Ann Klein

Robert Mulcahy, fired yesterday as the Director of Athletics at Rutgers University, was talked about as a potential Democratic candidate for Governor in 1981.

The often controversial 45-year political career of Robert Mulcahy appears to be over following his termination yesterday as the Rutgers University Athletic Director.

Mulcahy entered politics at age 28, when he ran for Mendham Councilman about a year after moving to the township.  Boosted by President Lyndon B. Johnson's coattails, Mulcahy scored a rare victory for Democrats in heavily Republican Morris County.   He became Mayor in 1970.

In 1973, Mulcahy backed Morris County Assemblywoman Ann Klein in her bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor.  She finished second behind Brendan Byrne, who put Klein in his cabinet as Commissioner of Institutions and Agencies.  Klein brought Mulcahy to Trenton with her as Deputy Commissioner, where he immediately became a strong Byrne ally and advisor.  He spent most of his time as Byrne's unofficial troubleshooter.

J. Edward Crabiel, a former State Senate Minority Leader, became N.J. Secretary of State after dropping his gubernatorial campaign and endorsing Brendan Byrne in 1973. He was later indicted for rigging state highway bids, but the charges were dropped.

David Crabiel, the longtime Middlesex County Freeholder who passed away earlier today, was the younger brother of J. Edward Crabiel, known as “Concrete Eddie,” who was one of the state’s most powerful political figures in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  Edward Crabiel was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1973, and served as New Jersey Secretary of State until his indictment ended his political career.

The son of a former Milltown Councilman, Crabiel was the Mayor of Milltown from 1947 to 1951.  (David Crabiel served as a Milltown Councilman from 1960 to 1968, and as Mayor from 1968 to 1979.)  He was elected to the State Assembly in 1955 and served five terms before moving up to the State Senate in 1965 – after the U.S. Supreme Court’s one-man, one-vote decision caused Middlesex County to increase their number of Senators from one (John Lynch, the father of the future Senate President) to three.  He was re-elected to the Senate in 1967 and did not seek re-election in 1971.  He was the Senate Minority Leader in 1968.

When key Democratic county leaders picked Brendan Byrne, a Superior Court Judge and former Essex County Prosecutor, to be their candidate for Governor in 1973, Crabiel (and another gubernatorial candidate, State Sen. Richard Coffee of Mercer County) dropped out of the race a month before the primary and endorsed Byrne.  Byrne defeated State Sen. Ralph DeRose (D-Essex) and Assemblywoman Ann Klein (D-Morris) in the primary.

After Byrne won the general election, he appointed Crabiel to serve as Secretary of State – a position that historically had greater political influence up until the time of Byrne’s governorship. 

During his first year in Byrne’s cabinet, Crabiel was indicted by a state grand jury on charges that he conspired to control highway construction projects.  (The indictment was connected to his position as President of the Little Falls-based Franklin Contracting Company, which was one of the state’s largest highway contractors.) When Byrne, who came into office as a champion of ethics reform, suggested he resign, Crabiel told the Governor to keep his suggestions to himself.  Byrne later reduced the Secretary of State’s job to only those ceremonial duties required by law.  He eventually took an eight-month leave of absence as he fought the corruption charges.

The New Jersey Legislature is often the breeding ground for gubernatorial candidates, but by 2009 it will have been 81 years since a sitting state legislator has been elected Governor -- the last time was in 1928, when Morgan Larson, a Republican State Senator from Middlesex County, won.

Over the last fifty years, only four incumbent legislators -- State Senators Malcom Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) -- have won gubernatorial primaries, and all four have lost their general elections.

More often, incumbent legislators to lose gubernatorial primaries: Paul DiGaetano, who won just 5.5% in 2005, Alan Karcher in 1989, Chuck Hardwick, Bill Gormley and Gerald Cardinale in 1989; John Russo in 1985, Frank Dodd, William Hamilton, Joseph Merlino, Barry Parker, James Wallwork and Anthony Imperiale in 1981; Thomas Kean and Raymond Garramone in 1977; Ralph DeRose and Ann Klein in 1973; Harry Sears, Frank McDermott and William Kelly in 1969; Charles Sandman in 1965, and Walter Jones in 1961. Still, seven of the last eleven Governors had served in the Legislature.