file photo Sweeney & Prieto
By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 25, 2016 at 5:11 PM
TRENTON — New Jersey’s public pension fund is shakier than all but two U.S. states also known for their notoriously underfunded retirement systems, according to a new comparison by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The pension fund was just 42 percent funded in 2014, based on the latest data available for 238 retirement plans in 50 states, Pew said.
Illinois and Kentucky were each only 41 percent funded. Only three states — South Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin — were more than 100 percent funded.
“Then in February the FDA rejected Teva’s generic EpiPen application. In June the FDA required a San Diego-based company called Adamis to expand patient trials and reliability studies for still another auto-injector rival.
Mrs. Clinton claims the EpiPen price hikes show the need for price controls, and she says she’ll require drug makers to “prove that any additional costs are linked to additional patient benefits and better value.”
The government thwarts competition, and so a life-saving Epi-Pen costs $500 where it was just $100 in 2008. When you have a monopoly, you can charge anything you like. The solution is not government price controls, Hillary, but increased competition.
Alieta Eck, MD For Real Health Care Reform
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 1:32 PM ET, Thu August 25, 2016
Washington (CNN)The incredible increase in the cost of EpiPens, auto-injectors that can stop life-threatening emergencies caused by allergic reactions, has hit home on Capitol Hill.
One Democratic senator whose daughter has allergies has called for action and another Democratic senator’s daughter is CEO of the company responsible for the price hike.
Sen. Joe Manchin said Thursday Mylan, the company which manufactures Epipens which is headed by his daughter, is responding to constituent and lawmaker questions.
“I am aware of the questions my colleagues and many parents are asking and frankly I share their concerns about the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs,” the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement. “Today I heard Mylan’s initial response, and I am sure Mylan will have a more comprehensive and formal response to those questions.”
His daughter, Heather Bresch who is Mylan’s CEO, announced Thursday the company is taking steps to make the product more affordable, including providing $300 savings cards to cut the price in half, though she told CNBC the health care “system” needed to be fixed.
Half of American voters think labor unions have an outsized role in the country’s politics, a new poll has found.
Additionally, according to a new survey from Rasmussen Reports, 57 percent of respondents say union leaders are out of touch with their members. Just one in five Americans believe labor executives do a good job representing union members.
The same rate of of respondents who are now or have ever been union members said union leaders are out of touch and the groups have too much political clout. One in three current or former union members say unions do not have enough influence, compared to one in four among the general population and just one in five among non-union members.
Democrats are, unsurprisingly, much more sympathetic to unions and their leaders. Just one-third of the more labor-friendly party think the groups have too much influence, while nearly 70 percent of Republicans say the same.
By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 09, 2016 at 7:30 AM, updated August 09, 2016 at 7:56 AM
TRENTON — With a ballot question asking voters to constitutionally guarantee state payments into the public worker pension fund dead on arrival this year, the head of the state’s largest teachers’ union suggested that Senate PresidentStephen Sweeney’s likely 2017 gubernatorial campaign will meet the same fate.
Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, stopped short on Monday of calling Sweeney’s refusal to post the measure for a vote ahead of a Monday’s deadline to get it on the ballot this year a deal breaker.
But he was also clear about the NJEA’s priorities — more specifically, its top agenda item.
“Our No. 1 priority has been passing this constitutional amendment,” Wendell said.
“I’m telling you that we will certainly send out a questionnaire to all of the candidates and we will screen all of them,” he said. “But we are definitely going to get involved in the primaries this year.”
The NJEA, FOP and other public-sector labor unions are attempting to influence the legislative process with campaign donations? Wow, there’s a surprise. Union thugs have destroyed NJ’s economy and made property taxes so unreasonable that the state suffers from net migration out and an economy that lags the recovery in surrounding states. The unions and their paid-for cheerleaders in Trenton are 100% to blame, they are driven by shameless greed.
