Joe Vas

Dislodged from his seat of power and relegated now to a halfway house in Newark, former Middlesex County Democratic Party Chairman John Lynch sits in a landscape in which this gubernatorial contest unfolds and the candidate from his party fights for political survival.

Indicted for failing to report income by former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie (now the Republican nominee for governor), convicted and sentenced in 2006 to three years and three months in prison, Gov. Jim McGreevey's political genii and hard-nosed boss of the Raritan River rustbelt occupies political no man's land while Corzine flails and discord punctuates much of the sprawling county he once ruled.

"We need John Lynch," one Middlesex County Democratic Party insider moaned a coupled of weeks ago at the issuance of yet another poll showing incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine struggling to get his chin over 40% and eight points behind Christie.

"He's a missed leader in Middlesex," County Democratic Party Chairman Joe Spicuzzo said of his party forbearer. "He had his own style and it was successful. I talk to him once a week. He's doing fine and will get out around Nov. 13th."

Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus) joins Gov. Jon Corzine for a rally in honor of the governor this morning at Workers United Union headquarters in Newark.

NEWARK - Gov. Jon Corzine stepped up to the podium at Workers United Union headquarters to accept the endorsements of Latino elected officials even as his GOP rivals in the governor's race loosed a counter list of private sector and former elected official Latinos backing Republican candidate Chris Christie.

"Because of Jon Corzine's failures, our communities, schools and cities are suffering," said Lydia Valencia, director of the Puerto Rican Congress of New Jersey and chairwoman of Hispanics for Christie.  "We need a governor who understands the reality facing real New Jerseyans struggling to make ends meet, especially when Corzine's taxes are taking a bigger and bigger chunk of our money. I am supporting Chris because he will bring jobs to our state, help small businesses and make sure our children receive a quality education."

Alert to Christie's efforts to woo Latino voters (he has campaigned in Union City, Perth Amboy and regularly in Jersey City, and has a "Christie-Guadagno" campaign song set to salsa), Democratic elected officials closed ranks around the governor.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken); Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Paterson, chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus; Paterson Mayor Jose Torres; Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco; Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz; West New York Mayor Sal Vega; state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark), Newark North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos; and many others, 17 total, rallied with Corzine at union headquarters in downtown Newark while an audience of mostly SEIU workers rained praise on the incumbent governor.

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, left, and state Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Woodbridge) tonight at the Forge.

WOODBRIDGE - When the doors of the Forge flung open, the two groups went in separate directions: the mostly Puerto Rican contingent from Perth Amboy headed drearily back to the bay town, while Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman and their man for the 19th District, Craig Coughlin, headed straight for the Shannon Rose Pub and a raucous celebration.

State Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Woodbridge) showed up - Coughlin's wife is his campaign treasurer. There's a bond there.

So did Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), but the sitting 19th District lawmaker from the lower house wasn't a core circle player in this celebration of Coughlin's resounding win over retired Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez and health care professional Jean Pierce tonight at a special party convention at this manor on the northbound side of Route 9.

"Craig was a great candidate with experience in all five towns and all three branches of government," said McCormac, whose county committee allies from his hometown were well-organized in getting out and providing the foundation for Coughlin's 170 winning votes, compared to 75 for Rodriguez and 25 for Pierce.

State Party Chairman Joe Cryan blew in for the hoopla, which had actually started earlier in the evening, back at the Forge, when people looked around and saw Woodbridge out in force and couldn't contain their glee. Those were going to be Coughlin votes.

Middlesex County Democratic Organization Chairman/Sheriff Joe Spicuzzo

It's going to be a vote by secret ballot tomorrow at the Middlesex County Democratic Committee's special election for a 19th District Assembly candidate, where 340 county committee people are eligible to vote, according to Chairman Joe Spicuzzo.

"There will be four-minute presentations by each of the three candidates," said Spicuzzo.

No questions.

Health care professional Jean Pierce of Woodbridge yesterday drew first to speak, and will occupy the number one spot on the secret ballot. Retired Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez will speak next followed by retired Municipal Judge Craig Coughlin of Woodbridge, who will respectively occupy the two and three spots on the ballot.

WOODBRIDGE - Born in South Amboy to a factory worker father who worked at the Perth Amboy Chevron company, a resident of Woodbridge with family in all of the towns over here, Craig Coughlin considers himself a diehard blue collar creation of the 19th District. 

"I think I know the district as well as anyone can," said Coughlin, 51, who's heading into a special convention showdown next Wednesday with retired Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez of Perth Amboy to earn the right as a Democratic candidate in the 19th.

"I don't think Judge Rodriguez knows the district as well as I do," said Coughlin, who's lived in the district's biggest town, Woodbridge, since 1993. "I have friends and family in every community. I know the district. I know what matters. People want a good educational system, protection for seniors and people-centered legislation. I have experience in the judiciary and on the political side."

He lives here in the 19th, and works here.

Retired Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez

PERTH AMBOY - With two candidates already run aground owing to allegations of corruption and Republicans running under the law enforcement banner of Chris Christie, retired Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez said he'd be the best Democrat to complement a ticket for the Assembly in the 19th Legislative District because his integrity is "unassailable."

"One issue in this race is going to be integrity," said Rodriguez, 67, who left the bench in the middle of August, three days before an embattled South Amboy Mayor John T. O'Leary shelved his bid to succeed Assemblyman Joe Vas (D-Perth Amboy), who left behind accomplishments amid a projected $80 million plus "Vas Mahal"  in the middle of the waterfront city, a combination YMCA/police/fire/court catch-all, as he faces two handfuls of state and federal corruption charges.

