Joshua Hursa, Vice Chairman

Kyle Battaglia, Public Relations and Recruitment Coordinator

Kevin Van Loan, Treasurer

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

I drove down on Wednesday with 7 TCNJ College Republicans to CPAC.  We stayed just a few blocks from the Omni Shoreham Hotel, where the conference was held.  Little was done on Wed night, as we had a long day ahead of us. 

Thursday, February 7^th, 2008

We woke up early Thursday, took the metro to the hotel, registered and sat down.  First there was a conversation about Ronald Reagan, which included panelists and videos of Reagan himself.  Then, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to the convention.  Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the vice president.  Cheney was, surprisingly, pretty funny.   Next was an interesting panel on conservative roots.  Next, Governor Mitt Romney drops out in front of us.  Of all the Romney bashing I have done, I have to say Romney is the classiest guy I have ever seen.  He starts out with a stump speech, and then throws his support to the front runner, Senator McCain.  I respect Gov. Romney a whole lot more hearing him sacrifice his chances for the white house this time, in order to help the party.  I saw lemmings taking off their Romney shirts and immediately putting on McCain gear.  What happened to standing for your principles?  After he spoke, the buzz was constant.  What could possibly top Romney’s withdrawal from the race?  After Lunch, Senator McCain spoke to the gathered crowd.  I was not able to get into the speech, however I saw him pull up in his car, and have two (very blurry) pictures of the senator at arm’s length away from me.  It was exhilarating.  When I finally made it back into the main room we saw Sec. Elaine Chao (wife of Sen. McConnell and current Bush labor secretary).  She made Ralph Nader sound like Mike Huckabee; it was disastrous.  The main reasons for returning to see Sec. Chao was to see my candidate for president Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul address the convention.  He gave his usual stump speech.  Paul was the only candidate; in fact, the only person who was of any note that spoke at CPAC, who walked into the crowd, took pictures, signed autographs or otherwise engaged the audience.  At this point, it was a long day and the night was just getting started.  Due to the President’s necessary time slot changes (he was going to survey the tornado damage in Tennessee) the president was scheduled to speak at 7 am the next day, with the doors opening at 5.  Most people just stayed up all night.  DC Fest, an annual gathering of the CRs from around the country at the Hawk n Dove, was a lot of fun.  We danced the night away.

Friday, February 8^th 2008

I decided not to wake up early to see the president.  The TCNJ group that went did not get in, so I was able to get some sleep in.  Around noon, I got dressed and went back to the hotel, where I skipped the speakers and went right to the conservative political fair they had.  It was an enormous room filled with every group imaginable, from the ACLU to the Young Americans Foundation.  I spent four hours there.  The SWAG was impressive:  the CRNC gave out bottle openers (the irony haha), bumper stickers, books, bags, shirts, you name it.  They had political buttons, blogging stations, radio shows set up, book signings, internship fairs; it was a lot to take in.  I was able to gather a lot of information for the College Republicans, which we shall use to combat liberalism here at Rider.  Around 5 we went back to the hotel and had another…memorable evening!

Saturday February 9^th, 2008

We woke up, packed, checked out of the hotel, packed the cars and went back to the conference.  We arrived just in time to hear Governor Mike Huckabee speak.  It was impressive.  After Huckabee, there were a couple of panels speaking which we listened to.  At noon, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) spoke.  His speech, which consisted of him mentioning his inexperience in Washington DC, his record as a tax cutting, deficit cutting, fiscal conservative and his unwavering support of the Boy Scouts of America (he was a former eagle scout) makes me believe the 2008 Republican presidential ticket will be McCain-Perry ’08.  At one, Phyllis Schafly spoke.  She was extremely well received and well respected.  I got lunch and watched a portion of Newt Gingrich’s speech.  He makes good points, but he just needs someone else to promote them.  During the same time as Gingrich’s speech, Phyllis Schafly and her son held a panel on judicial activism.  It was very educational and we were able to interact with the panelists, which was nice.  At the conclusion of this panel, we went back into the main ballroom and heard the results of the straw poll.  Even considering Governor Romney dropped out of the race on Thursday, he still won the straw poll.   Tony Snow, former Fox News anchor and White House press secretary, gave one of the better speeches of the convention.   At the conclusion of his speech the convention adjourned.  We went back to our cars and went back to NJ.

CPAC was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I am literally exhausted, excited for this election cycle, ready to get started.  I plan on attending next year and so should interested Rider republicans.  It is an amazing opportunity that I hope we all take advantage of next year.

Source: Breitbart.com

Corzine says state won’t sell Turnpike
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
BY DEBORAH HOWLETT
Star-Ledger Staff

Gov. Jon Corzine yesterday ruled out selling the New Jersey Turnpike and insisted any lease of state assets to private operators must be structured in a way that ensures taxpayers will come out ahead.

“There will be no sale, I can as sure you of that, and any leasing will be under a very controlled basis,” Corzine said during a call-in program on the cable channel News 12 New Jersey. “We’re not giving away the shop. We’re not giving away the crown jewels.”

Corzine has proposed “monetiz ing” state assets, like the toll roads or the lottery, as a way to generate up-front cash payments from private operators or other sources.

The money would be used to pay down the state’s debt and fund capital projects, like road construction and open-space preservation, as well as other budget priorities for which there is currently no money. He has pledged that none of the windfall would go toward operational expenses.

The administration is studying exactly how it could accomplish those goals. Corzine said a proposal will be forthcoming in four to six weeks, and has declined to talk about specifics before “all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed.”

Corzine has said previously that he wasn’t ruling out any options, but in last night’s TV appearance he seemed to do just that.

“It’s monetization as opposed to privatization,” Corzine said.

One caller asked Corzine why the state couldn’t do as good a job running the Turnpike as a private firm, and by doing so reap all the financial benefit.

Corzine in response cited the Garden State Parkway and noted that it has had just one toll hike in its 55-year history. “I’m not sure we’re pricing it right for the marketplace,” he said.

Rather than simply giving up the toll road revenue to a private operator, Corzine said, the state would transfer the long-term operational costs to the operator and then take its share of the eventual proceeds in a lump sum. That would allow the state to save money on yearly debt service payments, he said.

“You can structure management of the asset in a way that ac crues to the benefit of the people of New Jersey,” Corzine said.

The governor also reiterated that he wants legislation banning lawmakers from holding other pub lic offices, saying, “I am intent on making sure this is actually accomplished before I sign the budget.” Corzine said earlier this month he had an agreement with legislative leaders that they would deliver a bill before the end-of-June budget deadline.

Deborah Howlett may be reached at (609) 989-0273 or dhowlett@star ledger.com.
Source: NJ.com

Anyone else think this is a terrible idea? I do.

In the biggest write up on the Rider University College Republicans in recent history, The Rider News discusses our recent protest during Senator Robert Menendez’s speech here on campus on Friday Oct. 27th, 2006. To read the complete article click here.

Vice Chairman
Greg Walker

Secretary
Lauren Bannworth

Treasurer
Chelsea Dodd

Rider University congratulates all who won their new seats of power on the CR state board.

We would also like to congratulate Matt Esposito, from TCNJ, for winning the Activist of the year.

We then voted on amendments which other chapters thought would be important, however, none passed. Joseph McCarthy then made a motion to hold a Constitutional Convention within September 10th and September 30th of 06.

We then had the great privilege of having Senator Tom Kean come in and speak to us for a few minutes about how we as Republicans need to take to the streets/dorm floors/dining halls and let everyone we can know how badly Democrats are making New Jersey.