Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley, 30, is getting married on Saturday to a 45-year-old Philadelphia otolaryngologist and plastic surgeon named Howard Krein. With a little digital digging, we found out more about Dr. Krein including his taste for techno, nightclubs and roping cattle in rodeo competitions. Read More
Last night, shortly before 9 p.m., Ronnie Sykes, the spokeswoman for Congressman Charlie Rangel’s re-election campaign sent out a press release announcing Assemblyman Guillermo Linares’ endorsement of Mr. Rangel. The release identified Mr. Linares as the “first Dominican elected official in the U.S.” Less than two hours later, Ms. Sykes sent out a modified press release calling Mr. Linares “the first Dominican elected to a major political office in the United States.” Ms. Sykes confirmed to The Politicker that the press release was corrected because Mr. Linares is, in fact, not the first Dominican elected official. Read More
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave a $100 million grant to the public school system in 2010. Now, according to CBS News, officials are considering using some of that cash on buyouts to get rid of poorly performing teachers. Read More
Author, spiritual guru to the stars and Republican congressional candidate Shmuley Boteach doesn’t want anyone using his friend Cory Booker’s recent campaign controversy for political gain–except for him.
In the aftermath of the flap over Mr. Booker’s comments about the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital, Mr. Boteach wrote an op-ed in the Jewish newspaper Algemeiner criticizing anyone who would try to score points off the Bain brouhaha. He also included a shot against his probably opponents in New Jersey’s 9th congressional district.
Mr. Boteach began his column on an apolitical note.
“For a moment, let me remove my hat as a Republican candidate for public office and speak only wearing my yarmulke, as a Rabbi who has known Cory for twenty years and has had the blessing throughout that time of an intimate, brotherly friendship,” he wrote. ”Cory is my brother. We are on different sides of the political spectrum. He is a proud and staunch Democrat. But few people have taught me more about being a good person than Cory.” Read More
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, a likely candidate for mayor in 2013, kept pushing for his commuter tax proposal this weekend by writing a column for New Jersey’s Star-Ledger newspaper on the issue.
“We still rely on just two rail tunnels to connect New Jersey to Manhattan,” he wrote. “This is an unsustainable path for our entire region. That’s why I’ve proposed a broad-based plan to repair our regional transportation network — a plan that, yes, includes restoration of a commuter tax that New Jersey residents, who worked in New York City, paid for 30 years prior to 1999.” Read More
Hey, have you seen New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s goofy web video with Newark hero-Mayor Cory Booker? Have you? Have you? Well, if you’re famous enough, Mr. Christie has probably tried to pitch it to you over Twitter.
Last night, the official account of the New Jersey Governor tweeted at Saturday Night Live and Seth Meyers, suggesting Mr. Christie and Mr. Booker would be good for a sketch on the show. Cute. But a quick glance further into his feed shows clear and troubling signs of desperation. Read More
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker filmed a video for the annual New Jersey Press Association Legislative Correspondents Club Show spoofing Mr. Booker’s reputation as the “supermayor” and Mr. Christie’s widely rumored status as a potential vice presidential pick for Mitt Romney. The video begins with Mr. Christie trying to come up with something “even bigger” than Town Halls to energize his administration. He gets the idea to try to copy Mr. Booker’s daring rescue of a woman in a house fire last month by similarly saving someone from a disaster, but at every turn, Mr. Booker has already beat him to it.
“I got this,” Mr. Booker says.
“Booker!” Christie replies angrily each time his efforts are thwarted. Read More
Today, political types were focused on Chris Matthews’ screaming, drugs and drones. Here’s our roundup of the day’s best Tweets from the campaign trail. Read More
Last month, a picture of President Barack Obama meeting with an exceptionally enthusiastic young fan became a viral internet sensation. Now, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is giving the Commander-in-Chief a run for his money by mugging for his own picture with a very, very excited young supporter. Read More
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is one of the most visible Democrats in New Jersey, but his old friend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, is running for Congress in the Garden State on a GOP ticket. Despite his relationship with the rabbi, Mr. Booker didn’t sound likely to back his friend’s congressional campaign when he spoke with The Politickerthis afternoon.
“I’ll tell you this, I’m a Democrat and, at this point, I have not made any decision, but I’d be hard pressed not to support,” Mr. Booker momentarily stopped himself before continuing, “You know, this puts me in a very tough position, but the reality is, I think it’s very important that we return a Democratic congressman from that district.” Read More
