ELECTION 2016: POTUS, BALLOT Qs, CONGRESS
Presidential race results by county.
Congressional race results by district.
Ballot questions, statewide results.
All maps courtesy of NJSpotlight.com
RUMSON WOMAN SAYS TRUMP ASSAULTED HER
A Rumson woman has accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in 1998, according to news reports Thursday.
Karena Virginia, a 45-year-old life coach and yoga guru, claims that she was waiting for a car at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Queens, New York, when Trump, whom she had not met, made comments about her body as he walked by before grabbing her by an arm touching her breast, she said at a press conference in New York, according to NBC News.
RED BANK: FIRST DEBATE DOWN
About two dozen Red Bank residents gathered at Pilgrim Baptist Church Monday night to watch the first 2016 presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton and participate in a discussion afterward.
Did you watch? Did anything you heard change, or reinforce, your thinking about the candidates? Feel free to share your takeaway in a comment. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
RED BANK: WATCH CLINTON & TRUMP DEBATE
Reverend Terrence Porter invites the Red Bank-area community to watch the first 2016 presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton Monday night at Pilgrim Baptist Church.
RED BANK: STEIN PRESSES FOR DEBATE SPOT
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein made a campaign stop Saturday at Riverside Gardens Park in Red Bank, where she addressed a rally for environmental justice and afterward, posed for group selfie with the 150 or so attendees, above.
RED BANK: STEIN TO LEAD RALLY HERE
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is scheduled to participate in a march and rally for environmental justice in Red Bank Saturday.
“Our objective is to bring people together who can lead a pivotal grassroots movement towards better environmental policy, preparation for climate change, and relief for those adversely affected by pollution, climate effects and other environmentally destructive scenarios,” Julie Saporito-Acuña, chair of the Green Party of New Jersey, said in a press release.
RED BANK: BECK SITS OUT TRUMPFEST
State Senator Jen Beck, seen here with local Republicans in 2015, passed on this week’s Republican National Convention. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Four months after saying Governor Chris Christie should choose between Donald Trump and New Jersey, Republican State Senator Jen Beck of Red Bank is sitting out her party’s national convention this week.
While Christie is in Cleveland carrying water for the prospective GOP nominee, Beck was back home, telling Paul Brubaker of the Backgrounder podcast that she feels “conflicted” about Trump’s ascendance.
RUMSON MAN TAPPED AS TRUMP BAGMAN
The driveway to Eisenberg’s West River Road home, as seen in 2012. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Lewis Eisenberg of Rumson will lead a joint money-raising effort for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and two other organizations, NJ.com reported Wednesday.
The Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign announced Eisenberg’s involvement in the self-professed billionaire’s pursuit of the White House Tuesday night, according to the report.
LINCROFT: RU JOURNO LANDS OBAMA
President Obama calls on Rutgers Targum editor Dan Corey during College Reporter Day at the White House last Thursday. (Video by the DC bureau of The Record)
A college journalist from Lincroft has landed one of the biggest “gets” in the media world: a sit-down with President Obama.
Dan Corey, a 19-year-sophomore at Rutgers University in New Brunswick and editor-in-chief of the Daily Targum, asked for the interview when the president called on him at a White House event last Thursday, according to a report by NorthJersey.com, the website of the Record of Hackensack.
RED BANK: BECK TO CHRISTIE: NJ OR TRUMP
State Senator Jen Beck says the governorship “is more than a full-time job.” Below, Christie in Sea Bright in 2013. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
State Senator Jen Beck of Red Bank says it’s time for Governor Chris Christie to choose between Donald Trump and New Jersey.
Adding to the chorus of criticism over Christie’s recent endorsement of Trump, Beck said Christie “cannot continue serving as our governor” if he’s going to be on the campaign trail with him, according to a report by app.com Wednesday afternoon.
RED BANK: PEDESTRIAN HIT IN CAR CURB-JUMP
The scene on Wallace Street shortly after the accident, above. The vehicle also hit a gas regulator valve, seen below, though no leak was immediately detected. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A campaign worker for an outlier presidential candidate was injured when a car jumped a curb in downtown Red Bank Friday afternoon.
The vehicle also struck a storefont natural gas regulator that had been moved above-ground three years ago, over the vehement objections by town officials that doing so created a safety hazard.
REPORT: BON JOVI STIFFED M’TOWN ON O.T.
Bon Jovi, seen above in Red Bank in 2011. Below, a gate to his home. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
A campaign fundraiser at which pop star Jon Bon Jovi “serenaded” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was held in Red Bank Monday night because Middletown balked at providing police protection for the event at the pop star’s mansion, according to a report.
The conservative Washington Free Beacon claimed Wednesday that the township refused to staff the event at Bon Jovi’s Navesink River Road home because he hasn’t ponied up for $14,000 in police overtime expenses still owed for security provided for a 2008 fundraiser held there for then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama.
RED BANK: BON JOVI “SERENADES” CLINTON
Bon Jovi, seen here at the opening of Red Bank’s JBJ Soul Kitchen in 2011, was back in town to host the former first lady and secretary of state Monday night. Below, an uncredited photo of Clinton posted on the Twitter feed of former New York Governor David Paterson. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Jon Bon Jovi “serenaded” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at a $1,000-a-head campaign fundraiser in Red Bank Monday night, according to PolitickerNJ.
Actually, the report says pop-rocker, who has a home on the Navesink River in Middletown, “serenely serenaded” Clinton at the no-media-allowed event, held at the riverfront Molly Pitcher Inn.
BON JOVI TO HOST CLINTON, BUT WHERE?
Bon Jovi’s Middletown home, above, as seen in 2008. Below, Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, with Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna and former mayor Ed McKenna in 2011. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Pop star Bon Jovi is planning to host a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, according to a report by NJ.com.
The report doesn’t give the location of the event, but notes that the pop star and his wife, Dorothea, live in Monmouth County.
RED BANK: FIGHTER JET SHAKES UP THE GREEN
A fighter jet did several low, and loud, loops over the greater Red Bank area late Monday afternoon. The above video shows it on the last one, at about 4:45 p.m., as seen from Madison Avenue in Red Bank. In the one below, it’s seen from a condo overlooking Marine Park
Red Bank police had no immediate word on what it was all about, but officer in charge Captain Darren McConnell speculated it might be enforcing a no-fly zone for President Obama’s visit to the United Nations for a meeting of world leaders.
UPDATE: 5:39 p.m.: NBC News says the jet was one of several F-16s that were escorting a small plane that was flying in restricted air space. The plane landed safely at Monmouth County Executive Airport in Wall Township, according to the report. (Above video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
EXIT STAGE LEFT FOR BASIE EX-CEO
Numa Saisselin at the Basie in 2011. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Numa Saisselin, a former stagehand who led the Count Basie Theatre back to fiscal health after decades of mismanagement and physical decay, only to be nudged out of his job last month, is leaving the Red Bank venue, he announced Tuesday.
Saisselin will become president of the Florida Theatre, a 1,900-seat circa 1927 stage in Jacksonville, Florida, he told friends in an email.
With what he called “very mixed emotions,” Saisselin wrote that “although the opportunity to work in a bigger venue in a bigger market was irresistible, it will still be hard to leave the Basie after 10-1/2 years of great work with so many of you.”