INJ MIB 4/3/17  prepared for you
"Primaries can be very constructive experiences.  I welcome these sorts of things. You build infrastructure. I’ve found myself more concerned when you have no primary at all. A candidate gets lazy or hoards money or doesn’t do do grassroots stuff." - DNC Chair Tom Perez during his NJ visit on Friday

An Insider NJ column exploring the Cory Booker effect on the dynamics of the gubernatorial race

Test your knowledge and memory of the 2013 Christie v. Buono gubernatorial race. 
DNC Chair Tom Perez and Vice Chair Keith Ellison visited New Jersey, making appearances in Newark and in Monmouth. Insider NJ sat down Perez as he discussed Booker, Christie, and the gubernatorial race.

As Camden Mayor Dana Redd announces her decision not to seek re-election, Councilman Frank Moran steps up.  Rep. Norcross says he is "confident Council President Frank Moran is the right choice to continue to lead Camden forward."

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Johnson calls for the Election Law Enforcement Commission to investigate Phil Murphy for what he describes as 'dark money organizations' (read Murphy's response in the Diner Booth).  

Senator/Mayor  Brian Stack's approval rating in Union City stands at 84% with 4% disapproving.

In the first of an Insider NJ series, 'Who Do You Back for Governor', Insider NJ talks to a Freehold resident about his preferred candidate and why.  

And check out a copy of veteran GOP operative and Ciattarelli consultant Chris Russell's post-convention season memo in its entirety.  
As Jim Johnson calls for an investigation of Phil Murphy by ELEC, Murphy hit back calling Johnson a 'corporate attorney' and 'influence peddler'.  

Somerset County GOP Chairman Al Gaburo sounded off on fellow chairs at a steakhouse dinner meeting as the GOP primary dynamics between Guadagno and Ciattarelli gets increasingly volatile. Gaburo upbraided DiGaetano (Bergen), Panos (Middlesex), and Karavan (Cape May), while BurlCo chair Layton laced into Gilmore (Ocean) and Guadagno.  

The FDU College Republicans declared their support for GOP candidate Joe Rullo, for standing by President Trump's side while other Republicans fled during the campaign.  

Don't forget to take our Insider NJ Poll: Who should the Democrats run for Lieutenant Governor?
Senator Teresa Ruiz (Essex) held a fundraiser where insiders considered the dynamics of the Senate presidency and a potential pathway for Ruiz to ascend the top spot.  Sweeney has a solid block of North Jersey senators in his corner.  But Ruiz is key, for a lot of reasons.

Assemblyman Craig Coughlin, a likely future Speaker, raised $150k at a fundraiser where fellow Assemblyman and Union Chair Jerry Green praised Coughlin's leadership skills and ability to lead the Democratic caucus.  
Finding himself in a similar situation as the late Speaker Alan Karcher, who ran for Governor in 1989 without any party county lines, Senator Ray Lesniak formally certifies as a gubernatorial candidate and tells Insider NJ that his strategy is to 'go right to the people and convey a message through social media and the free press that the party is built on principle' and 'there's no turning back now'.

Check out Insider NJ's ranking of eleven great statewide contests of the last 56 years.  

In Newark, Essex County Freeholder Rolando Bobadilla yields to the reality of the organization going in a different direction (Bobby Mercado) and announces his retirement.  A source speculates that Bobadilla is 'too smart for the job' and noted his independent streak.  

In Elizabeth, Tony Monteiro writes a letter to state officials calling the proposed naming of a school after Mayor Bollwage a 'contemptuous act' and requested a review.  
Insider NJ columnist Alan Steinberg analyzes the emergence of Jack Ciattarelli as a competitive gubernatorial primary candidate with an analogous comparison to the pennant-winning 1951 New York Giants.

Insider NJ delves into the Cory Booker effect on the gubernatorial race.  
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   ABOUT INSIDER NJ

InsiderNJ is a nonpartisan website dedicated to political news in the state of New Jersey. Veteran award-winning reporter and editor Max Pizarro is contractually in charge of all news content and professionally focused daily on making InsiderNJ the Garden State’s number one trusted source for political news. An editorial board regularly offers opinion on statewide political subjects.  InsiderNJ is committed to giving serious political players a fair hearing and an interactive and dynamic forum for ideas, discussion and political intelligence. We will be out here on the streets of our cities, under the Gold Dome, and in the suburban town halls, fair grounds, marketplaces, county conventions and diner booths of political inquiry and intrigue. We will find our way into the conversation.

We have the great good fortune of living in a state saturated with politics, in an atmosphere that makes for both exciting public campaigns and elections , and seemingly stagnant cycles dominated by intense backroom negotiations and deal-making. In the annals of presidential politics, we may have only given this country one native son who became president in the person of Grover Cleveland, but we are also the state that supplied the ring that FDR kissed when he craved the White House. We are interested in all of it, and will sort it out for you respectfully, accurately and impartially, usually in real-time – and at all times driven by the simple proposition that good reporting makes better public servants and better-informed citizens.

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