The Backgrounder

Conversations about New Jersey politics, government, media, music & food.

Episode 82: Loretta Weinberg 09/13/2016

Episode 82: Loretta Weinberg When Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg began attending Port Authority meetings, she began uncovering the scandal that we’ve come to know as “Bridgegate.” On this episode, the incomparable and indomitable Senator Weinberg gives her thought about the upcoming trial, talks about her life as an elected official, her special relationship with Governor Christie, and she gives her advice to any young people who may aspire to fill her shoes. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4663070

Episode 81: Buzz Aldrin 09/05/2016

Episode 81: Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin, Montclair’s man on the moon, has led an extraordinary life in the years leading up to – and since – his historic voyage on Apollo 11. Just days before he returns to Montclair for the dedication of a middle school in his honor, Aldrin talks about some of his memories of living in Montclair, where President Kennedy originally wanted to send astronauts in the 1960s, and when and how we should be landing on Mars. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4644148

Episode 80: Benjie Wimberly 08/27/2016

Episode 80: Benjie Wimberly If you don’t know N.J. Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly through his political and government credentials, you almost certainly know him as the legendary football coach who brought Super Bowl Champion Victor Cruz and T.J. Clemmings to the NFL. But even that description falls short of describing the person that Benjie Wimberly has become to the people of Paterson, N.J. (where people call him “Coach” more often than “Assemblyman.”) In this episode, Wimberly talks about football, the roughly 30 years he has spent as a coach, and how he would coach our state’s third largest city to achieving its full potential. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4622128

Episode 79: Heather Howard 08/20/2016

Episode 79: Heather Howard Heather Howard rose to prominence when she served as New Jersey’s State Health and Senior Services Commissioner in Governor Jon Corzine’s administration during the height of the national health care reform debate. Six years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a.k.a. “Obamacare” became law, Howard is traveling the country helping states to implement the ACA. She is also on the faculty of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs where she is teaching about the nuanced world of policy making as it relates to health care, and she is an elected Democrat on the Princeton Municipal Council. In this episode, Howard talks about whether we are all healthier after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, explains some of the details behind Aetna’s recent withdrawal from Obamacare in all but four states, and she tells us what we may not be appreciating about her former bosses, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jon Corzine. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4605455

Episode 78: Gordon MacInnes 08/12/2016

Episode 78: Gordon MacInnes Gordon MacInnes, President of New Jersey Policy Perspective, knows Trenton and Jersey politics. He served two terms in the Statehouse, first as an assemblyman and later as a state senator – no small feat for a Democrat who hails from Republican-dominated Morris County. He also served as New Jersey’s Assistant Commissioner of Education and became known as the state’s “Abbott Czar” as he administered New Jersey’s Abbott school funding program. In this episode, MacInnes explains how New Jersey has the option of putting the Transportation Trust Fund and public pension funding liability problems on the desks of the next governor and state legislature. He also gives his point of view on Governor Christie’s proposal for school funding reform, and he gives a preview of NJPP’s upcoming report on the nine worst decisions ever made in the state. As NJPP approaches its 20th anniversary, MacInnes gives his run down on some of the organization’s greatest accomplishments and tells why NJPP is NOT a liberal think tank. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4587718

Episode 77: Student Loan Debt with Deanna Maria Norcross & Vincent Cimilluca 08/05/2016

Episode 77: Student Loan Debt with Deanna Maria Norcross & Vincent Cimilluca School may be out for the summer but New Jersey’s student loan program has come under fire since a July 3 Propublica/New York Times story. “State sanctioned loan sharking” was how one person quote in the story described the state’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority and its loan program, NJ CLass. In this episode, Deanna Marie Norcross and Vincent Cimilluca talk about their personal connection being saddled with student loan debt in New Jersey, how it’s stunting the future they want to have together, and the activist group they’ve started, desclassifynj, to help find solutions to student debt problem in New Jersey. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4569677

