A tale of two swing districts

Politico

4 days ago

Good Friday morning!
In Central Jersey's 7th District, where Democrats hope to oust Republican Tom Kean Jr., eight candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission, and more are probably on the way.
The latest is Valentina Mendoza, a lawyer from Rahway who says she can stick out in a field of mostly conventional candidates. Mendoza, who's transgender, described herself as 'somebody who can speak towards the challenges that people can face, the multiple intersectional identities that I represent.'
'I can make policy from somebody who has lived those consequences — not only survived them but thrived,' she said.
And I was saving this for today, but David Wildstein beat me to the punch: Megan O'Rourke, a former USDA climate scientist in the Biden administration, has recently met with Democratic operatives and leaders about potentially running. O'Rourke wrote on LinkedIn a couple months ago that her job duties under the Trump administration had been 'stripped away one by one until I had no work left to do' and that she ultimately decided to take the Deferred Resignation Program. While I've heard one operative describe O'Rourke's entrance as very likely, when I checked earlier this week, not all of the district's county chairs had heard from her. She didn't respond to a LinkedIn message I sent her Monday morning. See here for the list of candidates so far and how much they've raised.
Further north in the 9th District, Republicans have been making a lot of noise about the Hispanic rightward shift in the 2024 election. There, Donald Trump carried the heavily Hispanic district, and freshman Democrat Nellie Pou beat three-time Republican candidate Billy Prempeh by just 4 points. Kean won reelection by a larger margin in the 7th. But so far, aside from Prempeh, just one other candidate has emerged: Clifton Councilmember Rosemary Pino. Prempeh — who has a significant online following despite his struggles to raise money — hit her with pretty devastating criticism about a group she led endorsing Pou just last year.
So what should we make of this? Noting the crowded Democratic field in the 7th, National Republican Congressional Committee Executive Director Jack Pandal said: 'Dem recruitment in absolute shambles.' And it does look like a potentially messy primary.
But the number of candidates running so far in the Democratic-held swing district could also be read as a measure of enthusiasm, especially compared to the 9th District. Several of these candidates have already demonstrated an ability to raise a lot of money.
In 2018, the last congressional Democratic wave election, seven Democrats initially ran in the 7th, with four dropping out before the primary. The Democratic nominee, Tom Malinowski, defeated decade-long incumbent Leonard Lance, serving two terms before Kean ousted him in 2022.
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WHAT TRENTON MADE
FROM A KINK TO THE CLINK — 'Sex, greed & fraud: He stole $5 million to pay for sex. It could cost him his life,' by NJ Advance Media's Karin Price Mueller: '[Harry] Pizutelli had faced physical challenges all his life. Spina bifida was supposed to kill him by age 16. The leg braces he uses to hurl his five-foot frame around are uncomfortable, but allow him to walk … But there was one thing Pizutelli couldn't get over: His sex life was practically nonexistent … So he called the massage parlor and set up what would become the first of many trysts, the starting point for a toxic relationship that would last 10 years and cost the state of New Jersey nearly $5 million. Pizutelli stole millions from a government fund that helps victims of traumatic brain injury. The state worker funneled it to the masseuse he met that day in 2005, to her close friend and to six other women Pizutelli hired for sex acts. He doesn't deny any of it. But this wasn't a typical sex-for-money racket. It's the story of a man desperate for physical intimacy who followed his lust into a criminal spiderweb. The story of a man who made one fateful decision that snowballed into a series of disastrous choices that forever changed his life. And the story of a man with physical limitations who stole from others with limitations to pay for illicit sex.'
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TRUMP ERA
