Good news for South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross: a partner in the law firm that represents Norcross personally, Brown & Connery, is expected to become the new Camden County Prosecutor.  Gov. Jon Corzine nominated Warren Faulk to the post yesterday.  Presumably, the all-Democratic State Senate delegation from Camden County will sign off on the nomination.

Camille Andrews: No Choice, No Change

Machine Politicians Disenfranchise and Manipulate Loyal Voters;
Andrews Repeatedly Vows to Do Their Bidding

BARRINGTON – Camille Andrews, the machine politicians’ placeholder candidate in New Jersey’s 1st Congressional District, has demonstrated once again that she just doesn’t get it.

On April 9, The Courier-Post reported Camille Andrews saying, “I'm obviously going to keep my ears open and do what's best for the party.”

She added that her reason for running was “to win this election for the (Democratic) party.”
(“Andrews' wife hints at 'placeholder' role”, The Courier-Post, April 9, 2008)

Just one day before, Camille Andrews told The Star-Ledger that she “support(s) a fair process” for the “many qualified candidates” who expressed interest in running.
(“Camille Andrews: I'm running for real”, The Star-Ledger, April 8, 2008)

Apparently, Camille Andrews and the machine politicians have never heard of a primary election, where voters have the opportunity to select the candidate they want to represent them.

“Democrats in the 1st District are being disenfranchised by the machine politicians,” said Tim Saler, campaign manager for Dale Glading. “After decades of the party insiders giving them nothing but lip service and higher taxes, we believe that the voters in the 1st District - regardless of party - are fed up with business as usual.”

“The Democrat powerbrokers have shown the ultimate disrespect to their most loyal voters by denying them the opportunity to select their own candidate for Congress,” Saler added.

Rob Andrews himself criticized the state Democratic Party in his race for Senate against the front-runner, Senator Frank Lautenberg. Andrews said of the Senate race, “This is an election, not a coronation.”
(“Touting Iraq war plan, Andrews makes formal announcement for U.S. Senate seat”, PolitickerNJ, April 14, 2008)

Unfortunately for the loyal Democrats in the 1st District, the Andrews family has decided they are not worthy of a choice and a free, democratic election. Instead, according to Rob and Camille Andrews, party bosses and machine politicians should circumvent the democratic process and choose a party insider of their own liking.

“It's time that the politicians stopped concerning themselves with what's best for the party and started representing the people they were elected to serve,” Saler continued. “Dale Glading is running to serve the people of the 1st District, and no one else.”

“The voters of the 1st District are intelligent, hard-working people who’ve had to fight for everything they’ve got. They won’t stand for a coronation, they won’t stand for being disenfranchised, and they won’t stand for being manipulated by the cynical career politicians,” Saler concluded.

Lobbyist Michael Murphy is wearing two hats these days. One Murphy is working as campaign chairman and paid spokesman for Rob Andrews’ campaign for the United States Senate, while the other Murphy is appearing on News 12 this weekend as a supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. And the former Morris County Prosecutor and ’97 gubernatorial candidates boss, Andrews, is backing Hillary Clinton. (Of course, Andrews’ boss, South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross, has endorsed Obama) And further complicating matters: the guy interviewing Murphy the Obama man is lobbyist Jim McQueeny, a member of Frank Lautenberg’s circle of friends.

Sen. President Richard Codey (D-Essex) in Newark with Mayor Cory Booker and Council President Mildred Crump.

ORANGE - Politics here invariably comes back to the state’s most popular politician, former governor and Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who grew up across the street from the city’s other favorite son, Two Ton Tony Galento.

"With Tony, what you saw was what you got," Codey recalls.

A rotund puncher who trained on spaghetti and beer, what that got Galento was a fourth round technical knockout at the hands of heavyweight champion Joe Louis, and a subsequent supporting role as a heavy in "On the Waterfront."

South Jersey Democrats threw a punch at Chris Myers today, just as the third district Republican congressional candidate was getting ready to hold a press conference hitting back at Jack Kelly, his Republican rival for the nomination.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr today slammed Myers as a “pawn” of Republican bosses for accepting money from the “Corrupt Burlington County GOP Machine.”

At issue are two donations that show up in Myers’s Federal Election Commission filings: $2,300 from former Burlington County Republican Chairman Glenn Paulsen, and $2,300 former Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman J. Garfield DeMarco.

Earlier this week, Assemblyman Paul Moriarty announced that he wouldn’t stand for reelection for his other elected office: mayor of Washington Township (the one in Gloucester County).

The announcement came less than a week after Moriarty’s name surfaced as a potential replacement for first district Rep. Rob Andrews, who’s vacating the seat to take on incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg in the June primary.

The decision to put Camille Andrews on the ballot as a candidate for her husband’s open House seat is likely to become an issue in Rob Andrews’ campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. Some Democrats suspect that the move was designed to offer the incumbent a safety net to return to the House of Representatives if he loses his primary challenge to Frank Lautenberg, and wonder why South Jersey Democratic leaders were unable to simply agree upon a successor during the week between Andrews’ decision to run and filing day. Still, this is a vintage George Norcross move: there have been several times over the last few years that Camden County Democrats put a placeholder on the primary ballot. Norcross has little desire to be inconvenienced by filing deadines.

Rep. Rob Andrews is making his second bid for statewide office, challenging Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic Senate primary

As he launches a primary campaign for Sen. Frank Lautenberg's seat, Rep. Rob Andrews says he’s less prickly than he was 11 years ago when his failed campaign for governor left him holding grudges and questioning the value of a man's word.

The congressman from Camden was bothered by then-Essex County Chairman Thomas Giblin’s 1997 decision to withdraw his support for Andrews to instead back north Jersey product James E. McGreevey for Governor.

“I took it personally and that was my mistake,” said Andrews, 50, who felt vindicated but no less intensely frustrated after McGreevey’s spectacular fall.

“Someone who might have backed McGreevey and not me was not a bad person,” Andrews said.

“He is a foolish person,” the congressman added, “but not a bad person.”

The private agony of Brian Stack goes on, according to sources close to the Union City Mayor and State Senator. Stack received sizeable campaign contributions from George Norcross and Raymond Lesniak, and looked close to backing Rob Andrews for Senate. But Stack ally Albio Sires' decision to put his own career at risk by standing with Stack against the HCDO last year now has Stack hesitant about going with Andrews. Sires pledged to run on the HCDO line with incumbent Frank Lautenberg. Today, Stack's freeholder candidates filed with the HCDO -- but Stack continues to meet with allies. "We elected him because he is a strong leader," said a source. "But all it's been since he was elected is indecision."

The last time someone gave up his seat to run statewide and then found a safety net to return after losing the primary was in 1989, when Assembly Speaker Chuck Hardwick sought the Republican nomination for Governor.  After finishing third in the primary, Hardwick was able to return to the Legislature when his running mate, Peter Genova, decided to drop his re-election bid.  Talk of Camden County Democrats nominating Camille Andrews to replace her husband in the first district congressional race (she was one of sixteen names on George Norcross’s short list of House candidates) has caused some Democrats – and Republicans – to question Andrews’ commitment to the Senate race, and his confidence in defeating Frank Lautenberg in the primary.