Local

Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop has decided against a bid for Mayor of Jersey City in 2009, according to sources close to the reform Democrat.  Louis Manzo, a former Assemblyman and Hudson County Freeholder who has made four unsuccessful bids for Mayor, is expected to enter the race to unseat Jerramiah Healy.  The incumbent, the Hudson County Democratic Chairman and an early supporter of Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency, is viewed as the favorite to win re-election in the May non-partisan municipal race.

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Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero’s attorney has filed to have Ferriero's corruption conviction overturned.

Defense lawyer Joseph Hayden said he filed about a dozen arguments in federal court, chief among them challenging Ferriero's conviction for conspiracy to defraud Bergenfield of co-defendant Dennis Oury’s honest services.  Oury, who was Bergen County Democratic Counsel, was the Bergenfield Borough Attorney.

“The principle motions involve a challenge to the honest services theory of prosecution, which is presently being scrutinized by a case pending before the United States Supreme Court dealing with honest services,” said Hayden. “We believe the Supreme Court case will be decided favorably to the defense, and this will result in overturning Mr. Ferriero’s conviction.”

The conspiracy count was the most serious of Ferriero's three count conviction.  He was also convicted on two mail fraud counts and acquitted of five other mail fraud counts.  

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Incoming Bergen County Republican freeholders Rob Hermansen and John Driscoll will be outnumbered by Democrats 5-2 on the board, but they plan to propose some bold initiatives as soon as they are sworn in - ideas that will probably be met by a tough crowd.

Driscoll and Hermansen want to enact their campaign pledge of cutting each freeholders' pay by 25%, end pay-to-play by limiting political donations from contractors doing business with the county to $300 and limit county officials - both elected and appointed - to just one pension.

Hermansen said that he would "reach across" to the Democrats "to see if we can get things done."  But that may not be easy, since three of the five remaining Democrats on the board have public jobs in addition to their roles as freeholders.

"This is the part where I'm going to come off a little harsh -- that's not my issue," he said.  "My issue is the taxpayer. And if the freeholders themselves are truly up there to take care of the taxpayer, then guess what?  They're going to start doing it."

Hermansen admits that, while it will be hard enough to institute a county-wide pay-to-play ban, the prolific practice of wheeling contractor donations to freeholder campaigns through PACs -- the most recent cast reported by The Record's Charles Stile and John Reitmeyer - can only be addressed on a state level.

Although pushing those reforms is bound to be contentious, the grace period between the campaign and swearing in continue.  For no, the Democratic incumbents and incoming Republicans all express a hope and willingness for bipartisanship.

"They're just two or three things. There are going to be a lot of things over the years we're going to work on," said Driscoll, who said another priority of his is to bring controversial Bergen County Technical School District Superintendent Robert Aloia in front of the board to answer questions about his travel and expenses. "I have the feeling at the end of the day you're going to be pleasantly surprised when we start working together."

Democratic Freeholder David Ganz, for his part, said he had a pleasant conversation with Hermansen last night at Freeholder Director James Carroll's party at the League of Munipalities convention.

"The vitriol from the campaign appears to be gone.  It thought personally it showed a lot class," he said.

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South Jersey Democrats are touting Cinnaminson native Anthony Mazzarelli, the head of the emergency medicine department at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, as a potential candidate for State Senator in the seventh district.  Mazzarelli is reportedly testing the waters for a 2011 Senate bid against four-term Republican Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park).  Allen could step down earlier to concentrate on her courageous fight against an aggressive form of cancer, a move that would trigger a November 2011 special election.  Mazzarelli joins Assemblymen Herbert Conaway (D-Delanco) and Jack Conners (D-Pennsauken), and carpenters union official Troy Singleton as potential candidates.

In addition to   being a physician, Mazzarelli is also a bioethicist. Though he's mainly stayed behind the scenes, he's has been the de-facto leader of a group of emerging civic leaders in Camden and Burlington Counties.   He was also recently recognized as one of South Jersey's top physicians under 40 by Philly. One thing that may stand in the way of   getting him to run, however, is his independence. He proudly   proclaims his moderation on his weekend Philadelphia talk radio show   where he is known for presenting both sides of the major issues.   Still he is said to be an ally of South Jersey political leader George   Norcross, who is Chairman of Cooper Hospital, and he helped raise  money for Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

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Ronald C. Rice tweeted not so sweetly about soon-to-be Senate President Stephen Sweeney.

