Phantom Candidates
Matt Friedman at Politico has an amazing story on “phantom candidates” in Camden County, an old practice where people who aren’t interested in holding office filed to run for election just to make the ballot more confusing and protect incumbents, in this case the Norcross Dem machine.
Imagine getting paid to think of this stuff, with all the actual troubles in the world.
In possibly related news, Rutgers-Eagleton and FDU asked people their “general impressions” of six New Jersey political people (Phil Murphy, Steve Sweeney, Chris Christie, Cory Booker, Bob Menendez and Donald Trump) and only Murphy and Booker were above water, i.e. had higher favorable numbers than unfavorable numbers.
Bike Path
The Press of AC has a story about plans to expand the bike path across a new Parkway bridge into Cape May County. The path currently ends in Somers Point. “But it will still be two to five years before cyclists and pedestrians can safely use the bike lane on the new bridge,” per the story.
For more feats of journalism…
Atlantic City’s Democrats choose candidates for council in primary–ATLANTIC CITY — The city’s Democratic Committee chose its slate of six candidates from 22 contenders for this year’s City Council race Monday night at Unite Here Local 54 union headquarters. www.pressofatlanticcity.com
NEW JERSEY PROGRESSIVES LAMBASTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY–Members of the progressive political establishment joined forces Tuesday to keep the pressure on the beleaguered Economic Development Authority, or EDA. The semi-autonomous agency has been the subject of tough rhetoric from the administration, and unflattering headlines, which allege that it threw away $11 billion in good money after bad on corporate citizens who failed to deliver sufficient bang for the buck. The activists blamed the board for being asleep at the wheel. www.njspotlight.com
MURPHY ANNOUNCES OFFSHORE-WIND REGISTRY TO PAIR INVESTORS, COMPANIES–On a day when offshore-wind advocates touted the sector’s future, Gov. Phil Murphy said the state would create a registry to partner investors with New Jersey companies seeking to cash in on the emerging industry. www.njspotlight.com