C., urge Congress to act on voting rights
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Democrats joined with dozens of state legislators at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol Tuesday afternoon, demanding that the Senate skip August recess and pass critical voting rights legislation in reaction to Republican-led states that have adopted restrictive voting laws. Dozens of legislators from North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Texas, among others, […]
Murphy calls on Cuomo to resign over sexual harassment claims
Gov. Phil Murphy joined the chorus of Democrats Tuesday urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York to resign over an investigation that found Cuomo broke federal and state laws and engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment targeting 11 women. Murphy issued his call in a brief joint statement Tuesday night with Democratic Govs. Tom […]
Questionable fundraising tactics bleed into gubernatorial race
Questionable fundraising tactics have found a home in the race for New Jersey’s governorship. Candidates on both sides of the aisle have sent emails with urgent, personal pleas from the candidates that warn of arbitrary deadlines. Though the campaigns have steered clear from some of the more pernicious fundraising tactics, their email entreaties sometimes veer […]