Gordon Johnson is not the brightest bulb in Trenton

In many counties, a State Senator being criticized for ethical woes by her own County Chairman could cause a race to become suddenly competitive. That's not the case in the 37th district, where Republican Clara Nibot has practically no chance to oust incumbent Loretta Weinberg next month. The Nibot campaign was effectively over when she failed to qualify for public financing in the Clean Elections pilot program. You have to wonder if Joseph Ferriero and Weinberg would have attacked each other if the Republican ticket had $300,000 to spend.

Still, Nibot got a great shot in yesterday with some impressive opposition research -- insider stuff so good it's hard to believe Republicans (or Ferriero) hadn't found it earlier: that in 2005 and 2006, Democratic Assemblyman Gordon Johnson gave $1,850 to Lyndon LaRouche's political action committee. According to The Record, "the Anti-Defamation League maintains he is anti-Semitic, and when LaRouche sought to get on the Democrats' presidential primary ballot in Texas in 2003, Terry McAuliffe, then the national party chairman, said LaRouche is not a "bona fide" Democrat."

Johnson says he gave the money because he liked their anti-George W. Bush grass roots campaign. It's possible the three-term Assemblyman who represents large Jewish constituencies in Englewood and Teaneck, didn't realize who LaRouche was. Johnson told The Record that he was "impressed" with LaRouche's grass-roots effort

Johnson is not the most intellectually gifted man in Trenton.