George Norcross

The Rev. Reginald Jackson, the Executive Director of the Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey, has endorsed Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for Assembly Speaker, according to a Star-Ledger report.  The only other candidate in the race is Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), who is also African American.

At a news conference to announce his support, Oliver denied that there was any deal that linked her candidacy for Speaker to the campaign of Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) for Senate President.

"The Senate does what the Senate does and the General Assembly does what the General Assembly does. There is no trade-off," the Star-Ledger reported Oliver as saying.

And Jackson denied speculation that Oliver was a pawn in a political chess game being played by George Norcross, Stephen Adubato and other state Democratic leaders.

"We have heard rumors that she will be controlled by other folk.  The Sheila Oliver that we know will not be controlled or told what to do, but will do what is best for the citizens of New Jersey, Jackson said.

Last week, Oliver told PolitickerNJ.com that she is the "most independent person ever elected."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker needed to do some damage control yesterday after taking heat for his endorsement of Richard Codey (D-Roseland) in the race for Senate President.  Booker, at the urging of two lawyers who advise him, Elnardo Webster and Paul Fader, backed Codey after Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) had already announced he had a majority of the Democratic Senate Caucus on his side.   That caused some Democrats close to Sweeney - especially George Norcross - to offer Booker a bit of friendly guidance.  (It's fair to assume that the advice included strategic assumptions for the 2013 Democratic gubernatorial primary.)  Booker, realizing Webster and Fader might have screwed up a bit, put out a statement late in the day acknowledging Sweeney's victory over Codey, and endorsing Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for Speaker.  That probably made Norcross happy, but it won't be any consolation to Codey, who thought announcing a Booker endorsement a few hours earlier might be his salvation.

Raymond Zane, left, spent 28 years in the State Senate before losing his seat to Stephen Sweeney, right, in 2001.

Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), who announced yesterday that he has the votes to depose Richard Codey (D-Roseland) as Senate President, went to the Senate eight years ago after prevailing in an internal political war in South Jersey.

The Inside Edge first reported political unrest in a deeply divided Gloucester County Democratic organization in early 2000 amidst a feud between Democratic County Chairman Michael Angelini and eight-term State Sen. Raymond Zane (D-Woodbury).  Angelini was backing former Gov. Jim Florio in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senator, while Zane was supporting a political newcomer, a mega millionaire Wall Streeter named Jon Corzine.

The feud between Angelini and Zane began during the 1999 general election.  Democrats were angry with Zane's refusal to back Paulsboro Mayor John Burzichelli in his campaign to oust two Republican Assemblymen: Speaker Jack Collins (R-Elmer) and Gary Stuhltrager (R-East Greenwich).  Political observers had long believed that an informal arrangement existed between the three District 3 legislators; they have not become involved in campaigns against the other for several years.

In retaliation for Zane's actions, some Gloucester County municipalities stripped the Senator of more than $100,000 worth of legal work, and Zane's son, Gloucester County Freeholder Raymond Zane III lost his position as Freeholder Vice President.

The split between the two widened in 2000 when Zane attempted to switch local party organizations from Florio, a former South Jersey Congressman, to Corzine. Zane was heavily criticized when Salem County Democratic Chairman Thomas Pankok went public with allegations that Zane offered campaign contributions to Salem Democrats on behalf of Corzine in exchange for dropping their support of Florio.

Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange)

ORANGE - Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver's (D-East Orange) first foray into Essex County politics was as a kamikaze freeholder candidate in the 1990s running on a line with renegade state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Roseland).

Codey won and Oliver lost, and now years later it looks as though Senate President Codey's headed for a leadership defeat in his caucus as Oliver musters support on top of support in her quest to be the first African American woman speaker of the Assembly, but in the process faces a home county in which a Codey defeat could mean civil war.

Oliver has yet to announce the support of any assembly people from Essex County, but she's working on it, while also respecting, she says, political protocol and the reality that Essex County Democratic Chairman Phil Thigpen still stands with Codey.

"I am attempting to ameliorate Essex County; I believe Chairman Thigpen will avert a civil war and at the end of the day Essex County will be together," she insisted, speaking to the stunning news this morning that Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) summoned enough Democratic caucus backing to beat Senate President Codey when the senate reconvenes after the gubernatorial election on Nov. 3rd.

Among the fourteen backers (including Sweeney himself), two senators declaring their support for South Jerseyan Sweeney over Essex County's own Codey are county employees, state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) and state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair).

The fact that Oliver also works for the county as an assistant county administrator sent waves of anxiety through those Codey forces concerned with the concentration of too much power in the office of County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. seeking a third term next year - probably not without a fight at this point.

Now with the real threat of a Codey retaliation against DiVincenzo, Oliver said the boss factor - namely DiVincenzo's closeness to North Ward Leader Steve Adubato and Adubato's alliance with South Jersey Democratic leader (and Sweeney-backer) George Norcross III - is a non-issue.

"I am the most independent person ever elected," said the assemblywoman from East Orange whose five and a half years in the legislature make her the second longest-serving assemblyperson from the Essex delegation after Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange).

The unexpected announcement late this evening by John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) that he would drop his fledgling campaign for Assembly Speaker and support Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) is a clear sign that key North Jersey Democrats will back Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) for Senate President, Oliver for Speaker, and possible Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) for Assembly Majority Leader.

