Dr. David Rebovich, managing director of the Rider University Institute for New Jersey Politics and frequent media commentator, died this morning after suffering a heart attack while teaching class at Rider. He was 58.

Politicians, fellow political experts, students and family members alike today celebrated his powers of understanding and his ability to explain the confounding political dynamics of his native state.

Unity no more: State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe FerrieroState Sen. Loretta Weinberg responded to her foe, Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero, in a letter addressing his accusation that she has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from special interests including healthcare PACs, lobbyists and tobacco companies.

Weinberg said that her record bore her out.

“Since I was the prime sponsor in the Assembly for many years which resulted in the Clean Indoor Air Act, signed by Governor Richard Codey, I'm assuming that the one small contribution I received many years ago from Philip Morris was not well spent on their part,” said Weinberg, who added that she returned a check from Enron with a note that they should give it back to their workers who were left “high and dry.”

In Atlantic County, the tangled web of friendships and political alliances has reared its ugly head again.

Today’s example is Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, whose good friend Frank Barbera, a real estate broker and former Atlantic County GOP treasurer, was arrested earlier this week for allegedly paying bribes to disgraced former city council president Craig Callaway. Talk about Barbera being under federal investigation had circulated for months, and his suicide attempt last month only heightened expectations that he would soon be arrested.

Democrats hit Levinson hard this afternoon on behalf of his opponent, Sheriff Jim McGettigan, with County Chairman Ron Ruff calling Barbera his “closest confidant and fundraiser.”