John Lynch

Under the current New Jersey Constitution, only seven Assembly Speakers have won election to the State Senate and only two, William Hamilton (D-Middlesex) and Barry Parker (R-Burlington) were sitting Speakers while running for State Senator.   

Hamilton was serving his first year as Speaker when seven-term incumbent John A. Lynch, Sr. retired in 1977.  Hamilton ran in the Democratic primary for Governor four years later, clearing the way for John A. Lynch, the Mayor of New Brunswick, to win a Senate seat. 

Parker was Speaker in 1971, the year he won a seat in the State Senate.  He was serving as Senate Minority Leader in 1981 when he left the Legislature to seek the Republican nomination for Governor.

Assembly Speaker Marion West Higgins (R-Bergen) ran for State Senator and lost the 1965 general election.  She remains the only woman to have served as Speaker.

Union leader Buzz Dressel is expected to run for Bergen County Democratic Chairman if Joe Ferriero is ousted.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 164 endorsed Republican Henry McNamara for Bergen County Executive in 2002 at the request of Democratic powerhouse John Lynch, according to Richard "Buzz" Dressel, the business manager for the local.  Lynch, a former Senate President, is now serving a 39 month sentence after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.

If there is contest to replace indicted Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, Dressel is expected to face off against Michael Kasparian, a real estate developer and Democratic fundraiser with ties to Ferriero.  Dressel says the IBEW's endorsements of McNamara and GOP County Clerk Kathleen Donovan won't hamper his ability to replace Ferriero.  He says the union was backing McNamara because he was stronger in his opposition to the Xanadu project than the eventual winner, Democrat Dennis McNerney.  And he says even Ferriero tried to get Donovan to seek re-election last year as a Democrat.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), who met with Kasparian today, says Dressel shouldn't be penalized for a couple of union endorsements.

"That was his union, it wasn't specifically Buzzy," said Sarlo.   "Look, if the county committee picks him he would have to guarantee that all endorsements out of that union hall are Democratic."

At 3,500 members, Dressel's local is the largest electrical construction workers union in the state.

"That's the largest union in Bergen County, and the fact that he's the president could turn into a big positive for him," said Sarlo.

Dressel's union, whose campaign contributions included one to GOP gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler in 2001, will endorse only Democrats from now on.  "Without a doubt," he told PolitickerNJ.com.

"We need to bring credibility back to the Bergen County Democratic Party," added Dressel, a Commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. "This is not the Democratic Party my grandfather was a part of. We're supposed to be connecting people to the process, and that's what I want to do. I want to bring the party back together. I'd actually be calling for meetings and a transparent process. Meanwhile, there's somebody running against me who is unequivocally Joe Ferriero's clone."

On his way in to meet with Paramus developer and Democratic Party fundraiser Kasparian today, State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) dismissed the rumor of a conflict and said Dressell shouldn't be penalized for backing a Republican or two.

Lawyers will be the minority on the 2009 State Senate Judiciary Committee headed by engineer Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge)

For the first time since the new State Constitution was approved in 1947, a majority of members of the 2009 New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee -- six of eleven -- are not lawyers.  Chairman Paul Sarlo and Vice Chairman John Girgenti are not attorneys, as is fellow Democrat Loretta Weinberg.  Among the Republicans, Gerald Cardinale (who serves as the unofficial ranking Republican), Joseph Kyrillos and Jennifer Beck are not attorneys.

The lawyers on the Judiciary Committee are Democrats Raymond Lesniak, Nicholas Scutari, Robert Smith and Nia Gill, and Republican Bill Baroni. 

Senate President Richard Codey, who is responsible for the non-lawyer a majority -- a move some pols are applauding -- is one of a few non-lawyers to serve as Senate President.

J. Edward Crabiel, a former State Senate Minority Leader, became N.J. Secretary of State after dropping his gubernatorial campaign and endorsing Brendan Byrne in 1973. He was later indicted for rigging state highway bids, but the charges were dropped.

David Crabiel, the longtime Middlesex County Freeholder who passed away earlier today, was the younger brother of J. Edward Crabiel, known as “Concrete Eddie,” who was one of the state’s most powerful political figures in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  Edward Crabiel was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1973, and served as New Jersey Secretary of State until his indictment ended his political career.

The son of a former Milltown Councilman, Crabiel was the Mayor of Milltown from 1947 to 1951.  (David Crabiel served as a Milltown Councilman from 1960 to 1968, and as Mayor from 1968 to 1979.)  He was elected to the State Assembly in 1955 and served five terms before moving up to the State Senate in 1965 – after the U.S. Supreme Court’s one-man, one-vote decision caused Middlesex County to increase their number of Senators from one (John Lynch, the father of the future Senate President) to three.  He was re-elected to the Senate in 1967 and did not seek re-election in 1971.  He was the Senate Minority Leader in 1968.

