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."

VITALE BILL TO ALLOW COUNTIES TO CREATE TRUST FUND TO AID HOMELESS SIGNED INTO LAW

CAMDEN – A bill co-sponsored by Senator Joseph F. Vitale which permits county governments to create trust funds in order to provide assistance to homeless New Jerseyans living within the county was signed into law yesterday by Governor Corzine.

“At a time of nearly unprecedented economic crisis, New Jerseyans are finding themselves unable to keep their heads above water, and many require a helping hand just to get by,” said Senator Vitale, D-Woodbridge, and Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “This new law extends that helping hand, providing needed funding for social services programs specifically intended to help the State’s homeless citizens. We cannot turn our backs on State residents struggling to make ends meet, and this law ensures that we have the resources to help when our help is needed the most.”

VITALE ASSURES PUBLIC -- STATE IS READY TO HANDLE H1N1 RESURGENCE

WOODBRIDGE – As public school students in his legislative district and around the State make their return to the classroom this week, State Senator Joseph F. Vitale, the Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, assured parents that New Jersey is fully prepared for a resurgence of the H1N1 Influenza virus, a highly contagious variant of the flu that has been identified as “swine flu” in media reports.

“I’ve been in touch with officials from the State Department of Health and Senior Services, and I am confident that we are ready to meet this public health risk head on,” said Senator Vitale, D-Woodbridge. “While the resurgence of H1N1 is something that we have to monitor very closely, we can contain the risk and minimize the danger with common-sense prevention tips and strong communication between parents, school administrators and public health officials in the event that a child does become sick. With proper precautions, H1N1 can be no more serious than the seasonal flu, but we all have to do our part by following prevention guidelines to contain this disease.”

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.

Who will run with Wisniewski?

SAYREVILLE - The special Middlesex Democratic County Committee convention candidacy of former Edison Municipal Judge Craig Coughlin of Woodbridge in the 19th Legislative District received a boost this afternoon as veteran Woodbridge Councilman Charles Kenny aborted his run and threw his support to Coughlin in a maneuver apparently designed to do more than simply upset the candidacy of retired Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez of Perth Amboy.

"Today I am withdrawing my name for consideration as a candidate for the 19th Legislative District Assembly seat," Kenny said. "In withdrawing my name from consideration, I offer my support and endorsement to former Edison Municipal Court Judge Craig Coughlin in his bid to represent the citizens of the 19th District."

Certainly the move makes it more difficult for Rodriguez - who's running with the backing of neophyte Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz and who at one point appeared to be the favorite - to win, despite what his allies today insisted is a stepped-up speed dial effort six days before the convention.

In what has become Coughlin versus Rodriguez, the municipal judge against the superior court judge, (Woodbridge healthcare professional Jean Pierce is also running but most Middlesex County insiders don't expect her to be a factor), Coughlin now has the decided edge, according to sources, as the three Democratic Party candidates trying to run alongside incumbent Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) made their individual pitches to county committee members tonight at party headquarters.

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.

VITALE-WEINBERG BILL TO REQUIRE HEALTH BENEFITS COVERAGE FOR AUTISM TREATMENT RECEIVES FINAL LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senators Joseph F. Vitale and Loretta Weinberg which would require health insurers in New Jersey to provide coverage for screening for autism and other developmental disabilities as well as any medically-necessary occupational, physical and speech therapy, was approved by the Assembly today by a vote of 74-5, receiving final legislative approval.

“In New Jersey, autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities have reached epidemic proportions,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “While we move closer to understanding the causes for – and treatments of – autism every day, insurers have not lived up to their responsibility to make these new treatments accessible for struggling families. We need to make sure that the treatments which make a difference in the lives of autistic and developmentally-disabled individuals are within reach for those individuals who could reap the greatest benefit.”

VITALE STATEMENT FOR FACES OF THE UNINSURED PHOTO EXHIBIT

TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, the Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement today regarding a photo exhibit held in the Statehouse which he sponsored along with Catholic Health East-New Jersey to highlight continued support for health care programs in the FY 2010 Budget:

“Recognizing that the State faces a historic crisis in revenues, I understand that many valuable programs cannot be funded at the level they were last year. But when it comes to the programs people depend on to have access to high-quality health care, I and other health care advocates remain hopeful that some of these funding cuts will be blunted, and that we can continue to provide care for those in greatest need.

Mayor Wilda Diaz, center, with her sisters, Lourdes O'Donnell, left, and Nancy Diaz.

PERTH AMBOY - There were days over the course of her first year in office in which Mayor Wilda Diaz wondered whether she could run Perth Amboy for a full four years.

She began to get a deepening sense that the problems were too entrenched, the solutions too troublesome and, in some cases, too hurtful to the people.  

Her 2008 grassroots take-down of City Hall fixture Mayor/Assemblyman Joe Vas proved to be but the beginning of an ongoing and intensifying drama in which Diaz and her administration uncovered an inherited $10.6 million budget shortfall and helped state and federal authorities pull together a corruption case against Vas.

"On this stage last July I could never have envisioned that we would discover a financial crisis so deep, or a web of tangled deals so wide," Diaz said tonight in her first state of the city address at Perth Amboy High School, where she attended school and graduated.

Once running and now continuing to insist on honest and open government, the new mayor in this first year enacted unpoplar measures to reverse course on a local miasma made doubly injurious on residents here by a national recession. Her policies have included a 26% tax increase, water rate increases, wage freezes and layoffs of municipal employees.

State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton)

TRENTON - Confronting a tableful of testifying labor backers who agree that the State Legislature should lean on Washington, D.C., to create universal healthcare, state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton) stepped gingerly.

The longtime labor-friendly lawmaker noted his support of the Paid Family Leave Act, which passed in the state Senate despite every Republican except Baroni voting"no."

But today he raised a question aimed at the underpinnings of the opposition party when he said, "Barack Obama opposes single-payer healthcare. Is he wrong?"

Laughter filled the chamber as people waited for the answer.

The senator followed up with a "just wondering" question about whether Obama's rejection of single-payer healtchcare means he is too conservative on this issue.