After a wild year in New Jersey politics, it’s time to share the top 10 political turkeys of 2024. They include incidents ranging from the myopic to the milestone and comments ranging from Jersey crude to colorful.
A day in OPRA infamy
The “reform” law curtailing the power of the state’s Open Public Records Act, signed by Gov. Phil Murphy and aggressively championed by Senate President Nicholas Scutari, is not only one of the most prominent political turkeys of 2024 but a dark turning point in the state’s modern history. Despite the Democrats’ self-serving defense — and Murphy’s gaslighting of critics — it represented a day when the Legislature slammed the door shut in the face of its constituents. The upshot of the reform will mean less access for the public, the press, and civil rights and advocacy groups to scrutinize people in power. At a time when the public is demanding accountability and transparency, the Democratic Party leaders chose secrecy. Republicans can’t claim the moral high ground on this, either, since most GOP lawmakers supported the measure.
Salters’ career in Hillside
The winner of the only-in-New Jersey turkey this year is Anthony Salters, the Democratic chairman of the township of Hillside in Union County. In January, Salters pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud. But his conviction has hardly blocked his career path within the boundaries of Hillside. Three months after the plea agreement, Hillside’s school district hired Salters to an $80,000-a-year job teaching homebound students, The New York Times reported. But that’s not the end of it. After being sentenced to six months in prison, Salters was granted a second job as an after-school adviser that paid a $1,500 stipend. It’s not clear how or whether the new specialist in homebound education is able to fulfill his duties while prison-bound. Local officials refused to answer most questions, and, not surprisingly, they did not return emails or reply to public information requests submitted by the Times. In that respect, Salters can thank his political ally, Scutari, the Union County chairman, for keeping the lid on all those potentially clarifying documents.
Bedminster bedfellows
President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club has been his Northeast getaway — and a place where donors and candidates have flocked to seek his blessing. But twice this past summer, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a convicted Jan. 6 rioter — whom federal investigators described as a neo-Nazi sympathizer known at times to spew hateful remarks, such as “Hitler should have finished the job” — gave speeches at the Bedminster club, said a September report by NPR. One event was a fundraiser for a nonprofit that supports Capitol rioters, which was personally endorsed by Trump through a video message that was played in the room. Trump won reelection by attracting Latino, Black and women voters, but it’s a jarring reminder that his rise in power over the past decade has been sustained by the far-right fringe.
Strange star power
Conservative actor Kelsey Grammer, a Jersey-raised star of the sitcoms “Cheers” and “Frasier,” lent his support to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Curtis Bashaw this fall with an ad, in which Grammer begins, “I’m sick of celebrities telling me how I should vote.” OK, fine. But then he went right up to the brink of doing just that on behalf of Bashaw. “I want you to check out what Curtis Bashaw has to say,” Grammer said in the spot. He then pivoted at the end of the strange non-endorsement endorsement with a clumsy attempt at ironic humor. “And I heard that message on the radio saying it’s ridiculous to call people a communist. I agree. We shouldn’t be calling each other names. That kind of conduct is, I don’t know, deplorable.” I’m not sure what radio ad he was referring to or what his reference to Hillary Clinton’s infamous remark from 2016 had to do with Bashaw. Perhaps this ad was a chance for Grammer to promote his own pet grievances rather than Bashaw’s candidacy.
Defender of the line runs out of gas
Former Hudson County Democratic Chairman Anthony Vainieri was one of those go-down-with-the-ship defenders of the county line, the discredited ballot design that granted preferential treatment — and enormous advantages — to primary candidates blessed by party bosses. A federal judge in April tossed out the line as possibly unconstitutional after opponents noted that New Jersey remained the only state in the nation to use such an antiquated and unfair system. That didn’t persuade Vainieri. “We still are not allowed to pump our own gas, should we follow the rest of the country in that too?” he groused.
Book banning
While testifying in late September against a bill that put the brakes on banning books from school libraries, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, R-Sussex, expressed alarm about some of the content on library shelves. She had this to say: “These are not the Judy Blume books of my youth. These are not typical coming-of-age books. These are coming of age books, if you catch my drift.” I got the drift. And this takeaway: In a debate over the sensitive and complex topic of book banning, an adult lawmaker stoops to frat house juvenilia to make a point.
Menendez got his bell rung
It’s hard to say which bizarre twist or piece of evidence doomed former Sen. Bob Menendez in the minds of a federal jury in Manhattan in June. But I would guess it was the pomposity of Menendez, sitting on the patio of his then-girlfriend (and later wife) Nadine’s home with Jose Uribe, a North Jersey businessman who bribed Menendez in exchange for his help shielding close allies from a state Attorney General’s Office investigation. Needing a piece of paper to write down the information, Menendez called out “Mon amour” to Nadine and then rang a small handbell to summon her. The paper arrived. Menendez wrote down Uribe’s information — which would eventually get retold in a riveted Manhattan courtroom.
A whole lotta nothing
The “Little state, lotta WOW” tourism slogan simply didn’t catch fire. Maybe it’s because the guy singing “Wow … Wow … etc.” in those radio ads sounded like he might have indulged in a little too much of the recreational marijuana that is now legal in New Jersey. And then there is the woman opera singer bleating the “wow” jingle to the music of “The Barber of Seville.” Hardly the kind of music that evokes warm memories of the Seaside boardwalk. Apparently, the state Division of Tourism loved the campaign. “Really, it was an all around WOW,” its officials boasted on its website. Frankly, the whole thing was annoying and failed to showcase the state’s attractions, like the tasteful New York state tourism campaign that highlights that state’s assets. Perhaps it’s best that New Jersey pull the plug NOW on WOW.
Charlie Stile:Trump has been a reliable target for NJ Democrats. That could change
Van Drew’s ongoing MAGA makeover
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the former Democrat-turned MAGA congressman from South Jersey, has been one of the GOP’s most ardent Trump soldiers since pledging his loyalty to the president when he switched parties in 2018. His speech at the Republican National Convention in August earned him the derision of CBS late-night host — and Montclair resident — Steven Colbert. But right-wing provocateur Tucker Carlson is the latest to hold sway over the nattily dressed Van Drew. Carlson’s introduction to Trump at a rally in Georgia generated a news cycle of buzz last month when he asserted that Trump’s return to the White House would be like a “dad” coming home to give a “bad girl” a spanking. Van Drew also adopted the weird “daddy’s home” motif in warning foreign countries of the new punitive style of Trump foreign policy to come. “Countries indicating they’re going to be good boys and girls now, you know, just liken it to an old parable here: Daddy’s home and things are going to change,” he recently told Newsmax.
Judge’s removal
Another year, and another New Jersey judge gets out of hand — and removed from the bench. In September, the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct removed Richard Obuch, the longtime Municipal Court judge in Elizabeth, for his drunken behavior at a holiday party where he was accused, among other things, of inappropriately touching three female employee and kissing them without their consent after inviting himself into a photo booth with them. He also posted a photo of himself on the social media site X embracing an adult film actress at an Exxxotica convention in November 2023. “I acknowledge that the allegations of unethical judicial conduct cannot be successfully defended,” he said in court papers.
Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey 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
