By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
I said last September that Colorado #2A activists’ successful recall of two Democrat legislators – including their own state senate president – could be bad news for New Jersey’s Steve Sweeney. Unfortunately for everyone except Sweeney, the NJ GOP establishment didn’t challenge him at the polls and Garden State grassroots weren’t sufficiently organized.
Could that change with a little experienced help? From BreitBart news…
Breitbart News spoke with Official Colorado Recall Spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns on March 18. She said organizers in New Jersey have begun inquiring about the structure of those recalls as they consider organizing their own.
She said they have spoken with Colorado Recall founder Tim Knight, “who gave them advice and a road map, of sorts, of what they can expect to face.”
It won’t be easy per Article 1, Section 2b of the state constitution:
“The people reserve unto themselves the power to recall, after at least one year of service, any elected official in this State or representing this State in the United States Congress. The Legislature shall enact laws to provide for such recall elections. Any such laws shall include a provision that a recall election shall be held upon petition of at least 25% of the registered voters in the electoral district of the official sought to be recalled. If legislation to implement this constitutional amendment is not enacted within one year of the adoption of the amendment, the Secretary of State shall, by regulation, implement the constitutional amendment, except that regulations adopted by the Secretary of State shall be superseded by any subsequent legislation consistent with this constitutional amendment governing recall elections. The sufficiency of any statement of reasons or grounds procedurally required shall be a political rather than a judicial question.”
The official recall Sweeney push also likely can’t get underway for some time. The procedure involves forming a three-person committee and filing a notice of intention no sooner than 50 days before the completion of the targeted legislator’s first full year of the current term in office (so for Sweeney, sometime in December). The 25% signature requirement (based on last November’s tallies) needs to be met within 160 days of filing the notice.
It’s even more difficult statewide. New Jersey law still requires the collection of signatures from 25% of registered voters, which across our entire state works out to approximately 1,377,762 souls (living, not dead). Christie haters would get 320 days. Recall efforts are consequently rare in New Jersey. An effort to dethrone Bob Menendez (D-Dominican Republic) ironically failed on constitutional grounds.
The Bob Menedez efforts may have failed, but we the people hate Sweeney and we will see him dethroned and anyone else who decides to abandon their oath of office. Also, the amount of people willing to donate their time to see Sweeney gone is unbelievable.
If we can include under aged Dominican prostitutes in the recall maybe there is a chance to get Menendez.
Thanks Matt Rooney for the mention! Only let me make one thing clear – it’s not the CO people who want to take down Sweeney, it’s the people of New Jersey! But we are glad to provide advice and give the roadmap on how to do it! 🙂 We are all Americans and all granted our 2nd Amendment rights