Joe Cryan

State Party Chairman Joseph Cryan on Friday night.: Politicker photo 

DENVER - The Denver Broncos had left several hours earlier when Joseph Cryan, state Democratic Party chairman, entered the lobby of the Hotel Inverness on Friday night at around 10 p.m., mountain time. 

The football team trains nearby and evidently they get their pre-home game rub-downs here at the Inverness. 

Now the Broncos could be seen vying against the Packers on suspended television sets in the Spotted Dog bar and all the talk around Cryan from his state committee staffers concerned Barack Obama's veep pick.

Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) apparently were already out of the running, according to news reports, leaving most of the New Jersey staffers assuming that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) would be Obama's running mate.

The day after FBI agents seized eight boxes of documents from the law office of Jospeh Ferriero, State Party Chairman Joseph Cryan said he does not plan to ask the Bergen County Democratic chairman to sit out the national convention, which starts next week.

Cryan’s answer to the question about Ferriero was straightforward.

"No," he said. "I’m not going to ask him to stay home."

The Bergen Record reported yesterday that agents stormed the offices of both Ferriero and Bergen County Democratic Organization attorney Dennis Oury.

Tricia Mueller, state director of the Obama campaign, would not comment on Ferriero’s troubles, saying only, "We’re completely deferring to the Democratic Committee."

In recent months, Democrats in general have questioned the timing and political motivations of U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, a likely Republican gubernatorial candidate.

Assembly Deputy Speaker Neil Cohen resigned after state officials found child pornography on his office computer
Union County Democrats will meet next Tuesday at a special convention to elect the replacement for former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, who resigned his seat late last month after child pornography was allegedly found on one of his legislative office computers.

The replacement will be selected by the members of the county’s Democratic committee from the four towns that comprise Legislative District 20: Roselle, Elizabeth, Union Township and Kenilworth. But the endorsement by the district’s other two legislators – Assemblyman/Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan and State Sen. Ray Lesniak -- will undoubtedly weigh heavily on the committee’s decision.

Among the local political players said to be interested in the post are Roselle Councilwoman Cecelia Dallis-Ricks; Union County Freeholder Director Angel Estrada; Elizabeth Councilwoman Patricia Perkins-Auguste; Elizabeth Councilman Manny Grova; Roselle Councilman and former Cohen Chief-of-Staff Jamel Holley and Roselle Mayor Garrett Smith, who has butted heads with party leaders in the past.

In what could turn out to be the first proxy fight of the 2009 race for governor, Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan chastised State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown) for his claim that public corruption prosecutions by U.S.Attorney Chris Christie helped end “Christmas Tree” budget items.

"Mr. Kyrillos should get his facts straight and get the story right,” said Cryan. “It was Governor Corzine who did away with Christmas Tree spending and it's Governor Corzine who has reformed other aspects of the budget process, effectively changing spending practices by both political parties for years, if not decades.”

“Christmas tree items” referred to legislative pork, often in the form of last minute expenditures added to the budget for legislators’ pet projects. Corzine vowed to end them for the 2009 budget, while they drew scrutiny and subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s office during previous years.

The Office of Legislative Services investigated pornography on Neil Cohen's office computer last year
Former Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Roselle) was suspected of harboring pornography on his district legislative office's computer system a year before he was allegedly caught with child pornography last week, according to several sources familiar with the Cohen investigation.

According to those sources, pornographic images - which did not appear to include children - were found on computers in the District 20 legislative office about one year ago. Although Cohen's office mates - state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) - suspected that the images came from Cohen, they could not prove it.

The sources also said that Lesniak and Cryan notified the non-partisan state Office of Legislative Services and asked them to investigate the matter.

STATEMENT OF SENATOR RAY LESNIAK AND ASSEMBLYMAN JOSEPH CRYAN

They probably could have looked the other way.

The news that Assemblyman Neil Cohen is under investigation for allegedly having child pornography on his office computer was painful to read.

But learning that it was his legislative runningmates -- Senator Ray Lesniak and Assemblyman Joe Cryan -- who turned him in was most shocking.

Lesniak and Cryan often get tagged as the bad guys in Jersey politics. And yet despite how difficult it must have been, they did the right thing by turning in their colleague.

We shouldn't lower the bar too much on what constitutes ethical behavior, but let's give credit where it's due. Not all legislators would have done the right thing in the same situation. Less than two years ago we learned that some of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's colleagues knew about his advances toward underage pages, yet remained silent. Some still remain in office.

We'll probably learn more about how this unfolded in the days and weeks ahead, but we should at least give credit to Ray Lesniak and Joe Cryan for the unenviable role they played in this sad chapter in New Jersey politics.

And while we're on the topic, if the legislators are looking for bonus points, they can extend their do-gooder streak by pushing to make sure that whoever replaces Cohen looks a little more like the people they represent.

Although the 20th district's residents are over one-fifth African American, one-third Hispanic, and one-half female, the delegation has been 100 percent white and male for a long time.

Who wants extra credit?

The child pornography investigation of Assemblyman Neil Cohen was touched off by his legislative running mates, the two legislators revealed this evening.

State Sen. Ray Lesniak and Assemblyman/Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan were notified of images found on Cohen’s computer by a staffer. They then reported the matter to the Office of Legislative Services, which in turn contacted the office of Attorney General Anne Milgram.

Below is the full joint statement from Cryan and Lesniak.

Ninth District Rep. Steve Rothman said today that the Barack Obama presidential campaign has not decided who will head up Obama’s efforts in New Jersey.

Rothman, an early Obama supporter who has been the candidate’s point man in New Jersey, wouldn’t say whether Obama would bring in someone new or whether the charge of running a coordinated state campaign would fall to former Clinton backers like Gov. Jon Corzine and Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan.

“We’ve had wonderful discussions with the Clinton people in New Jersey and all the leaders, including the Governor and our state director who supported Sen. Clinton and all of the Obama leaders,” said Rothman. “We’re united and we’re working with the Obama campaign in putting together the right team for our state."

Rothman said that he met with Obama National Campaign Manager David Plouffe to discuss the situation yesterday.