When key Democratic county leaders picked Brendan Byrne, a Superior Court Judge and former Essex County Prosecutor, to be their candidate for Governor in 1973, Crabiel (and another gubernatorial candidate, State Sen. Richard Coffee of Mercer County) dropped out of the race a month before the primary and endorsed Byrne.  Byrne defeated State Sen. Ralph DeRose (D-Essex) and Assemblywoman Ann Klein (D-Morris) in the primary.

After Byrne won the general election, he appointed Crabiel to serve as Secretary of State – a position that historically had greater political influence up until the time of Byrne’s governorship. 

During his first year in Byrne’s cabinet, Crabiel was indicted by a state grand jury on charges that he conspired to control highway construction projects.  (The indictment was connected to his position as President of the Little Falls-based Franklin Contracting Company, which was one of the state’s largest highway contractors.) When Byrne, who came into office as a champion of ethics reform, suggested he resign, Crabiel told the Governor to keep his suggestions to himself.  Byrne later reduced the Secretary of State’s job to only those ceremonial duties required by law.  He eventually took an eight-month leave of absence as he fought the corruption charges.

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.

Carmen Orechio served in the State Senate from 1974 to 1992, and was Senate President from 1982 to 1986: He's been a Nutley Commissioner since 1968Carmen Orechio is the only former Senate President who still holds public office, and is one of eight living former Senate Presidents. With the death of 98-year-old Wesley Lance last August, the 81-year-old Orechio is now the second oldest living ex-Senate President; the oldest is Frank McDermott, 83, who ran the Senate in 1969. The other living ex-Senate Presidents: Raymond Bateman, Frank Dodd, John Russo, John Lynch, Donald DiFrancesco, and John Bennett.

Former Assemblywoman Angela Perun died last week at the age of 85. She was elected to the Plainfield City Council in 1977 and to the State Assembly in 1981, representing the 17th district, which included New Brunswick, Piscataway and Highland Park. When Middlesex County Democrats dumped her from their ticket in 1985, she switched parties and sought a third term as a Republican. She was defeated, narrowly, by Democrat Robert Smith.

Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein objected to an Inside Edge item posted 364 days ago suggesting that she didn't pass the ethics smell test becaus she turned over campaign funds she received from convicted former Senate President John Lynch to New Jersey Citizen Action, a group that has a PAC that endorsed only Democrats in the last two election cycles.  Greenstein dismissed the possibility that her move "could be viewed as simpy funneling money Lynch gave her to Democratic campaigns." Today, Greenstein's campaign announced that the New Jersey Tenants Association -- which is affiliated with Citizen Action and shares an Executive Director, Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, has endorsed the entire Democratic slate in the 14th district.

COALITION OF NORTHEASTERN GOVERNORS TAPS GOVERNOR CORZINE AS CHAIR, GOVERNOR DOUGLAS AS VICE CHAIR

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG) has elected New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine and Vermont Governor Jim Douglas to lead the non-partisan organization as Chair and Vice Chair in 2007.

Former Senate President John Lynch will begin serving his 39 month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Loretto, Pennsylvania this month. That's the same prison where former Connecticut Governor John Rowland spent a year after his corruption conviction.

People who want to stay in touch with the Middlesex County Democrat over the next three and one-half years should communicate by mail, according to Jack Ambramoff, a former lobbyist now serving in a federal prison. In an e-mail to friends on the eve of his incarceration, Ambramoff noted that federal inmates may "receive letters, photos and periodicals, but thats pretty much it."

"Unfortunately, if anything else is sent, it will either be destroyed or returned to you. As for letters, please bear in mind that the authorities have the right (and in my case probably will use it) to read all incoming and outgoing mail," Ambramoff wrote. "Also, I almost certainly will want to write back to you and, since I dont know whether they are going to limit our stamps, envelopes and paper, if possible, perhaps you could include a self addressed, stamped return envelope and even a blank sheet of paper in that envelope. I am not sure that the return envelope will make it to me, but if not, youll know as soon as you get my return letter. In any event, as you can imagine, I will be beyond grateful for any mail from you."

Lynch can submit ten names on a list of visitors, Ambramoff explains. He can also use the telephone for up to 300 minutes per month, with a limit of fifteen minutes per call. Ambramoff says that the prison permits a call list of up to thirty people. He will not be permitted to conduct any ongoing business from prison, and as Ambramoff notes, the prison staff has the right to review mail and listen to telephone calls. Lynch will not have access to e-mail.