ROB ANDREWS

Read PolitickerNJ.com's The Year in Review 2008, our annual lists of Winners & Losers of the Year, Politician of the Year, Best & Worst Campaigns, Best Operatives, People to Watch, and much more.

Click here for a low-resolution pdf

Click here for a high-resolution pdf

On the day Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff came back to his hometown to address students at Kean University in the waning days of his term of service with the Bush administration, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) took a moment to access his legacy.

“We were fortunate to have a person of Secretary Chertoff's abilities and level of commitment serving our country,” said Andrews said in a statement. “He served well at a difficult time.”

In his speech at Kean, the Union County-born secretary expressed frustration with the traditional committee system in Congress.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews spent $952.04 of campaign funds on clothing.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group that promotes ethics and accountability, has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that several candidates, including U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, used $952.04 of campaign funds to buy clothing. The group filed a similar complaint against GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in September.

“Sarah Palin wasn’t the only candidate to violate the law by using campaign money for clothing, several others did as well. Campaign finance laws are not optional, but if candidates can’t abide by these laws how can we trust them to be lawmakers?,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “There is no excuse for this conduct; the FEC should investigate these members and candidates immediately.”

Getty Images Photo

John Dingell, ousted as chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, is reportedly mulling a challenge to Frank Pallone for the Health Subcommittee chair

Most New Jersey Congressmen won’t comment on the potential chairmanship fight for the influential Health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. For the past two years, that subcommittee has been chaired by New Jerseyan Frank Pallone.

Last week, Pallone played a role in the ouster of John Dingell, the 82-year-old longtime Energy and Commerce Chairman. Dingell, a Congressman since 1955, lost to Henry Waxman in a vote of the House Democratic Caucus. Now Dingell may want a consolation prize: Pallone’s subcommittee chairmanship.

Only Democratic members of the Energy and Commerce Committee have a vote on the matter, and the only New Jersey Congressman who’s also on that committee, Mike Ferguson is a Republican who’s retiring at the end of the session.

But, although their support wouldn’t translate into a vote, there’s no reason to doubt that most of the delegation would back Pallone. Six of the seven other Democrats (including incoming U.S. Rep. John Adler) last week supported Waxman -- only one New Jerseyan, Rob Andrews, supported Dingell, and worked as a whip for his reelection effort. Andrews has not had a particularly friendly relationship with Pallone since he challenged U. S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg in a primary this year.

So would Andrews back Dingell if it came down to it? His spokesman, Francis Tagmire, kept the answer vague.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone will become more powerful with the victory of Henry Waxman in the race for House Energy and Commerce Chairman

Henry Waxman defeated John Dingell by 15 votes today to win the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful posts in Congress.  One of the big winners of the day was New Jersey’s Frank Pallone, who played a key role in Waxman’s successful insider effort.  Pallone, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, is likely to have expanded clout under Waxman.   Sources suggest that seven of eight New Jersey House Democrats backed Waxman; Rob Andrews was a whip in Dingell’s losing bid for re-election.

There is some irony to Andrews’ role in helping to re-elect an 82-year-old chairman who has been elected to Congress 27 times, considering his own challenge to 84-year-old incumbent Frank Lautenberg in the 2008 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.  Dingell was in Congress for 27 years before Lautenberg won his campaign.

Getty Images Photo

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is expected to receive substantial support from New Jersey Congressmen in his bid for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman

Today, in his first major vote as an incoming member of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Adler is expected to support Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) for Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to sources with close ties to Camden County Democrat.  Waxman is challenging longtime chairman John Dingell, an 82-year-old Michigan Democrat who has served in Congress since 1955. 

Getty Images Photo

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), a Congressman since 1955, has the backing of New Jersey's Rob Andrews

Two New Jersey Congressmen are at opposite ends of a intra-party battle for the the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful posts in Congress.  Rob Andrews is working for incumbent John Dingell, an 82-year-old Michigan Democrat who has served in Congress since 1955.  Frank Pallone, who is chairman of the Health Subcommittee, is part of the whip team for Dingell's challenger, Henry Waxman, 69, an 18-term Congressman from California who is the second ranking member of the panel.  Today, Waxman won the support of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, defeating Dingell 25-22.  The full House Democratic conference will pick between the two on Thursday.

The Energy and Commerce Committee oversees legislation on health care, climate change regulations, and good and drug regulations.  Dingell has staunchly opposed Waxman's efforts to impose more stringent fuel efficiency standards on Michigan automakers.

Rob Andrews will return for his eleventh term in Congress next year, and after losing two statewide races, it's unclear whether the last will be the final one.

Andrews ran a close second in the 1997 Democratic gubernatorial primary against James E. McGreevey, was passed over to succeed Gov. Corzine in the Senate, and mounted a primary challenge against incumbent U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg this year, only to lose by 25 percentage points. But despite those three dispiriting defeats, he still won't rule out the possibility of another statewide run some day, and prefers not to speculate on whether the last one hurt his prospects.

"That's really not for me to decide. That's for voters to decide and leaders of the party," said Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) in a phone interview yesterday.

Political insiders acknowledge that there are a thousand lives in politics, but see Andrews's defeat as being particularly hard to crawl back from - and not just because of the lopsided margin.

Rev. Dale Glading, with his wife and son, is mulling a challenge to Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts in 2009

Dale Glading insists he’s not a glutton for punishment. But after getting crushed by Rob Andrews in ultra-Democratic 1st Congressional District last week, he’s thinking about making another run for office in a similarly Democratic district.

Glading, who runs a prison ministry and lives in Barrington, said that he may run against Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) and incumbent Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden) in the 5th Legislative District.

“I would never say never. I told my wife going in, or she told me rather, that it was one and done. But she’s expressed some interest in it,” said Glading. “At this point it’s up to God and my wife in that order.”

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews' 201,163 votes in the 2004 general election is the most received by any House candidate in New Jersey history

Republican Christopher Smith received 198,446 votes in his bid for re-election to a fifteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. That was the most total votes received by any House candidate in the 2008 cycle, and the third highest total votes in state history. (Smith's 2004 votes also gives him the #6 slot.)

The record for the most all-time votes goes to Rob Andrews in 2004.

Democrat Rush Holt, who won 181,189 votes, makes the list of the Top Ten All-Time Votegetters in New Jersey Congressional races; Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen, whose 2004 totals put him second on the all-time list, is also ranked #10, thanks to the 177,039 votes he received last week.

The Top Ten All-Time Votegetters in New Jersey Congressional races: