Albert Coutinho

Gov. Jon Corzine and Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura prepare to head the parade. 

NEWARK - Gov. Jon Corzine reveled with members of the 29th Legislative District at the 29th annual Portugal Day Festival in the Ironbound on Sunday.

The massive, two-day event, which was founded and organized by businessman Bernardino Coutinho, father of Assemblyman Albert Coutinho, featured the parade on Sunday afternoon and the participation of Portugal’s secretary of state.

COMPREHENSIVE AFFORDABLE HOUSING REFORM PLAN
CLEARS ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS PANEL
Bill Would Implement Most Comprehensive Reform
Of State's Affordable Housing Laws in Over Two Decades

(TRENTON) - The Assembly Appropriations Committee today released legislation to reform the state's affordable housing program by implementing more equitable housing practices and increasing affordable housing availability across the state.

WATSON COLEMAN/COUTINHO BILL CREATING OFFICE TO COORDINATE PRISONER REENTRY ADVANCES

Measure Would Help Rehabilitated Criminals Successfully Reintegrate into Society

(TRENTON) - The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee today released legislation Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman and Assemblyman Albert Coutinho sponsored to create a "Reentry Coordinating Council" to aid reformed felons as they reenter society.

East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador feels rattled by Mayor Booker

NEWARK - It’s late afternoon in the Ironbound on Election Day. As another minivan passes with a woman hanging out of the passenger-side window on a megaphone telling people to vote for lines E-8 and E-9, the mood inside East Ward Democratic Party headquarters turns even more sour.

Sitting at a table with his Ironbound allies, including East Ward party leader Joseph Parlavecchio and Assemblyman Albert Coutinho, East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador feels slightly unceremoniously stomped on right now.

Gov. Jon Corzine in Newark today 

NEWARK - Gov. Jon Corzine stood with Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark), Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Newark) and other lawmakers in the East Ward today and promised to back legislation to pay for new urban schools construction.

"We need action before June 30th, so that we can fulfill our Constitutional obligation to provide our children with a thorough and efficient education," said the governor, moments after taking a tour of the Oliver Street Elementary School.

Coutinho, an Ironbound native who cosponsored the legislation with Spencer, described dilapidated and overcrowded conditions in the facility.

Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark) 

NEWARK - The Senate primary campaign of U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1) today announced support from other Essex County politicians.

Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley), Assemblyman Albert
Coutinho (D-Newark) and Newark East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador all endorsed the South Jersey congressman, who is running against U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).

ASSEMBLY PANEL CLEARS PACKAGE OF BILLS TO IMPROVE HOSPITAL EFFICIENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY

Measures Would Help To Stabilize Financial Health of State's Hospitals

(TRENTON) - The Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee today released a multi-bill legislative package aimed at stabilizing the long-term financial health of the state's hospital industry to stave-off future hospital closings.

The measures are sponsored by Assembly members Herb Conaway, MD, Ralph R. Caputo, Albert Coutinho, Jerry Green, Linda Greenstein, Gary Schaer, Grace Spencer, Connie Wagner, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

Senate President Richard Codey is seeking an African American woman to replace Mims Hackett in the State Assembly-- a move that could eliminate Black men from the Essex County Assembly delegation, and make State Senator Ronald Rice the only African American man in the Essex delegation.

District 29 Assembly candidates Albert Coutinho and Grace Spencer this week received the endorsements of SEIU Local 32BJ, UniteHere! and CWA Local 1081, according to a news release isued by campaign spokesman Phil Alagia.

The New Jersey Education Association and the Newark Teachers Union -- longtime rival unions -- have joined forces to support the re-election campaigns of State Sen. Ron Rice, Assemblyman Craig Stanley and Assemblywoman Oadline Truitt in the 28th district, and Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo in the 29th.

Two New Jersey Congressmen are potentially vulnerable if they seek re-election in 2008 -- both in Democratic primaries.  Albio Sires, a former Assembly Speaker who took Bob Menendez's 13th district House seat last year, is knee-deep in an epic Hudson County Civil War; the freshman Congressman is actively backing his former running mate, Brian Stack, for the Democratic State Senate nomination in the 33rd district. Stack is running off the line against the Hudson County Democratic Organization against Sal Vega, his handpicked successor as Mayor of West New York and as an Assemblyman. He's also backing Assemblyman Louis Manzo for State Senate against the HCDO candidate, Sandra Bolden Cunningham.