Gormley goes out on top

State Sen. William L. Gormley, the powerful legislator in control of the Atlantic County Republican machine, announced that he won't seek reelection in 2007, which would have been his 9th term.

His decision has sent Atlantic county politicians scurrying for position. It sets up a highly competitive race for the 2nd district State Senate seat, most likely between Republican Frank Blee, the Assembly Minority Whip whom Gormley has already endorsed, and James Whelan, a freshman Democratic Assemblyman and former Mayor of Atlantic City.

There's a nice breakdown of the fallout and jockeying for the GOP in thePress of Atlantic City written by Thomas Barlas: Gormley decision has potential GOP candidates scrambling

McGreevey, you dirty, dirty man

So in the middle of the night, they snuck out ol' Greevey's portrait, slapped it up on the wall of the state house, and called it a night. It was as if they were embarrassed to be hanging it up in the first place.

By the way, I fought the urge to but a bag of Israeli Couscous next to his grapes.

Van Drew, don't be a blockhead

State Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, is pushing for a referendum to bring sports betting to Atlantic City. In order for this to happen, not only would it have to pass a State Assembly not interested in putting it through. It would take an act of Congress to enact, due to a federal law passed in 1993 allowing sports betting in only four states: Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Delaware.

Despite the adversity, Van Drew is focused on bringing sports betting to AC. He introduced a bill last year, only to see it voted down, and is committed to keep on trying, no matter how many times the ball is pulled away from his foot.

If you'd like to read more, here's a story from the Press of Atlantic City written by Shawn Hardie: Long odds, high hopes for sports bets in A.C.

What will gore do?

Best of 2006

Wow! What a year! New Jersey is such a great place to cartoon; I'm never out of topics or ideas. And 2006 was filled with them. From McGreevey writing a book, the dirty Kean/Menendez senate battle, Corzine shuttting down the government, you name it, 2006 saw it!

Here's a sampling of 2006, my "best of." It feels a bit weird having a best of, as this was my first year of doing political cartoons. In fact, my first published cartoon appeared January 30, 2006 in NJBiz, so technically it hasn't even been a year yet! Here is that cartoon:

Thanks to everyone who has followed my cartoons. Happy New Year!

NFL comes down "hard" on steroids

I think the NFL's policy regarding steroid use is ridiculous. Not only do players only get a 4-game suspension for their first positive test, they are seemingly unaffected in the public popularity bowl. Does anyone think of Julius Peppers as a steroid user?

Chirs Collingsworth wrote a ridiculous article, that you can read here, where he goes on and on about how the NFL has the BEST steroid testing policy, and celebrates the league for "take(ing) great pride in the way NFL has handled the steroids issue."

Somehow, the physical nature of the game has allowed fans to remain mum about the issue of steroids. In all other sports, players (rightfully so) are tarred and feathered out if they are caught cheating. Football should be no different, and we need to hold the players that are caught accountable.

Unless they play for the Buffalo Bills.

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Here's a cartoon I did to welcome 2007. I was trying to think of a simple, wordless cartoon, and I thought of Leyendecker's Saturday Evening Post covers. The cartoon is definitely inspired by him. If I have time, I'd love to try to color it in the computer to mimic Leyendecker oils, but I think it's a step out of my talent class. Still, it'd be an interesting experiment. Here's the sketch for the cartoon:

Thanks to everyone who's followed my cartoons, and that continue to check out this blog. Make sure you check out my blog in the next couple of days. I'll be posting my top 5 cartoons of 2006.

Take care!

Baby Bush