The Backgrounder

Paul Brubaker

Conversations on politics, government, music, media and other things connected to New Jersey

  1. 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.

    1h 6m

  2. 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.

    39 min

  3. 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.

    1h 2m

  4. 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.

    53 min

  5. 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.

    59 min

  6. 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.

    39 min

  7. 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.

    59 min

  8. 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.

    44 min
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About

Conversations on politics, government, music, media and other things connected to New Jersey

Information

  • Creator
    Paul Brubaker
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2016
  • Episodes
    86
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2015 The Backgrounder Podcast, A Direct Audio Media Production
  • Show Website
    The Backgrounder