The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
The PolitickerNJ Interview: Bell on Fox: ‘If you get Jamie Fox out of Democratic Party strategizing, that’s a service for the Republican Party’
Jeff Bell knows Jamie Fox. The Republican nominee for U.S. Senate met the new Department of Transportation (DOT) commissioner over a decade ago. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
Meet the U.S. Senate Candidate Running to Restore the Gold Standard in a Deep Blue Northeastern State
For conservatives, libertarians, independents and disaffected Democrats, the most intriguing dark horse senatorial candidate in 2014 might just be a 70-year old New Jerseyan you’ve never heard of.
When Jeff Bell last won election – as the Republican nominee for the same U.S. Senate seat he seeks today in New Jersey – Jimmy Carter had not yet delivered his infamous “malaise” speech. Long-term interest rates hovered above 8%. Bell’s current opponent, Senator Cory Booker, was a child.
A self described “policy wonk” and “political junkie,” Bell unseated incumbent Republican senator, Clifford Case, in a major upset in that 1978 primary, before losing the general election to former NBA star and future presidential candidate Bill Bradley. No Republican has ever been elected to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey since.
In 1982, the then-39 year old Columbia graduate, who started contributing to National Review in the 1960s, served as an aide to the Nixon campaign in 1968; fought in Vietnam; worked on the 1976 and 1980 Reagan campaigns; and would attempt — unsuccessfully — to secure the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in New Jersey again following the resignation of a Democratic senator convicted for bribery and conspiracy in the Abscam scandal fictionalized in the 2013 film, “American Hustle.”
While he would notably later serve as national campaign coordinator for Rep. Jack Kemp in his 2000 presidential bid, the majority of Bell’s career was spent focusing on advancing policy over politics. Bell served a short stint as president of the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, as well as lengthier tenures at an economic and political forecasting firm, Lehrman Bell Mueller Canon, a public affairs firm, Capital City Partners, and in academia as a fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and visiting professor at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute.
Bell also wrote columns for publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Weekly Standard, and published two books including the 2012 title, “The Case for Polarized Politics: Why America Needs Social Conservatism,” and the 1992 title “Populism and Elitism: Politics in the Age of Equality.”
https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/09/17/meet-the-u-s-senate-candidate-running-to-restore-the-gold-standard-in-a-deep-blue-northeastern-state/
or perhaps President Obama’s Teleprompter because Booker always says the same failed policies
U.S. Senate race: Bell wants Gill at a podium to sub for Booker in three debates
Irritated at U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) for resisting two debate forums, Republican challenger Jeff Bell said he wants a substitute showdown with Booker Campaign Manager Brendan Gill, an Essex County Freeholder and the former state director for the late U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)
https://www.politickernj.com/
On the Campaign Trail with Jeff Bell
Republican upstart hopes to ride economic plan and anti-incumbent sentiment into the Senate
BY: Mary Lou Byrd
September 15, 2014 5:00 am
Voter discontent and anti-incumbency sentiment will be factors in the race between Republican Jeff Bell and Cory Booker (D., N.J.) in November, which is surprisingly tight despite the incumbent Democrat’s national popularity.
Bell has stepped up his campaigning and continued to push his economic agenda, which he believes will restore prosperity to the middle class, revive the economy, help small businesses, and create jobs. He has also addressed the threat of Islamic terrorism on the campaign trail.
Speaking at a GOP meeting in Lakewood days before President Barack Obama’s Oval Office speech on the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS), Bell spoke of President Ronald Reagan and cited the stark difference between Reagan and Obama.
Reagan “believed in our values,” Bell said. “He was loyal to our allies and other countries knew that.”
“The only thing we should be thinking about is how do we kill the killers before they come here,” Bell said. “Christians, Jews and minorities are being eradicated,” he said, and Obama’s administration is “anti-Israel” and has showed “passivity in the Middle East.”
