James Whelan

The budget deal between Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts and Governor Jon Corzine could potentially exempt eight Democratic legislators in the lower house who are anxious to avoid a vote supporting a sales tax increase. Jefferson Van Drew and Nelson Albano in the first district, James Whelan in the second, Michael Panter in the twelfth, and Linda Greenstein in the fourteenth -- all Democrats with potentially competitive races for re-election next year -- appear to be the leading contenders for the first five slots. The sixth pass will probably go to Linda Stender, a Union County Democrat who is running for Congress this year against Republican Michael Ferguson. Democratic sources say that John Burzichelli and Douglas Fisher in the third, Paul Moriarty and David Mayer in the fourth, and Frederick Scalera and Gary Schaer in the 36th will likely compete for the last two slots.

Editor's Note: Schaer says that he and Scalera plan to vote for the budget and have "never asked" for a pass.

PAYNE/MANZO/WHELAN/JOHNSON BILL ALLOWING DYFS ACCESS TO SEX OFFENDER INFORMATION PASSES ASSEMBLY

(TRENTON) - The Assembly today approved legislation Assemblymen William D. Payne, Louis Manzo, James Whelan and Gordon Johnson sponsored to expand the state's Division of Youth and Family Services' (DYFS) access to information concerning sex offenders.

Democrats remain hopeful that a huge number of absentee ballots might help them win one more Assembly seat in the 2nd district, where Democrat James Whelan, the former Mayor of Atlantic City, defeated GOP Assemblyman Kirk Conover on Tuesday. Whelan's running mate, Damon Tyner, trails Republican incumbent Francis Blee by 2,271 votes. The Atlantic County Board of Elections will begin counting the absentee ballots at 2PM on Thursday. The Superintendent of Elections is still compiling the numbers of provisional ballots.

The unofficial absentee ballot breakdown:

Party Requested Returned

Democrat 2352 1655
Green 1 1
Independent 18 15
Republican 1019 896
Unaffiliated 2222 1283

Total: 5612 3850

Lame Duck Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford is expected to endorse Republican incumbent Frank Blee for re-election in the increasingly competitive 2nd district Assembly race. Langford defeated one of Blee's opponents, James Whelan, in the 2001 Democratic primary and then lost renomination last June to a Whelan ally, Robert Levy. Langford, according to a report by local radio host Harry Hurley, will only endorse one candidate for the two seats -- taking a pass on Democrat Damon Tyner, the son of a longtime Atlantic City Councilman, and GOP incumbent Kirk Conover. Langford will appear on Hurley's radio show tomorrow, and Hurley says he will urge him to back Conover too.