Received this e-mail today from State Senator Barbara Buono (D. NJ) who is running against incumbent Governor Chris Christie (R. NJ) regarding gun safety:
If the past few months have led you to believe anything, it should be that when it comes to gun safety, New Jersey can and must do better.
Chris Christie has done little to address this problem. That is why Barbara proposed a plan that focuses on three common sense measures: smaller magazines, universal background checks and face to face sales of all ammunition. We need to make sure Chris Christie knows where we stand.
Can you click here to automatically add your name to our petition that tells Chris Christie it's time for real, common sense gun safety reform?
http://act.buonoforgovernor.com/...
Chris Christie has caved to the gun lobby – he refuses to take the real steps necessary to help prevent tragedies from gun violence that are all too common today. If we can save even one life, then we must act now.
Click here to automatically add your name today:
http://act.buonoforgovernor.com/...
Thanks,
Jonathan
You can sign Buono's petition here:
http://act.buonoforgovernor.com/...
Despite being down in the polls and fundraising, Buono continues to hit Christie hard on his record as being too conservative for the Garden State:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Despite Christie’s sky-high poll numbers, Buono called his base of support “shallow,” the result of plaudits after Hurricane Sandy and universal name recognition. She pointed to a poll from a month before the hurricane, which showed Christie down slightly to an unnamed Democratic opponent. Buono hopes to bring his numbers back down through an intense retail campaign, telling voters that Christie has failed to turn New Jersey around after the Great Recession. (New Jersey’s unemployment rate, which fell to nine percent in March, had been above the nine-percent mark for nearly four years.)
When it comes to the middle class and working poor, Buono said her opponent is worse than last year’s GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
“I didn’t think the Republicans could find anybody that was as out of touch with middle class values as, you know, Mitt Romney was,” Buono said. “But I think they found somebody in Chris Christie.”
“I mean, this is a guy that vetoed the minimum wage bill that was tied to a cost-of-living increase, increased taxes on the working poor by cutting the earned income tax credit, someone who vetoed marriage equality … vetoed a bill on pay equity in New Jersey — ‘senseless bureaucracy’ — that’s what he called pay equity,” Buono said.
Buono said she isn’t worried about money, even though she has struggled to raise cash. Her “robust” grassroots operation, she said, will help overcome the big money Christie will be able to spend. Buono pointed out Christie was outspent three-to-one when he unseated former Gov. Jon Corzine (D). Still, there are serious doubts about her ability to raise even enough money to get her name out there. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in April, Buono is on track to be the first candidate to fail to collect the maximum amount of matching funds, a program that’s been in place for 32 years.
While Buono is still waiting for big-name surrogates to tout her candidacy, she is benefiting from the support of Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), who previously eyed a possible run against Christie but who opted to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014 instead. She has also gotten the help of EMILY’s List, a group dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women. - TPM, 5/7/13
Buono recently picked up the backing from the Latino Action Network (LAN):
http://www.politickernj.com/...
The Latino Action Network (LAN) today backed state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-18) at an event emceed by the attorney who successfully eradicated Buono’s primary challengers from the ballot.
“The Latino Action Network is proud to endorse Senator Buono to be the next governor of New Jersey,” said Frank Argote-Freyre, president of the organization, standing alongside Al Alvarez, lawyer for the State Democratic Committee and a LAN leader.
“She is the best choice for New Jersey because of her commitment to economic fairness, strengthening the middle class and creating educational opportunities for all,” Argote-Freyre added. “With Barbara Buono as governor, the Latino community will finally have its champion in Trenton.”
LAN evolved out of a 2009 Hispanic versus Hispanic war of wills within the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey (LLA-NJ). A faction of that group wanted Christie for governor. Others wanted to back incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine.
LAN splintered away from the Martin Perez-led LLA-NJ, and Perez later resurfaced as Christie’s appointee to the Rutgers Board of Governors, before staunchly supporting the Republican governor’s 2013 re-election along with LLA-NJ’s PAC.
Christie partisans delight in a tug of war within an ethnic group that leans heavily Democrat in New Jersey, but Buono today made the case for why she would better represent the community.
“The governor has referred to undocumented workers as criminals,” said the Democrat, flanked by LAN leaders as she decried Christie vetoing minimum wage and the earned income tax credit. - PolitickerNJ, 5/9/13
If you'd like to get involved with Buono's campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.buonoforgovernor.com/