Joseph Doria

State Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City) could face a primary when she seeks re-election in two years.

The primary is a year and a half away, but state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Jersey City) is in danger of being tossed off the Hudson County Democratic Organization's (HCDO) line in 2011.

That development could spark an intra-party fight like the one that engulfed Hudson County politics two and a half years ago, when a challenge by then-Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Brian Stack to former Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny's (D-Hoboken) had county-wide implications.  Back then, Cunningham kept the seat of former state Sen. Joseph Doria (D-Bayonne) for the HCDO, fending off a challenge by former Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-Jersey City), who was backed by the rival Democratic organization led by Stack. 

That conflagration died down after the 2007 primary election, but Cunningham's decision in June to block Gov. Jon Corzine's appointment of Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has - at least for the time being - turned the party apparatus against her.

"I've seen smaller things spark forest fires here in Hudson County," said DeGise.

DeGise said he had the support of all 12 Hudson County mayors for the Port Authority spot.  With so much of the Port Authority's infrastructure in Hudson County - the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, the Bayonne Bridge, most of the New Jersey portion of the PATH system, the Auto Marine terminal in Bayonne - DeGise said that the county should have a representative on the board of commissioners.

"Just one person - I think it's a curious system that allows for one person to block the will of a ton of others. But that's the system," he said.

Speculation that Corzine would appoint Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage to the post instead - a political ally of state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), who is Cunningham's Trenton mentor - did not come to fruition.

There is no love lost between DeGise and Cunningham.  In 2001, Cunningham defeated DeGise in a non-partisan contest for mayor of Jersey City.  Glenn Cunningham died four years later, but the hard feelings between DeGise and Sandra Cunningham remained - so much so that it was considered no small feat for Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and HCDO operatives to get them to run on the same ticket in 2007.

Still, while he doesn't hide his anger at Cunningham, DeGise thinks a public fight can be avoided.

"Diplomacy should always be used before a sledgehammer," he said.  "I can remember back now to '07, and the spark between Bernie Kenny and Brian Stack over the Senate seat just blew up into a county-wide fight, and I really to this day believe that better diplomacy could have been used to avoid that."

There is a growing consensus among Democrats that Gov. Jon Corzine needs U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) to put Hudson County together for him.  Hudson is Menendez's base: he was Mayor of Union City, Assemblyman, State Senator, Congressman and Hudson County Democratic Chairman before leaving local politics to take a seat in the Senate.  There is speculation that Menendez will show up at a tomorrow's weekly meeting of the Hudson County Democratic Organization to talk to the mayors - with whom political power rests in Hudson - about Corzine's re-election campaign.

Some Democrats fear that Hudson County Democrats might be too weakened by recent events to replicate the 61,640 vote margin they delivered in for Corzine in 2005. There is chaos in Hoboken and Secaucus, where mayors have resigned following their arrests on federal corruption charges last month. The new Hoboken Mayor, Dawn Zimmer, is less than enthralled with the governor, her constituent; Secaucus Democrats have no candidate for Mayor and the local organization is backing an independent candidate who had been challenging Dennis Elwell. In Bayonne, some supporters of former Mayor Joseph Doria are unhappy because Corzine asked Doria to resign his cabinet post just hours after the FBI raided his home and office; ironically, Corzine is taking heat for throwing Doria under the bus and the beneficiary of that could be Christie, the bus driver.

Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne), indicted today on charges that he that funneled legislative paychecks for aides into a campaign account, stands an excellent chance of winning re-election if he refuses to drop out of the race.  It might be impossible for a Democrat to lose District 31, which includes Bayonne and part of Jersey City.

Democrats have a 8-1 voter registration edge in the 31st district.  Chiappone was unopposed in the 2007 general election; in 2005, Democrats won by more than 18,000 votes.  Bayonne delivered a margin of nearly 5,000 and the plurality in Jersey City was over 13,000.

The most sought after endorsement of the 2009 gubernatorial campaign might be Brian Stack, a Democratic State Senator and the Mayor of Union City, who says he remains undecided in the contest between Jon Corzine and Christopher Christie.  Both candidates showed up in Union City last night to kiss the ring of a local party boss who can deliver 70% of the vote to the candidate of his choice.  Christie came bearing a gift: a strong suggestion that Stack is not the target of any federal investigation.  Clearly Stack was appreciative of the personal endorsement, although it is possible that he won't reciprocate in November. Stack has told people he will make up his mind soon, but he's more likely to extend the courtship, and see where the race is going in October.

