Joseph Doria

In a move than may or may not be related to Joseph Doria's appointment as Commissioner of Community Affairs, Joseph Waks is expected to step down as U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg's State Director.  Waks, who served as Governor Richard Codey's Appointments Counsel and as a top aide to Congressman Bill Pascrell, is one of Doria's closest political advisors: he served as Doria's Chief of Staff in the Assembly and at the Bayonne City Hall.

Upon Joseph Doria's resignation as Mayor of Bayonne, City Council President Vincent Lo Re is expected to become Acting Mayor for about thirty days.  Lo Re could continue in the role until the May 2008 Special Election to fill the remaining two years of Doria's term, or he could be replaced by Terrence Malloy, a career city employee who now serves as Bayonne's Business Administrator.  A Doria rival, City Councilman Anthony Chiappone, who is likely to win a State Assembly seat in November, is expected to mull a mayoral bid.

State Sen. Joe Doria will be the new Commissioner of Community AffairsState Sen. Joseph Doria will be appointed Commissioner of Community Affairs today, according to sources close to Gov. Jon Corzine. Doria will resign from the Senate and as Mayor of Bayonne.

Doria will succeed Susan Bass Levin, who is the new Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The Jersey Journal is reporting that the New Jersey State Police has begun a background check on State Senator and Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria, who has been rumored as a possible candidate for Commissioner of Community Affairs.  Doria's name has been in the mix for the DCA post since Susan Bass Levin left to become Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

SWEENEY-DORIA-TURNER BILL ALLOWING PUBLIC ENTITIES TO DEVELOP WIRELESS BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE RECEIVES SENATE APPROVAL

TRENTON - A bill sponsored by Senators Steve Sweeney, Joseph Doria and Shirley Turner which would authorize local entities to develop wireless broadband infrastructure and contract with private Internet service providers to establish wireless community networks was approved by the Senate today by a vote of 37-0, and is scheduled for a vote in the Assembly later today.

SWEENEY-DORIA-TURNER BILL ALLOWING PUBLIC ENTITIES TO DEVELOP WIRELESS BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE ADVANCES IN COMMITTEE

TRENTON - A bill sponsored by Senators Steve Sweeney, Joseph Doria and Shirley Turner which would authorize local entities to develop wireless broadband infrastructure and contract with private Internet service providers to establish wireless community networks was unanimously approved by the Senate Economic Growth Committee.

DORIA BILL TO ESTABLISH INNOVATION ZONE TECHNOLOGY CLUSTERS AROUND NJ HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS APPROVED IN COMMITTEE

TRENTON - A bill sponsored by Senator Joseph V. Doria which would establish an innovation zone program in New Jersey to stimulate high-tech industry clusters around the State's research universities, colleges or research hospitals was unanimously approved by the Senate Economic Growth Committee today.

Joseph Doria is the topic of speculation these days, with rumors that he might be headed to Governor Jon Corzine's cabinet as Commissioner of Community Affairs. But don't expect the veteran legislator -- who is not seeking re-election to the Senate this year -- to make any career decisions before Tuesday's Democratic primary.

Some Democrats say that Doria is very much under consideration for a cabinet post (Susan Bass Levin is departing soon to become Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey), but several close friends say Doria has told them that he isn't entirely interested. Of course, that could be Doria being Doria.

Who wins this district 31 Assembly race in Bayonne comes down to whether voters approve of the general direction here since the city suffered the closure of the Military Ocean Terminal in 2000, or whether the slow rebuilding effort has largely been a bust, overcast by a perception of not enough people-power at the bargaining table.

On that latter side of Broadway Avenue is photographer Anthony Chiappone, a determinedly gadfly Bayonne City Councilman who built a reputation as a government watchdog with his local cable television program before getting into political office himself in the 1990s, jousting with veteran Bayonne Mayor (and state Senator) Joseph Doria, and later allying with maverick Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham.

A few blocks up on the other side of the street stands the rival campaign headquarters of attorney Nicholas Chiaravalloti. A former Doria staffer who came out of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, filing papers in Doria’s Assembly office as a boy, Chiaravalloti worked his way up in adulthood to become state director for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez before resigning a month ago to focus on this campaign.

SWEENEY-DORIA BILL BANNING SCHOOL DISTRICTS FROM HIRING LOBBYISTS

TRENTON - A bill sponsored by Senators Stephen M. Sweeney and Joseph V. Doria which would prohibit school districts from hiring registered lobbyists was approved by the Senate Education Committee today by a vote of 3-0.