Bell then turned to his economic plan, which calls for a return to a gold-backed dollar. It would be the first time in 43 years the greenback was backed by gold.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/on-the-campaign-trail-with-jeff-bell/
Cory Booker in Ridgewood , by Boyd Loving
Cory Booker and big bucks: Perfect together
Sharpen your pencils, boys and girls. Here’s a little quiz:
Last spring the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission that removed the limit on total campaign contributions by an individual.
In response, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker issued a news release that included the following sentence:
“This ruling further concentrates power in the hands of the very wealthy and enhances their ability to dramatically influence elections.”
Here’s the question: Was Booker praising the court’s decision or panning it?
After last week, I’m not sure. On Thursday, the Democratic candidate for re-election released his financial statement for 2013. The report offers further proof that Booker has as much talent as anyone on the American political scene when it comes to taking money out of the hands of the very wealthy and depositing it in his own pockets.
We already knew that Booker was among the very best at getting campaign contributions. He ranks No. 2 on the Center for Responsive Politics “Who Raised the Most?” list for senators, with a staggering $16,171,449 raised in the current cycle. The top three types of contributors were big law firms, big investment firms and big real estate interests.
https://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/08/cory_booker_and_big_bucks_perfect_together_mulshine.html#incart_river#incart_hbx#incart_best-of
The Most Interesting Candidate in the World
Column: Jeff Bell and the Republican future
BY: Matthew Continetti
August 15, 2014 5:00 am
Jeff Bell was a reform conservative before it was cool. He’s spent his career arguing with a risk-averse Republican establishment. He pushed Ronald Reagan to embrace the supply-side doctrine of tax cuts before deficit reduction. He spent the 1990s warning the GOP that its tax policy favored investment capital over human capital, corporate interests over working families. He designed a family-friendly flat tax that reduced payroll taxes, increased the child tax credit, taxed capital gains and regular income at the same rate, and ended business expensing. Payroll tax relief and a generous child tax credit are elements of today’s reform conservatism. Bell was there first.
Bell’s career has been a mix of thought and action. He was born and raised in New Jersey, and graduated from Columbia University. He fought in Vietnam. He was an aide to Richard Nixon and to Ronald Reagan, and was active in the conservative movement more generally. In 1978, he upset liberal Republican Clifford Case in the New Jersey Senate primary, losing to Bill Bradley in the general election. He’s the rare political consultant whose views of the world are more expansive than those expressed on Morning Joe.
https://freebeacon.com/columns/the-most-interesting-candidate-in-the-world/
Opinion: Bell moving up
A new poll shows a little-known Republican is closer than expected early in his run for U.S. Senate in New Jersey against incumbent Democrat Cory Booker. (The Jersey Journal)
https://www.nj.com/opinion/
Jackson: Is Booker hearing footsteps?
AUGUST 10, 2014, 6:00 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014, 11:39 PM
BY HERB JACKSON
RECORD COLUMNIST
THE RECORD
Sen. Cory Booker last year saw what ignoring a little-known opponent can do. He was slammed for not winning a special election by the landslide his celebrity and overwhelming financial advantage suggested was possible.
Now he’s running again, and a new poll shows him under the 50 percent mark that signifies a safe incumbent. And that’s with virtually unknown and underfunded Republican opponent Jeff Bell trailing by just 10 points.
So once again, Booker faces questions about expectations.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Booker would receive 47 percent of the vote and Bell 37 percent if the election were held now. The poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points, meaning Booker’s true support could be as low as 44.1 or as high as 49.9.
Bell, the surprise winner of June’s low-turnout primary, who also won an upset in the June 1978 Senate primary, is almost within striking distance — even though 77 percent of voters haven’t heard of him and his latest disclosure report shows his campaign $46,000 in debt, while Booker’s campaign has $3.5 million to spend.
The poll’s findings caught the attention of some national political writers who were focusing on other states in this year’s Senate races, but there is also historical evidence that a truly competitive race from Bell could be just a mirage. Summer polls, taken before candidates start advertising and voters pay attention, have been off the mark before.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/jackson-is-booker-hearing-footsteps-1.1065293#sthash.Bi1g1E2n.dpuf
Reader Says Booker turned out to be a massive disappointment.
