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Two cities in Hudson County electing new mayors during runoff elections this week after no candidate topped 50% of the vote back in November. Now for Jersey City, James Solomon defeating former Governor Jim McGreevy. Solomon has been a city council member since 2017, and he will be the city's first new mayor since 2013, replacing Mayor Stephen Phillip, who ran in the gubernatorial primary earlier this year. In Hoboken, Emily Jabor will take over. She beat councilman Michael Russo. Jabor will replace Mayor Ray Bala, who will become an assemblyman in the new year. Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill heads to late night. She appeared on CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Monday night. Sheryl told the host that the unusual story behind the birth of her second child, plus her husband's role in the child's delivery in a New York City cab. Cheryl's move to the governor's mansion left her former congressional seat vacant. A special primary to fill the post will be held February 5th. And the governor-elect appointed her first cabinet member, Lieutenant Governor-elect Dale Caldwell will step into the role of Secretary of State under New Jersey's Constitution. Lieutenant governor is required to serve in the cabinet. Sheryl says Caldwell was a clear choice for the role. President Trump's pick to head the US attorney's office in New Jersey just suffered a legal defeat this week. A federal appeals court upholding a lower court ruling disqualifying Alena Haba, ruling that she was unlawfully appointed as US attorney. The courts. That the president tried to go around Congress in putting her in the job after her 120 day interim status expired without a Senate confirmation. It's not clear if the president and DOJ will appeal again, but the role of the top federal prosecutor in the state is once again in limbo. Haba is from Summit and the president's former lawyer. And joining me now with the potential fallout from this ruling is Rocco Ciperron, a former federal prosecutor in the District of New Jersey. Rocco, it's always good to see you. Good to see you, Eric. Listen, uh, the White House and Attorney General Pam Bondi have pretty much been mum about this, and so has the US Attorney's Office in New Jersey, but South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace weighed in and, uh, said this, saying, quote, This is exactly why we introduced the. Appointments by rogue Judges Act to stop activist judges from overriding the will of the people or blocking President Trump's ability to appoint top tier talent to serve the American public. So I want to ask you, sir, what do you think? Did the appellate court get it right? I, look, these are very difficult issues. They wrote a very thorough opinion. I think they tracked the statute, which applicable statutes very well. I think they got it right, and I think the district court got it right before that. So I think, uh, President Trump and Ms. Haba have a difficult path. Going forward, I expect that they will appeal and it will probably be presented as a petition for cert to the Supreme Court of the US because these cases are brewing in different districts around the country, but they do have a difficult position here. A lot of people are asking on the heels of this this week is what this could mean for cases being prosecuted or that have been brought by this office under Alina Habba's tenure. So there's a lot of swirl around that, right? And I, I practice a lot in the District of New Jersey and there's a little bit of a state of flux. Many of the judges have been and I expect will continue to require waivers of any challenges to Alina Jaba's authority if the case is going to proceed forward, and, and if a defendant does not want to do that, they probably will put the case in limbo. At least for the time being and, and the case will stay on a slow track. Um, even that's probably iffy as to whether or not that is a waivable issue. Um, I think what the government is doing is belting suspenders also placing Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's signature on all documents so that if HAA remains disqualified, they can contend that it's still valid because it was under Blanche. Authority, but that's that's a little bit tenuous. So there's a little bit of a quagmire there for the courts. So it doesn't necessarily invalidate the cases that are currently pending, but it could certainly pose some serious some serious trouble or challenges for them. What do you think is going on inside the US attorney's office right now in terms of how they proceed after a ruling like this? Well, I think the first thing they're going to look to is perhaps petition the full Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which is the court that just made that decision, uh, last week or earlier this week, I should say, uh, to hear the case, meaning it was a 3 judge panel this time. We'll ask the full complement of judges to consider it. If that doesn't go their way. I expect an appeal to the Supreme Court. They're being very quiet within the US Attorney's Office publicly and also in individual conversations about this issue. So I think they're trying to figure out their next move and how they want to deal with it publicly. Are you surprised that there hasn't been any kind of comment from either the White House, the DOJ, or the US Attorney's office? I am surprised just given the nature of the fact that Ms. Haba and and the DOJ and Attorney General Bondi have not been quiet about this in the past, um, so I'm a little surprised, but I think they're taking a reflective approach and see what their next steps are before they put it out in the public perhaps of particular. Interest right now may be the case against Congresswoman La Monica MacGyver. A judge, as you know, denied a bid to dismiss the case against her and said that two of the three assault charges against her can proceed. So does she have the grounds at this point to, to file another motion to dismiss based on this ruling? Um, I suspect not. I don't know the timing of when her motion was denied, but a prior district court judge out of Harrisburg, to whom the case was transferred, had ruled generally that Ms. Habba was disqualified. But in that case, which is the one that the Court of Appeals just decided, The court also refused to dismiss the indictment, so it's really case by case in that regard. For example, was the indictment returned by or under the authority of Ms. Haba, in which case she might have ability to refile that motion? How closely do you think that this is being watched not only by the Democratic Party, but just in terms of uh in other districts in the United States right now? Well, it only affects those districts in which there were similar appointments under the same alleged authority that Ms. Haba got appointed. So other than politically, a lot of the districts are unaffected by this. In New Jersey though, where I practice a lot, we're all daily affected by it. I have, you know, tens of cases pending in federal criminal court in New Jersey. They're all affected by this in one way or another. Rocco Cipperone, always a pleasure. Thanks for coming on the show again. Good to see you, Eric. Thank you. Good to see you too and happy holidays and stay with us. We've got more to come here on New Jersey Power and Politics, including, well, you tired of playing just the ponies? What if you could hit the slots at the same time? The lawmaker trying to rein in that dream.

