Nellie Pou

Gov. Jon Corzine signs the new schools construction bill at the Oliver Street School: Politicker photo 

NEWARK - Gov. Jon Corzine returned to the Ironbound this afternoon to sign a bill authorizing $3.9 billion in borrowing for new schools construction, which he said would fulfill the state’s constitutional duty to provide a thorough and efficient education, and create construction and other jobs.
    
Of an estimated 27 school projects statewide, six of the targeted schools are in the East Ward Ironbound, where the governor in late May announced his commitment to the legislation.

The six Ironbound schools were built before 1900 and are all overcrowded, according to the governor.

“We are doing what is right under the law and doing what is right for the state,” said Corzine, who praised the work of Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark), Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Newark), and others who banded together to pass the borrowing measure, which passed by one vote above the threshold in the Senate and three votes in the Assembly.

Assemblywoman Nellie PouAfter watching the CNN debate in South Carolina on Monday night, Assemblywoman Nellie Pou applauded the performance of her presidential candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who during the Democratic Primary tussle bashed what she described as Bush's too little too late economic stimulus package.  

"The most important change we can bring to the  country is a change in the policies and priorities that have governed from the  White House and I believe the best Democrat to deliver that change is Hillary  Clinton," said Pou. "The economic  injustices of the past eight years need to be reversed and Hillary has the  experience and ability to produce the type of change that offers economic  opportunity to all."

Obama likewise targeted what he sees as the failed economic policies of the Bush administration but took an additional poke at the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) championed by Clinton's husband when he was president, in a debate that largely saw frontrunners Clinton and Obama gunning for each other.

Assemblyman Joseph CryanWith a few hours to go before the end of the New Hampshire primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s statehouse supporters went into full-bore Rudy Giuliani campaign strategy mode, downplaying New Hampshire, and emphasizing the importance of the Feb. 5th primary in New Jersey and 21 other states.

Lagging behind Sen. Barack Obama in Iowa and likely New Hampshire, Clinton's supporters also found a comforting target in the former senator from North Carolina, whom Clinton had excoriated in in self-defense during Saturday's ABC debate.

Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, New Jersey spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said of tonight's primary, "It doesn’t matter whether she wins or loses. What’s going to happen in New Hampshire tonight is you’re going to see John Edwards eliminated. Then it’s going to be Barack and Hillary straight up."

Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney said he doesn’t believe Edwards - a second place finisher in Iowa after Clinton - is done after tonight. "I think they can go to South Carolina (Edwards' birthplace) and he can compete," said Sweeney.

Assemblywoman Nellie PouPicked on by her Republican opponent as the existing weak link of a 35th District ticket riven by scandal, Assemblywoman Nellie Pou today stood in the rain at the head of 100 workers outside the Majestic Restaurant in Wayne and promised to get state Attorney General Anne Milgram to enforce New Jersey’s labor laws.

Restaurant workers have already bound together here with union backing to force several area restaurants to pay fair wages, but places like the Majestic are dragging their heels, according to Tony Tsai, a former employee. Charging a slave labor situation, Tsai says Majestic’s management doesn’t pay workers a base wage and demands kickbacks of $15 per day from the buffet restaurant staff. On weekends, they demand $20 per day.

State Sen. John Girgenti (left) and Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie with Assembly candidate Elease Evans
The Democratic Party chiefs in the 35th district united today behind a woman they say is a powerful community presence: a social worker, grandmother, public servant and churchgoer; someone with deep and important community ties in Paterson and the environs.

Hoping to represent a nearly 2-1 Democratic district, Passaic County Freeholder Director Elease Evans will have the added challenge of proving that the trust she built in her grassroots work and public service means something in a legislative district where a man with many of those same credentials on paper violated his office, according to the U.S. Attorney.

The Passaic County Democratic Organization this morning unanimously decided on Evans to replace former Assemblyman (and Passaic County Undersheriff) the Rev. Pastor Alfred Steele on the 35th district legislative ticket, and immediately made a statement regarding the new candidate’s intentions. Acknowledging that dual public office-holding isn’t a practice the public will tolerate, Evans said if elected to the Assembly on Nov. 6th she would hold dual office only for a period of months, and would not seek re-election to the freeholder board when her term expires at the end of 2008.

Some candidates will admit they’re long shots, that the odds are stacked against them. But they don’t consider themselves “kamikaze candidates.”

Rev. Clenard Childress switched parties in January and is the GOP Assembly candidate against Tom Giblin and Sheila OliverTake Rev. Clenard H. Childress, Jr. who’s running for the State Assembly as a Republican in the 34th District. Talk to him about his campaign, and you can tell he’s a man of faith.

“Most of what I do is long shots, trust me. But I believe our message resonates with the community, and we’re looking forward to a spirited debate,” said Childress, a Montclair resident who is running with Robert Bianco; there is no Republican state Senate candidate.