New Jersey Governor Christie Nominates Gurbir Singh Grewal Bergen County Prosecutor

[spnadmin]

Christie nominates assistant U.S. attorney to replace John Molinelli as Bergen County prosecutor

BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN AND MONSY ALVARADO

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Chr...ce_Molinelli_as_Bergen_County_Prosecutor.html

Governor Christie announced Thursday that he will nominate Gurbir Singh Grewal, an assistant U.S. attorney from Glen Rock, to succeed John Molinelli as the Bergen County prosecutor.

If approved by the state Senate, Grewal would be the first Sikh to serve as a county prosecutor in New Jersey, according to leaders in the state’s Sikh community.

His nomination ends several months of speculation over whom Christie would tap for the post, which Molinelli, a Democrat, has held since being nominated by Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2002. He was reappointed by Gov. Jon Corzine and has continued to serve as a holdover since his term expired in January.

Molinelli, who said he learned of the move by Christie when contacted by a reporter, declined to comment. Christie had said in January that when he makes a decision about the post, “our first call will be to John.”

“I want to thank John Molinelli for his many years of service to the people of Bergen County,” Christie said in a news release. “We look forward to a swift confirmation for his successor.”

Members of the Sikh temple in Glen Rock where Grewal and his family worship said they were happy with the news that someone from their community could be the next leader of the county Prosecutor’s Office.

“It’s excellent news for the community, because I think he is one of what we call the new generation, born here, raised here and someone who went to school here and is a full-fledged Sikh,” said Karmjit Singh Sidhu, president of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Sikh temple on Prospect Street.

“It also brings a lot of hope and encouragement for our next generation … especially in law and order, which we don’t have a lot of presence, and it will be a big boost in our community and for our children down the road.”

Sidhu said Grewal’s father was among the founders of the temple, and that Grewal has been going to the house of worship since he was a child. He said that more recently Grewal has been known to volunteer at the temple, including helping serve meals at the gurdwara’s community kitchen on Fridays and after service on Sunday.

“We see him quite often,” said Amrik Singh Sikand, past president of the temple. “He and his wife are very involved and his children and mother, too.”
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/Chr...n_County_Prosecutor.html#sthash.L8txgMUi.dpuf

 

[Tejwant Singh]

In the Sikhi spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I know Gurbir and his family personally. He has been a great prosecutor which got some Wall Street powerful people arrested. He deserves to be Asst. Attorney General because of his abilities and more important Mr. Mollinelli whom he would replace has not been good at his job, like the typical Jersey style ostrich because of the political favours.

I hope the Senate approves him and I want to wish Gurbir all the best in his career.

Now let’s check Christie’s motives behind it. He is a very crafty politician and flip flops more than the sand laden ones on the beach.

1. He first refused to spend money on special elections after the death of Senator Lautenburg. In fact he said at that time, “I don’t think any responsible governor at this point would call for a special election that would cost $10 million.”

2. Then, as happened on many occasions, he changed his mind about not spending money. “The costs associated with having a special primary and general election in my mind cannot be measured against the value of having an elected representative in the United States Senate when so many consequential issues are being debated,” Christie said.

Even the famous New Jerseyian comedian Jon Stewart chimed in, “It’s just hard to see a corrupt abuse of power and not think about home,” Stewart joked Wednesday night on his program. “Your whole reputation is supposed to be about protecting New Jersey taxpayers. I don’t know what to say to you,” Stewart said.

According to some estimates the special election cost is about $25 million, not $10 million as Governor Christie said and the money that could have been spent on many other things that New Jersey needs especially after hurricane Sandy and about 3 days ago the devastating fire on the rebuilt Broadwalk.

The governor has announced the primary will be held on Aug. 13, while the special general election will follow on Oct. 16, just three weeks before Christie’s re-election date. According to New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, the special election is estimated to cost around $23.8 million.
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/06/gov-...s-costly-special-election-then-calls-for-one/

For only the three week gap between his re-election and the special election at the hefty price tag of $25 million does not make any business sense, but it does make a lot of political sense for Governor Christie.

Three weeks is lifetime in politics especially when Cory Booker the ex-mayor of Newark, NJ is a famous and well liked Democrat, a favourite to win the primaries, which he did with a great margin.

If the elections were held the same day as Christie’s re-election rather than 3 weeks earlier on Oct.16th , Cory Booker would give lots of democratic votes to the state house candidates as NJ is a Democrat state. In order for the other candidates not to ride on Cory Booker’s coattails, $25 million of state money which belongs to all New Jerseyians is being spent.

Hold on, it is not over yet. This is just the middle. We all know NJ is a blue state and Christie is the rare Republican governor of the blue state and he wants to be re-elected, making these elections as a springboard for his potential 2016 Republican Presidential candidacy. We all know that the Gopers are fighting with each other like the stepsons from different parents. This gives Christie more chances to be chosen as the GOP presidential candidate.

In order for the state of NJ to become Red for his re-election as a governor and then as a potential Presidential candidate, Christie started this crafty plan long before when he nominated the first Muslim Judge despite the backlash from the Gopers and other conservative groups.

Here is just a little flavour of their dis-satisfaction.
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/3173...-his-hamas-judge-pick-other-islamo-pandering/
http://nation.foxnews.com/chris-chr...ointing-muslim-judge-sharia-law-business-crap
There are plenty more where this came from.

The above nomination will give him the Muslim voting block and the nomination of Gurbir Singh Grewal will give him the Sikh/Hindu ones.

Now, it all depends on the forward looking people of these three influential communities in NJ not to give what Christie wants because GOP’s values are not our values.

Tejwant Singh

 

[spnadmin]

I was wondering about that! Living just across the river from New Jersey, and close to the details day by day, I think you may indeed have the politics right on this. The north-state/south-state demographics may mix things up somewhat. It will be an interesting few months.