CHIAPPONE CALLS ON GIANTS TO CHANGE THEIR PERSONAL SEAT LICENSE PLAN FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT BY  JETS

(BAYONNE) – Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone today praised the New York Jets for deciding against selling personal seat licenses for the upper deck at the new football stadium being built at the Meadowlands.

Chiappone said he’s still opposed to PSLs, but noted the plan by the Jets to allow 27,000 fans to purchase seats without a PSL is a substantial change from plans by the New York Giants to charge a PSL for every seat. Chiappone has been a leading critic of the Giants’ plan.

CHIAPPONE TO HIGHLIGHT SATURDAY RALLY OPPOSING PERSONAL SEAT LICENSES FOR NEW STADIUM

Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone will speak at a Saturday rally outside Giants Stadium protesting plans by the New York Giants and New York Jets to sell personal seat licenses at the new football stadium being built at the Meadowlands.

Before Bill Bradley, there was Harry C. Harper.

Widely known as "Hackensack Harry," Harper spent ten seasons as a major league baseball pitcher with the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Brooklyn Dodgers, compiling a lifetime record of 59-77. The southpaw started the sixth game of the 1921 World Series for the Yankees against the New York Giants.

After his baseball career ended, the 32-year-old Harper entered politics, winning election as the Bergen County Sheriff in 1927.

Harper became a candidate for State Senator in 1931, seeking the seat vacated by Republican Ralph Chandless. Chandless had been expelled for his role in a Lodi sewer scandal. Harper, who ran with the support of Bergen GOP leder Daniel Thomson, a Chandless rival, won 61% of the vote against John Zabriskie, who had the support of Chandless' political organization.

But in a general election that was viewed as a rebuke to President Herbert Hoover's economic policies during the depression, Harper lost the general election to Democrat William Ely, a former Rutherford Councilman and Bergen County Court Judge.

Governor Harold Hoffman appointed him to serve as a state Civil Service Commissioner in 1934. He held that post until his appointment by Governor Walter Edge as the state Commissioner of Labor and Industry in 1944. He continued in that post following Alfred Driscoll's election as Governor in 1946.

Against Driscoll's wishes, Harper became a candidate for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 1948, after incumbent Alfred Hawkes announced he would not seek re-election to a second term. Driscoll endorsed State Treasurer Robert Hendrickson, a former Senate President and GOP gubernatorial candidate, who easily won the Republican primary.

Harper resigned from the cabinet to run in a February 1950 special election for Congress. The GOP incumbent, J. Parnell Thomas, had resigned after pleading guilty to charges that he accepted kickbacks from his congressional employees. Harper, considered the favorite to win the January 24 Republican primary, lost by 402 votes, 50%-49%, to William Widnall, a 43-year-old Assemblyman from Ridgewood. Widnall held the seat for 25 years before losing in the 1974 Watergate landslide.

After his defeat, Harper spent the next thirteen years building his trucking, contracting, supermarket, fuel and beverage companies. He died in 1963, following a long illness. His son, George Harper, represented Sussex County in the New Jersey State Senate from 1954 to 1964. He was the New Jersey State Auditor from 1964 to 1974.

Ely lost his bid for re-election in 1935, and joined Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration as New Jersey's WPA Administrator. Three years later, when A. Harry Moore resigned his U.S. Senate seat to become Governor, Ely became a candidate for the Senate. He won the Democratic nomination, but lost the special election for a two-year unexpired term to Repubican W. Warren Barbour by a 56%-43% margin. Contributing to his defeat were allegations that he accepted a $350 fee for representing the Bergenfield Board of Education in their application for WPA funds while serving as Administrator, and coverage of his address at a Hudson County Democratic rally a few days before the election where he hailed Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague as "my leader" and said of Hague: "He will not find me wanting when he wants me."

Ely ran as a "100% pro-Roosevelt" candidate and became frustrated by the failures of Roosevelt, Moore and Hague to find him a ranking position after his statewide loss. He died four years later, at age 50, following a massive stroke.

Passaic County Republicans have nominated Erik Lowe of Paterson, Arthur Soto of Passaic and Keith LaForgia, a Clifton school board member to run for Freeholder this year. Newly-elected GOP County Chairman Scott Rumana was forced to overhaul his ticket after the three candidates who won the June primary -- former County Clerk Ronnie Nochimson, Passaic City Councilman Jonathan Soto and Hawthorne attorney/author Kenneth DelVecchio -- each dropped out for different reasons. Arthur Soto is Jonathan's brother.

Democrats in Passaic County also had trouble keeping Freeholder candidates. They initially nominated Sami Merhi, a controversial Arab-American businessman, to replace retiring Freeholder Lois "I am in a hurry. I need you to make me a sandwich, fast" Cuccinello after several Democrats -- including Governor Jon Corzine and Senator Robert Menendez -- said Merhi's comments on terrorism made it impossible to support him. Their replacement candidate was Joanne Graziano, a Hawthorne school board member who dropped out of the race after reports that she did not have a degree she claimed on her resume. The newest candidate is Taheesha Way, a political newcomer whose husband played football for the New York Giants.