Newark, run by Sharpe James, was the Zimbabwe of America. Despite what seemed like massive obstacles, this bright and seemingly inteligent man took on the James machine and finally took over. Hope for Newark, right? Not so fast. The unthinkable happened and Newark’s terrible statistics actually got worse. Then, we entered an alternate universe. Booker’s abysmal performance as Mayor was completely ignored, and he was picked up on the national radar, heading for bigger and brighter things. The man is an empty suit with a good media personality.
We get the policians we deserve.
NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell Releases his Tax Returns ask Cory Booker to do the Same
“I’ve been open and transparent by releasing my tax returns. It’s time for Sen. Booker to do the same.” Jeff Bell
https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/republican_us_senate_candidate_jeff_bell_releases_tax_returns_urges_booker_to_do_the_same.html
Cory Booker
New York Post Editorial Page
Below is an editorial in today’s New York Post, accessible here.
“Cory Booker’s scary big lead”
Normally, Cory Booker would be feeling pretty confident, given his 20-point lead over GOP challenger Jeffrey Bell.
But a closer look at the latest poll numbers suggests Booker may have a rougher ride to re-election than anyone anticipated.
That’s because the New Jersey senator’s support clocks in at just 43 percent. The same poll, by the Monmouth University-Asbury Park Press, has more than a third of voters saying it’s time for a change, though Booker’s been in office only eight months.
Fully 15 percent — including one in eight Democrats — say they would vote for a third-party candidate. This, even though the same voters generally approve of Booker’s job performance. In other words, his support remains strikingly soft.
Some of this, no doubt, reflects the general defensiveness of Democratic senators up for re-election this year. But some also suggests voters have concluded Booker’s been more hype than substance. Newark, for example, just elected one of his harshest critics to succeed him as mayor.
Granted, challenger Jeff Bell, a Reagan speechwriter-turned-tax-reform-activist, last ran for office in 1982. On top of this, statewide Republican candidates — particularly conservatives — historically have faced an uphill climb in Jersey.
But another conservative, Steve Lonegan, lost to Booker last fall by just 11 percentage points, a much closer margin than people expected. And that was without any help from the Republican National Committee.
If Bell can make his case for the middle class — and get the financial support he needs from the national party — he may make this race competitive yet.
Don’t Forget to Vote
Important Primaries – Tuesday June 3rd
Polls Open 6am – 8pm
by NJTPC
These are the candidates on the ballot in the contested primary elections:
2014 New Jersey Republican Primary Senatorial Candidates in alphabetical order.
Winner of the Republican Primary runs against Senator Cory Booker in November 2014
Jeff Bell | New Jersey Senatorial Candidate
Political consultant, 1978 U.S. Senate nominee, 1982 U.S. Senate nominee
Declared Republican Candidate Bell campaign website: https://bell2014.com/
Brian Goldberg | New Jersey Senatorial Candidate
Businessman
Declared Republican Candidate
Goldberg campaign website: https://www.goldberg2014.com/
Rich Pezzullo | New Jersey Senatorial Candidate
Businessman and 1996 Conservative Party candidate for the U.S. Senate
Pezzullo campaign website: https://www.pezzullo.com/
Murray Sabrin | New Jersey Senatorial Candidate
Professor at Ramapo College and former candidate for the U.S. Senate
Declared Republican Candidate
Sabrin campaign website: https://murraysabrin2014.com/
Source: https://new-jersey.state-
5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
Incumbent Republican Congressman Scott Garrett is running unopposed in seeking another two-year term in office. Democrat Roy Cho, of Hackensack, faces LaRouche Democrat candidate Diane Sare for nomination.
Check out other candidates for Congressional Districts here:https://www.politics1.com/nj.
BERGEN COUNTY FREEHOLDER
In the Democratic primary, incumbents Joan Voss and David Ganz are unopposed in seeking the nomination for three-year terms. The Republican primary offers three candidates seeking two nominations: Bernadette Walsh, Robert Avery and Deidre Paul.
Source: https://www.nj.com/bergen/