Barbara Buono

Gov. Jon Corzine campaigns earlier this week in Irvington with Mayor Wayne Smith.

A combustible gubernatorial campaign ignited this week with competing newsflashes that do damage in both camps - just how much damage is creating accelerated intrigue with 82 days until Election Day.

Republican GOP nominee, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, endured a headline and ongoing questions about conversations he had with Karl Rove, political mastermind for former President George W. Bush, still a radioactive presence in this mostly Democratic state.

But Corzine also caught newscycle flak this week.

Already trying to put distance on a bombshell from last month in which federal law enforcement officers arrested 29 mostly Democratic politicians and political operatives on corruption charges, the governor suffered his own headline headaches with news that 10 adult training programs run by the state Department of Human Service's Division of Developmental Disabilities blew $1.4 million.

In addition, Corzine fired former state PBA President Michael Madonna from his post as a Commissioner of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor after the New York Inspector General issued a report alleging considerable abuse, including "misusing federal Homeland Security funding, hiring unqualified cops, and allowing convicted felons to get jobs."

Gov. Jon Corzine and state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen).

Silver medalist state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen), who lost to state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) in the lieutenant governor's contest last week, objected to the way the New York Times characterized her in its Saturday morning coverage of Gov. Jon Corzine's LG drama.

Zeroing in on the 74-year old Weinberg's boss fighting resume, the paper described Buono, by contrast, as the "flashier" candidate and protege of jailed ex-Middlesex County Democratic boss John Lynch.

"I'm nobody's protege," said Buono. "I got to where I am because I worked hard. I'm very proud of that."

Several party sources confirm that Corzine was primed to pick Buono before Thursday, when the feds pulled busloads of shackled politicians and operatives charged with corruption up to the doors of FBI headquarters in Newark.

The governor almost immediately embraced obvious anti-boss poster child Weinberg, additionally a personal comfort zone choice for Corzine as the Bergen anti-establishment senator has been a longtime ally.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) looks to be winning the race for Lt. Governor, according to sources who are familiar with the selection process.  As of this afternoon, Gov. Jon Corzine appeared to be prepared to select Weinberg over State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) to be his running mate.

Gov.  Jon Corzine continues to wrestle with the selection of running mates and will make calls to the winners and losers tomorrow.  State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) began an extraordinarily turbulent day as the favorite to become the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, but sources say that State Sen.  Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) is still a viable candidate. 

Organizing for America (OFA), a grassroots project of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that is dedicated to supporting the President Barack Obama's agenda for change, has cancelled a morning news conference on health care with State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck).  The group probably doesn't want to share the news cycle with the story that several public officials from both parties were arrested today on federal corruption charges.

Could the arrests,and news that law enforcement officials raided the home of Joseph Doria, a member of Gov. Jon Corzine's cabinet, make Weinberg a more attractive candidate for Lt. Governor today than she was yesterday?  Sources say that Corzine has settled on State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) as his running mate.

Barbara Buono, on the cusp of history as the first Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, won her first campaign for the Legislature after the Republican candidate turned out to be deeply flawed.

The Middlesex County-based 18th district went Republican in 1991 and 1993, when Jack Sinagra won a Senate seat and Jeff Warsh and Harriet Derman were elected to the State Assembly.  Derman resigned in February 1994 when the newly-elected GOP Governor, Christine Todd Whitman, named her Commissioner of Community Affairs.  Joanna Gregory-Scocchi won a special election convention later that month to replace Derman in the Assembly.

To run against Gregory-Scocchi in a November 1994 special election, Democrats picked Buono, then a 41-year-old Metuchen Councilwoman.  The political environment in the fall of 1994 was decisively Republican, and Gregory-Scocchi was favored to hold the seat.

The Gregory-Scocchi campaign fell apart that fall after amidst a controversy involving illegal immigration and a temporary employment company owned by the new Assemblywoman.  A van owned by Gregory-Scocchi's husband and used by her business to transport temp workers was stopped by local law enforcement, who found undocumented workers in the vehicle.  A few weeks before the election, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization (INS ) agents raided Gregory-Schocchi's place of business.

If Barbara Buono is elected Lt. Governor in November, it will trigger a special election convention to fill her 18th district State Senate seat.  Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-South Plainfield) would be the front runner, although former State Sen. Thomas Paterniti (D-Edison) and lame duck Edison Mayor Jun Choi could also emerge as candidates.  A Diegnan victory would trigger a second special election convention to fill his Assembly seat.

Buono's election as Lt. Governor would also create an opening for the Senate Appropriations Committee chairmanship - a slot that would be filled by the Senate President.  That puts a power committee chair in play during a possible Senate leadership fight.

More important to New Jersey politics if Buono is elected LG: she would immediately become a potential candidate for the 2013 Democratic nomination for Governor, when Jon Corzine would be term-limited out.  And if Corzine were to trade is own lame duck status for a post in the Obama administration (possibly in January 2013, if Barack Obama is re-elected), Buono would become the Governor of New Jersey.

After lieutenant governor prospect Randal Pinkett held a news conference to say he remains interested in the post, Gov. Corzine’s campaign offered kind words about him.  

“Throughout this process, we discovered what everyone already knew: Randal Pinkett is one of the state’s most accomplished, and most talented, young men,” said Corzine Communications Director Sean Darcy.  “A Rhodes Scholar, successful businessman, and all-around class act, he has been one of the people under consideration for the Lieutenant Governor position from the very beginning.  Randal Pinkett brings unique talent and qualifications to the conversation for Lieutenant Governor.  We are fortunate to have such a depth of diversity and talent in the New Jersey Democratic Party.”

Pinkett, a technology consultant and former Rhodes Scholar whose multiple advanced degrees have been overshadowed by his status as the winner of Season 4 of “The Apprentice,” was briefly considered the frontrunner for the number two spot on the ballot.  In the aftermath of negative newspaper editorials and discontent among Corzine’s supporters, however, Pinkett’s political stock has dropped precipitously. 

The six Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee have sent a letter to Chairwoman Barbara Buono that asks her to call the committee into session this summer. The committee's task would be to develop a plan to close an unprecedented $8 billion structural deficit and a more than $2 billion deficit in the unemployment fund. The letter points out that Governor Corzine is avoiding questions about how he plans to do to deal with this $10 billion crisis. "When there is a gap in leadership at the top, others must step in to fill the void, " said Senator Anthony Bucco, senior Republican member on the budget committee and Republican budget officer.

Democratic sources say that Gov. Jon Corzine has not made a final decision on a running mate, but that State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) has emerged as the front runner in an internal contest where there is only one voter - and he is undecided.

The conventional wisdom right now is that Corzine will choose between Buono and State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck).   Some Democrats were counting Buono out as recently as last Thursday, when Reality TV star Randal Pinkett looked to be the governor's first choice, and as recently as yesterday, when there were signals that Weinberg was the favorite. Pinkett held a news conference today to say that he would consider the LG nod if Corzine were to offer it.  Democrats with knowledge of the LG selection process say that Corzine's choice will not be Pinkett.

Our advice to readers: this is all entirely speculative; wait for a formal announcement to know for sure.  That announcement must come before Monday.