Passaic City Council President/Acting Mayor Gary S. Schaer released a statement today in the aftermath of Mayor Samuel Rivera's departure from office. 

Rivera resigned at 5 p.m. after earlier in the day pleading guilty to extortion in federal court.

"This is a difficult time for Passaic," said Schaer. "I am committed, along with my city council colleagues, to restoring confidence to the residents of Passaic and assuring them that the services provided by our municipal government will continue as normal.

Gannett New Jersey is significantly scaling back its work force by offering voluntary buyouts to employees in order to cope with declining advertising revenues.

According to an article published on Gannett newspaper Web sites, the buyouts will be offered offered to 166 employees over the age of 55 who have worked there for at least 15 years. The company is making the offer at five of the company’s six New Jersey papers: The Asbury Park Press, Courier-Post, Home News Tribune, Courier News and Daily Journal. 

If not enough employees accept the buyout, the company will resort to layoffs, said Asbury Park Press President and Publisher Thomas M. Donovan, who’s vice president of Gannett’s East Newspaper Group.

In a matter of weeks, the third district congressional contest has gone from gentlemanly to potentially litigious. 

Candidate Chris Myers took extreme offense today to Republican primary opponent Jack Kelly’s new television advertisement, saying that it is “false and defamatory” and having his lawyer write a scalding letter to Kelly.  Kelly, for his part, said Myers crossed the line with a mailer about him that features a pig wearing a crown. 

Although Myers did not explicitly threaten any legal action, his lawyer, Michael P. Madden, sent a stern letter to Kelly demanding that the commercial be “removed from the air waves immediately.”

The 30-second Kelly spot accuses Myers of “influence peddling” and dolling out “special interest money” on Capitol Hill on behalf of defense contractor Lockheed Martin, where he’s an executive.  The commercial notes thousands of dollars that Lockheed Martin gave in campaign contributions to prominent Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and includes a snippet of Myers from a press conference last week saying “that’s part of my job.” 

ORANGE - Newark Mayor Cory Booker todayNewark Mayor Cory Booker lent his public support to the mayoral candidacy of Eldridge Hawkins, Jr.

"I know what it takes to restore hope and a new direction to a city in crisis," Booker wrote in a message to Orange voters that appeared on Hawkins campaign mailers throughout the Essex County city on the eve of the last weekend before Election Day.

"Eldridge Hawkins has the competence, good ideas and determination to create a bright future for Orange," Booker wrote of the 28-year old West Orange police officer.

Nutley Commissioner Peter Scarpelli and his son, Joseph Scarpelli, a candidate for the Nutley Board of Commissioners. 

NUTLEY - At a party in his son’s campaign headquarters Thursday night, retiring Commissioner Peter Scarpelli sent the man he hopes will succeed him, Dr. Joseph Scarpelli, into the final five-day fray of the Nutley commissioners’ race.

"I can’t say more about this young guy," said the elder Scarpelli, 70, a former mayor, who serves as his son’s campaign manager. "I’ve known him all my life. He’s probably the best candidate we’ve put forward in the Scarpelli family."

Ward Two Councilman Steve Rovell 

BELLEVILLE - Less than a week before Election Day, both sides open up with everything they’ve got, and the resulting facial expressions and body language indicate that some of the shots have landed.

A glossy mail piece hits the tightknit blue collar neighborhoods off Franklin Avenue that run up against the Parkway on the other side. The man whose face appears in unflattering photos on those mailers storms to the microphone at a rally for him and his running mates.

"It’s pure and utter B.S.," cries Ward Two Councilman Steve Rovell, referring to challenger Mario Drozdz’s charges that Rovell was part of a team that increased taxes $10 million in thee years, indulged in political favoritism and hired nearly a million dollar’s worth of town employees who don’t live in Belleville.

Incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg bolstered his left-leaning credentials today with the endorsement of Democracy for America, which bills itself as the “nation's largest progressive political action organization.”

Lautenberg is running against Rep. Rob Andrews in the Democratic Senate primary.

United States Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) may have done both Frank Lautenberg and Rob Andrews a favor today by not weighing in on their Senate primary fight.

“I’ve never been involved with it. Frank Lautenberg is a good friend, and I know Rob Andrews,” said Lieberman as he was leaving a McCain press conference at Jersey City’s Liberty Science Center. “Probably I should say that I have nothing to say.”

Lieberman, who broke with Democrats over his support of the Iraq War and left the party to win reelection to his seat in 2006 after he was defeated by Ned Lamont in the primary, wouldn’t exactly be a coveted endorsement in the race. Both Democrats have distanced themselves from their own earlier support for the war, and Lieberman's support of President Bush's foreign policy is anathema to the liberal Democrats who tend to turn out for primaries.

Lieberman continues to caucus with the Democratic Party, but is an “Independent Democrat” who supports Republican John McCain for president.

The Star-Ledger is reporting that Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera today in federal court pleaded guilty to corruption charges and faces up to 18-24 months in prison.

Caught in an FBI sting last year, Rivera, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion after being accused of accepting $5,000 in cash from a dummy insurance brokerage firm.

Rivera resigned as mayor of Passaic, effective at 5 p.m. today, according to the Star-Ledger.