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The Torricelli Switch Pool Thread. Background: Back in 2002, NJ Senator Robert Torricelli was headed for defeat. He was corrupt in a particularly oily and obnoxious way, which was unacceptably offensive, even to New Jersey voters, which is saying a lot. On October 30, 2020, Torricelli dropped out of the race, long past the ballot closing deadline, and the NJ Democrat Party sued in the NJ Supreme Court to be permitted to substitute another name on the ballot. Eventually they prevailed, and the Democrats nominated retired NJ Senator Frank Lautenberg, who won by a large margin. The Rules: Pick a...

Sen. Robert Menendez ongoing corruption case could upend the New Jersey Democrat’s reelection bid in 2018, with the longtime politician scheduled to go to court this fall. The Supreme Court delivered another blow this week to the embattled senator when it refused to dismiss the case. The trial is scheduled to begin about a year before the midterm elections. Federal prosecutors charged Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty, in April 2015 on 14 criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery. Menendez is expected to head to trial on Sept. 6,facing a potential criminal conviction even as he would normally be...

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump suggested the Democrats are going to slip Vice President Joe Biden in as the Democrat’s nominee if Hillary Clinton isn’t able to run because of her email scandal. “She had a little bad news today from some reports [that] came down that weren’t so good,” Trump told more than 3,000 of his supporters at his campaign rally Wednesday afternoon at the Anaheim, California at the Convention Center. “Inspector General’s report — not good.” Trump was referencing an Inspector General (IG) report, which concluded that Clinton “failed to seek legal approval for her use of a...

Bill Clinton’s alleged mistress Julie McMahon was donating to Hillary Clinton while she was having an affair. She also worked for a controversial securities firm. The Daily Mail reported that McMahon dubbed the “Energizer” by Secret Service met Clinton in 1998 while he was still in the White House. The Mail also stated that McMahon was seeing Clinton sexually for 13 years in 2014. McMahon, the daughter of a wealthy Democratic donor, donated to Hillary in 2000 and 2002. ... McMahon was listed as unemployed for most of her political donations but we found that she’s a director at Energy...

NJ Democratic legislators are busying themselves this holiday season with a last minute attempt to tie the hands of incoming Republican governor Chris Christie. From the moment the votes were counted on Election Day, these folks have been foaming at the mouth about how “important” and “urgent” it was that this bill get passed before Jon “Speedy” Corzine leaves office. At issue is the way in which the NJ governor deals with a potential U.S. senate vacancy. Under the current system, the governor can appoint a replacement for the open seat or call a special election. Or both. The new...

When did we become such an unforgiving people? Former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli says he'll root for any team that plays the Eagles, now that Michael Vick is on their roster. The decision of who to support in this year's NFL match ups just got easier. I'm for anybody who plays against the Eagles. Michael Vick is joining the team. The same man who just left a federal jail on felony counts involving the torturing and death of animals is about to reenter center stage. That's quite a message about the state of our culture and the role that NFL...

In golf they call it a “mulligan.” In Jersey politics we call it a “Torricelli.” Whatever you call it, conservatives in New Jersey have a right to demand it. A couple of months ago, Chris Christie was telling us he was the most conservative candidate in a three-man primary. He was condemning the loony-left environmentalism of the Obama administration and running around the suburbs telling Republicans all the good things he was going to do for them if elected governor. But now that he’s got the nomination, Christie’s embracing the Obama environmental polices and running around the cities telling Democrats...

Former Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, a top fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is sending hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from his 2002 Senate campaign to a private foundation registered in his name and based out of his New Jersey lobbying office — an arrangement that troubles campaign-finance and tax experts. Federal election rules allow former elected officials to use surplus campaign money on charitable causes, though Mr. Torricelli's Rosemont Foundation, which received $1.5 million in campaign cash last year, has not yet been granted tax-exempt status. Angelo Genova, an attorney for Mr. Torricelli, said the foundation's application...

New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli, who is calling for an investigation of the CIA to pinpoint the responsibility for the agency's failure to predict the Sept. 11 disasters, was one of those directly responsible for that failure. In an arrogant display of unmitigated gall, Torricelli told CNN that he wants to set up a special committee to learn just what went wrong with the CIA, when it was his own actions that helped emasculate the agency and thus guarantee future intelligence failures. "It's not clear to me that unless we take a look at what went wrong and how our ...

FBI is probing ex-US Sen. Robert Torricelli and his associates in a medical services business, Aveta Inc., a Fort Lee company Torricelli runs, that benefited from lobbying by a Puerto Rican official who received campaign contributions......Torricelli, a Democrat, is executive VP and COO of Aveta, which says it is "one of the largest companies focusing on" the Medicare Advantage program, with more than $1 billion in annual sales.

