“Victims of the Fort Lee lane closures hold press conference Tuesday at noon at the foot of the George Washington Bridge to share their stories and call on Gov. Chris Christie to resign if he was directly involved in the scandals, This press conference will be sponsored by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and NJ Working Families Alliance. The event will also feature a joint petition by the two groups signed by 10,000 New Jersey residents calling on Christie to resign if directly involved, which is located at ChristieResign.com.

“Local residents who were stuck in traffic will return to the scene of the crime to tell their personal stories and hold Christie’s administration accountable for their abuse of power,” said Keith Rouda, PCCC organizer.”

Alarmed by the rise of super-PACs, major allies of the Democratic Party are rallying behind new legislation that would provide federal matching funds for small-dollar donations…

Liberal groups said the bill would force lawmakers to pay more attention to voters.

“It’s all about changing incentives for politicians. Instead of sucking up to big-money donors, they will be sucking up to everyday people. That’s the bottom line,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Politicians are much more likely to act against foreclosures and big polluters and issues like the minimum wage if they are talking to normal people.”

After the passing of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) will first appoint someone to replace him temporarily and then will be in charge of holding a Senate election for a permanent replacement.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and NJ Working Families Alliance have launched a petition and online ads calling on Christie to hold the Senate election during the November 5th gubernatorial election this year. Here’s a portion of a PCCC email sent today arguing for a November 2013 Senate election:

New Jersey deserves representation in the U.S. Senate that is chosen by the people — as many New Jerseyans as possible — in a way that does not waste millions of taxpayer dollars that could be spent on education and jobs.

Can you sign our petition with the NJ Working Families Alliance urging Governor Christie to allow voters to elect a senator during the general election on November 5, 2013?

It’s been reported that the governor could push the special election to 2014 in order to depress voter turnout when he is on the ballot in 2013.

Or, he could waste millions of taxpayer dollars on a special election one month before this year’s general election.

Again, this would be so that fewer voters participate in both elections and Republicans have a better chance.

And here’s a snippet from a New Jersey Working Families Alliance email today:

New Jerseyans deserve to elect their senator this year in a way that ensures maximum participation and doesn’t waste public dollars that should be going to creating the jobs this state desperately needs.

Indeed, New Jersey’s 2009 gubernatorial election had a turnout rate of around 46 percent — and this was in a governor’s race with historically low turnout. In 2010, this dropped to a turnout rate of 37.8 percent.

UPDATE: Christie has announced that he will be holding …

Chris Christie (R-NJ) has often been portrayed as a moderate by the mainstream press. But today, Christie proved again that he’s an ally of the super-rich and Big Business by vetoing a popular hike to the minimum wage.

This minimum wage increase would’ve brought the wage to $8.50 and then tie it to the consumer price index for the future. Christie said he wanted instead to raise the wage by only 25 cents this year, and then 50 cents the next year and 25 cents more three years from now.

A recent Quinnipac poll found that 82 percent of New Jerseyans support simply raising the wage to $8.50, showing that the governor is siding with the far-right in his veto.

(Photo credit: Blog For Choice)

New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie has certainly acted gracefully in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, cooperating with President Obama to take care of his own people and drawing the ire of much of the far-right elements of his own party in the process.

But it’s important for Americans to remember that Christie — who is widely believed to have presidential aspirations in 2016 — is not a moderate Republican. During his time in office, he has pursued a staunchly right-wing agenda that has taken aim at workers, the environment, education, and other areas of American life.

Here’s five reasons Christie is not a moderate:

He Has Moved To Crush Unions: If one thing marks Christie’s tenure, it is his hostility to organized labor. In 2011, Christie “signed landmark legislation that increases pension and health contributions paid by a half-million teachers, police and other public workers and removes the issue from collective bargaining for four years” — undermining labor rights. During his speech at the Republican National Convention, he derided teachers unions: “[Democrats] believe in pitting unions against teachers, educators against parents, and lobbyists against children. They believe in teachers’ unions. We believe in teachers.”
He Killed Marriage Equality: Remember that Christie vetoed a bill that would’ve given gays and lesbians full marriage rights.
He Has Rapidly Advanced Education Privatization In The State: In 2010, Chris Christie (R) slashed $820 million in school spending, a cut so extreme that a judge ruled it unconstitutional. At the same time, he has pushed for hundreds of millions of dollars in school vouchers which would transfer taxpayer dollars to private schools.
He Ended New Jersey’s Involvement In Battling Global Warming: Despite his strong leadership in the wake of Sandy, Christie undermined …

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in recent days has had to do some damage control to tamp down criticism over the slow pace of his city’s Christmas weekend blizzard clean up. Now a liberal group is aiming to put New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a rising GOP star, on the defense as well.