Garry Furnari

Burlington County Republicans are saying that they expect Gov. Jon Corzine to nominate State Sen. Philip Haines (R-Springfield) to the Superior Court this month, and that Haines has told party leaders he could be out of the Senate as early as June 25.  Republican sources say that Christopher Myers, a former Medford Mayor who won 48% in a bid for Congress last year, has emerged as the leading candidate to win a July special election convention to fill Haines' seat.

Haines would become the third Senator in recent years to resign from the upper house to become a Superior Court Judge: Garry Furnari (D-Nutley) did it in 2003, clearing the way for Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) top move up to the Senate; and later that year, Joseph Charles (D-Jersey City) left the Senate after less than two years to become a Judge.  It was the Charles seat that led to a rancorous primary between then-Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham and the candidate backed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization, then-Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith.

Raymond Lesniak moved up to the Senate in 1983 after John Gregorio's criminal conviction.

After today's special election convention in District 23, a full one-quarter of the Senate will have entered the upper house by way of a special election: Raymond Lesniak (1983), Ronald Rice (1986), John Girgenti (1990), Robert Singer (1993), Thomas Kean, Jr. (2003), Paul Sarlo (2003), Loretta Weinberg (2005), Sandra Cunningham (2007), and James Beach (2009).  An eleventh Senator, Kevin O'Toole, initially served in the Senate in 2001 after winning a special election convention; he later returned to the Assembly and won a Senate seat in November 2007.

Lesniak replaced John Gregorio, who left the Senate following his criminal conviction.  Rice, Girgenti and Singer were elected following the deaths of Senators John Caufield, Frank Graves and John Dimon, respectively.  Kean took the seat of Richard Bagger, who resigned to concentrate on his career at Pfizer.  Sarlo became a Senator when the incumbent, Garry Furnari, was appointed to serve as a Superior Court Judge.  Weinberg won the seat of Byron Baer, who resigned for health reasons.  Cunningham replaced Joseph Doria, who resigned to become state Community Affairs Commissioner.  Beach, the most recent addition to the Senate won a special election convention after John Adler was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Holding to old traditions, Nutley strives for new rateables

Candidates: Joanne Cocchiola-Oliver | Carmen Orechio | Mauro Tucci | Tom Evans | Joseph Scarpelli | Al Petracco | Sal Olivo

Tags: Nutley | Carmen Orechio | Joanne Cocchiola-Oliver

Nutley has a Commissioner form of government and all five commissioners are elected in one election held every four years.  By tradition, the top vote-getter becomes Mayor.  In 2004, Joanne Cocchiola became Nutley’s first woman Mayor when she led Mauro Tucci by 55 votes (and incumbent Peter Scarpelli by 686 votes) in the race for Commissioner.   But one historical trend that bodes poorly for Cocchiola: in at least 40 years, Nutley voters have never given a Commissioner two consecutive terms as Mayor.

Republican strategists view Nutley Mayor Joanne Cocchiola as a potentially strong candidate for State Senate next year against Democrat Paul Sarlo in the 36th district, but sources close to Cocchiola say that the GOP Mayor has not yet heard from Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance about plans for the 2007.

The first choice for the GOP, insiders say, is former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano. But Republicans close to DiGaetano, who gave up his seat two years ago to run for Governor, are not optimistic about DiGaetano's willingness to run.

The 2001 Senate race pitted two former Nutley Mayors, incumbent Democratic Senator Garry Furnari and incumbent GOP Assemblyman John Kelly. Furnari won that race with 51% of the vote, while Kelly carried Nutley with 63%. Two years later, Sarlo won the seat with 55% against Kelly -- with the Republican carrying Nutley again with 63%. In the 2005 Assembly race, Democratic Assembly candidates carried Nutley by a wide margin.

Cocchiola was elected Nutley Town Commissioner in 2000 (following the retirement of her father, who had held the post for 28 years) and became Mayor in 2004 when she was the top-votegetter in the local election -- running far ahead of Carmen Orechio, a former State Senate President who has served as a Commissioner and Mayor since 1968. Kelly ran in that same election and finished a distant sixth.

For Republicans to be at all serious about winning control of the Senate, they will need to play heavily against Sarlo, Frederick Madden in the fourth district and Ellen Karcher in the twelfth.