Wally Edge's blog

John McCain's New Jersey campaign held a news conference today to announce the endorsements of  "current and former New Jersey Democratic officials," but with disappointing results: George Fallon, a former Mayor of Waterford; Joan Haberle, who served as New Jersey Secretary of State during the first half of Jim Florio's governorship; and Dawn Rafferty, the former Executive Director of the New Jersey Real Estate Commission under Governors James E. McGreevey and Richard Codey.  Rafferty is Haberle's daughter.

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Democratic insiders say that Lawrence Lustberg, the chairman of the criminal defense department at Gibbons, one of the state's largest law firms, will be on the short list of candidates for United States Attorney if Barack Obama wins the presidency.

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Keep an eye on the hotly contested race for Middletown Township Commission, since it is a precursor to the campaign for State Assembly in the 13th district next year.  If Democrats win the local race, they will be more inclined to fund challengers to Republican incumbents Samuel Thompson and Amy Handlin in 2009.  And if the GOP takes the Middletown race, state Democrats will be hesitant to fund a campaign in a district they haven't won since 1983. 

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Frank Lautenberg may be 84-years-old, but he's still a Paterson boy who's not afraid of a brawl.  And when a labor leader unhappy with his position on immigration reform balked at including the Democratic U.S. Senator's campaign literature in a New Jersey AFL-CIO GOTV program, Lautenberg had to be restrained from a physical altercation.

According to labor sources familiar with the incident, Don Capasso, the Assistant Business Manager of Plumbers Local 14 United Association of New Jersey walked his members out of the Boilermakers Local 27 hall in Bayonne just prior to Lautenberg's arrival there. 

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Democrat Frank Lautenberg has agreed to participate in a NJ 101.5 FM radio debate this month, but a scheduling conflict may be keeping Republican Dick “I’ll debate anytime, anywhere” Zimmer from taking part in the forum.  If Zimmer doesn’t show up, expect 101.5 to hold the debate anyway: back in 2002, when Lautenberg declined the stations invitation, 101.5 allowed Republican Douglas Forrester to debate am empty chair. 

Update: Zimmer has accepted the 101.5 debate.  'NJ 101.5 is delighted Mr. Zimmer has resolved his scheduling conflict and has agreed to participate in this dialogue with New Jersey voters," said Eric Scott, the news director. "We look forward to a lively discussion on the issues important to New Jersey residents."

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If Barack Obama wins the presidency, a leading candidate for U.S. Attorney is Paul Fishman, a former federal prosecutor who reportedly has the backing of New Jersey's senior United States Senator, Frank Lautenberg.  Sources close to Lautenberg say that he plans to strongly advocate Fishman's appointment to replace Republican Christopher Christie.

But Fishman essentially needs two votes to get the job, and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez has not committed any support to Fishman. Even though Lautenberg is the senior Senator, insiders say that the support of Menendez will be crucial to any successful candidate for U.S. Attorney.

Lautenberg pushed hard for Fishman to get the U.S. Attorney post in 1999, when Faith Hochberg was nominated to a federal judgeship.  But Fishman got in the middle of a rather extraordinary public feud between Lautenberg and U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli.  The Clinton administration sided with Torricelli, and when Hochberg resigned to take her seat on the bench (after a lengthy delay in the confirmation process), Attorney General Janet Reno elevated Torricelli's preferred choice, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary, as New Jersey's interim federal prosecutor.  Read More >

It's unlikely that Senate President Richard Codey will get shafted during the 2011 legislative redistricting process, if he wants to run for re-election to a tenth term in the State Senate.  But still, this tiny tidbit is worthy of a small mention: Codey's new hometown, Roseland (pop. 5,298), is on the Essex/Morris border.  Mischevious mapmakers (perhaps Republicans, South Jersey Democrats, or both) could easily end Codey's political career by putting him into a district with Republican Joseph Pennacchio. 

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The announcement that an eclectic group of lawmakers have introduced a bill to require legislators to disclose their person income from public sources was a direct shot at Senate President Richard Codey.  The proposed law would force legislators, their spouses and their dependent children to report direct and indirect financial stakes in no-bid public contracts -- something Codey has been strongly opposed to.  The bill has the backing of Gov. Jon Corzine, South Jersey Democrats allied with party leader George Norcross, Bergen County Democrats opposed to indicted County Chairman Joseph Ferriero, and several key Republican Senators.

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Members of the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union are voting until 10:00 PM tonight on a new agreement with The Star-Ledger.  If the union votes against ratifying the contract, The Star-Ledger could be closed or sold.

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The Trenton Times is reporting that Stuart Country Day School, a Roman Catholic school in Princeton, has canceled a woman's leadership forum because Trenton Bishop John Smith objected to the pro-choice keynote speaker, former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. 

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