Gerald Cardinale

The last time all 120 legislative seats were in play, back in 2003, Gov. James E. McGreevey, who was suffering from low poll numbers, made himself scarce on the campaign trail.

Although Gov. Jon S. Corzine doesn’t suffer from the same upside-down poll numbers as McGreevey did, he doesn’t appear to be a hot commodity with Democratic legislative candidates running in the fall mid-term elections.

While Democrats aren’t running away from Corzine, they’re not exactly tripping over themselves to get him on their campaigns. As of right now, aside from a couple bill signings, none of the Democrats who are in competitive races -- districts one, two, seven, eight, 12, 14, 38 or 39 -- have any rallies or fundraisers planned with Corzine.

When Frank X. Herbert was asked to run for the 25th district state Senate seat, he knew it was just to fill the Democratic slot on the ticket. Still, the former state Senator from Bergen County said he was excited at the prospect of running for office again.

But three weeks after being asked, Herbert, 76, was diagnosed with benign hypertrophy in his prostate.

“I spent the whole month of April with hoses up my yinyang,” said Herbert. Then his wife started having health problems, and then he fell in his garage, injuring his right thumb. Just today he went to the dentist for a root amputation of one of his teeth, coming back with a mouthful of sponges.

Democrats are spending money in four districts where they have a reasonable shot at picking up seats: against GOP incumbents Nicholas Asselta in district 1, Sonny McCullough in district 2, and Gerald Cardinale in the 39th; for open seats in District 8 (where Republican-turned-Democrat Assemblyman Francis Bodine faces Burlington County Clerk Philip Haines for the seat being vacated by retiring Senator Martha Bark.

After a meeting last night between newly-elected Bergen County GOP Chairman Rob Ortiz and his party’s slate of freeholder candidates, both sides say they’ve got a strategy in place to run a shoe-string campaign.

Just what that strategy is, of course, they would not say.

Bergen County Democrats would like Kathleen Donovan to become a Superior Court Judge within the next year, since that would increase their chances of winning the County Clerk’s post that has eluded them since Donovan first won in 1988.

There has been speculation about Donovan’s judicial ambitions before, and some Republicans say he greatest obstacle has been State Senator Gerald Cardinale, a fellow Republican who has been allied with Donovan rivals over the years. Their feud goes back to 1989, when Donovan supported Jim Courter for Governor against two Bergen candidates, Cardinale and former Attorney General Cary Edwards.

The New Jersey Education Association’s PAC played it pretty safe with its endorsements, choosing mostly incumbents. But in the 39th district, the union backed an entire slate of Democratic challengers against three Republican incumbents.

“We’re excited and proud that NJEA has agreed to endorse the full slate,” said Jennifer Chirco, the campaign manager for the 39th district Democrats. “We value the association and really appreciate them lending their support

The teachers’ union picked Democrat Joe Ariyan for state Senate, along with Esther Fletcher and Carl Manna for Assembly. Not getting the nod were state Sen. Gerald Cardinale, Assemblyman John Rooney and Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk.

Armenian-Americans seem like an odd group to go to battle over, but both 39th district state Senate candidates are vying for their support.

It’s common for politicians to court specific ethnic groups if they’re numerous enough to have an impact at the polls, but what makes Armenian-Americans different is their tiny population. There are just over 8,200 Armenians in Bergen County, according to the 2000 census, and about 17,000 statewide. But despite their small numbers, they’re cohesive and politically active, and they can be a powerful political force if they coalesce behind a single candidate. Now the support of the Armenian-American community has become a point of contention between Democratic state Senate candidate Joe Ariyan, who’s of Armenian heritage, and long-time Republican incumbent Gerald Cardinale, who just sponsored a Senate resolution that will appeal to many in the community.

FOR RELEASE: Immediate

DATE: 6/28/2007

CONTACT: Jennifer Chirco

Byron Baer, 1929-2007

by MAX PIZARRO and MATT FRIEDMAN
PoliticsNJ.com

Byron Baer was a rarity in New Jersey politics: he served time in jail before he took public office, not after.

"I tell people he was a politician who went to jail first instead of the other way around," said his widow, Judge Linda Pollitt Baer.

Pollitt Baer was referring to the 45-day stint that her husband did in a Mississippi jail in 1961, after being arrested as part of the Freedom Riders.

But his civil rights work didn’t end there.

Baer, who died this morning after a long illness, was a pioneering warrior for government transparency during his four decades of service in the Legislature. He passed bills on consumer pricing, toxic waste cleanup and tenant protection. While working on legislation protecting migrant workers, he demonstrated for workers’ rights, getting his arm broken by a south Jersey farmer who tried to hit his head with an iron pipe.

Sen. Nia Gill on Thursday remained the only senator to vote against Stuart Rabner, both in committee and in the senate as a whole, on a day when the rest of the senate enthusiastically embraced the outgoing attorney general as chief justice for the state Supreme Court.

The final vote was 35-1.