Donald Payne

In the Essex County-based 28th district, former Assemblyman Craig Stanley (D-Irvington) is hoping to win back the seat he held for twelve years before losing the 2007 Democratic primary by 127 votes.  The Essex Democratic organization is backing the incumbents, Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville) and Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark).  The primary will test the political strength of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne's organization; Stanley is the nephew of Payne's brother, former Assemblyman William Payne.  Caputo and Tucker are favored to win.

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark)

As he praised the Obama administration’s diplomatic work abroad and the president’s “willingness to listen,” U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) stuck a jab at the administration of Obama’s predecessor during his opening remarks on the House Foreign Policy Committee this morning.

“His meetings went great,” Payne said of Obama’s recent trip to Europe. “I understand he was even close to ‘old Europe.’”

The crack was a reference to former Defense Department Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s shrug-off statement about Europe, and immediately prompted a laugh from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Congressional hot seat. 

Back from Africa where his plane took some fire and two days after Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo honored Payne for his work with a plaza dedication ceremony, the veteran congressman urged Clinton to pay attention to the Sudan, where he said a comprehensive peace agreement is not going well; Western Sahara; and Somalia, where Payne said there exists a great opportunity for America to assist.  

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) was endorsed for re-election by Gov. Jon Corzine and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who were attending a rally for the Devils at the Prudential Center

NEWARK – When it comes to U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark), the local political battles don’t diminish his standing, and if anything, taking fire overseas only augments his party cred. 

A day after CNN reported that Payne’s plane was the target of gunfire on its way out Mogadishu, and as his nephew runs a renegade primary campaign against Democratic incumbents in the 28th District, Gov. Jon Corzine and Mayor Cory Booker both hailed the veteran congressman as a hero and endorsed him for reelection in 2010.

“He has the strongest record in the Congress in standing up to genocide in Darfur and in maintaining an ongoing dialogue with Africa,” said Corzine, who worked the Darfur issue with Payne when he was in the U.S. Senate. 

“He’s a hero and I absolutely and unequivocally endorse him,” the governor added.

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark)

United States Rep. Donald Payne's (D-Newark) plane was fired on as it departed the Mogdishu airport, according to CNN, but Payne and the rest of the flight's passengers apparently made it out safely.

"We understand that his plane was fired on and, as he left, we understand that a mortar landed on his plane, but that they have left safely and that no one was hurt," Payne spokeswoman Kerry McKenney told the network.  "We are hoping that he's safe and on his way back home."

Payne left the United States for a trip to Africa, starting with Djibouti, on April 9.  He planned to meet with Somalia's prime minister and members of the African Union, according to a report.  In a portion of a press conference in Mogadishu aired on Fox News today, Payne discussed the crisis of Piracy off the failed state's coast. 

NEWARK - Payne family patriarch, Former Assemblyman Bill Payne (D-Newark), backed up his nephew’s off-the-line challenge in the 28th District today, but said he has not yet reached a decision about his own comeback in the neighboring 29th District.

"I’m circulating petitions," Payne told PolitickerNJ.com.  I have another couple of days to give it some thought. I’m still weighing all the options."

The filing deadline to submit petitions to run for Assembly is 4 p.m., Monday, April 6th.

Two years ago, the Essex County Democratic Committee offered Payne a shot at reelection to his Assembly seat, but the veteran South Ward lawmaker and older brother and consigliere of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark), insisted on trying to move up to occupy the seat vacated by former state Sen./Mayor Sharpe James.

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark), left, and Councilman Donald Payne, Jr.

NEWARK – In what is more than a one-man crusade, even if its most significant political implication may be a test of the fighting shape of a respected political dynasty, and the future of an aging congressman, former 28th District Assemblyman Craig A. Stanley intends to launch his off-the-line election campaign tomorrow at noon at the corner of South Orange Avenue near the Garden State Parkway.

The nephew of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark), Stanley served for six consecutive terms before the alliance of Mayor Cory Booker and North Ward Democratic Party leader Steve Adubato backed an alternative district slate that included Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville) and Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark), both of whom are now seeking reelection with Booker’s and Adubato’s backing.

From left: U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, Sen Ronald Rice, Andre Reames, Bill Payne, Freeholder/Councilman Donald Payne, Jr., and Craig Stanley

NEWARK – Democratic Party stronghold Essex was supposed to be quiet this season as Newark and the environs reflect on a North Ward-City Hall lovefest and prepare for the reelection campaign of Gov Jon Corzine. 

Now the Payne family appears mobilized on the primary horizon here in the 28th District and potentially in the 29th, though insiders say it's unlikely they will be able to escalate a fullscale battle, even if they choose to fight.

After getting bumped out of office by an Adubato-Booker alliance in 2007, family scion former Assemblyman Craig Stanley (D-Irvington) is trying to scratch his way back into the legislature and finding little organizational support in the process with two weeks to go before the April 6th state filing deadline.

Essex sources on all sides say there’s little or no chance Chairman Phil Thigpen will award the District 28 party line to Stanley over incumbents Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville) and Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark) - not in a gubernatorial election year when an unpopular Corzine faces more than a warm body challenge from the Republican Party, and party chieftains are intent on trying to keep his troops in line. 

Thigpen himself is cryptic on the Stanley issue.

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.

The New Jersey House delegation voted along party lines in support of President Barack Obama’s $89 billion economic stimulus package.  New Jersey’s eight Democratic Congressmen voted yes, while the five Republicans voted no.

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.