Support for Oliver, a relatively obscure Essex County Democrat, is reminiscent of the surprise move in 2001 to dump Joseph Doria (D-Bayonne) as the likely Speaker and replace him with freshman Albio Sires (D-West New York).  Oliver is a protégé of Newark Democratic leader Stephen Adubato, who is a close political ally of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross.  She is the Assistant Essex County Administrator. 

If there is a deal with South Jersey, Oliver could potentially start the race with between sixteen and eighteen votes, depending on who wins the hotly contested first district Assembly race.  And if there is a deal with Cryan, Oliver could add four more votes out of Union County.   Wisniewski could put her at 21.

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) says a well-known Republican research consultant has requested his financial disclosures.

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) took the preemptive step today of announcing that he is the target of an opposition researcher. 

Christopher Lyon, who typically works for Republican candidates, filed an OPRA request for Codey's financial disclosure forms going back to 1974 - his first year in the legislature.  In a press release, Codey - while not naming anyone - insinuated that Lyon is connected to rival Democrats who are challenging him for the senate presidency. 

Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), who is backed by South Jersey power broker George Norcross, is taking on Codey in an intra-party battle that has played out in the media for the last month.   

"This is typical of what you go through when you oppose certain people in New Jersey.  It's despicable," said Codey.  "I'm not a candidate for public office, so who would have a motive to do this?  It also begs the question of whether anyone who would choose to associate themselves with such a morally reprehensible figure is cut from the same cloth."

Codey has in the past explicitly charged Norcross with being behind opposition research against him.  After attorney Mark Sheridan - who is general counsel to the Republican State Committee - filed dozens of OPRA requests regarding Codey's former insurance company's contract with various municipalities, Codey told the Star-Ledger that he suspected Sheridan was working at the behest of Norcross.  Sheridan denied it, telling the paper they were made on behalf of an unrelated client.

Lyon's last known foray into New Jersey politics was on behalf of state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr.'s (R-Westfield) 2006 U.S. Senate campaign against Bob Menendez (D-Hoboken), when he tracked down a taped recording of Menendez ally Donald Scarinci asking a Hudson County contractor to hire someone as a "favor" to Menendez. 

Reached by phone, Lyon responded generally to Codey's release and would not say who hired him.  

"I'm not going to dignify it with a comment other than it's just plain silly," he said.

LD 5 Assembly candidate Donald Norcross

PAULSBORO - Labor leader Donald Norcross, the brother of South Jersey Democratic Party leader George Norcross III and a candidate for the Assembly in District 5, wouldn't comment on speculation that he is poised to assume state Sen. Dana Redd's (D-Camden) Senate seat if she wins her mayor's race on Nov. 3rd, where she's heavily favored.

"My entire focus is on the governor's race," said Norcross, who announced his candidacy for the Assembly the day that Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) formally declared his retirement from the legislature and his decision not to run for re-election this year.

"Joe's decision was made independent of (the Camden mayor's race," Norcross insisted. "The only thing we are focused on is getting this governor elected. We will have a mass mobilization on his behalf - over 1,000 people in the street."

PAULSBORO - Even as he praised Gov. Jon Corzine at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new South Jersey port, Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) signaled that he is indeed embroiled in an intra-party leadership fight, as he lashed out at his rival, Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland), calling Codey's effort to get him to sign a 2007 letter agreeing not to challenge him "crazy."

"You're kidding me, I said, 'you can't be serious about this,'" Sweeney recalled of his reaction to a request Codey made moments after Sweeney emerged from the caucus room, having secured the senate majority leadership position in a head-to-head with state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge).

Anticipating a power play from his political enemy - and Sweeney ally, South Jersey Democratic Party leader George Norcross III, Codey wanted Sweeney to write and sign a letter promising that he would not challenge Codey for the senate presidency.

Sweeney said he was taken aback.

Mayor Cindy Rau-Hatton

Gloucester Township Mayor Cindy Rau-Hatton already knew she had a Norcross target on her when she won election in 2006, and knew that bullseye got even bigger when the Council moved to change the township's May nonpartisan elections to partisan contests with a June primary and November general election.

With the passage of that ordinance, Gloucester's first Republican mayor now faces re-election on Nov. 3rd against former Assemblyman David Mayer (D-Gloucester Twp.) in a Camden County town of 70,000 where Democrats outnumber Republicans, 15,714 to 5,658.

A music teacher turned mayor, Rau-Hatton sizes up the race for the $52,000-per-year prize as a classic tale of machine versus grassroots politics, and envisions her victory as a chalk-up in the column of hard work over obscene wealth.

But Mayer sees a Rau-Hatton record of mismanagement.

Assemby Speaker Joseph Roberts (C-Camden), above, is not seeking re-election to the State Assembly. South Jersey Democrats picked labor leader Donald Norcross to replace him.

Southern Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross, the brother of one of the state's most powerful political insiders, won the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in the fifth district today.  He ran unopposed at a special convention of Camden County Democrats to replace Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), who announced last month that he would not seek re-election.

"I believe we must change the way business is done in Trenton," Norcross told Democrats today.  "We must put our partisan differences and the special interests aside to do what is best for the ordinary, hard-working taxpayers of this state. The status quo is not working. The state government is wasting too much of our money."
 
Norcross, the Camden County Democratic Co-Chairman and the brother of George Norcross III, called for a state-government spending freeze and a moratorium on tax increases.