JOE SPICUZZO

MCDO Chairman Joe Spicuzzo

In his first conversation with embattled Assemblyman Joe Vas (D-Perth Amboy) since Vas absorbed corruption charges from the state Attorney General’s office nearly two weeks ago, Middlesex County Democratic Organization Chairman Joe Spicuzzo urged the former Perth Amboy mayor to resign his seat as chair of the local Democratic organization.

“I told him it would be better for all concerned if he did resign,” said Spicuzzo, who spoke with Vas this morning. “He told me he’s done nothing wrong and does not intend to give up his chairmanship. So we’ll let the process play out. His term is up in early June. 

“He also defended the party over there in Perth Amboy and challenged recent quotes in the paper that his organization is floundering,” Spicuzzo added.

EDISON – Fighting upside-down poll numbers as usual and wading into an election year budget battle with Republicans who say he’s a remote and rudderless Wall Streeter intent on doling out further pain to the middle class, Gov. Jon Corzine Wednesday night gave an arms-flailing, podium-pounding address long on defiance, short on patience with the opposing party, and layered generously with narrative slices from his own life.   

“I read the polls – I don’t like these things, well, it’s early – but I come from a 120-acre farm in the middle of nowhere,” cried Corzine, who told members of the Middlesex County Democratic Organization (MCDO) that he fought Hank Paulson, former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, before Paulson ousted him from Goldman and became secretary of treasury under President George W. Bush. 

Chairman Joe Spicuzzo congratulates his Distrct 19 ticket: Aassemblyman John Wisniewski, left, and South Amboy Mayor John T. O'Leary

EDISON – One Perth Amboy mayor received homage, a second stands accused of state corruption charges and stayed away, and a third was in the house tonight here at the Pines Manor at the Middlesex County Democratic Organization’s convention. 

“He’s disappeared,” Chairman Joe Spicuzzo said of former Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas, indicted last week on bid-rigging and theft charges. “I’ve tried calling him but haven’t heard from him. He must be with his lawyer.” 

Ousted as mayor last year by Wilda Diaz, Vas had originally intended to pursue his assembly seat again at a special March 25th convention, but backed down after absorbing the state charges last Wednesday.

Perth Amboy Mayor WIlda Diaz works the room at her foreclosure conference on Friday.

PERTH AMBOY – The rivers run into each other there and disgorge urb and burb remnants alike into the bay.

In the middle of a global economic crisis, in the middle of a local budget crisis, in the middle of state corruption charges leveled against her predecessor, Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz stands in the parish center of Our Lady of Fatima Church in front of a crowd of 400 residents Friday night and urges them to work with government to keep their homes. 

“Tell your friends not to be embarrassed if you can’t pay your mortgage,” she says, in English and Spanish. “If you wait two or three months, the situation will only be much worse.”

The bank teller turned bank manager turned first year mayor has welcomed several guests to speak, including representatives from Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York). 

Assemblyman Joe Vas’s (D-Perth Amboy) indictment today on state corruption charges sparked the 19th District to action, as the county chairmen from both parties responded less than two weeks in front of their respective conventions.

Middlesex County Democratic Chairman Joe Spicuzzo said he wants to talk to Vas, charged with stealing funds from the City of Perth Amboy while he was mayor, before proceeding with his party’s convention scheduled for March 25 at the Forge.

“It depends on what Joe wants to do,” said Spicuzzo. “I’m sure he’s thinking about not running. I’m going to talk to him first thing tomorrow morning and we’ll see where he stands.”

As expected, the Middlesex County Democratic Organization on Sunday picked South Brunswick Councilwoman Carol Barrett to succeed the late David B. Crabiel as county freeholder, according to party chairman Joe Spicuzzo. 

“We had 611 people from the county committee who voted,” said Spicuzzo. “Carol Barrett won with 58 percent of the vote.” 

Barrett defeated former Edison Councilman Charles Tomaro and Amy Papi of East Brunswick. She is scheduled to take the oath of office tomorrow at the freeholders’ reorganization meeting at Middlesex County College.

EDISON - Diners anchor what’s left of the train-track and warehouseEdison Mayor Jun Choi: Politicker file photo girded countryside in this sprawling town, fifth biggest in New Jersey, where Mayor Jun Choi drinks his coffee on a summer morning in one of the more recognizable roadside haunts called the Plaza Diner.

The suit and tie and modest demeanor belie a man restlessly at work, for if Choi was an enigmatic upstart when he hit the scene three years ago, he has built himself into a surging political force, three-fourths of the way into his first term.

"And I’m running again," he says with a smile.

The Edison-raised kid who came from the inner sanctum of Bill Bradley’s machine-bucking 2000 presidential campaign, former state Department of Education wonk, Choi remains the Democratic Party outsider in a party that still does not know quite what to do with him.