Episode 76: Harry Pozycki 07/29/2016

Episode 76: Harry Pozycki Anyone with a political hangover from the past two weeks’ conventions will want to hear from Harry Pozycki, founder and chair of The Citizens Campaign. He has a lot to say about how much power we the people in the cheap seats of government really have, and how we can go about using it. He shares a lot of the knowledge he picked up in his extensive career in public service, during which he held offices including Middlesex County Freeholder and Chair of the Middlesex County Democratic Committee. Whether you believe your political voice has been heard this year or if you feel the whole system is rigged, Pozycki says the people have more power than many of us realize and he explains how on this episode. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4552028

Episode 75: Cathleen Lewis 07/22/2016

Episode 75: Cathleen Lewis Cathleen Lewis holds a unique position in Transportation Trust Fund/Gas Tax debate as Public Affairs Director for the American Automobile Association in New Jersey. While she is a known proponent of raising the gas tax, Lewis offers an argument on how a 23-cents per gallon increase in the gas tax could actually save New Jerseyans from future property taxes increases. A council member of the Township of Lawrence - where she previously served as mayor – Lewis explains what the effects of Governor Christie’s executive order to stop work on the state’s transportation projects have been on the state’s counties and municipalities. Lewis talks about how being on the front lines of New Jersey’s transportation issues means that she is often the only woman in the room, and gives her thoughts on juggling being a wife and mom with a full time job and an elected position. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4534875

Episode 74: Jennifer Beck 07/15/2016

Episode 74: Jennifer Beck N.J. Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) has been making headlines this year opposing a 23-cents-per-gallon gas tax hike and being among the first Republicans to not support Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy. But there’s much more to Senator Beck. On this episode, Senator Beck gives us her read on the post budgetary climate surrounding the gas tax debate and the Transportation Trust Fund, she provides an update on her work on behalf of those affected by Superstorm Sandy, and she explains how she went from being a physics and math major conducting research at the Goddard Space Flight Center to serving in the New Jersey State Legislature. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4518984

Episode 73: Julia Sass Rubin 07/08/2016

Episode 73: Julia Sass Rubin Two roads to school reform have diverged in New Jersey and Dr. Julia Sass Rubin of Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy isn’t thrilled with the choice. Dr. Rubin explains why neither of the proposals put firth by Governor Christie and Senator Sweeney make the grade, and gives her thoughts on how we should be going about reforming our schools. She also talks about charter schools and their effect on the education of those who don’t attend them. She explains the mission of Save Our Schools NJ, the all-volunteer organization she helped found that is aimed at making sure parents’ voices are heard as educational policy is made in New Jersey, and she shares a little bit of her story as an immigrant who came to the United States from the Soviet Union, via Israel, at the age of 10. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4502090

Backgrounder CRF: Pump Your Own Gas In NJ! 07/07/2016

Backgrounder CRF: Pump Your Own Gas In NJ! In this bit of a recent interview with that was rescued from The Backgrounder's cutting room floor (hence, the "CRF"), Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon explains why he believes drivers in New Jersey should be allowed to fill their own tanks at the gas pump. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4498819

Episode 72: Patricia Campos Medina 07/01/2016

Episode 72: Patricia Campos Medina Patricia Campos Medina is President of LUPE PAC, an organization aimed at getting more Hispanic women into elected office and keeping Latina incumbents in office, regardless of their political party. The mission of LUPE, which stands for Latinas United For Political Empowerment, is largely fueled by the fact that only one of New Jersey’s 565 mayors is Latina (Perth Amboy’s Wilda Diaz - Episode 59), and only 10 of the State Legislature’s 120 seats are held by Latinas. However, there’s more to Campos Medina than her current position. In this episode, she tells the story of how she came to the United States from El Salvador at the age of 14 not knowing English, and then four years later she was accepted at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Today, Campos Medina is one of the leading labor and political leaders in New Jersey and the nation, having helped the campaigns of President Barack Obama, former Governor Jon Corzine, and former Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Later this month, she will be in Philadelphia as a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4484795

Episode 71: Jason O'Donnell 06/24/2016

Episode 71: Jason O'Donnell Former State Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell, a retired firefighter, rescued a woman from drowning a few weeks ago and proved that once a first responder, always a first responder. So does the same principle apply to O’Donnell’s political life? It wasn’t long ago when O’Donnell was not only in the State Assembly but was also a possible chair of New Jersey’s Democratic Party. O’Donnell talks about the day of the rescue that made headlines and whether a political comeback is in his future. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4467608