It is unlikely that Christie would be so effusive in his praise if he thought Stack was going to get busted.  If that happened, the Corzine campaign would have his comment on YouTube within minutes.  But Christie has an insurance policy: if Stack was in trouble, it makes claims of politically motivated federal prosecutions less credible.  This is a win-win for the former United States Attorney.

Following the resignation of Joseph Doria last Thursday, the Acting Commissioner of Community Affairs is state government veteran Charles Richman.  Richman also served as Acting Commissioner for six months in 2005 when Susan Bass Levin resigned to join Gov. Jon Corzine's campaign staff.

Corzine is unlikely to name a new Commissioner before Election Day; if he did, it wouldn't matter: the Senate won't be available to confirm an appointment since they are not due back into session until the lame duck session. If Corzine wins re-election, one possible candidate for DCA Commissioner could be Reality TV star Randal Pinkett, a Rhodes Scholar and businessman who was nearly picked by Corzine as the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor.

While Gov. Jon Corzine may have made the right big picture decision to fire Joseph Doria from his cabinet hours after the FBI raided his home and office, he might pay a price in Bayonne when he seeks to turn out voters in the November gubernatorial election.  Doria is a popular guy in parts of Bayonne, where he has held public office since his election to the school board in 1975.  In 31 general elections, primaries, and non-partisan races for mayor and school board, Doria has never lost Bayonne.  No charges have been filed against the 63-year-old lifetime Bayonne resident, and if that remains the case by Election Day, it might be hard for some Doria stalwarts to get excited about GOTV for Corzine. 

The irony here is that the beneficiary of this could be Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, who was the U.S. Attorney from 2002 to 2008.

Gov. Jon Corzine asked Joseph Doria to resign his cabinet post today, hours after federal agents raided his Bayonne home.  Doria has agreed to step down as state Commissioner of Community Affairs.

Corzine also asked two Assemblymen who were indicted today, L. Harvey Smith (D-Jersey City) and Daniel Van Pelt (R-Ocean), to resign.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts said he was immediately removing Smith and Van Pelt for from their committee assignments, calling the allegations against them "shocking and disgusting."

Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), the Democratic State Chairman, joined Corzine and Roberts in seeking Smith's resignation.

“The widespread extent of these public corruption charges is beyond shocking.  As a party, Democrats absolutely condemn public corruption in any and every form," Cryan said. “New Jersey residents expect ethical behavior from the officials they have elected to represent them."

Another name to help Gov. Jon Corzine as he searches for an African American running mate: Superior Court Judge Joseph Charles, a former State Senator and Assemblyman from Jersey City.  

Charles was first elected to the State Assembly in 1981, defeating incumbent Charles Mays in the Democratic primary.  He moved up to the Senate in 2001 after six-term incumbent Edward O'Connor retired; he ran on a ticket with Joseph Doria eleven times.  Charles left the Senate after less than two years to take a judgeship.  His retirement triggered an epoch Senate primary between then-Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham and the Hudson County Democratic Organization.

Charles is well respected in Trenton and bridges gaps between the various factions of Democrats in Hudson County.  As a Judge and former Deputy Attorney General (under a Republican Governor), he helps offset Christie's law enforcement experience.  And he's old enough to not be a political threat to would-be contenders for the 2013 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, like Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Even if Corzine wanted him, it might be a tough sell to coax the 65-year-old Charles off the bench with five years left before his retirement.

Assemblywoman-elect Nancy Munoz (R-Summit) becomes the first widow to directly succeed her husband in the New Jersey Legislature.   She won a special election last night to replace Eric Munoz, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 61.

After Patrick Scanlon died in August 1977, his widow, Mary Scanlon, won a November 1977 election to fill his seat.  But the same day, voters elected Joseph Papasidero to fill the remaining two months of Patrick Scanlon's term.  Mary Scanlon actually succeeded Papasidero.  (Deborah Scanlon, a Union County Freeholder, is the daughter-in-law of Patrick and Mary Scanlon.)

Former Assembly Minority Leader Willie Brown passed away on Monday.    He was 68.  Brown spent 24 years representing Newark in the State Assembly.

First elected in 1973, at age 33, he was a member of a freshman Essex Assembly delegation that included Richard Codey.  He was re-elected eleven times.  He was the Assembly Minority Leader in 1988 and 1989.  When Democrats took control of the Assembly in 1989, the caucus picked Joseph Doria for Speaker and Wayne Bryant for Majority Leader; Brown became the Speaker Pro Tempore.