As a former New Jersey legislator and BPU Commissioner, Stuart Shapiro asks Senior Policy Fellow Bob Gordon about his path to public service. Bob talks about his early days as a policy analyst and how he discovered he wanted to be less behind the scenes and move into the policymaking side.
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Payne: Not All “Review Bombing” Is Bad for Business
Payne found that Yelp’s automated and human review filtering systems largely responded the same way to each incident, but with considerably different effects.
Dr. Will Payne Examines Consequences of Review Bombing
This article uses spatiotemporal analysis of Yelp review activity to depict and analyze the shifting catchment areas of local businesses, as measured through the locations of their reviewers over time and across review categories (Recommended, Not Recommended, and Removed).
Political earthquakes rock New Jersey’s Democratic machine
“In New Jersey, there was a machine that was really powerful and if you went up against it, you lost. Through Norcross losing power, the county line lawsuit and Menendez’s indictment … all these events have created this window, and people are stepping into it,” Rutgers political science professor Julia Sass Rubin said.
Can New Jersey’s political machines hold on to power?
New Jersey’s political boss culture dates back more than 100 years. It was able to outlast the good government reforms of the early 20th century. While the current moment feels hopeful, political machines do not give up power easily.
Politics in New Jersey has gone off the rails — even by New Jersey standards
“You could not envision a day when Norcross wasn’t running the state essentially,” Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers University professor who studies New Jersey government, said of that period. “That he’s now under indictment, it’s stunning.”
EJB Talks: Political Update with Stuart Shapiro and Amy Cobb
Stuart Shapiro welcomes back Amy Cobb MPAP ’18 for a political update in the final EJB Talks episode of the spring 2024 season. They discuss the potential consequences of Trump’s guilty verdict for falsifying business records in New York, particularly the consequences for the 2024 election.
Assembly speaker’s law firm has made millions since he took power. Critics cry foul.
“If you think that his being part of the firm has no impact on the fact that they’re getting this business, then I guess it doesn’t matter,” said Julia Sass Rubin, a professor at Rutgers’ Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. “That seems a little unlikely.”
Let’s Keep Focus on “The Line” in NJ Politics
If you’re not in-the-know, The Line is where you want to be on the ballot if you’re running for office in New Jersey. Candidates granted The Line by NJ’s political gatekeepers are almost assured of victory, especially in a primary election. That’s why NJ’s powerful political machines invest so much time and treasure into determining who gets the line and (perhaps more importantly) who doesn’t.
Bar part-time officials from full-time perks, incoming N.J. lawmaker says
“That doesn’t excuse individuals who have consciously abused the system,” said Pfeiffer, now a professor at Rutgers University. “But there are probably any number of cases where elected officials can spend 30, 35 hours a week in their job as an unpaid or low-paid elected official.
Upcoming Events
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2025 Bloustein Alumni Awards Celebration
Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ, United StatesSince 1994, the Bloustein School Alumni Association has aimed to present awards to accomplished alumni each year. Our goal is to pay tribute to alumni and friends to recognize their […]
RAISE 2025 – Our Future With AI: Utopian or Dystopian?
Gov. James J. Florio Special Events Forum, CSB 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, United StatesInformatics - Data Science - AI Competition Step into the future of innovation! RAISE-25 will challenge you to unravel the scope of AI's impact on our lives and human society. […]