Joe DiVincenzo

Senate President Dick Codey is New Jersey's most popular politician, according to an FDU poll released today
New Jersey voters’ feelings about Gov. Jon Corzine remain tepid, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released today. 

Survey respondents are split on whether they approve of Governor Corzine’s performance, with 41% approving and 43% disapproving.  16% had mixed feelings or didn’t know. 

31% of New Jersey voters think Gov. Corzine is doing an “excellent” or “good job,” while 41% rate his performance as “only fair.”  25% think that he’s done a “poor” job in office.  Those numbers are basically the same as they were in an FDU poll conducted in June.

DENVER -- Essex County Executive Joe DiVencenzo may have said last week that he would consider running for Governor if Gov. Corzine left office early or decided not to seek reelection, but since arriving for the convention he’s been assured that won’t be the case.

“There’s no question Jon is going to be running for reelection. He’s been working this delegation very, very well.   He assured me that he’s going to be our candidate whether Obama wins our not.  He’s not interested in going to Washington,” said DiVincenzo. 

Gov. Jon Corzine, left, and former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne today in Newark.: Politicker photo

NEWARK - The presence of a beloved former anything in the world of politics invariably intensifies public scrutiny where it concerns that person’s successor, especially when that successor is currently in office.

So an Essex County favorite son, the 84-year old former Gov. Brendan Byrne standing beside Gov. Jon Corzine before a packed audience of county diehards today, created myriad opportunities for parallels.

On this day, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo’s unveiled the Gov. Brendan T. Byrne Plaza, honoring the former county prosecutor and governor with his own local monument.

"Because of everything he stood for," DiVincenzo said of Byrne, who served as governor from 1974-1982. "Because he stood for doing the right thing. Whether it was with (raising) the income tax or the Meadowlands, he always did the right thing."

Then DiVincenzo introduced Corzine, who would introduce Byrne.

Steve Adubato, Jr., presides over a meeting between Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, center, and Sen. Joseph Kyrillos.: Politicker photo 

SPRING LAKE - They drove and were driven to the Irish Riviera from all corners of New Jersey, in cars with government plates on them and dark SUVs and sedans with tinted glass, sporting sunglasses and paunches covered with sports jackets, mostly Democrats and a handful of Republicans, converging on this mansion by the sea.

Congressmen and mayors and assembly people and state senators and opposition researchers and retainers.

Standing at the front of the Seashell Dining Room in the Breakers to greet them was Steve Adubato, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and welcoming smile - and casting an eye that invariably sharpens human activity into the lineaments of political theater.

"I believe in the luck of the Irish," said the executive director of Newark’s North Ward Center and head of the Democratic Party in the North Ward, facing a sun-filled room packed with rivals hunched over plates of eggs and bacon: Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican State Party Chairman Tom Wilson; former Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, and Assemblyman Albert Coutinho and Assemblwoman Grace Spencer; Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and Assemblyman Thomas Giblin (D-Montclair).

In this poor man’s Olympiad of Jersey ethnic groups gathered under one roof, Adubato highlighted - as he does annually at this North Ward Center-sponsored breakfast - the Irish, who now number 141,379 registered voters in New Jersey, or 47,514 Democrats, 36,063 Republicans and 57,802 independents.

Gov. Jon Corzine on Monday evening in Essex with freeholders Blonnie Watson, left, and Carol Clark.: Politicker photo 

The paneled surroundings of Pal’s Cabin have turned rancor to languor in the case of many an Essex County political rivalry, enabling the likes of North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato, for example, to occupy the same friendly booth as his old political foe, Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).

So it’s unsurprising that neither Democratic Party fundraiser John Graham, a former Hillary Clinton supporter, nor Obama Campaign policy director Mark Alexander decided to convene in Pal’s for their continuing discussions about statewide campaign fundraising.

On Tuesday, they intend to meet in the West Orange watering hole with Gov. Jon Corzine between them. Alexander’s hoping the history Corzine has with Obama (they go back to Obama’s Senate primary campaign) will help him focus Graham and Graham’s allies.

Gov. Jon Corzine in Newark today 

NEWARK - Gov. Jon Corzine stood with Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark), Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Newark) and other lawmakers in the East Ward today and promised to back legislation to pay for new urban schools construction.

"We need action before June 30th, so that we can fulfill our Constitutional obligation to provide our children with a thorough and efficient education," said the governor, moments after taking a tour of the Oliver Street Elementary School.

Coutinho, an Ironbound native who cosponsored the legislation with Spencer, described dilapidated and overcrowded conditions in the facility.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo made it clear today that whatever Democratic Party rivalries exist in Newark and the environs, he supports the re-election of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne in 2008.

No questions asked.

Payne's brother, Assemblyman William Payne, is squaring off against M. Tersea Ruiz in the general election for state senate in the 29th district. Ruiz works for DiVincenzo and has the backing of power broker Steve Adubato and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.