James Florio

Members of Jim Florio's staff, campaign and administration will gather at Drumthwacket tomorrow to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his election as Governor of New Jersey.  Gov. Jon Corzine will not be in attendance, and no taxpayer funds are being used for the event.

One factoid that has appeared on PolitickerNJ.com numerous times in recent years is being reprinted in honor of Republican National Chairman Michael Steele's visit to the Garden State: Republicans haven't won a statewide election in New Jersey since 1997; since then, 49 other states have elected a Republican to statewide office.

Despite their winning streak, New Jersey Democrats went fourteen years without re-electing an incumbent to statewide office.  U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) was re-elected in 2008, having last won re-election in 1994.  Besides Lautenberg, the last New Jersey Democrat to win re-election was Bill Bradley in 1990.

By way of the National Review, an item on U.S. Supreme Court Justice-designate Sonia Sotomayor from The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption, written by Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure:

"[Former Chief of Staff to New Jersey Governor James Florio Joseph C.] Salema could have spent up to 10 years behind bars for steering government bond business to First Fidelity in exchange for payments in a scheme that netted him hundreds of thousands of dollars," the Trentonian reported. U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor instead sentenced him to six months in a halfway house and six months of home detention, fined him $10,000 and gave him 1400 hours of community service."

"A $10,000 fine to someone who pleads guilty to a federal charge of sharing in more than $200,000 in kickbacks. Boy, that will teach him!"

PolitickerNJ.com's Matt Friedman had an interesting observation during his coverage of the Republican gubernatorial debate.  He notes that Christopher Christie, "in recounting the damage he says has been done by seven years of Democratic governors," skips Richard Codey - he goes from James E. McGreevey straight to Jon Corzine. 

Voters in more than 500 municipalities will go to the polls today to approve or reject individual school district budgets - an election that could be an early harbinger of voter attitudes in the 2009 race for Governor, especially in blue and white collar communities. Some pundits believe that the state of the economy will make it more difficult for school districts to get their budgets passed.

Reductions in local education budgets could be problematic for Gov. Jon Corzine if voters hold him accountable for specific budget cuts, like football, art and musical and advanced placement programs. 

In 2008, voters approved 74% of the school budget referendums, 411 of 555.  But many of these votes were close: of the 411 passed budgets, 156 of them (38%) passed with 55% of the vote or less. Of the 22 school districts which attracted more than 5,000 voters, eleven of them failed.  Of the eleven of those districts that passed, just three did so with more than 55% of the vote.

A total of 106 budgets were either approved or rejected by a margin of +/- 25 votes, and votes on 199 budgets were +/- 50 votes.

Voter turnout in April elections is typically about 15%. 

Jon Corzine will deliver the most important speech of his political career today when he presents his "pain on every page" budget to a joint session of the Legislature.  In the long term, Corzine will need to convince New Jerseyans that the state budget crisis was created by a failing national economy caused by George W. Bush and Washington Republicans.  But in the short term, Corzine must convince core Democratic constituencies most affected by this budget, especially public employees, to back him up and keep their members in line.  There are reports of a deal to roll back raises, but not for any substantial layoffs of state workers.

Key to the success or failure of Corzine’s budget may be the reaction of local government officials in blue and white collar towns to cuts in aid to school districts and municipalities.  Democrats have little trouble remembering that Gov. Jim Florio’s $2.8 billion tax increase in 1990 led to enormous Republican victories beyond picking up ten seats in the State Senate and 21 Assembly seats.  Economic issues created Republican wins at the local and county levels, including three Camden County Freeholder seats and GOP control of the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders.

Voters in more than 500 municipalities will go to the polls on April 21 to approve or reject individual school district budgets - an election that could be an early harbinger of voter attitudes in the 2009 race for Governor, especially in blue and white collar communities. Some pundits believe that the state of the economy will make it more difficult for school districts to get their budgets passed.  

Reductions in local education budgets could be problematic for Gov. Jon Corzine if voters hold him accountable for specific budget cuts, like football, art and musical and advanced placement programs. 

In 2008, voters approved 74% of the school budget referendums, 411 of 555.  But many of these votes were close: of the 411 passed budgets, 156 of them (38%) passed with 55% of the vote or less. Of the 22 school districts which attracted more than 5,000 voters, eleven of them failed.  Of the eleven of those districts that passed, just three did so with more than 55% of the vote.

A total of 106 budgets were either approved or rejected by a margin of +/- 25 votes, and votes on 199 budgets were +/- 50 votes.

Voter turnout in April elections is typically about 15%.

Left to right: Congressmen George Robeson, Henry Loudenslager, Charles Wolverton, William Cahill and John Adler.

Only two Democrats have won what is now the third congressional district since Chester Arthur was President: Thomas Ferrell and John Adler.  PolitickerNJ.com looks at the chain of custody, not district numbers, to determine the lineage of a particular seat in Congress.

In 1882, with just 50.1% of the vote, Ferrell, a former State Senator, Assemblyman and Glassboro Committeeman, ousted Republican George Robeson, a two-term Congressman with an impressive resume. A Civil War General, Robeson spent two years as state Attorney General and nearly eight years as U.S. Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of President Ulysses Grant.

Ferrell was beaten for re-election in 1884 by Republican George Hires, a former Salem County Sheriff and State Senator.  Hires won 50%-45%, starting a 124-year streak of Republican victories in this congressional district.

Robert Meyner, campaigning for Governor in 1953, made seven original appointments to the New Jersey Supreme Court during his eight years in office.

Death and retirements gave Democratic Governor Robert Meyner the opportunity to make eight New Jersey Supreme Court appointments during his eight years as Governor - the most for any Governor under the current State Constitution, including Alfred Driscoll, who made seven appointments in December 1947.

But during the eight years that Meyner's successor, Democrat Richard Hughes, was Governor, he made no Supreme Court appointments.  But Hughes would himself serve as Chief Justice for nearly six years after leaving office.

Not including sitting Judges being renominated, Republicans William Cahill and Christine Todd Whitman nominated five Justices; Brendan Byrne picked four; James E. McGreevey and Jon Corzine named three; and Thomas Kean selected just two new Justices during his eight years as Governor.  James Florio made no Supreme Court appointments during his four years as Governor.

Getty Images Photo

U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-Mt. Holly) will retire tomorrow after 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

When Jim Saxton and Mike Ferguson leave Congress tomorrow, New Jersey will have nineteen living former Congressmen.  The oldest is Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen, the 93-year-old father of U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.  He first won an open seat in 1952 and served until his retirement in 1974.  The youngest is the soon-to-be-unemployed Michael Pappas, 48, a Republican who won an open seat in 1996 and lost his bid for re-election to a second term two years later.  Pappas works for the Small Business Administration and will likely lose his job when the new administration takes office this month.