Plot Thickens in Monmouth as Ousted Republican Goes on the Attack
Early signs that Monmouth County will be one of the crucial proving grounds for a badly wounded Republican party in 2017 emerged Friday, as former Republican Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini called for her Democratic successors to acknowledge their ties to the NJEA. Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) called for state and federal investigations of the group this week after the state’s largest teachers’ union threatened to withhold campaign cash from state Democrats. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more https://politickernj.com/2016/08/plot-thickens-in-monmouth-as-ousted-republican-goes-on-the-attack/
The union representing New Jersey teachers has told Democratic Party leaders that it will not make any campaign contributions this year until the Senate votes on a constitutional amendment requiring that the state make quarterly payments to the public employee pension fund, a top Democratic official confirmed Tuesday. John C. Ensslin, The Record Read more
When the transparency fetishist site Wikileaks released some 20,000 emails that were either hacked or leaked from the DNC on Friday July 22, most focused on identifying the source and punishing Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for blatant favoritism of Hillary Clinton at the expense of Bernie Sanders. Ken Kurson, PolitickerNJ Read more
PHILADELPHIA — Democrats are worried about Hillary Clinton’s inability to separate herself fromDonald Trump in the polls, even after what they believe was a largely successful convention that represented a real step toward party unity.
Clinton is hoping for a big post-convention boost, but the reality right now is that she in behind Trump in the polls, and has been in a relatively tight race for weeks.
While the Electoral College may give her an advantage, party leaders and strategists say they remain concerned that Clinton is a tough sell when a majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track and want to shake up Washington.
“The most important thing is there is a bias for change and there’s an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll where people express that bias even when they don’t know what the change is going to be,” said Geoff Garin, a pollster who worked for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and now advises Priorities USA, a pro-Clinton super PAC.
That July survey showed a majority of voters, 56 percent, prefer someone who will bring major changes to government even if they don’t know what those changes will be. Only 46 percent wanted a candidate who would bring a steady approach to government.
It helps explain Trump’s success, and the strong challenge to Clinton in the Democratic primary from Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Away from the hoopla of the Wells Fargo, Democratic officials and strategists say it’s a major concern.
Ridgewood NJ, The Democratic National Convention has been the talk of the week and has dominated the news cycle. Top Democrats from around the nation have assembled to fall in line with their party and unite behind their nominee.
But where is Mr. Gottheimer?
For someone so active on social media, you would think that he would post something about the convention. Why is it such a mystery if he is there or not? He has never shied away from a good photo opportunity with Democrat officials. People deserve to know his reasoning for either being there or not.
The Convention has been the center of a great deal of controversy – from protests to the recent emails that show that the Democrat Party made sure that Hillary Clinton was chosen as their nominee. Perhaps Mr. Gottheimer does not want to be associated with that or maybe he does not want to speak out against his friend Hillary.
Trying to distance himself from his relations to the Clintons could be the driving force in this. Warren and Sussex Counties were the only places in the entire state that Hillary did not win in the New Jersey Primary. He could be using his relationship only when it benefits him, like at fundraisers, and avoid them when it hurts.
Mr. Gottheimer needs to address whether he is in Philadelphia or not. It is important for the people of the 5th District to know where he stands. Is he a part of a convention that has gravitated to the far left in adopting socialist policies, has failed to address the issue of Radical Islamic Terror, or has protested the very existence of Israel?
If Mr. Gottheimer is not currently in Philadelphia, or if he is not planning on attending at all, then he should clarify that point. Is it that he does not want to support his mentors Bill and Hillary? Are there parts of his own party that he is avoiding?
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – The head of the Democratic Party resigned on Sunday amid a furor over embarrassing leaked emails, hoping to head off a growing rebellion by Bernie Sanders supporters on the eve of the convention to nominate Hillary Clinton for the White House.
Lingering bitterness from the heated primary campaign between Clinton and Sanders erupted after more than 19,000 Democratic National Committee emails, leaked on Friday, confirmed Sanders’ frequent charge that the party played favorites in the race.
In a statement, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the best way for the party to accomplish its goal of putting Clinton in the White House was for her to step aside. Sanders had demanded earlier in the day that Wasserman Schultz resign.
The furor was a blow to a party keen on projecting stability in contrast to the volatility of Republican candidate Donald Trump, who was formally nominated at a raucous convention in Cleveland last week.
It also overshadowed preparations in Philadelphia for Clinton’s coronation as the nominee to face Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election. She will be the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.
