Charles Stile|NorthJersey.com
Show Caption
Count Sen. Bob Menendez among the Senate Democrats supporting a reform of the filibuster rules that threaten so much of his party's agenda.
It shouldn't come entirely as a surprise that Menendez would cast his lot among those seeking to revise or abolish the rulethat requires 60 votes for passage of bills in order to lift a lone senator's objection. A majority of his Democratic colleagues, including Sen. Cory Booker, D- NJ., are alreadyon the reform bandwagon.
Segregationist southern Democrats used the filibuster to enshrine Jim Crow laws in the 19th century and block civil rights reforms in the 20th century.
Now Biden-era Democrats fear that the minority Republicans will exercise the filibuster rule to routinely block gun control, voting rights, immigration reforms and other consequential measures.
Some grassroots activists have called for abolishing the rule completely, and others have called for revising the rules by lowering the number of votes needed to block bills,or, as President Joe Biden suggested, requiring senators to deliver their objections in a formal floor speech.
But according to the Battle Born Collective, an activist group promoting filibuster reform, Menendez was one of 10 of the Senate's 50 Democrats who had not taken a position on filibuster reform as of last week.
Steve Sandberg, Menendez's spokesman, said the senator is supportive of reinstating the "talking filibuster" proposed by Biden — an idea some believe would discourage senators from exercising the practice if they were forced to defend it on the floor.
"He will continue to work with his Democratic colleagues to see what reform looks like,'' said Sandberg, who added that Menendez has "been on the record with that." Asked where —since the collective's "tracker" had not tallied his position — Sandberg said he "has been asked in the hallways."
Bookerpledged his support for reform in an interview with the Huffington Post earlier this month. He did not specify what that reform should entail.
Movers and shakers: Holly Schepisi weighs senatorial courtesy in Supreme Court pick
Does Murphy bleed Rutgers scarlet?
As diehard Rutgers University fans proudly wrapped themselves in ScarletKnights gear in the days leading up to the university'sfirst game in the NCAA "March Madness"basketball tournament in 30 years, Gov. PhilMurphy wasn't seen in public in a Rutgers pullover until last Monday's coronavirus briefing —a day after the men's team was eliminated.
Wasn't the governor— to use the kind of torturedsports metaphor Murphy routinely uses in his public remarks — a little late to the game?
Alyana Alfaro Post, a Murphy administration spokeswoman, pushed back against the notion of Murphy as a bandwagon supporter.
She sent me a laundry list of governor's office tweets as evidence of Murphy's enthusiasm for Rutgers, ranging from his congratulating women's basketball coach Vivian Stringer for being named the NCAA's all-time winning coach to a photo of Murphy jogging in a Rutgers sweatshirt.
Murphy has also attended 10 basketball and football events, including an October 2019 football game against the University of Massachusetts, where he served as honorary captain.
Postalso said Murphy wore the Rutgers gear Monday in a dual show of support for the men's "valiant" effort on Friday night — before being eliminated Sunday night against the University of Houston — and for the women's team, which was playing its first-round gameMonday asMurphy reeled off the latest grim coronavirus tally.
"The governor congratulates Rutgers athletes for an inspiring season,'' she said.
Team Murphy also posted photos on Twitter of a pensive Murphy and his wife, Tammy, watching Sunday's game in Rutgers gear at home, complete with hashtags #MarchMadness and #GardenStatement.
To watch Murphy at the coronavirus briefing Monday, you might have mistaken him for one of those long-suffering Rutgers fans sitting in empty bleachersthrough long decades of mediocrity.
Murphy performed like theobsessed fan who just could not resist refreshing his smartphone for the latest score, eager to get the briefing's question-and-answer periodover with so he could concentrate on the unfolding Rutgers drama.
"I'm a couple minutes behind because I had to wait for halftime," he said at the start. "The Rutgers women are up 30 to 24 over Brigham Young at halftime. So we have a very quick press conference today."
It should be noted that Murphy often has an excuse for why he's eager to rush through the press conference portion of the briefing, the one part of the carefully orchestrated briefing program that he can't control.
Ray of reform among Mercer Democrats
Dismantling the power of the county party machines is a long-termgoal of a new and assertive band of New Jersey progressives who continue to show up at county conventions and nettle leaders with their insistent demands.
It will require an constant, unglamorous fight over bylaws and with recalcitrant county committee leaders. And there's a good chance they might notget very far.
Yeta smallprocedural victory in the Mercer County Democratic Party's nominating convention this month offered a ray of hope.
Prodded by the local good government activists, the party agreed to scrap a rule that bestowed an automatic organizational endorsem*nt on incumbent commissioner candidates.
The rule change forced two Mercer incumbents to compete in a field of six challengers.
One incumbent, Samuel Frisby Jr., easily captured the endorsem*nt, but it doomed veteran Ann Cannon, who had been a freeholder (turned commissioner) since 1994. After several rounds of balloting, Terrence Stokes of Ewing edged out Cannon by 20 votes, according to the New Jersey Globe, a political website.
The change didn't weaken the power of the organizational line, which is the top-prize target of progressives and the subject of a federal lawsuit that would effectively dismantle the practice.
The organization, or "party line," candidates are often assembled under the official slogan and are awarded coveted ballot positions — and they rarely lose. Frisby, Stokes andHopewell Township Committeewoman Kristin McLaughlin will run in the June 8 primary under the Mercer Democrats line.
Opinion: Abolishing the NJ ballot line: Beyond a progressive brand
Critics say the practice gives county-blessed candidates an unfair advantage over challengers.
But the rule change did introduce competition into a routine, moribund process. Challengers now can now at least compete for the line on an equal footing in the nominating conventions. It will also forces incumbent commissioners to defend their work, rather than relying on an automatic endorsem*nt by "acclamation."
And while the line remains intact in Mercer, the progressive's statewide push for reform and the recent lawsuit did serve as a backdrop for the breakthrough in Mercer.
the lawsuit and the broader push to reform the primary ballots and county parties did fuel the rule change in Mercer.
"The vote at the Mercer convention to remove the automatic endorsem*nts is a recognition that the process we use in New Jersey is not democratic,"said Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers University public policy professor and a board member of the Good Government Coalition of New Jersey.
Charlie Stile is New Jersey’s preeminent political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email:stile@northjersey.com
Twitter:@politicalstile