Brendan Byrne

There is some speculation that Perth Amboy Councilman Kenneth Balut is mulling a challenge to Jon Corzine in the June Democratic gubernatorial primary.  Balut, a longtime rival of Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas, was elected to the Council last year on a slate headed by Wilda Diaz, who ousted Vas by a wide margin.  He is a former PBA President and state PBA Delegate. 

Garret D. Wall was the last U.S. Attorney from New Jersey to win a statewide political office. That was in 1835.

If Chris Christie wins the 2009 gubernatorial election, he’ll become the first former U.S. Attorney from New Jersey to win public office since Garret Wall was elected to the United States Senate in 1835.  Wall was an Assemblyman from Middletown when he was named federal prosecutor in 1828; he was elected Governor the following year but declined to serve.

Thorn Lord, who was U.S. Attorney from 1943 to 1945, was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 1960.  He lost to the Republican incumbent, Clifford Case.  (For extreme political junkies, Lord’s law partner was Richard Hughes, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney who was elected Governor in 1961.)

Robert DelTufo, the U.S. Attorney from 1977 to 1980, sought the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1985.  He finished fifth in a field of six primary candidates with 4% of the vote.

Essex County Democratic Chairman Dennis Carey (left) and State Sen. Donal Fox (D-South Orange) in the early 1960's.

Leonard Lance offered a lesson in New Jersey political history during his farewell address to the State Senate on Monday - but unfortunately got one of his facts wrong. Lance spoke of his first memory of the Senate, going to Trenton in 1956, at age three and a half, when his father was the Senator from Hunterdon County and watching some Senators like Wayne Dumont (the Senate President), Frank "Hap" Farley and Mark Anton. While Lance's knowledge is always impressive, he got one thing wrong: Anton wasn't in the Senate in 1956; he lost re-election two months earlier.

Anton, the Chairman of the Suburban Propane Gas Corporation, was a half-term Republican from Essex County who was elected in a 1953 special election after Alfred Clapp, who had mounted an unsuccessful campaign for the GOP gubernatorial election, resigned to become a Superior Court Judge. When Anton sought a full term in 1955, he found himself in a feud with former U.S. Attorney William Tompkins, a former Assemblyman from Essex County who was at the time serving as the Assistant U.S. Attorney General. Anton and Tompkins were both interested in seeking the Republican nomination for Governor in 1957.

Tompkins, who considered challenging Anton himself (he ran for the Senate ten years later but lost to a Democratic slate headed by John Giblin), instead recruited Assembly Majority Leader William Barnes to run. Barnes attacked Anton for his support of night harness racing and his membership on a citizens committee formed to end a high profile strike on the New York pier, but lost the primary to Anton, 53%-47%.

Unable to unite the Essex GOP in the general election, Anton lost to Democrat Donal Fox. Fox, a former Assistant Essex County Prosecutor who had managed the nearly successful U.S. Senate campaign of Charles Howell in 1954 (Howell, a Democratic Congressman from Mercer County, lost the open Senate seat to Republican Clifford Case by an excruciatingly close 48.7%-48.5% margin), became the first Democrat to win the Essex Senate seat since 1908. He took office on the day Lance described as his first memory of visiting the Senate chamber.

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.

Ted Wells

Following a recommendation by former Gov. Brendan Byrne that the incoming Obama administration consider criminal attorney Joe Hayden for the office of U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, one of Hayden’s best-known peers this week also endorsed Hayden.

Criminal attorney Ted Wells said he believes the Hoboken-based Hayden would be an excellent choice – the question at this stage is whether the veteran attorney would take the job.

“I think Joe would bring a stature to the office because for a long time he has been viewed as one of the top lawyers in the state,” said Wells. “He has served as both a prosecutor and a defense attorney, everyone knows him and everyone respects him.”

In Little Silver, Republican incumbents Rick DeNoia and Bill Morris were defeated by Democrat Daniel O'Hern, Jr. and Independent Dan Levine.  O'Hern's father served as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1981 to 2000; before that, he was the Mayor of Red Bank, state Commissioner of Environmental Protection, and Counsel to Gov. Brendan Byrne. DeNoia has been a Councilman from nineteen years, and Morris had been appointed to fill a vacancy this year.

Former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne said today that if Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) wins the presidential election, he would like Obama to consider criminal defense attorney Joseph Hayden for U.S. Attorney in New Jersey.

“I think we’ve got to have a good us attorney, especially if Christie is going to be a candidate,” the former governor told PolitickerNJ.com, referring to current U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.

“Hayden’s got a nice personality, a sensational record and is well-respected,” said Byrne. “He’s also been very active in the Obama campaign. I want to suggest that they look at him.”

Jon Corzine might need to fight to win a second term as Governor in America's most Democratic state, but today's Quinnipiac University poll offers no indication that he could lose a Democratic primary.  Among Democrats, Corzine has a 67%-21% favorable rating, and a 60%-31% job approval rating. (That's not much different from U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, who won 60% of the vote against a credible primary challenger; Lautenberg has a 64%-10% favorable rating and a 65%-16% job approval rating among Democratic voter).   Democrats, by a 60%-25% margin, say he deserves to win re-election.

Pat Kramer, former mayor of Paterson, right, with state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth).: Politicker photo 

MINNEAPOLIS - Among those at the Republican National Convention stand two venerable members of the Grand Old Party who once slugged it out in a gubernatorial primary.

The title "former governor" in front of the name Thomas Kean provides the most obvious evidence for his 1981 statewide victory over Lawrence "Pat" Kramer, former mayor of Paterson.

But the man who unwittingly helped Kean beat Kramer isn’t a Republican, and was actually in attendance last week at the Democratic National Convention.

He’s former Gov. Brendan Byrne, whose hand-picked successor - then-attorney general, John Degnan - didn’t have the backing of the Democratic Party chairs.