Noticias

More than a dozen Democratic Assembly members received endorsement for re-election from the SEIU New Jersey State Council on Tuesday, support that could come with boots-on-the-ground and financial support. 

The endorsements include incumbents from competitive districts, like Assemblywomen Andrea Katz (D-Chesterfield) of LD-8 and Luanne Peterpaul (D-Long Branch) of LD-11, but not their respective running mates, Hammonton teachers union leader Anthony Angelozzi and Assemblywoman Margie Donlon (D-Ocean). The council solely endorsed incumbents.

“The SEIU NJ State Council proudly endorses these experienced legislators,” said Megan Chambers, the president of the SEIU NJ State Council and co-manager of the LDFS Joint Board, Workers United SEIU. “They have consistently advocated for pro-worker policies, and play an instrumental role in shaping legislation that directly benefits working  families.” 

The State Council is composed of unions representing service employees, including health care, warehouse, laundry, and school cafeteria workers. The State Council backed Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) for governor earlier this summer. 

The State Council and 32BJ SEIU are not part of the same operation. 32BJ joined a progressive coalition that backed Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for the Democratic nomination for governor in the primary earlier this year.

The council consists of 1199 SEIU Healthcare Workers  East, Laundry, Distribution, and Food Service Joint Board of Workers United, the Committee of Interns and Residents, and 32BJ Motor Vehicle Inspectors, according to the release.

“Their actions and unwavering dedication to the labor movement are clear: they fight for families not just to survive in today’s economy, but to truly thrive, to build a future for themselves and their children,” Chambers said. “We commend their tireless efforts in making our communities stronger for everyone.” 

Full list of endorsees:

• Melinda Kane, LD-6
• Andrea Katz, LD-8 
• Luanne Peterpaul, LD-11 
• Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, LD-15 
• Roy Freiman, LD-16  
• Mitchelle Drulis, LD-16 
• Rosy Bagolie, LD-27  
• Shanique Speight, LD-29  
• Alexander Schnall, LD-30  
• William Sampson, LD-31 
• Carmen Morales, LD-34  
• Shama Haider, LD-37  
• Chris Tully, LD-38 
• Lisa Swain, LD-38

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Veteran Atlantic County Commissioner Ernest D. Coursey, Sr., who announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election to a fifth term because of health issues, died early this morning.  He was 62.

He has been the lone Democrat in county government.

“I am terribly saddened by the passing of my friend Ernest Coursey. Ernest had a gifted political mind and a solid pragmatism to him that made him an effective public servant. He exemplified Otto von Bismarck’s maxim that ‘politics is the art of the possible,” said Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman.  “The fact that he earned the respect of Republicans and Democrats alike, despite having strongly-held beliefs, is a testament to his many years of goodwill, constituent service, and dedication to Atlantic County. I will miss Ernest’s sense of humor, political savvy, and friendship. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Leslie and their two sons.”

Coursey served as an Atlantic City councilman from the Third Ward from 1991 to 2002, serving a stint as council president.  He served as an aide to U.S. Senator Bob Torricelli and as a commissioner of the South Jersey Transportation Authority; Coursey was the deputy mayor of Atlantic City while Lorenzo Langford held the post.

He was elected freeholder, the precursor to county commissioner, and was re-elected in 2016, 2019, and 2022

In 2017, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in the 2nd legislative district, but finished third in a six-candidate primary with 3,852 votes; he trailed future Assemblyman John Armato (D-Buena) by 1,744 votes.

He announced last year that he would run on gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop’s ballot slogan and not seek the support of the county organization.

His seat will be filled on an interim basis by the Atlantic County Democrats.

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A little phone etiquette to start the day.

Let me start the conversation with an honest and direct observation – we don’t use the telephone nearly enough and this has greatly reduced our personal connectivity, and that is a shame. This problem was remarkably impacted by Covid and five years later the aftereffects are not only felt but compounded along the way.

This shouldn’t be news to us, but far too many of us are content with texting as a total substitute for communicating, as opposed to by phone or God forbid, direct one on one physical conversations. This needs to change.

In lieu of the all-important face to face interaction, I suggest that you start picking up the phone and calling friends, allies, and family members that you can tolerate and even coworkers and clients. Nothing can replace a good ole fashioned conversation between two people.

As I stated before, Covid has somehow normalized texting and validated it as an official and acceptable means of communication. News flash – it isn’t an acceptable mode of communication, and it is a major problem, and  if we continue to rely upon this as our primary means of communication within our community, we will continue to lose real contact with the rest of the world.

And another thing, and I think Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson can be put to good use here,  using text messages will invariably cause something to be lost in translation. The real problem with texting is that texting doesn’t allow the luxury of denoting humor, sarcasm, snark, or any emotion and far too many wars have started with a simple miscommunication.
Moving on, when we do place a telephone call or receive a call, there are some basic ground rules.

I shouldn’t have to give a tutorial about good manners to observe on the phone, except one – be absolutely crystal clear as to whom you are talking to or who else is privy to that conversation. Absent a friendly incursion by the FBI or some law enforcement agency, you should not have to worry about anyone else listening in to a conversation. Ready for a shock—more times than not, when you think you are having that private one on one conversation, there are more than two parties participating. You would be surprised how many times you are in the middle of a private conversation, and you suddenly discover that you are on a speaker phone and others are in the background. Or how about when you call someone and after 15 minutes into that call you hear a cough in the background or a whispering from a third party?  Not cool. But again, this happens more than you think.

The takeaway is that it is entirely unprofessional and creepy if you are on a private call, and you don’t disclose the presence of a third party. It doesn’t matter if it is a co-worker, an intern, parent , child, or amazon delivery person, you must disclose always when you are on speaker phone and when a third party is within earshot of the conversation.

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