New Jersey Republicans do well in years when the Yankees sweep the Red Sox in a five game series. The last time it happened at Fenway Park was in 1943 and Republicans won the Governor's race by 127,760 votes. In 1951, when New York swept a five game series with Boston at Yankee stadium, Republicans picked up two State Senate seats and five Assembly seats.

The Yankees have reached the World Series in four of the six years that a member of the Kean family has run for statewide office in New Jersey. When Hamilton Kean won a U.S. Senate seat in 1928, the Yankees won the World Series with four straight wins over the St. Louis Cardinals, but when Kean ran for re-election in 1934, the Detroit Tigers won the pennant. In 1958, Robert Kean was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and the Yankees defeated the Boston Braves in seven games to win the World Championship. The Yankees made it to the World Series in 1977, when Thomas Kean Sr. unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for Governor, and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. When Kean Sr. ran again 1981, the Dodgers defeated the Yankees, four games to two. Like his grandfather, the year Kean Sr. ran for re-election (1985), the Yankees did not make it to the post-season.

Editor's Note: It could be argued that the number is really four out of seven -- the Yankees did not play in the 1905 World Series, when John Kean won re-election to a second term in the U.S. Senate (the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Athletics), but that was before the direct election of United States Senators. The bottom line is that when Keans run for re-election to statewide office, the Yankees never make it to the World Series, giving George Steinbrenner some reason to fear for the success of his 2012 team if Thomas Kean, Jr. defeats Robert Menendez this year.

All three Republican candidates for Passaic County Freeholder have now dropped out of the race. Passaic City Councilman Jonathan Soto announced last week that he was withdrawing as a candidate in order to become Chairman of the Passaic Redevelopment Agency. Soto's exit came a week after Kenneth Del Vecchio announced he would not run in order to concentrate on the production of a movie based on one of his books. Earlier in July, former County Clerk Ronnie Nochimson exited the race following the death of her father. For a time, it looked like the Passaic GOP had a potential All-Star roster, with Nochimson and Ronald Fava, a former Sheriff, Assemblyman, Prosecutor and Judge in the race. Now, newly-elected Passaic GOP Chairman Scott Rumana is searching for two new candidates to run, along with Derek Lowe, a political newcomer from Paterson who replaced Nochimson on the Republican ticket.

Passaic Democrats have had a tough year as well. The pulled their first candidate, controversial Arab American businessman Sami Merhi, after several Democrats -- including Governor Jon Corzine and Senator Robert Menendez -- said Merhi's comments on terrorism made it impossible to support him. Their replacement candidate was Joanne Graziano, a Hawthorne school board member who dropped out of the race after reports that she did not have a degree she claimed on her resume. The newest candidate is Taheesha Way, a political newcomer whose husband played football for the New York Giants.

For a brief moment, it looked like the Republicans might have been putting together a sort of dream team in the race for Passaic County Freeholder: former County Clerk Ronnie Nochimson and former Sheriff Ronald Fava had both become candidates for Passaic County Freeholder. Fava, an ex-Assemblyman, Passaic County Freeholder and Paterson Municipal Court Judge, dropped out of the race after GOP County Chairman Michael Mecca -- declined to give him the organization line. Now Nochimson has withdrawn -- replaced on the ballot by a political newcomer from Paterson.

Democrats were having problems picking their candidate: first they chose Sami Merhi, a controversial Arab American businessman; then after many Democrats, including Governor Jon Corzine and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, said they would not back him, Passaic Demoocrats voted to revoke their support of Merhi and back Joanne Graziano, a Hawthorne school board member and teachers union leader. But when questions regarding the accuracy of Graziano's resume were exposed, she withdrew from the race. Now Democrats are backing a political newcomer, Tahesha Way, the wife of a former New York Giants football player.

But with Nochimson out of the race, the GOP has lost their marquis candidate and even with Merhi still running as an Independent, the Republicans probably have little chance to win a contest in a county they have not carried since 2001.

GOVERNOR CORZINE GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO NEW
MEADOWLANDS STADIUM PROJECT

Jets and NJSEA Announce Site Selection For HQ/Practice Facility

EAST RUTHERFORD -- The New York Giants and the New York Jets, the Tisch, Mara and Johnson families, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority today jointly announced that the Governor has completed his review of the Memorandum of Understanding related to the development of a new football stadium for the Giants and Jets at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Although the principal terms of the original Memorandum of Understanding remain unchanged, the parties have agreed to adjustments that relieve the State of predevelopment costs and grant the New Meadowlands Stadium developer certain additional opportunities to reap the economic benefits of its development.

You Gotta be Flexible to Straddle All These Issues

New Brunswick - Doug Forrester has straddled so many issues you'd think he was a gymnast. The Forrester campaign prefers the term "evolving position" as opposed to flip-flop. Still, regardless of terminology the fact remains, there's a good chance that the sun will rise with Doug advocating one side of an issue only to set with him advocating the opposite.

(First things first) ON NFL FOOTBALL

Flip: Forrester roots for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Flop: Forrester roots for the New York Giants.