Albio Sires

The New Jersey delegation's vote on the bailout bill was close, and did not occur along party lines.

But while there were some odd vote combinations, with liberal Congressmen like U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) voting the same way as his conservative neighbor, Scott Garrett (R-Wantage), they tended to cite different reasons.

Ultimately, New Jersey Congressmen voted against the bill by a 7-6 margin. None, however, enthusiastically supported it. Nor did any of its detractors express glee at its downfall, and some expressed more openness to voting for a new compromise package than others.

By far the most vociferous opponent of the bailout was Garrett, who yesterday took to the floor and excoriated his colleagues who supported it.

MINNEAPOLIS - Newarkers will welcome New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to the North Ward on Sept. 6, to campaign for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Set to appear at the Flamboyan Manor on Saturday afternoon, Richardson will be joined by U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York), state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos, and other elected officials, according to Andrews Poag, spokesman for the Obama campaign.

Voters don’t care if Gov. Jon Corzine picks a woman or a minority for Lt. Governor if he runs again next year, according to a Zogby International poll of likely voters commissioned by Garden State Equality.  Just 31% says a ticket balanced by gender or race is important, while 65% say it is unimportant. 

Among women voters, 58% say they don’t care if Corzine picks a woman running mate, while 37% say they do. 

Racial balance is more important to African American voters that Latinos: 66% of African Americans consider it important, while just 31% of Latino voters do. 

Steve Adubato, Jr., presides over a meeting between Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, center, and Sen. Joseph Kyrillos.: Politicker photo 

SPRING LAKE - They drove and were driven to the Irish Riviera from all corners of New Jersey, in cars with government plates on them and dark SUVs and sedans with tinted glass, sporting sunglasses and paunches covered with sports jackets, mostly Democrats and a handful of Republicans, converging on this mansion by the sea.

Congressmen and mayors and assembly people and state senators and opposition researchers and retainers.

Standing at the front of the Seashell Dining Room in the Breakers to greet them was Steve Adubato, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and welcoming smile - and casting an eye that invariably sharpens human activity into the lineaments of political theater.

"I believe in the luck of the Irish," said the executive director of Newark’s North Ward Center and head of the Democratic Party in the North Ward, facing a sun-filled room packed with rivals hunched over plates of eggs and bacon: Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican State Party Chairman Tom Wilson; former Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, and Assemblyman Albert Coutinho and Assemblwoman Grace Spencer; Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and Assemblyman Thomas Giblin (D-Montclair).

In this poor man’s Olympiad of Jersey ethnic groups gathered under one roof, Adubato highlighted - as he does annually at this North Ward Center-sponsored breakfast - the Irish, who now number 141,379 registered voters in New Jersey, or 47,514 Democrats, 36,063 Republicans and 57,802 independents.

U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York) in his new district office in Journal Square.: Politicker photo 

JERSEY CITY - The Democrats have the economic argument on their side in this presidential year, in part because they’re more in touch with a broad swathe of the country’s population, argues U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York).

In a small but significant example, Sires says the Republican Party does not have a diverse caucus in the U.S. Congress like the Democrats, and that has made the GOP gradually more isolated.

"When you look at our caucus, you see everyone," says the freshman congressman. "Then you look at the Republicans, and they’re all the same."

It’s a striking snapshot to Sires, who represents many ethnic communities in his 13th Congressional District.

JERSEY CITY - U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York) been in Congress for almost two years, and he says his second year was a big improvement on the first, in part because he feels focused in his new job as a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"It takes a while to be effective because it’s very much based on seniority," Sires said of the Congress. "The first year was very difficult. I was new. The entire Democratic Congress was new.

"But I have a mission now," said the freshman congressman. "I still enjoy being on the foreign affairs committee very much, but I also have transportation now and that’s critical. My job is to go after the money for transportation and infrastructure projects."

Sires has confidence he can get federal money for the ARC (Access to the Region’s Core) Tunnel, but he needs the state to get in gear.

Union City Mayor/Senator Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson): Politicker photo

UNION CITY - They call him "24-7," and on a brutally hot summer Friday when several other Hudson County public buildings look like the fixtures of a ghost town, Union City’s Brian P. Stack bounds down the steps of City Hall and keeps on the move.

"Yo, BPS," a kid wearing a headband cries in greeting, and he gives the mayor a fist pump as he cruises up 49th Street leading a contingent of the under 15 crowd.

"Go, Brian!" the kid shouts over his shoulder.

As he does every Friday, Stack presided over wedding ceremonies in the morning. Now he oversees mobile constituent services ten blocks away from City Hall in the concrete center of this Hudson County city of 70,000 densely packed people - mostly Latinos - where City Hall sports dual busts of George Washington and Cuban hero Jose Marti.

Police barricades stand at either end of the street, at Hudson and Palisade. A hot dog vendor gives out free dogs and sodas, courtesy of Stack - and under a tent in the middle of the block, the mayor in a tie with his suit jacket slung over the back of his chair, calls out the next name on a long list of names.

(Washington, D.C.) – Yesterday, U.S. Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ) attended the unveiling of a portrait of Congresswoman Mary T. Norton. After being found in storage, the portrait now rightfully hangs in the House Committee on Education and Labor’s hearing room.

Congresswoman Norton was one of the first women to be elected to and serve in the United States Congress. She began her social activism in Jersey City, New Jersey and quickly became the first female member of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. She was then elected to the House of Representatives for the 12th Congressional District in New Jersey in 1924.

Hundreds of Perth Amboy residents, several legislators, four mayors from neighboring towns, two congressmen and one U.S. Attorney filled the local high school’s auditorium to near capacity today to inaugurate the city’s new mayor, Wilda Diaz, for a four year term.

Diaz, the first female mayor of Perth Amboy and first Latina mayor in the state, won an upset victory against 18-year incumbent Joe Vas, who remains an Assemblyman. Also sworn in today were Diaz’s two council running mates, Kenneth Balut and Fernando Gonzales.

U.S. Rep. Albio Sires, who faced a primary challenge by Vas for his seat in 2006, introduced Diaz to a standing ovation.

Diaz, 43, began her speech by thanking Vas for his service as mayor, and acknowledged his role in the waterfront development that has revitalized parts of this old this old, industrial town of 48,000.

Joe Vas’ eighteen-year tenure as mayor of Perth Amboy came to an end today, and he’s not ready to say if he’ll seek re-election to a fourth term in the State Assembly next year.

“That’s a lifetime away. A lot of opportunities are in front of me and I’m not rushing to make any decisions today, nor do I have to,” Vas said.

Still, despite reeling from a lopsided upset in Perth Amboy, Vas may have strengthened his hold on his Assembly seat – should he choose to run again -- by becoming the Democratic municipal chairman for Perth Amboy.