Bernard Kenny

CODEY ANNOUNCES BRYANT DECISION TO STEP DOWN FROM BUDGET COMMITTEE; MAJORITY LEADER KENNY TO ASSUME POST

TRENTON -- Senate President Richard J. Codey (D-Essex) today announced that state Senator Wayne R. Bryant (D-Camden) will be temporarily stepping down from his position as chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. In light of this decision, Senator Codey announced that he has appointed Senator Bernard F. Kenny, Jr. (D-Hudson), the Senate Majority Leader, to assume the position effective today.

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PROPERTY TAX COMMITTEE TO TAKE PUBLIC INPUT
AT SEPT. 28 HEARING IN COLLINGSWOOD

(COLLINGSWOOD) -- South Jersey residents will have an opportunity to give input on achieving property tax reform through changes in the state constitution when a special joint legislative committee examining the state's property tax system comes to Collingswood on Thursday evening, Sept. 28.

PROPERTY TAX COMMITTEE TO TAKE PUBLIC INPUT AT SEPT. 21 HEARING AT RUTGERS IN PISCATAWAY

(PISCATAWAY) -- Central Jersey residents will have an opportunity to give input on achieving property tax reform through changes in the state constitution when a special joint legislative committee examining the state's property tax system comes to Piscataway on Thursday, Sept. 21.

PROPERTY TAX COMMITTEE TO TAKE PUBLIC INPUT AT SEPT. 21 HEARING AT RUTGERS IN PISCATAWAY

(PISCATAWAY) -- Central Jersey residents will have an opportunity to give input on achieving property tax reform through changes in the state constitution when a special joint legislative committee examining the state's property tax system comes to Piscataway on Thursday, Sept. 21.

KENNY: GOP TRIES LAME, POLITICAL STUNT

TRENTON - Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny Jr. today chastised legislative Republican leaders for seeking to "tamper with the election process for political purposes" and for injecting negativity into the U.S. Senate campaign.

"Just like they did in 2001, the Republicans want to tamper with the election process for strictly partisan purposes," said Senator Kenny, D-Hudson.

KENNY: 'WE NEED TO EXAMINE PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR REAL FAIRNESS'

TRENTON - Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny, Jr., D-Hudson, the co-chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Reform and the Citizens Property Tax Constitutional Convention, issued the following statement today on the panel's hearing on the State's "Uniformity Clause," a stipulation in the State Constitution that the tax levy issued by each municipality taxes all property on the same basis, regardless of use, and various exemptions to the property tax:

"Today's testimony was extraordinarily helpful in outlining the quagmire of New Jersey's property tax system, and its multitude of exemptions and numerous Constitutional amendments which are excepted from the 'Uniformity Clause.' Professor (Robert) Williams's expertise on the constitutional issues of taxation help shed some light on just how complicated our system has become.

The Political Insider, a weekly column on Hudson County politics in the Jersey Journal, reports that Bernard Kenny, the Senate Majority Leader and Hudson County Democratic Chairman, could be in line for a spot in Governor Jon Corzine's administration -- as President of the Board of Public Utilities (to replace Jeanne Fox) or as Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (to replace Anthony Coscia.) If he seeks re-election in 2007, Kenny faces a likely challenge in the Democratic from Assemblyman Brian Stack, the Mayor of Union City.

KENNY TO CO-CHAIR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM PANEL

TRENTON - Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny Jr., D-Hudson, made the following comment today after being named co-chair of the Joint Committee on Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax Convention.

"This is a distinguished committee of very capable legislators and I look forward to a bipartisan review of all the constitutional issues involved in meaningful tax reform.

KENNY SAYS CORZINE CRAFTS FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION

TRENTON - Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny Jr., D-Hudson, today said Governor Corzine's call to action on property tax relief and reform set the "right tone for making bipartisan, but difficult" decisions by the Legislature.

"If we all agree on the need for sacrifice, true relief and reform will benefit our taxpayers," Senator Kenny said. "If we get bogged down on the shape of the table, nobody wins. In fact, we will all lose unless we agree from the outset that our working together is a fundamental necessity to breaking a decades-old logjam."

The buzz in Hudson County this week is about Assemblyman/Union City Mayor Brian Stack's very public flirtation with a challenge to Senate Majority Leader (and Hudson County Democratic Chairman) Bernard Kenny in the 2007 primary. There has been speculation for months that Kenny, who has been battling prostate cancer and other health issues, had been considering retirement anyway -- but some of Kenny's friends think Stack's aggressive tone could make a Kenny re-election bid even more likely.

Even though Kenny is the incumbent and the party chairman, some Hudson pols say that the ambitious Stack could have the edge in a primary. He is enormously popular in Union City, where he began his political career as a rival of Bob Menendez and then became Menendez's ally in a fight with Rudy Garcia, and some local pols say that he could carry his hometown by a margin of almost 4-1. Kenny comes from Hoboken, where his strong alliance with Mayor David Roberts could allow Stack to team up with an anti-Roberts Democrat -- maybe a backer of former Councilwoman Carol Marsh, who forced Roberts into a runoff in 2005. In that case, West New York -- where local leadership will shift in November when Mayor/Assemblyman Albio Sires takes his seat in Congress -- might determine the outcome of a 33rd district Democratic primary. Some say Kenny might be at a disadvantage given the traditional North Hudson alliance between Union City and West New York.

In Hudson County, where all politics truly is local, power has traditionally rested with the twelve Democratic Mayors. In 1977, the incumbent Democratic State Chairman, James Dugan, lost his bid for a third term in the State Senate when the winner of the Jersey City mayoral election decided to support Walter Sheil instead.