Joseph DiVincenzo

Newark Mayor Cory BookerAfter M. Teresa Ruiz won her general election senate race, Steve Adubato finally let Cory Booker know what he thought about the mayor’s primary election efforts on behalf of Bilal Beasley in the 28th district.

Adubato, lifelong political warrior and Newark native, frankly wasn’t impressed.

Beasley, with Booker’s so called muscle behind him, had failed to beat the always independent and hard-to-gauge Sen. Ronald Rice, perennial west ward cowboy and activist, and a mutual bane to Adubato and Booker.

Adubato’s telephone tongue-lashing awakened another old frustration for the mayor.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, who had to preside over meetings with his two Deputy Chiefs of Staff – Teresa Ruiz and Bill Payne, both candidates for the same State Senate seat.

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Dispelling rumors that have persisted since he came into office, West Ward Councilman Ron Rice, Jr., on Wednesday said he would not challenge 10-term U.S. Rep. Donald Payne in 2008.

"I have a great deal of respect for U.S. Rep. Payne and I think he’s an outstanding congressman," said Rice, who has served a year and a half in office on the Newark City Council.

Donald Payne, the only African American to ever represent New Jersey in the U.S. Congress, announced his support of Hillary Clinton for President on New Year’s Day.  Payne’s endorsement is noteworthy because Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has not yet committed to backing Payne for re-election to an eleventh term, is one of Barack Obama’s leading supporters in New Jersey.  If Clinton carries Newark in the February 5 New Jersey primary, it could be viewed as Booker’s second loss in eight months (the first was Ronald Rice’s victory in the District 28 State Senate primary; Rice is a Clinton supporter.)

They hear it on the streets of Newark.

But on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, members of the City Council can be sure to receive a barrage of complaints from residents who are worried not only about the murders and gangs but about the cost of living and the threat of corporate interests upending local concerns.

"You're supposed to be standing up and fighting for us," the poet Amiri Baraka cried during the public comment forum of a meeting. "Until I see you fighting, then you're not a good council."

"You're giving tax abatements to developers," cried resident Frank Hertz. "You'd better justify this tax abatement."

And always there is the complaint about the scarcity of jobs.

Donald Payne will have Joe DiVincenzo's backing in 2008 Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo says he will back Donald Payne for re-election to an 11th term in Congress next year.

Some Democrats say that 74-year-old Payne could face a challenge in the 2008 primary after his refusal to support the Democratic nominee for State Senate in Newark's 29th district this year.

Payne supported his brother, Assemblyman William Payne, who ran unsuccessfully as an Independent candidate for Senate against the party choice, Teresa Ruiz. Ruiz works for DiVincenzo and has the backing of power broker Steve Adubato and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Luis QuintanaWhen Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo found out this morning that the name "Luis Quintana"' was on a Senate Judiciary to-do list, he angrily reached for a telephone and called the governor's office.

DiVincenzo wanted to know what Quintana was doing on the list months after he thought he made it clear to Gov. Jon Corzine that the at-large Newark councilman should not be considered for an appointment to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.

The fight of the day was between Governor Jon Corzine and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo.  DiVincenzo wasn’t happy with Corzine over Luis Quintana’s appointment to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, and let the Governor know it in fairly strong terms today.  DiVincenzo made it clear that Quintana shouldn’t be rewarded for mounting an Independent bid for State Senate against the Democratic nominee, Teresa Ruiz.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzoRunning in a crouch familiar to old-timey Newark sports fans, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr., heads out onto the grass - and this time approaches a half circle of women who have stationed themselves outside his press conference at the Turtle Back Zoo. They’re protesting his decision to allow a deer hunt early next year in the South Mountain Reservation.

"I don’t like guns, but I have no choice," he tells them. "We’ve tried trap and transfer. We’ve tried birth control. Nothing works. We have to reduce the deer population."

Essex County College President Zachary Yamba reportedly turned down the 27th district Assembly seatThe Democratic Party turf wars persist in the concentrated power centers and in the diffuse reaches of Essex County, where the old ethnic wards are now whole municipalities with particular populations and political needs, as the 21st century bosses here struggle to find a candidate suitable to all of the affected encampments.

To date it’s been tough for the power players to reach a willing consensus pick pre-Sept. 17th deadline to replace former district 27 Assemblyman Mims Hackett, Jr., who resigned earlier this week in the aftermath of his arrest on a charge of bribery.