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HABBA — Criminal defendant challenging Alina Habba's appointment takes a page from Aileen Cannon's playbook, by POLITICO's Ry Rivard and Kyle Cheney: A criminal defendant seeking to torpedo President Donald Trump's top federal prosecutor in New Jersey is drawing inspiration from an unusual source: U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. The defendant, Julien Giraud Jr., argues that the Trump appointee's bombshell ruling last summer dismissing a federal criminal case against Trump by finding that special counsel Jack Smith's appointment was unconstitutional applies equally to Trump's temporary U.S. attorney pick, Alina Habba. Giraud's attorney Thomas Mirigliano says the workaround Trump used to keep Habba in place after a 120-day interim appointment expired directly conflicts with Cannon's ruling. 'As Judge Cannon explained in Trump, when executive officials deliberately engineer an appointment in violation of statutory and constitutional mandates, the only effective remedy is dismissal or, at the very least, disqualification of the unconstitutionally appointed officer and her subordinates,' Mirigliano wrote in a filing Wednesday. Mirigliano's bid is a long shot, meant to spare his client from further prosecution for gun and drug crimes that were brought by a grand jury and filed in 2024 when there was no uncertainty about the leadership of the U.S. attorney's office. But it's one of the first efforts to turn Cannon's ruling against the Trump administration's interests.
NADONE — A federal judge on Thursday rejected a long shot attempt by the wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez to have all the corruption convictions against her thrown out. In a 51-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein said Nadine Menendez 'failed to identify any injustice — let alone a manifest injustice — requiring a new trial.' He did, however, toss one count he found duplicative.
Nadine Menendez, who was found guilty in a trial separate from her husband, is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 11. Bob Menendez and a pair of businesspeople accused of bribing the couple are all in prison and each is appealing their conviction.Nadine Menendez is also planning an appeal. She is expected to argue that she was denied the ability to pick who represented her in court because prosecutors had discussed calling her previous attorneys from Schertler Onorato as part of their obstruction of justice charges, but ultimately the attorneys were never called. 'The government violated Mrs. Menendez's fundamental constitutional right to counsel, and we are confident that the Second Circuit will engage with this issue,' her attorney, Sarah Krissoff of Cozen O'Connor, said in a statement. — Ry Rivard
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LOCAL
MODELO CITIZENS — 'N.J. town threatened to revoke housing for non-citizens, former employee's lawsuit says,' by NJ Advance Media's Anthony G. Attrino: 'Elected officials in a Monmouth County town have tried to require renters to submit proof of U.S. citizenship or face removal from their homes, a lawsuit filed by the former township manager alleges. Joseph Clark, who served as Howell Township manager for two years, claims in court papers Mayor John Leggio and Councilman Ian Nadel proposed ordinances and directives that were racist and illegal. One directive included identifying migrants who entered the country illegally, and revoking the certificates of occupancy for their rentals, Clark alleges in a lawsuit filed in Monmouth County Superior Court. The lawsuit claims officials encouraged racial profiling, such as monitoring recycling bins for Modelo beer bottles as a way to identify undocumented residents. … When Clark, the deputy town manager, and other officials objected to the allegedly discriminatory behavior, they were retaliated against, the lawsuit claims.'
MONTCLAIR PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT FOR EDUCATION TO DEVELOP FIVE-YEAR DEBT PLAN — 'Montclair public schools reveal $11 million deficit',' by Montclair Local's Matt Kadosh and Asad Jung: 'The Montclair Public Schools face an $11 million deficit, school officials said on Wednesday as residents called for a forensic audit of the district's finances. Superintendent Ruth B. Turner and Interim School Business Administrator Dana Sullivan, both of whom started with the district July 1, detailed the shortfall during a community meeting at Glenfield Middle School. The district must develop a corrective action plan and submit it to the state Department of Education, the officials said … Sullivan said that she found 70 pages of outstanding purchase orders when she began as the district's interim business administrator this month. Sullivan said she has also received many emails from vendors and staff members about unpaid bills.'
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A NIGHT AT THE OPMA — 'Judge voids suspension of Washington Township school superintendent,' by The Philadelphia Inquirer's Melanie Burney: 'A judge has struck down the suspension of Washington Township School Superintendent Eric Hibbs, ruling that the school board voted improperly when it placed the South Jersey schools chief on paid leave. In a one-page order released Thursday, Superior Court Judge Benjamin C. Telsey said the board violated the Open Public Meetings Act at its March 18 meeting when it suspended Hibbs. As a result, a resolution to suspend Hibbs is void, the judge said. It was not immediately clear what the decision would mean for Hibbs and the district, which has been in upheaval.'
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EVERYTHING ELSE
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