Domenick DiCicco

Political problems for the state's largest teacher's union continue to mount.  After going all out for Gov. Jon Corzine in the recent election, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) knows they have a potential problem with voucher-backing charter school enthusiast Gov.-elect Christopher Christie.  And in the Senate, it looks like Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark), a protégé of Newark political leader Stephen Adubato, might replace Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) as chairman of the Education Committee.  A fair assumption is that Ruiz will share Adubato's fervent support for charter schools. 

Turner could wind up a casualty of the contest for Senate President; she backed incumbent Richard Codey (D-Roseland), while Ruiz supported the likely winner, Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford).

Christie's problem with the NJEA might be more than just politics - he appears to have different views on how to fix New Jersey's public school.  And he might have the upper hand, especially with a potential political ally running the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange), who is expected to become the next Assembly Speaker, has not yet indicated who she will pick as the new Assembly Education Committee Chairman.  The incumbent, Joseph Cryan (D-Union), a strong NJEA supporter, is expected to vacate the post to become Majority Leader.  Oliver also has strong ties to Adubato - she is the Assistant Essex County Administrator (and Ruiz is the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Essex County Executive) - but statehouse observers say that Oliver is likely to pick a new chairman who would be supportive of the teachers union, a key player in the state's Democratic base vote.

Reportedly not under consideration to head the Education Committee is Joan Voss (D-Fort Lee), who spent forty years as a public school teacher and is now vice chair of the panel.  Voss, Democratic leaders say, lacks intellectual heft to take on the post.  Instead, Democrats could turn to Patrick Diegnan (D-South Plainfield), a Cryan/Oliver ally and the current chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee.  If Diegnan turns it down - the Middlesex County Democrat might want to stay where he is, considering the importance of Rutgers University to his district, the leadership might go with the highly-regarded Mila Jasey (D-South Orange), a former school board member but an ally of outgoing Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland), or Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Twp.), a member of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross' political organization.

Although Democrat Bill Collins trailed by 1,021 votes as of last night, Democrats say that there may be enough uncounted mail-in ballots out there for him defeat Republican Domenick DiCicco in the 4th Legislative District.

Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee (DACC) Executive Director Mike Muller said that mail-in ballots counted since last night have given Collins another 440 votes. 

"There are reports of 1,000 more that are still out there," he said. 

"The one thing we don't want to do is assume [a loss]," said Muller.  "There was such an effort vote-by-mail-wise that in that district alone there were something like 6,500 or 7,000 who applied for vote by mail applications, that we want to make sure we have a good, accurate count of everything that came in."

Incumbent Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Twp.) was the district's top vote getter.

Election results in three South Jersey districts offer some hope to Republicans as they look to regain control of the State Senate in 2011, even as local powerhouse Stephen Sweeney moves closer to becoming the next Senate President. 

In the Atlantic County-based District 2, freshmen GOP Assemblymen John Amodeo and Vincent Polistina won re-election by more than 10,000 votes, setting up a potentially competitive State Senate race for one of them against Democrat James Whelan in two years.  Whelan ousted short-term incumbent James "Sonny" McCullough in 2007.  Christopher Christie carried Atlantic County by 2,423 votes, 49%-45%; four years ago, Jon Corzine won it by 6,535, 53%-43%.

In District 4, which includes parts of Camden and Gloucester counties, Republican Domenick DiCicco won an open State Assembly seat.  DiCicco immediately becomes the GOP's best hope to unseat Democrat Frederick Madden in the next election.  There has been considerable speculation that Madden won't seek a third term in 2011, and that Assemblyman Paul Moriarty will run for the Senate.  Christie carried the fourth district.

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With 99% of the votes reported, Republican Christopher Christie’s lead in the race for governor is now at 99,730 a 49%-45% margin over the incumbent Democrat, Jon Corzine.  Independent Christopher Daggett finished at 6%, with 132,919 votes.  These numbers will change as unreported precincts and absentee ballots are added to the tallies.

Republicans picked up one seat in the State Assembly: in district 4, Domenick DiCicco won an open seat that the Democrats have held since 2003.  The GOP came close to ousting incumbents in districts 3 and 22.

Statewide, Republicans picked up eight Freeholder seats, including control in Monmouth County.  And the GOP won three hotly contested races for County Clerk, including a pickup in Passaic.  A Republican victory in the Parsippany mayoral race was tempered by a loss of a GOP mayor in Gloucester Township.

Lawrence and DiCicco: Corzine's Crazy Toll Road Scheme Is Back

The Courier-Post has endorsed a split ticket in the fourth district State Assembly race, backing incumbent Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Twp.) and attorney Domenick DiCicco, a Republican who is seeking the open seat of retiring Assemblywoman Sandra Love (D-Gloucester Twp.).

"(DiCicco) gets our nod because of his passion for reducing the size and cost of government. He wants any state tax increases over a set percent to have to be voted on by all New Jerseyans -- a great idea. He wants to cut programs that aren't working, have an elected, independent state auditor and give New Jerseyans more power to put legislation on the ballot themselves. He wants New Jersey to have a Web site like one in Colorado that allows people to go online and see how the state spends every tax dollar," the editorial said.  "DiCicco gets it. He wants to put power in the people's hands and make New Jersey more affordable."

The newspaper said Moriarty "has stuck his neck out for good causes," including a plan to cut state worker salaries and benefits by 15%."

"Moriarty took a beating from unions. But it was the right idea then, and it remains so today," the Courier-Post said.

South Jersey is hemorrhaging jobs and the Corzine – Moriarty Team isn’t helping

Paul Moriarty needs to do what is right for South Jersey.

Paul Moriarty’s loyalty to Jon Corzine continues to hurt Fourth District families.

New Jersey Republicans admit that there is little possibility they'll turn over control of the Assembly this year, but they have hyped their chances in some sleeper districts where they don't typically compete.

Fundraising reports released today show that some money is being raised in those purported sleeper districts, but not much. 

In the 4th District, Republicans Domenick DiCicco and Eugene Lawrence have raised $69,887 - most of which comes from attorneys all over the country.  That's about half of the $134,473 incumbent Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Twp.) and newcomer Democratic running mate Bill Collins have raised. 

"Obviously District 4 is a place where we expect to do well," said Republican State Chairman Jay Webber.

Republicans haven't talked much about District 7, which is considered a Democratic district even though GOP Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) has won there five times.  But their Assembly candidates there - Leah Arter and Harry Adams - have raised almost $90,000 and have spent $77,263 (The Assembly Republican Victory committee took enough notice to donate almost $5,000). The two Republican candidates have $12,250 on hand. 

Chris Russell, a political consultant for Arter and Adams, said the campaign against incumbents Herbert Conaway (D-Delanco) and Jack Conners (D-Pennsauken) is "under the rader." 

"We know the district is difficult, but we figure the only way to put them is position is the old fashioned way," said Russell, who cited the candidates' aggressive ground game.   "If they're in position, we'll strike, and I think right now, they're definitely outworking Conaway and Connors on the ground."

Conners and Conaway have raised a combined $196,603 and have about $53,000 on hand. 

District 14 was supposed to be one of the Republicans' top races this year, but their recruitment efforts fell through after Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede dropped out at the last minute.