"Judges don't get paid very much money," added Rodriguez, a 20-year veteran of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Rutgers Law School graduate and father of four, including a daughter who died. "We work because we want to serve, and this would be an opportunity to serve. Look at my record. Ask any attorney who knows me. We have enough laws on the books. We need well qualified moral candidates."

At least one half of the Republican ticket is already trying to chip at Rodriguez's pristine image with questions about the judge's launch pad into the special convention, which takes place next Wednesday. Rodriguez is one of four declared candidates. 

Trying to weaken Rodriguez a week before the Democratic Party contest, GOP candidate Peter Kothari of Woodbridge fired off a press release this afternoon calling on the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct to investigate if Rodriguez violated the Code of Judicial conduct when he spoke to Middlesex County Democratic Chairman (and County Sheriff) Joe Spicuzzo about politics while still serving as a judge. 

“In an admission that is shocking in light of the Democrats' mud-slinging against Chris Christie (the GOP gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. Attorney), Mr. Spicuzzo has stated that he had political discussions with ex-Judge Rodriguez when he was still sitting on the bench. ...The thought of Rodriguez wearing his robe while planning a political campaign with Spicuzzo wearing his badge and uniform attacks the very fabric and notion of an impartial court system.”

South Amboy

Four candidates have emerged as likely contenders for an empty seat in the 19th Legislative District a week in front of a special Democratic Party convention to choose a successor to South Amboy Mayor Jack O'Leary.

O'Leary aborted his candidacy a week ago after failing to get in front of rolling headlines about his insurance business. He was the second candidate fielded by the Democrats this year, coming on the heels of Assemblyman Joe Vas (D-Perth Amboy), who nixed his reelection bid to focus on a slew of federal and state corruption charges leveled against him.

Now, seven days before the special convention on Sept. 2nd, it's a contest among former Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez, Vas partisan Arlene Acosta of Perth Amboy, healthcare advocate Jean Pierce of Woodbridge, and Woodbridge Councilman Charles Kenny.

South Amboy Mayor Jack O'Leary on the March evening earlier this year when he accepted the Democratic Party nomination to run in LD 19.

SOUTH AMBOY - Mayor John "Jack" T. O'Leary ended his troubled 19th Legislative District race this afternoon, citing corruption allegations he doggedly denies but that nonetheless have pinned him down and prevented him from waging an all-out campaign to represent this blue collar Middlesex County district anchored by Woodbridge and filled out by riverside and maritime towns like his own South Amboy.

"I just need time," said the 6 ft. 5 O'Leary, 54, sitting in the City Hall conference room here on South Broadway a few blocks away from the Raritan Bay and the waterfront he began rebuilding over two decades ago.

"I can take you on a walk right now and you'll see people giving me the thumbs-up sign and honking their horns at me and encouraging me to run - 100 people have reached out to me telling me to run -but I need time," he added. "Time is on my side when it comes to vetting this thing out."

The bulk of the Democrat's problem as a candidate derived from a state Attorney General's investigation of O'Leary's insurance work in addition to an anonymously authored and disseminated 82-page document which targets the veteran mayor's insurance business - the public insurance work he does and has done in the district and in Middlesex County - and an alleged no-show job at the Housing Authority held by his brother.

GOP candidate for lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno - with Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-Old Bridge) - waves atop Chris Christie's float in Edison today.

EDISON - It was a parade march that kept coming, and for a brief time Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno walked at the head of it with some other dignitaries, before she circled back to the "Chris Christie" float, jumped aboard, and waved atop that perch as she rolled eastward on Oak Tree Road through the same crowd.

"You're double-dipping!" someone cried across the roil of Indian flag waving up and down the street and the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor laughed in return and rolled onward. 

Right behind her in this march honoring India's 63rd year of independence from Great Britain rolled the float of Peter Kothari, overhung with signs proclaiming him a "fearless leader who can deliver change that we can believe in" - and one half of the Republican ticket in the 19th District, a mosh of Middlesex towns anchored by Kothari's hometown of Woodbridge.

Kothari's doubled back himself a million times on this road that leads him again and again to 1990, when the real estate agent moved into his new office on Oak Tree in 1990 and somebody promptly smashed out the windows. 

When he went to the police department to complain, he says they shrugged in his face and said: "Call the insurance company."

Kothari did that - but he also reached back to his student organizing days in India to become more political. 

Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-Old Bridge) introduces Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, right, to Gloria DeMatteo of East Brunswick.

EAST BRUNSWICK - Sheriff Kim Guadagno, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, works the crowd the same way she did two years ago when she ran for Monmouth County Sheriff and squeaked out a win over popular Belmar Police Chief Jack Hill.
 
She touches a lot of hands. The shakes are firm, friendly. Keep in mind, this isn't Monmouth County.
 
Twelve days after she joined the Christie campaign in the number two slot, she's here tonight to gnaw at the edges of this sprawling target of opportunity called Middlesex County.
 
"Much better looking than Hillary Clinton," affirms William Hoover, a candidate for Monroe Town Council, moments after shaking hands with Guadagno.
 
"No comparison," he adds. 
 
Sensing diminished opposition spirits this year with Gov. Jon Corzine breaking a sweat if failing to break out of a slump, and Assemblyman Joe Vas staring at corruption charges in the 19th Legislative District and his replacement, South Amboy Mayor John O'Leary, also apparently flailing, a lot of GOP party allies pour into the breach between booths, where rubber frogs fly through the air with the drop of a mallet and the giant ferris wheel, a standard at the Middlesex County fair, spins high above Cranbury Road.