East and West Jersey

King Charles II gave what is now NJ to his brother, James, The Duke of York; He gave it to him as a proprietary colony in 1664.  Later that year, James gave NJ to two of his friends, Lord Berkely and Sir Gorge Carteret.  By 1676 Berkely was out of the picture and NJ was split into east and west; The western portion was owned by the Quakers, and the Eastern portion was owned by Carteret.  NJ became a royal colony in 1702.

Greenwich Tea Party

Took place in Greenwich NJ, a municipality in Cumberland County, in 1774, a year after the Boston Tea Party.  New Jerseyans dressed as Native Americans and burnt British Tea.

Camden and Amboy Railroad Company

Owned by the Stevens family.  Stevens were granted a charter for the company in 1830 after decades of requests.  The Stevens were given a monopoly between Philadelphia and NY City in exchange for giving the NJ Government 1,000 shares in the company and a guarantied dividend payment.  The company quickly became heavly involved in politics and essentially had the legislature in its pocket.  Because of its monopoly, Camden and Amboy could over-charge mostly-out-of-state travelers and thus pay most of the state taxes.

Standard Oil

Owned by the Rockefellers.  Forced to dissolve in 1892 by the US Supreme Court.  Quickly reincorperated in one of three states with no anti-trust laws, NJ.  NJ legalized the practice of hilding companies in trust in 1889.  To hold a company in trust is to hold stock in that company.  Because of that NJ was called the "traitor state."  NJ charged 20 cents per 1,000 dollars of capitalization, and companies had no problem paying it because they were aloud to own monopolies.

William Livingston

First NJ Governor after the declaration of Independence.  Governor between 1776 and 1790.  Asked to join the Continental Congress in 1774.  Was a part of that Congress until 1776 when he was asked to head the NJ malitia in 1776; later that year he was ellected Governor.

Woodrow Wilson

NJ Governor between 1911 and 1913.  US president between 1913 and 1921.  Attended Princeton University.  Choosen to be president of Princeton in 1902.  During his governorship, he implemented school reform, sactioned a primary ellection law, enacted a corrupt practice bill, and enacted a public utilities bill.  Wilson started his campaign cautiously, but towards the end he stabed several political bosses in the back and started criticizing his own party.

Frank Hague

Jersey City Mayor between 1917 and 1947.  Also, the democratic machine boss.

Frank "Hap" Farley

Atlantic County Senator between the 1940s and the early 1970s

Brendan Byrne

Governor between 1974 and 1982.  Considered incoruptible.  Superior Court Judge between 1970 and 1973.

Tom Kean

Governor between 1982 and 1990.  Made extensive use of the mass media.

Jim Florio

Hated because of his tax policy.  He was Governor between 1990 and 1994.  He ran on a platform of "no new taxes in the forseeable future;" however, he raised both the sales and income tax durring his tenure.  Those tax increases are seen as the reason for his loss to Whitman.

Christie Whitman

Governor between 1994 and 2001. 

Jon Corzine

Current Governor.  Took office in 2006.  Former US Senator from NJ.

Richard Codey

One of the Acting Governors after the resignation of Christie Whitman; between Jan 12 and Jan 15 2002.  The only Acting Governor after resignation of Jim Mcgreevey; Between 2004 and 2006.

Doug Forrester

Used Corzine's ex-wife's negative comments about Jon in a campaign attack ad.  Ran against Corzine in the 2005 gubernatorial race.

Valence Issues

Issue that almost everyone agrees on

Negative ads

In one, rather than promoting his-or-herself, the politition denigrates and criticizes his-or-her opponent.  

Pay-to-play Contracts

A term used to describe a contract given to someone in exchange for a political conribution.

NJ Papers in General

Half of NJans say they get most of their political new from new papers.  NJ is said to be a new paper state in a TV world.  As suburban sprawl progressed, urban papers lost their locational mastheads and began to more-heavily cover suburban stories.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Fifth most read news organ in the state.  Most read paper in Camden and Gloucester County. 

NY Times

Forth most read news organ in the state.  Very strong circulation in Bergen, Morris, Mercer, and Somerset County.