Special Edition: NJ's Transportation Trust Fund 06/21/2016

Special Edition: NJ's Transportation Trust Fund As New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund is nearly depleted, and as lawmakers are considering a bill to raise the gas tax for the first time in nearly 30 years to drive revenue to the fund, The Backgrounder rewinds back to some of the conversations with people who have been on the front lines of the through the years (in some cases, decades). Former NJDOT Commissioner Jamie Fox, James Hughes of Rutgers University, Steve Adubato, Jr., Former Governor Thomas H. Kean, & NJ State Senator James Whalen are heard from in this special edition. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4459313

Episode 70: Declan O'Scanlon/NJEA's Wendell Steinhauer & Ed Richardson 06/17/2016

Episode 70: Declan O'Scanlon/NJEA's Wendell Steinhauer & Ed Richardson Practically everyone in Trenton agrees that something must be done to remedy New Jersey’s $43.7 billion pension deficit. It’s the question of what exactly to do about it that divides people. In this unique election year in New Jersey, where the candidates at the top of the tickets may very well be the questions on the bottom of the ballot this November, The Backgrounder looks at two sides of what to do about the pension crisis. First, N.J. State Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver) talks about his recently unveiled 3-point plan to address the pension crisis through an overhaul of health insurance benefits for public workers and retirees. Then, Wendell Steinhauer and Ed Richardson, president and executive director (respectively) of the New Jersey Education Association, give their reaction to the O’Scanlon plan and explain why New Jersey voters who do not receive a public pension should vote in favor of the ballot question in November. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4451274

Episode 69: Katie Meyler 06/10/2016

Episode 69: Katie Meyler Katie Meyler forged a path from working class roots in Bernardsville, N.J. to helping children in West Point, Liberia that was cleared by her belief than we should all be working for something bigger than ourselves. That belief is the cornerstone of the organization Meyler founded called the More Than Me Foundation, which has been building and improving schools that help get children – especially sexually exploited girls – off the streets and into the classroom. More Than Me received a huge boost from a $1 million award from The JP Morgan Chase Foundation in 2012, and faced incredible challenges during the Ebola outbreak of 2014. In this episode, Meyler tells her story that has brought her before some of the world’s wealthiest people and powerful heads of state, and landed her a spot on Time Magazine’s Person of the Year list in 2014. And she tells of how she was able to overcome her own self-doubt and perceived limitations in order to achieve success on her amazing journey. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4433094

Episode 68: Scott Gurian 06/03/2016

Episode 68: Scott Gurian Scott Gurian is an award-winning journalist who knows no limits when it comes to getting a great story. He helped WNYC score a Peabody Award for his coverage of Superstorm Sandy, and he helped launch NJSpotlight.org’s environmental investigative series “Dirty Little Secrets.” But the lengths he will go to for a great story are soon to surpass several thousand miles as he documents his upcoming trip from London to Mongolia in a used car. The stories he gets will be featured on his new podcast called far from home (farfromhomepodcast.org), which just recently went online. In this special live-recorded edition of The Backgrounder, Scott Gurian talks about his new podcast and explains why he wanted to take this trip in the first place. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4416905

Episode 67: Paula Poundstone 05/27/2016

Episode 67: Paula Poundstone Paula Poundstone’s observational humor has made her a one-of-a-kind performer on America’s stand-up comedy circuit, as well as a popular panelist on NPR’s weekly news quiz show “Wait, Wait. Don’t Tell Me,” (created and hosted by former Berkeley Heights resident Peter Sagal). Poundstone has played in nearly every major venue in New Jersey, and she’ll return on June17 to perform at The Levoy Theater in Millville. On this episode, Poundstone gives her perspective of the Garden State (informed by her many gigs here) and says what she believes is the greatest comedy film of all time. Also on this episode, N.J. Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto returns to The Backgrounder to talk about how lawmakers in Trenton reached the recent compromise to rescue Atlantic City from bankruptcy. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4398926

