Gary Schaer

Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), left, and Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco

Fighting for re-election in the 36th District, Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) said an email blast today by a constiuent urging Orthodoz Jews to vote against Gov. Jon Corzine is not representative of the community's view of the incumbent Democratic Party governor.

"(Republican) Allen Shwartz's endorsement of Chris Christie is kind of like Richard Nixon endorsing the Republican candidate," said Schaer. "Our community is not in lockstep on the governor's race. Some rabbis are backing Christie, others are supporting Corzine. As a member of the Orthodoz Jewish community I've certainly made my overtures on behalf of the governor."

Shwartz in his email panned Corzine, in part using the governor's linkage to President Barack Obama as an argument against supporting the incumbent.

"Jon Corzine’s most visible proponent for the past month has been none other than President Barack Obama," Schwartz wrote on Passaic Today. "One doesn’t have to travel for long through Passaic, Lakewood, or Teaneck to see the signs of President Obama and Governor Corzine campaigning together, arm-in-arm.

With eleven days until Election Day, District 36 Democrats Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley) and Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) took in stride the news from a federal courtroom this afternoon that jurors found former Bergen County Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Ferriero guilty on federal corruption charges."

"We answer to three county chairs," said Scalera, speaking to the confluence of counties in the 36th, which includes Passaic, Essex and Bergen.

"I was never funded by the Bergen party at all," the Democratic assemblyman added. "I was never one of their inner circle by any means. I'm seen as an Essex guy, not a Bergen guy. It doesn't play as an issue in the race at all. Those fights between him and (state Sen.) Loretta (Weinberg), I never got involved because it really isn't my county."

The Corzine campaign expects "that the margin will be tight" in the race for Bergen County Freeholder, and predicts that incumbent legislators from both parties will win re-election, according to a briefing memo prepared by the governor's re-election campaign. 

The Corzine campaign views District 36 as "reliably Democratic" and notes that the Republicans have targeted Assemblymen Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Frederick Scalera (D-Nutley) because "they think it will be more competitive without the popular Senator (Paul) Sarlo at the top of the ticket. 

"We do not expect the seats to change hands," the memo said.

The Democrats acknowledged the local 37th district split between State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), their candidate for Lt. Governor, and the Bergen County Democratic Organization, but said that Weinberg and Michael Kasparian, who became the County Chairman following Joseph Ferriero's indictment, "have been able to establish more harmony."

In District 38, "there was concern that the ticket would be held down by residual issues with former Senator Joe Coniglio's conviction on corruption charges," the memo said.  But "recent polling has been extremely positive, and we expect that both Assemblywomen will retain their seats."

In a blunt analysis, the Corzine campaign conceded that they will not win Republican Assembly seats in the 39th and 40th districts.  "Unfortunately, we expect the Republicans to win reelection this November," the memo said about District 39, and in District 40 said "we do not think they will be able to unseat the Republicans this fall."

HACKENSACK – PolitickerNJ.com’s Wally Edge pointed out this month that state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) had not donated any money to his two Democratic district mates who are up for reelection: Assemblymen Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Fred Scalera (D-Nutley).   

According to Sarlo, that was all part of a strategy.

“The strategy of the campaign we implemented in [District] 36 could not have been better.  We have pooled our resources as necessary,” said Sarlo, who added that a lot of his contributions to Schaer and Scalera have been in-kind, but that “it will probably be more than any other senator has given his assemblymen – I can guarantee you that.”

Upon hearing that, Scalera, who was standing next to Sarlo, turned to him, gave him a high five and said “my friend.”  

Republicans paid a lot of attention to District 36 early in the campaign season, but their candidates, Don Diorio and Carmen Pio Costa, raised a total of $7,753 as of the 29-day pre-election reports.  Schaer and Scalera, by contrast, raised $437,954.  

“The Assembly Republican leadership has abandoned this district, recognizing that this is a solid Democratic district,” said Sarlo.

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

SCHAER & SCALERA ON ENACTMENT OF BILL TO PROTECT TAXPAYERS AGAINST ANOTHER ENCAP

New Law Enhances Protections, Oversight in Public/Private Redevelopment Projects

(NORTH ARLINGTON) - Assemblymen Gary S. Schaer and Fred Scalera today issued a multimedia package on their legislation to enhance the protections and oversight surrounding public investments in private redevelopment projects.

Schaer and Scalera (both D-Bergen/Essex/Passaic) sponsored the new law (A-2650) following the collapse of the EnCap Mixed-Use Redevelopment Project, which squandered more than $300 million in public money from the state and Bergen County in an attempt to transform abandoned municipal landfills in the Meadowlands into golf courses and luxury housing.

