Cleopatra Tucker

ASSEMBLY CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Annual Celebration Commemorates Significant Contributions of Groups, Individuals

(TRENTON) - Assembly Democrats today issued a multimedia package commemorating the chamber's annual celebration of Black History Month - a time to reflect and remember the individuals and groups that have contributed to the betterment or advancement of African Americans in the state and the nation.

SMITH/CONNERS/CRUZ-PEREZ/QUIGLEY/TUCKER BILL TO HELP CHILDREN OF MILITARY FAMILIES CLEARS SENATE PANEL

NJ Would Adopt ‘Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children’

(TRENTON) – Assembly-approved legislation Assembly members L. Harvey Smith, Jack Conners, Nilsa Cruz-Perez, Joan Quigley and Cleopatra Tucker are sponsoring to help children of military families who frequently move has cleared a Senate committee.

The bill (A-2640) would permit New Jersey to enter into the “Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children,” which aims to eradicate disadvantages often encountered by military children because of frequent interstate moves and deployments.

Democrat Craig Stanley is expected to announce next month that he will seek his old State Assembly seat.  Stanley spent twelve years in the Assembly before narrowly losing the 2007 Democratic primary to Ralph Caputo and Cleopatra Tucker, a casualty of a political war that sought to oust State Sen. Ronald Rice.  Rice won his primary despite strong opposition from Newark Mayor Cory Booker; Stanley ran on the Rice line.

ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS ON CHILD PROTECTION BILL PACKAGE

Measures Would Educate Parents, Reduce Poverty & Enhance Education

(TRENTON) - Assembly Democrats today issued a multimedia package on the Assembly passage of a three-bill package to enhance the quality of life of New Jersey's children.

The measures would require the state to give information about Shaken Baby Syndrome to new parents (A-725), create a council on child welfare and social services tasked with developing a statewide plan to reduce child poverty (A-1411) and create a task force to study and implement best practices for diagnosing, treating and educating students with reading disabilities.

QUIGLEY/SPENCER/SMITH/TUCKER/CRUZ-PEREZ BILL
REQUIRING PROPER BEDBUG EXTERMINATION CLEARS ASSEMBLY
Measure Stems From July Outbreak of Bedbugs in Hudson County Apartment Complexes

(TRENTON) - The Assembly today approved legislation members Joan M. Quigley, L. Grace Spencer, L. Harvey Smith, Cleopatra Tucker and Nilsa Cruz-Perez sponsored to provide additional tools for landlords and tenants to address bedbug infestations.

Regardless of the outcome of the game of political musical chairs in the 28th legislative district, where two incumbents and a former Assemblyman are posturing for two spots on the Democratic line, look for the mostly white, blue collar towns of Belleville and Bloomfield to be split away from Newark and Irvington when a new map is drawn after next year's census.

The 28th was supposed to be one of the voting rights districts that protected minority representation in the Legislature when it was drawn in 2001.  The incumbents at the time were three African Americans: State Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark) and Assemblymen Donald Tucker (D-Newark) and Craig Stanley (D-Irvington). 

If Caputo holds his seat this year, it makes a defense of the current district under the Voting Rights Act more difficult.

Belleville, which was in the old 36th district, and Bloomfield, part of the old 34th district, were mostly represented by Republican legislators before the towns were moved in to the new 28th.  Rice beat GOP Assemblywoman Marion Crecco (R-Bloomfield) by a 69%-30% margin in 2001.

But Belleville and Bloomfield, which was estimated to have a combined population of 79,816 last year, have proven to be a greater force in Essex County politics than the redistricting commission imagined.  In 2007, Essex Democrats backed Ralph Caputo, a white Freeholder who served as a Republican Assemblyman from 1968 to 1972, to run for the Assembly.  Caputo and Cleopatra Tucker, whose late husband held the seat until his death in 2005, unseated two incumbents, Stanley and Oadline Truitt (D-Newark). 

Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville), left, and Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark), with Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, could be playing a game of political musical chairs for one 28th district Assembly seat.

Ralph Caputo may be passing Cleopatra Tucker as the most vulnerable member of the State Assembly in District 28 as the Payne political machine moves to return Craig Stanley to the Legislature.  Sources say the Payne organization, led by U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, has made Stanley, the nephew of former Assemblyman William Payne, a priority as the April filing deadline approaches.  Stanley spent twelve years in the Assembly before narrowly losing the 2007 Democratic primary to Caputo and Tucker.  He was a casualty of a political war that sought to oust State Sen. Ronald Rice, who won his primary despite strong opposition from Newark Mayor Cory Booker.  Stanley ran on the Rice line.

William Payne, 76, has mulled his own return to the Assembly seat he gave up in 2007 to mount an Independent bid for State Senator in the 29th district.  Sources say he is willing to forego a primary challenge to incumbents Albert Coutinho and Grace Spencer if Essex Democrats will agree to put Stanley on the organization line in the neighboring district.

For a while it looked like Tucker was the most likely casualty, but now the talk is that it may be Caputo, a 68-year-old white Belleville Democrat who represents a Newark-Irvington district drawn to elect African American legislators.  Caputo is also an Essex County Freeholder (he represents a blue collar district) and served in the Assembly as a Republican from 1968 to 1972.

State Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), left, and Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville).

TRENTON - The 28th District primary battle to take down state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) in 2007 proved bloody enough for Rice - the survivor - to comment in its aftermath, “Every war has casualties.” 

Running off the line, Rice fended off his own challenger, but lost his running mates, Craig Stanley and Oadline Truitt, who were defeated by Ralph Caputo and Cleopatra Tucker. 

Now months before the 2009 Democratic primary in Essex County with sources saying Stanley wants back in, Rice wants it known he supports the reelection of Assemblyman Caputo (D-Belleville) and Assemblyman Tucker (D-Newark), and won’t back challengers to the two people who in the last election helped comprise a ticket that challenged him. 

The fate of Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) is in the hands of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and State Sen. Sandra Cunningham.

Twelve New Jersey legislators, all from districts that are not especially competitive in general election contests, face potential obstacles in their bid to win party support for another term.

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