Episode 66: Tom Kean, Jr. 05/20/2016

Episode 66: Tom Kean, Jr. After serving in the State Legislature for 15 years, N.J. Senator Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) has clearly emerged from his father’s shadow and come into his own as a lawmaker and a formidable Republican player in New Jersey’s political arena. School choice and tax relief - including getting New Jersey taxpayers a break for charitable contributions - are among the issues topping his agenda. And Kean says he’ll run for statewide office again. But will it be for governor in 2017? Senator Kean answers the question and talks about a host of issues pertaining to New Jersey on this episode. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4383002

Episode 65: Thomas Bracken 05/13/2016

Episode 65: Thomas Bracken Tom Bracken has never held an elective office. And yet as President & CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, he is one of the most powerful voices in Trenton shaping public policy. Recently, as lawmakers engaged in the political jousting around the Atlantic City fiscal crisis, Bracken called on lawmakers to begin working with business leaders to help Atlantic City as they had agreed to do at the Chamber’s summit meeting last fall. In this episode, Bracken explains why people who don’t live Atlantic City should care about its future. He also talks about his work to keep the Transportation Trust Fund solvent, what he thinks about a constitutional amendment concerning pension payments, and how he came from a small Pennsylvania town to work in Trenton. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4367442

Episode 64: Paul Reiser 05/06/2016

Episode 64: Paul Reiser Paul Reiser is a comedian, writer and actor and well known as a native New Yorker. But before America saw Reiser in the classic film “Diner” or came to know Reiser as the star and creator of NBC’s hit TV series “Mad About You,” there was a time when he called New Jersey his home. In this episode, Reiser explains how he ended up in the Garden State, and talks about some of the highlights of his career that has included appearances in more than 20 major motion pictures including “Concussion,” the Oscar nominated “Whiplash,” and the upcoming horror movie “The Darkness” in theaters May 13. He also discusses his latest episodic comedy, “Red Oaks” on Amazon Prime, which is set at a New Jersey country club in 1985; and his upcoming May 14 appearance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4346674

Episode 63: Ross Gibby 04/29/2016

Episode 63: Ross Gibby As a working actor, Ross Gibby is no stranger to uncertainty. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4331008

Episode 62: Hetty Rosenstein 04/22/2016

Episode 62: Hetty Rosenstein For 35 years, Hetty Rosenstein has been a voice for New Jersey’s middle class. Today, she finds herself on the front lines of two major issues in New Jersey: the current strike of 39,000 Verizon employees and the upcoming public question on a constitutional amendment that would require the state to make regular payments to public pensions. Rosenstein talks about both of these issues in this episode, as well as the need for a law to protection New Jersey’s children welfare workers on the job and a bit of how she came to start her career as a voice for labor in the Garden State. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4313935

Episode 61: Patricia Teffenhart 04/15/2016

Episode 61: Patricia Teffenhart Does hooking up on Tinder make a person more vulnerable to sexual assault? Do the rape scenes in the HBO series “Game Of Thrones” contribute to a culture that makes people more vulnerable to rape? Are expectant parents holding “gender reveal parties” part of the problem? Do those blue lights with call boxes found on college campuses make people any safer from sexual assault? These are tough questions and Patricia Teffenhart, Executive Director of the NJ Coalition Against Sexual Assault, gives us her answers in this episode. Teffenhart also talks about why, during this Sexual Assault Awareness Month, she is trying to continue the recent momentum of heightened public awareness of the problem, thanks in part to films like Spotlight, The Hunting Ground and Lady Gaga’s performance on the Academy Awards. She explains that while her message may be simple – which is, we must all be a part of the solution to eliminate sexual assault, changing the way people think about sexual assault is not. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4297785

Episode 60: Michael Maron 04/08/2016

Episode 60: Michael Maron Michael Maron, president and CEO of Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, has achieved some notoriety as one of the most outspoken critics of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ’s OMNIA health plan. But it is his leadership of a faith-based – that is, Catholic – hospital (that happens to be where he was born) that has made Maron stand out in New Jersey’s health care landscape. In this episode, Maron explains why he believes OMNIA is bad for the future of health care in New Jersey, why Holy Name’s faith based mission is good for the health care of its patients, and how a person can maintain principles of faith while keeping a sharp business edge in a competitive marketplace. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4281211