The four-day Democratic convention will open on Monday. In some good news for Clinton, The New York Times reported that businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will endorse her in a prime-time speech on Monday, saying she will be the best choice for moderate voters in 2016.
The cache of emails leaked on Friday by the WikiLeaks website disclosed that DNC officials explored ways to undermine Sanders’ insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was really an atheist.
Sanders said Wasserman Schultz, a U.S. representative from Florida, had made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party. “The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race,” he said.
By Theodore Schleifer, Eugene Scott and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
(CNN)The head of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at the party’s convention next week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced that raised questions about the committee’s impartiality during the Democratic primary.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, will not have a major speaking role in an effort “to keep the peace” in the party, a Democrat familiar with the decision said. The revelation comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails
One email appears to show DNC staffers asking how they can reference Bernie Sanders’ faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters. Another seems to depict an attorney advising the committee on how to defend Hillary Clinton against an accusation by the Sanders campaign of not living up to a joint fundraising agreement.
Wasserman Schultz is expected to gavel the convention in and out, but not speak in the wake of the controversy surrounding the leaked emails, a top Democrat said.
“She’s been quarantined,” another top Democrat said, following a meeting Saturday night.
EXCLUSIVE: Democratic National Committeewoman says her party is ‘clearing a path’ for Hillary because ‘the women in charge’ want it that way
Female member of the Democratic Party’s controlling body spoke to Daily Mail Online in Las Vegas following Tuesday’s primary debate She rattled off a list of women at the top of the party hierarchy and said two vice chairs helped craft a decision this summer to favor Clinton The committeewoman warned her party could promote Hillary ‘because she’s a woman, and risk having her implode after she’s nominated’ The Democratic National Committee insisted that it ‘runs an impartial primary process, period’ But it has sanctioned just six debates this time around; Democratic presidential candidates had to survive 27 of them in 2007-08 DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz campaigned for Hillary in 2008 when she last ran for the presidency See our full coverage of Hillary Clinton and her presidential bid
By DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
PUBLISHED: 11:20 EST, 15 October 2015 | UPDATED: 09:57 EST, 16 October 2015
The Democratic National Committee is ‘clearing a path’ for Hillary Clinton to be its presidential nominee because its upper power echelons are populated with women, according to a female committee member who was in Las Vegas for Tuesday’s primary debate.
Speaking on the condition that she isn’t identified, she told Daily Mail Online that the party is in the tank for Clinton, and the women who run the organization decided it ‘early on.’
The committeewoman is supporting one of Hillary’s rivals for the Democratic nomination, and said she spoke freely because she believes the former Secretary of State is benefiting from unfair favoritism inside the party.
Clinton aims to be the first female to occupy the Oval Office, and ‘the party’s female leaders really want to make a woman the next president,’ the committeewoman said, rattling off a list of the women who she said are the ‘real power’ in the organization.
‘I haven’t heard anyone say we should make Hillary undergo a trial by fire,’ she added. ‘To the contrary, the women in charge seem eager, more and more, to have her skate into the general [election].’
‘I have nothing against women in politics,’ she underscored. ‘But it’s not healthy for the party if we get behind a woman because she’s a woman, and risk having her implode after she’s nominated because she isn’t tested enough now.’
A top staffer at the Democratic National Committee has apologized after suggesting that the organization use Bernie Sanders’ religious beliefs against him in the Democratic primary.
One email among the thousands of internal DNC messages released this week by Wikileaks showed DNC CFO Brad Marshall questioning Sanders’ Jewish faith, and suggested that painting the candidate as an atheist “could make several points difference” in several late primary contests.
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“It might may (sic) no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” Marshall wrote in a message to several DNC communications directors.
The message does not mention Sanders by name, but he was the only Jewish candidate, and the email came shortly before the Kentucky and West Virginia Democratic primaries.
A compromise forged between Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic legislative leaders several years ago let undocumented immigrant students living in New Jersey qualify for in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities. But many haven’t been able to take advantage of the lower rates since they continue to be locked out of state-administered financial-aid programs. John Reitmeyer, NJSpotlight Read more
