Demos’ Tova Andrea Wang: New research on Voter ID laws “found in those states where minority turnout rose from the prior presidential election and where there were a larger percentage of minority voters in the years 2006 to 2011, the number of laws restricting voting rights proposed by lawmakers also went up.”
Fox’s Brit Hume: Christie Too ‘Tough’ for Today’s ‘Feminized Atmosphere’. Watch.
Here are the four big questions hanging above Gov. Chris Christie and the bridge scandal.
In case you (wisely) dropped out of BridgGate over the weekend, let me update you on some new developments. The upshot of Friday’s massive document dump was that it didn’t produce any one smoking gun type email like the one that got Bridget Kelly fired. What it did do was paint a pretty clear picture of lots of Christie’s staffers, appointees and associates involved if not in planning the Bridge shutdown then in working to cover it up after the fact. (Here’s our look at the big four unanswered questions as of right now.) But the real change, I think, is a change of what the key question is driving the reporting.
New Jersey lawmaker tried to alert Gov. Chris Christie on the bridge lane closures six days after they reopened. Read the letter.
It looks like we’re soon going to be living in a brave new world of more limited recess appointments.
This morning in oral arguments on the scope of the recess appointment power, the Supreme Court justices expressed deep skepticism about its use during pro forma recesses. Less clear was where the justices might come down on whether annual intra-session recesses count as a recess or on whether the vacancy must come open during the recess for the recess appointment to be valid. Those last two restrictions are where the appeals court really pushed the envelope in the case before the Supreme Court.
This could get fun fast. Former Gov. and now State Sen. Richard Codey (D) says “Democratic power brokers” have and still are trying to shut down the BridgeGate investigation.
The scandal involving New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the George Washington Bridge is a complicated one. It has a long list of characters and a lot of moving parts. We’ve come up with some simple guides to help you navigate it.
For one, we’ve just published an updated list of the cast involved in the scandal. From Christie’s inner circle to some Jersey Democrats digging into it, these are the people who are making the governor’s life hell right now.
A lot of important new details out today about the initial enrollments in Obamacare during 2013. One number is 2.2 million enrollments in private plans through the state and federal exchanges through December 28th. That’s about what we thought at the end of December when the number was just over 2 million. The bigger news is the critical demographic breakdown of the enrollees. Or to put it more bluntly, how many young healthy people signed up? The short answer is the number is not great but not bad either. Dylan Scott has the details here.
One of the most interesting things out of the BridgeGate story today was former Governor, now State Senator Richard Codey’s claim that “Democratic Power Brokers” were and still are trying to block the investigation into the bridge closure. I don’t know Jersey politics enough to be sure. But everybody I talked to today who really knows New Jersey politics was certain this was a reference to George Norcross, the Democratic boss in South Jersey, probably the most powerful Democrat in the State. Earlier this evening I got an email from a longtime TPM Reader, very knowledgeable about New Jersey politics, whose initials I won’t even use, giving me some background on Codey and Norcross and what this jab was about.
The details themselves are quite interesting. But as much as that you’ve just got to read it for the bracing flavor and imagery it gives you of how this state runs if you have never lived here or followed its politics before …
It’s pretty cool for those of us who have been involved in New Jersey politics now that the rest of the nation is getting an education on the “Game of Thrones” nature of NJ politics.
So, about this comment, here’s some critical background that explains it
1) First, he is undoubtedly talking about the nexus of George Norcross (South Jersey power broker and the most powerful D in the State), Joe Divincenzo (The Essex County Executive) and his patron, Steve Adubato, State Senator Brian Stack from Hudson County, who is also mayor of Union City. These three are the major political bosses whose organizations and associations have provided Christie with the necessary Democratic votes on any initiative he has successfully passed. All of the South Jersey Democrats, including State Senate President Steve Sweeney from Gloucester County are part of Norcross’ organization, while some key Essex and Hudson Dems are aligned with Stack and Divincenzo.