Episode 59: Wilda Diaz 04/01/2016

Episode 59: Wilda Diaz Wilda Diaz was first elected mayor of the City of Perth Amboy in 2008, upsetting the entrenched incumbent Joe Vas. The Star-Ledger characterized the condition of the city at the time Diaz took office as “teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.” Then, in 2012, Superstorm Sandy destroyed the city’s waterfront. In this episode, Diaz, who is incidentally the state’s only Latina mayor and the first Latina to be elected mayor, talks about the challenges she has led the city to overcome. She also explains why she wants the voters of Perth Amboy to return her to City Hall for a third term. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4261545

Episode 58: Donald Payne, Jr. 03/25/2016

Episode 58: Donald Payne, Jr. Congressman Donald Payne, Jr. inherited a powerful legacy when he was elected to the seat that was held by his late father. But now he has emerged as a Congress member in his own right, feeling equally committed to serving the people of the 10th Congressional District and people throughout the United States. He recently returned from Flint, MI to hear from the people most affected by the lead-contaminated water crisis, and he has met with New Jersey’s leaders to try to avoid a similar crisis from happening here at home. As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Rep. Payne gives us his view on the federal order to Apple Computer to open a phone owned by a terrorist. The Congressman also talks about his hometown of Newark, his love of hip hop, his family (he’s the father of triplets), the Obamas' Christmas party at the White House, and about the relationship he had with his Dad. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4247580

Episode 57: Vincent Prieto 03/18/2016

Episode 57: Vincent Prieto N.J. State Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto came to the United States from Cuba with his mother 45 years ago. Their lives in America began in a basement apartment in Union City and two bags of groceries his uncle gave them. From these humble beginnings, Prieto would eventually ascend to one of the most powerful positions in New Jersey’s state government. But it wasn’t by design. Speaker Prieto tells his story in this episode and gives his thoughts about the current trend in US-Cuba relations. He also tells a little about his relationship with Governor Chris Christie, and explains his positions on the public pension and Transportation Trust Fund crises. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4231188

Episode 56: Dawn Zimmer 03/11/2016

Episode 56: Dawn Zimmer Dawn Zimmer will seek a third term as Mayor of Hoboken. The formerly content to be a stay-at-home mom makes the announcement on this episode of The Backgrounder. She also talks about what she calls her “accidental” entry into Hoboken politics, and about the challenges she has faced during her tenure as mayor – including leading Square-Mile City’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy and the effort to obtain a $230 million federal Rebuild By Design grant to plan for severe weather resiliency. She discusses the city’s relationship with the state two years after her appearance on MSNBC with Steve Kornacki when she disclosed a conversation she had with Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. She also says what she thinks about events like Leprecon and Santacon when they come to town, and gives her thoughts on the looming NJ Transit strike. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4213458

Episode 55: Ray Lesniak 03/04/2016

Episode 55: Ray Lesniak Few people exemplify the political “Happy Warrior” as well as N.J. State Senator Raymond Lesniak. Since he was first elected to the State Legislature in 1978, Lesniak has taken on numerous progress causes – including fighting New Jersey’s settlement with Exxon-Mobil (announced one year ago). He has also taken on just as many political battles, and he has apparently loved every minute of it. Now that he has decided not to run for re-election to the State Senate, he has been considering a run to become New Jersey’s next governor. Before Senator Lesniak began his ascent to becoming one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, he was an accordion player for “Jolly Rich and the Polka Stars,” whose album “Polkas With A Kick” was nominated for a Grammy Award. In this episode, Sen. Lesniak talks about his musical past, his service in the military, why he may be returning to the Catholic church, and the many battles he has taken on as New Jersey’s happiest warrior. CLICK HERE to listen to Episode 55 featuring N.J. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak. This episode is sponsored by The Pollack Financial Group. /episode/index/show/backgrounder/id/4196416

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