The measure was signed into law by Gov. Jon S. Corzine during a public ceremony Monday in North Arlington, one of three Bergen County municipalities most seriously affected by the EnCap collapse and the first town to call for an investigation into the now-defunct project.

SCHAER & SCALERA BILL TO PREVENT ENCAP REPEAT SIGNED INTO LAW

Measure Protects Taxpayers In Public/Private Deals Gone Bad

(TRENTON) – Legislation Assemblymen Gary S. Schaer and Fred Scalera sponsored to enhance the protections and oversight surrounding public investments in private redevelopment projects was signed into law today by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

In 2007, District 36 Republican Assembly candidate Don Diorio came within 2,400 votes of unseating incumbent  Gary Schaer (D-Passaic). 

Diorio and his running mate, Carmen Pio Costa, cam closer that year than most observers expected, and they left state Republicans wringing their hands over failing to put more resources into the district sooner.  Two years later, the EnCap development debacle that factored to the Republicans’ advantage in 2007 continues to generate headlines in The Record, and state Republicans have marked the district as one of their top priorities this year.

But fundraising in District 36 has lagged.  According to 29 day pre-election reports released today by the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), the two District 36 Republican candidates – once again Diorio and Pio Costa -- have raised a total of $7,753.  

Schaer and running mate Fred Scalera (D-Nutley), by contrast, have raised $437,954 and spentalmost all of it. 

Diorio and Pio Costa have $7,753 on hand to Scalera and Schaer’s left over $8,848.27

Reached by phone, Diorio said that he and Pio Costa have more money than the reports show.  For instance, they had a fundraising event Tuesday night that took in $16,000, but was after the disclosure’s cut off date.  In fact, Diorio said, the two have raised about $50,000 so far. 

Noteworthy in the race for State Assembly in District 36, State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) has not contributed to the re-election campaign of his two running mates, Assemblymen Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Frederick Scalera (D-Nutley).  The incumbents, who had a poll this summer showing Republicans ahead in this potentially competitive district, have spent over $425,000 on their campaign.  The GOP challengers, Donald Diorio and Carmen Pio Costa, have spent less than $7,500.

While Sarlo has apparently taken a walk on Schaer and Scalera, other Democrats have come through.  They have received $16,400 each from Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), Budget Committee Chairman Louis Greenwald (D-Voorhees), and from Gloucester County Freeholder Stephen Sweeney's campaign fund.  Gov. Jon Corzine gave them a personal check for $5,200, and State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair) gave Schaer $500.  The Democratic State Committee has spent $67,976 in the 36th, while the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee has spent $43,381.

Republican District 36 candidates Don Diorio of Carlstadt, left, and Carmen Pio Costa of Nutley.

GARFIELD - Thirty-six District Republican Assembly candidates Don Diorio of Carlstadt and Carmen Pio Costa of Nutley figure they can target their rivals on plenty of issues, from property taxes to the EnCap debacle, to the incumbent Assemblymen Gary Schaer's (D-Passaic) and Fred Scalera's (D-Nutley) record of regularly voting with Gov. Jon Corzine.

But the GOP tag team trying to compete in this 2-1 Democratic-leaning district have received little press attention as they run their property tax relief campaign and fail to capture the attention of a depleted press corps focused mainly on the big ticket gubernatorial election.

The Schaer-Scalera campaign is ready to launch their first wave television ads - with former Gov. Richard Codey (D-Roseland) in a starring role, days after Pio Costa and Diorio sat in the living room of Rico Benigno - a Goliath and David juxtaposition 36 days before Nov. 3rd.

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher will join two Democratic legislators in a competitive re-election campaign during an appearance at the Rutherford Farmers Market next week. Assemblymen Frederick Scalera (D-Nutley) and Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) will join with Fisher to "highlight the availability of Jersey Fresh produce."

Fisher, a former four-term Democratic Assemblyman, becomes the first state agriculture official to boost legislators during an election season.  In the past, the state Secretary of Agriculture has largely stayed clear of partisan politics.  The Department of Agriculture has twelve years worth of press release available on their website; not reflect election year political activity by the Secretary.

There should be no real over reaction to this: it's not like the presence of the Cumberland County Democrat will influence pro-farming independents in Nutley and North Arlington.

Willard Allen, Philip Alampi, Arthur Brown and Charles Kuperus, the four Agriculture secretaries who have served since 1938, did not do campaign swings. In 2003, Kuperus, who was a Republican Freeholder from Sussex County, went on the campaign trail in support of Gov. James E. McGreevey's farmland preservation ballot referendum.  But Kuperus did not include legislators in his appearances.