Well, we were able to obtain the rest of the tweets---in fact, there was an entire conversation tweeted between the future Senate President and the current Newark Councilman….

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It’s on.

Chris Fifis, the Lumberton Democratic Chairman who is the favorite of South Jersey Democratic leaders to become chairman of the Burlington County Democrats, put out a statement officially acknowledging his candidacy for the chairmanship in response to Assemblyman Herb Conaway’s (D-Delanco) decision to run for the post.

“I remain as committed to strengthening the Burlington County Democratic Party as I was when I took the fight to the entrenched GOP in 2004,” said Fifis, who that year ran unsuccessfully for freeholder and ran for assembly in 2007.

The party, currently headed by Acting Chairwoman Alice Furia, will elect a new leader in June.  The former chairman, Rick Perr --  who just last year was considered a rising star in Democratic circles after presiding over a pickup of two freeholder seats and the county clerk's office – resigned under an ethical cloud after revelations surfaced about his involvement in a PAC that raised money for arrested Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano.  

The GOP has a 3-2 majority on the freeholder board, and this year they successfully defended two seats left open by retiring Republicans. 

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While his fellow party members took a frontline beating from Chris Christie on Election Day in Monmouth County, Mayor Jon Hornik quietly won two out of three council seats in Marlboro to preserve his majority in western Monmouth's largest, most voter-concentrated town.

"Gov. Jon Corzine lost Marlboro by over 30%, but I think Marlboro voters were smart enough to acknowledge what we're doing, said the 39-year old Democrat. "Notwithstanding the Christie tsunami, they believe Marlboro is moving in the right direction. We've cut operating expenses by 15%, and we've reduced total payments by 11% through furloughs, layoffs, attrition and retirement. Government is running well and lean. By year's end, we hope to dissolve our water authority, a completely unnecessary layer of government with 14 people working there set up for political patronage at a total annual cost of $5 million. We're really treating government like a business and we've acted more like a Republican than a Democratic administration.

"I have not spoken to him but I am fully behind Chris Christie right now, Hornik added. "I hope he stands firm and makes the tough decisions. You can't worry about getting elected in four years, that's a sure way to failure. He needs to 100% deliver on COAH (the Council on Affordable Housing, which Christie in the campaign promised to reform), a big factor for my residents. Christie has to undo COAH, it does not work."

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The decision of Assemblyman Herbert Conaway (D-Delanco) to run for Burlington County Democratic Chairman could complicate a 2010 special election for State Senator if Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) were to leave the Legislature.  Allen is battling an aggressive form of cancer and recently had surgery.  She has a tough road ahead. 

If Allen were to resign, the Republican County Committee from the seventh district towns in Burlington and Camden counties would hold a special election convention to name a new Senator.  There has been speculation that Rev. Aubrey Fenton, a minister and former Burlington County Freeholder, could take the seat.  That would set up a November 2010 special election to fill the remaining fourteen months of Allen's term - an early referendum on Republican Christopher Christie's first months as Governor in a Democratic-leaning district Allen has won five times.  It would also be an early test for the new Senate President, Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), who topped Richard Codey largely because of the size of the South Jersey Democratic delegation.  A special election could be enormously expensive Sweeney and Democratic leader George Norcross battle the new Republican governor for a valuable Senate seat.

The high profile State Senate race would also come as U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) campaigns for a second term; there is substantial overlap between the third congressional district and the seventh legislative district. 

Three names have been prominently mentioned on the Democratic side: Conaway, Assemblyman Jack Conners (D-Pennsauken), and Troy Singleton, a former Deputy Executive Director of the Assembly and now the Director of Policy and Planning for the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters.  Singleton, who took a leave of absence this year to run Loretta Weinberg's campaign for Lt. Governor, is a favorite of Camden County Democratic leaders who are not huge fans of Conaway. Read More >

Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) told The Star-Ledger today that Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Trenton) has dropped her campaign to become assembly speaker.

Oliver, who is expected to ascend to the speakership as part of a deal between north and south Jersey Democrats to install state Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) as senate president, claimed the votes for the position in September.  Watson Coleman, however, continued to campaign for it until this week.

If she is voted to lead the lower legislative house, Oliver will replace retiring Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden).    

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