Star Ledger

The most read news organ in the state.  Was called the Newark Star Ledger.  Under the leadership of Mort Pye, between 1957 and 1995, the Ledger was extremely political and serious; the paper fequently exchanged support of politicans for scoops.  After 1995, Mort Pye left and the paper became more about trendy graphics and pictures; it also took on a less political, more critical, and populist tone. 

Asbury Park Press

Primarily read in Ocean and Monmouth County.  Asbury and its sister papers were bought out by the Gannett company in 1997.  Prior to being bought out, those papers merged and created a strong statehouse bureau that rivaled that of the Ledger, but Gannett made big staff cuts and forced the papers to focus on revenue generating measures like obituaries; After Gannett took over, the circulation of Asbury fell.  In 2002, Skip Hidlay, took over the Asbury and its sister papers, and they are starting to focus more on investigative journalism.  The sister papers and Asbury have one third of the circulation of the Ledger.

Interest Groups

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, NJEA, NJBIA, AFL-CIO.  Organizations who attempt to influence policy and law such that they accord with their needs.  NJ was one of the last states to regulate lobbyists.  Until 1964, in NJ, lobbyists were not required to register with the secretary of state, disclose clients, or wear a badge while on the hill.  In 2005, NJ ranked forth amoung the nations in lobbying expenditures

1776 Constitution

First constitution after the Declaration of Independence.  Written hastily.  Because it was written during the time of the revolutionary war, the constitution reflects a fear of despotic power by creating a very weak governor.  It essentially created two branches of government, executive and legislative.  The legislature and governor acted as the highest court.  The legislature ellected the governor.  The 1776 constitution allowed blacks and women who meet property requirements to vote; that provision was later interperated differently.

1844 Constitution

Second constitution after Declaration of Independence.  Gave the Governor a bit more power than the first constitution did.  Some of its deficiencies include an archaic court system, a malapportioned legislature, a difficult amending procedure and a still-quite-weak governor.  Made the Governor a popularly elected offical.

1947 Constitution

Third and current constitution.  Created a modern court system.  Gave the governor a lot of power.  Did not fix the malapportioned legislature, but that was fix later as a result of the 1962 case, Baker vs. Carr.  The Constitutional Convention which generated the 1947 constitution was held a a Rutgers gym.  The chair of the Constitutional Convention was the Rutgers President. The 1947 constitution gives no detailed regulation of local government which is keeping with the home-rule tradition.

Hendrickson Commission and the 1944 Constitution

Commission was headed by Arthur Vanderbilt and Robert Hendrickson.  It was created in 1941 by a mostly Repulican legislature who placed their people on the commision with the hopes of nothing coming from the commission.  The republicans didn't like Governor Charles Edison's call for legislative reform in the suggested, new constitution and thus the commission was just a token gesture.  However the commision created a full constitutional draft and asked the legislature to vote on a referendum; in 1942, the legislature voted to take no action until after the war.  However, in 1943, a bill for a Constitutional Convention referendum passed, but the referendum was voted down in 1944.  Frank Hague was instrumental in having it voted down.

Gibbons vs. Ogden

Landmark Supreme Court Case of 1824.  It defined the Federal Governments athority in interstate commerce as it relates to ferry transport on the Hudson.  The Supreme court shot down a monopoly granted by NY in favor of a monopoly grated by the US Congress.  A NJ entrepreneure won the case.

Baker vs. Carr

US Supreme Court Case which forced NJ to reapportion its legislature.  The idea, "one person, one vote," came from this.  1962.  Ended NJ long rural-county-donimance of the legislature

Robinson vs. Cahill

Like Abbot vs. Buke, but it came before it.  Dealt with two tax related issues: (1) do urban (more heavily taxed) residents have a right to equal taxation; (2) does the burden of funding schools rest with the state or municipalities.  The court rejected the notion of equal taxation, but it essentially placed the burden of funding schools on the state.  It foced the state to diffine a through and efficent education and to ensure the funding of said education.  From this came the Public Education Act of 1975

Abbot vs. Burke

Brought because the Public Education Act did not do what it was supposed to.  Filed in 1981.  Created the abbot districts and forces the state to give large amont of money to those districs.  The case has been heard over and over