When he was last running for the United States Senate from New Jersey in 2002, Robert G. Torricelli collected donations from thousands of people who apparently wanted to see him re-elected. They might be surprised to see how he spent a portion of their money. Mr. Torricelli, a Democrat who was one of the Senate’s most flamboyant personalities and prodigious fund-raisers, abruptly quit the 2002 race amid allegations of ethical misconduct and became a lobbyist. Since then, he has given $4,000 from his campaign fund to Puerto Rico’s nonvoting member of Congress, $10,000 to Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois...

It was sawbucks-for-sheepskins at Touro College, according to a shocking new Manhattan indictment. For at least four years, greedy college administrators pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from former students who wanted to change F's into A's on their Touro transcripts. But the accusations get even worse. Two administrators are charged with awarding fictitious degrees to "graduates" who had never once stepped foot in any of the NY-based international college's 29 locations.

The Rockefellers and Iran: Jay Rockefeller’s Reversal and the Iranian-American LobbyBy Fedora In 1979, Rockefeller representatives launched an unsuccessful operation to lobby the Carter administration in support of the Shah of Iran, who was seeking safe haven in the wake of a coup by Islamic revolutionaries. Codenamed Project Alpha, the operation was spearheaded by Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman David Rockefeller and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, with support from oil lobby lawyer John McCloy. Although Project Alpha won the support of National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, it met opposition from Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and failed to win...

With legislative races this year expected to do little to tilt the balance of power in Trenton, the hottest race in New Jersey could very well be the one for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Frank Lautenberg. Although voters will not decide the race until November 2008, Lautenberg is filling his campaign treasury, with three fund-raisers down and others planned for Palm Beach, Fla.; Austin, Texas; Denver, and Los Angeles. Tim Yehl, Lautenberg's chief of staff, expects the race to cost each candidate up to $15 million. That's bad news for Lautenberg, who loves being a senator but...

New Jersey, dominated by Democrats in recent elections, has become the best Republican prospect for winning a Democratic-held Senate seat this year. New polls last week indicated appointive Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez falling back to an even race with his Republican challenger, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. Quinnipiac University's poll showed Kean gaining nine percentage points in one month to take a two-point lead. The Monmouth University/Gannett poll's first Senate survey had Kean trailing Menendez by one point, but enjoying a 15-point lead among key independent voters. Kean's edge in the Quinnipiac survey marked the first time a New Jersey...

Charles Kushner, the Port Authority commissioner who is New Jersey Governor James McGreevey’s choice to be the agency’s next chairman, may soon find the dreaded appellation "embattled" attached to his name. Mr. Kushner is facing a whistle-blower lawsuit that could jeopardize his appointment to head the Port Authority—an appointment he doubtless helped to secure through generous contributions to New Jersey Democrats. He was the single largest donor to Mr. McGreevey’s campaign fund last year; to Hillary Clinton’s in 2000 and 2001; and to Senator Robert Torricelli’s in 1999 and 2001. Kushner companies collectively provided the largest bundle of contributions to...

The US Senate is looking into allegations that a former US senator urged Baghdad to give a US company lucrative contracts under the much-criticised United Nations oil-for-food programme. This is the first time that a leading US lawmaker has been linked to the controversial UN programme, whose shortcomings have been an important element of the Bush administration's critique of the UN. The investigation involves one of the most vivid figures in US east coast politics, former senator Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who was forced to pull out of the 2002 election after being "severely admonished" by the Senate...

The son of former Governor Tom Kean (R) now has a seven percentage point advantage in New Jersey's U.S. Senate campaign. The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll in the Garden State shows Republican Tom Kean, Jr. leading Senator Robert Menendez (D) 43% to 36%. Seven percent (7%) of voters say that they will vote for some other candidate and 14% remain undecided in this Democratic leaning state. A month ago, Kean held a two-point advantage, 41% to 39%. Kean has solidified support among Republicans since our last poll while Menendez has lost ground among Democrats. From an ideological perspective, Kean...

Former Gov. Christie Whitman believes the Republican Party is in deep trouble. The GOP, she says, is now where the Democrats were a dozen years ago in Washington when they lost control of the House for the first time in 40 years. President Bush's popularity is at a low ebb and several GOP leaders have been snared in ethics scandals. "We're at a critical point," she said. "We're starting to see polls that look just like the polls looked to Democrats in '94." From a converted hayloft of the barn on her family estate in Oldwick, Whitman works each day...

Franklin Raines — the ousted cooked-books chief of mortgage giant Fannie Mae — is being accused of corrupting its directors by giving them $12M in charity checks to ignore his scandals. A federal shareholder suit yesterday claims that Raines lavished directors with generous donations to their favorite charities, funneled through a Fannie Mae charitable foundation he controlled for serving the needy......to "dominate his fellow board members" and prevent them from challenging his activities in a mounting $10.8 billion accounting scandal at Fannie Mae. Raines who was chairman of Fannie Mae's board and the its charitable foundation, directed the money to...