George Norcross

With Louis Greenwald out of the race for State Senator if John Adler wins his race for Congress, one possible candidate is South Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross, the brother of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross.  Donald Norcross was widely expected to go to Congress this year before incumbent Rob Andrews decided to reclaim the seat he gave up to challenge Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. 

The must-read story of the day is from Gannett's Tom Baldwin about a Republican candidate for West Deptford Township Committeeman who told the Governor's receptionist that he was George Norcross and quickly found himself speaking with Jon Corzine.  Click here to read.

The announcement that an eclectic group of lawmakers have introduced a bill to require legislators to disclose their person income from public sources was a direct shot at Senate President Richard Codey.  The proposed law would force legislators, their spouses and their dependent children to report direct and indirect financial stakes in no-bid public contracts -- something Codey has been strongly opposed to.  The bill has the backing of Gov. Jon Corzine, South Jersey Democrats allied with party leader George Norcross, Bergen County Democrats opposed to indicted County Chairman Joseph Ferriero, and several key Republican Senators.

By most measures, Gloucester County should be a politically competitive place.

Its towns are mostly rural and suburban, it has a large blue collar population, and it only went for John Kerry over George W. Bush by about 6,000 votes in the last presidential election.

But over the last decade, Democrats – aided in part by George Norcross’ powerful political machine in neighboring Camden County, the political prowess of native son Stephen Sweeney and plenty of Republicans willing to switch parties – have had little trouble holding on to full control of the county’s government and taking over the majority of most towns’ elected offices.

Maybe they say it every year, but Republicans feel that this time they may be able to pry at least one county-wide seat out of the Democrats’ grasp: the one that belongs to Freeholder Warren Wallace, whose re-election comes about just as his one-time political ally – former State Sen. Wayne Bryant – faces a corruption trial over a job he held at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), where Wallace worked as associate dean for academic and student affairs for School of Osteopathic Medicine before being dismissed over accusations of unethical behavior. In 2006, he was accused of shredding documents while the school was being investigated.

In May, Wallace filed a lawsuit against the school, charging racial discrimination over his firing.  But he may be called to testify at Bryant’s trial as a “person of interest” – further associating him with the former state Senator.

“We absolutely have a real shot at it,” said political consultant Steve Kush, who this year is running the Republican freeholder candidates’ communications shop.  “The proof is in the pudding.”

Republicans Phyllis Scapellato, Larry Wallace and Dan Roberts are running against Democratic incumbents Wallace, Sweeney (the state Senate Majority Leader who reconsidered his decision not to run for freeholder again) and Frank DiMarco.  Roberts replaced Frank Stellaccio, who dropped out in June.

The pudding, according to Kush: a letter Democratic counsel Timothy Chell sent to Gloucester County Republicans, warning candidates not to use several claims about Wallace recently outlined in a Philadelphia Inquirer article.  He thinks its proof that the Democrats are running scared.

“Any use of the factual inaccuracies published in the Inquirer will be considered actionable by the Gloucester County Democratic Party and Dr. Warren S. Wallace personally,” wrote Chell.

He cut an unprepossessing figure as he made the rounds of open bar fiestas and happy hours in Denver, hobnobbing with the governor here, buttonholing some bigshot fundraiser there.

He smiled through the whispers and rumors.

But at the Democratic National Convention last month, bad feelings inevitably saturated the atmosphere of powerhouse Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero, the man who likens the make-up of his county organization to the way the ingredients go together in Coca-Cola.

The news that FBI agents stormed his office came just days before the start of the convention, prompting state Democratic leaders to field uncomfortable questions about Ferriero even as they were packing their bags and hightailing it for the upscale Inverness Hotel.

State Party Chairman Joseph Cryan told the media he wouldn’t ask the embattled party boss to stay home, and so there was Ferriero in Denver.

Never a big fan of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the powerful Democratic Party boss backed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in the party’s presidential primary.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews was re-nominated for another two-year term tonight in the 1st Congressional District, just five months after dropping off the ballot to challenge Sen. Frank Lautenberg in a primary. 

About 400 county committee members from Camden, Gloucester and Burlington Counties showed up to the meeting in Bellmawr, according to Andrews Chief of Staff Bill Caruso. 

South Jersey Democrats will back Rob Andrews' return to the U.S. House of Representatives, but some members of the party leadership aren't entirely thrilled with Andrews' change of mind.  Sources with knowledge of party business say that Andrews' repalcement would have been South Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross, the Camden County Democratic Co-Chairman and the brother of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross.  Donald Norcross had been prepared to enter the race for Congress sometime in early September.

Rob Andrews’ decision to return to the U.S. House of Representatives is not surprising, especially to those political insiders who suspected that he bought a special insurance policy back in April when he made a seemingly abrupt decision to challenge Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.  By negotiating a deal that designated his wife, Camille Andrews, as his replacement, Andrews created continued speculation that he would come back to Congress if he lost.  During the Senate campaign, and through most of the summer, Andrews insisted that he would not run for the House seat he’s held since winning a November 1990 special election; his constant Shermanesque statements were not taken seriously. 

DENVER - South Jersey Democratic Party leader George Norcross would not speculate on the specific public future of U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights), who’s due in at the Hotel Inverness this afternoon.

Andrews failed in his bid to oust U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) in the Democratic Primary earlier this year, and is now considering retiring to take a job at Goldman Sachs.

His wife, Camille, is holding his congressional seat amid talk out of South Jersey that Norcross’s younger brother, Donald, desires to make a run for the First Congressional District seat.

"What Rob and his family choose to do, I will support and advocate for his benefit," said Norcross. "Rob has to make that decision himself, and I don’t think he’s made that decision yet."

The word among South Jersey Democrats is that Donald Norcross, the brother of one of the state’s most powerful political insiders, will replace Rob Andrews in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Sources say that the decision to send Norcross, the South Jersey AFL-CIO President and the Camden County Democratic Co-Chairman, to Congress appears nearly final – but that party leaders have little incentive to call a vote to ratify that choice anytime soon.