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Getting a real ID has been a real pain for some air travelers, but beginning in the new year, you will be able to get through security without one for a price. TSA says that anybody without a real ID or passport will need to pay $45 to get a confirmed ID and make it through security. We spoke to travelers at Newark Liberty Airport, and many are not happy to pay another fee to fly. I think it's just another way to, you know, gouge money from the travelers. We're already spending more money on top of what prices used to be, so it's really kind of unfair because we're really traveling for either family reasons or emergency, so it's, it's really unfortunate. Once you pay the fee, it'll be valid for 10 days. Travelers will have to start paying starting February 1st. And as we look ahead to the new year, drivers around the state should be ready for another increase to the gas tax. It's going up by another 4 cents to 49.1% for gasoline and 56.1% for diesel. The increase is to help pay for transportation projects through the state trust fund. And our neighbors across the Hudson are getting 3 new casinos thanks to the New York State Gaming Board, news that doesn't bode well for New Jersey's casino industry, as News 12's Jack Ford tells us, 1 state senator wants New Jersey to get in on the action. Two casinos were just approved in Queens and one in the Bronx. So the argument here is why let that potential tax revenue stay across the river when a place like the Meadowlands could be primed for a casino. New Jersey continues to sit on its hands. Uh, putting a Raino in the meadowlands would generate tons of cash for a strapped New Jersey, and I think the taxpayers deserve that to be looked at. Senator Penaccio not mincing his words or hedging his bets on the idea of a raceino slot machine gambling at the Meadowlands racetrack. The concept isn't a new one, but he says with more slots opening up across state lines and seemingly all directions, it may. Time to act. Atlantic City is complaining they don't want to be cannibalized by any other efforts in New Jersey, and yet you look at the surrounding states, they're doing all the cannibalization as we speak right now. In his proposed resolution, if they wanted, the Atlantic City casinos would be in control of and profit off of new operations, something he says would be a win-win for their wallets and the states. You got one hole that the state doesn't have to constantly look at every year during budget time in order to fill it. So could the slots hit the race track? Well, it's a constitutional change, so the resolution would have to be passed through the General Assembly and Senate and then head to voters directly where the odds are in anyone's favor at the Meadowlands, Jack Ford, News Club New Jersey, and that'll do it for this week. I'm Eric Lantz Kronner as always we thank you for watching New Jersey Power and Politics. We'll see you again next time.

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Political analyst Micah Rasmussen and Rocco Cipparone, a former federal prosecutor in the district of New Jersey, join the show this week. 

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