Joseph Roberts

For Release:
January 4, 2006

ROBERTS APPOINTS BILL CASTNER
AS MAJORITY OFFICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Martorony to Serve as Special Assistant to Roberts

(TRENTON) -- Assembly Majority Leader Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today announced the appointment of William J. Castner, Jr., Esq., as the new Executive Director for the Assembly Majority Office.
Roberts also announced that Gene Martorony, the current executive director for the Assembly Majority, will remain on staff and serve as Special Assistant to the Speaker.

ROBERTS TO BE ADDED AS PRIME SPONSOR OF LEGISLATION HALTING EXECUTIONS

(TRENTON) -- Assembly Majority Leader Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today announced that he will become a prime sponsor of legislation to impose a moratorium on capital punishment in New Jersey.

ROBERTS: NEW JERSEY DESERVES AN IMPROVED 'CLEAN ELECTIONS' SYSTEM

(TRENTON) -- Assembly Majority Leader Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today issued the following statement as the New Jersey Citizens' Clean Election Commission held its first meeting after the initial application of public financing in two test districts in the November general election:

PANTER AND MORGAN: "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!"

"Fresh faced reformers" revealed as typical politicians, as desperate campaign makes devil's bargain in return for South Jersey cash

Putting to bed once and for all their claims of "independence", Assemblymen Mike Panter and Bob Morgan revealed in their latest ELEC reports that they had taken almost $900,000 from Democrat party bosses, including over $650,000 from George Norcross lackey Assemblyman Joseph Roberts, D-Camden. Overall, Panter and Morgan raised almost $1.2 million and by Election Day will surely surpass the record amount spent on an Assembly race.

STATEMENT OF MAJORITY LEADER ROBERTS ON BENECARD MATTER

PREMIUM ASSISTANCE CHECKS DELIVERY TO DOCTORS
UNDERSCORES MERIT OF 2004 MED MAL REFORMS
Law Provided Premium Assistance, Tort Reforms for Doctors

Assuming the Democrats, as expected, retain control of the State Assembly next month, look for some major reshuffling of committee chairmanships. Health Committee Chairwoman Loretta Weinberg will move up to the Senate as soon as they go back into session (she won a Special Election Convention to replace Byron Baer), and Commerce and Economic Development Committee Chairman Donald Tucker passed away last week. Three other Chairmen, Robert Smith of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mary Previte of Family, Women and Children's Services, and Peter Eagler of Regulated Professions and Independent Authorities, are not candidates for re-election, and three other committee chairs, Bonnie Watson Coleman of Appropriations, Wilfredo Caraballo of Telecommunications and Utilities, and Neil Cohen of Financial Institutions and Insurance, are possible candidates for Majority Leader.

Assembly Speaker Albio Sires could replace Weinberg and Tucker for the final two months of the current legislative session, although the next Speaker may not feel constricted by Sires' picks. One Democratic staffer says he expects Sires and Joseph Roberts, the leading candidate for Speaker, to reach a mutual agreement on Health and Commerce. Similarly, the new Speaker could add or delete committees next year, and remove incumbent chairs from their current posts.

The Vice Chairman of the Health Committee is Herbert Conaway, Jr., a practicing physician and as a South Jersey ally of Roberts, perhaps the front runner for the powerful committee post. Another possible candidate is Joan Quigley, a hospital executive who currently chairs the Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee. If Quigley were to get the Health chair, her current post would likely go to John Burzichelli. Should Conaway get passed over for Health, he would likely replace Smith at Agriculture instead of the most likely contender, Douglas Fisher.

Conaway, elected in 1997, is the senior member of the Assembly without a committee chairmanship or top leadership post.

Fisher is also a possible choice to replace Eagler at Regulated Professions, although Assembly Democratic insiders suggest that Brian Stack wants the job. Previte's committee, Family, Women and Children's Services, has two other Democrats -- Weinberg and Joseph Egan, the Labor Chairman; her chair will almost certainly be filled by someone not currently on the committee.

The Vice Chairman of the Commerce Committee is Upendra Chivukula, who has not always been viewed as a team player within the Democratic Caucus. Leadership could go with another committee member, like David Mayer, who is very close to Roberts.

Caraballo is viewed as the front runner for Majority Leader; two of the other three Democrats on the Telecommunications panel are not returning (Eagler and Anthony Chiappone), leaving Chivukula as the only Democrat with committee experience -- hardly a critical factor in picking chairmen. Statehouse insiders say that Telecommunications, should it become available, would go to someone in need of a chairmanship. If Caraballo loses the leadership contest, he could go shopping for another committee.

If Watson Coleman becomes Majority Leader, she would give up one of the Legislature's important chairmanships: Appropriations. While leadership would have the option of merging the Budget Committee into Appropriations under the control of Louis Greenwald, one Assembly Democratic staffer suggested that will not happen. Look for Joseph Cryan, who has been paying his partisan dues as Vice Chairman of the Democratic State Committee, to emerge as a strong candidate to replace Watson Coleman.

Should Cohen be the new Majority Leader, chances are strong that Jack Conners, a Camden County Democrat, will succeed him as head of the banking and insurance panel. That would open up Conners' chairmanship of the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

With Weinberg's departure, none of the six Democrats expected to represent Bergen County in the Assembly next year have committee chairmanships.

Sires, the outgoing Speaker, could also be looking for a chairmanship next year, especially if his campaign for Congress does not work out.

(TRENTON) -- Assembly Majority Leader Joseph J. Roberts, Jr., today issued the following statement regarding the passing of Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore Donald K. Tucker:

DEMOCRATS WELCOME SENATOR EDWARDS
Former North Carolina Senator, V.P. Candidate Headlines Newark Reception;
Highlights Party As Best to Stand Up for New Jersey's Working Families, Seniors

Albio Sires, the 1986 Republican candidate for Congress, became Jim McGreevey's choice for Assembly Speaker just four years after backing Governor Christie Whitman against McGreevey. Sires' would-be successor, Joseph Roberts, became Democratic State Chairman the year after he led a walk-out of seven South Jersey legislators from the Assembly Democratic Caucus that caused other Democrats to protest his election to the Democratic National Committee.