Linda Stender

Speculation that Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) could be headed to the Board of Public Utilities raises a question regarding political control of the BPU.  

Stender is reportedly under consideration for the seat currently occupied by Frederick Butler, a BPU Commissioner since 1999.  Some Democrats, sources say, are not happy that Gov. Jon Corzine might dump Butler, who spent seventeen years on the Assembly Democratic staff, including seven as Executive Director. 

If Democrats lose the 2009 gubernatorial election, the new Republican Governor would be able to designate one of the Republican Commissioners to serve as President.  The current BPU President, Jeanne Fox, would retain her seat, but the new Republican Governor would have the option of elevating one of the GOP Commissioners, former State Sen. Nicholas Asselta (R-Vineland) or former Assemblywoman Elizabeth Randall (R-Hillsdale), to the presidency.

BPU Commissioners serve six year terms, and traditionally the party that controls the governorship gets three of the five seats.  But if the Senate confirms a new BPU appointee, it would stop Republicans from holding a majority of seats until 2012, when Joseph Fiordaliso is up.

The only leverage the GOP has in the appointment process is senatorial courtesy.  Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) could block Stender, and State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Branchburg) could block Butler.  Union County Republicans would not be pleased if Kean signed off on Stender.

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) is under consideration for a seat on the Board of Public Utilities, according to several Democratic sources familiar with her interest in the state post.  The speculation seems to have annoyed her Republican opponent, former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks, who could face a replacement candidate for the second time in six years. There has been talk of Stender's interest in a pension boosting job since she lost a bid for Congress last year by nine percentage points for an open seat she nearly won two years earlier. 

Marks and his running mate, Bo Vastine, have asked Gov. Jon Corzine not to appoint Stender to the BPU.  "By being complicit in this quid pro quo to get a politician in danger of being voted out of office a cushy state job, you would directly contradict the two priorities you set for yourself upon becoming governor," Marks wrote in a letter to the Governor.  We ask you not to abet yet another end run around the electoral process, like those we saw in the 2002 Lautenberg for Torricelli U.S. Senate candidate switch and the 2003 Scutari for Suliga State Senate candidate switch that occurred right here in the 22nd district. If such a switch occurs again -- this time connected to the promise of a lucrative state job for Mrs. Stender -- the citizens of New Jersey and especially here in the 22nd Legislative District will not accept any reason other than New Jersey politics as usual."

Republicans can stop the appointment of Stender, if Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) refuses to sign off on her nomination.  Kean has senatorial courtesy over Union County appointments that require Senate confirmation.

Former Hillsborough Mayor Joseph Tricarico, a dentist who works for the state Department of Health, is mulling a bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress against freshman U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in the seventh district.  Tricarico briefly considered running in 2006 against then-U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson, but dropped out to support Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood).  

Two Republicans seeking to unseat Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) thought it was an April fool's day joke when they heard she won a seat on the Assembly Appropriations Committee.   This marks the fourth consecutive year Republicans are running a campaign that calls the incumbent "Stender the Spender."  Stender is 1-2 in those races.

Stender lost a close race for Congress in 2006 against incumbent Michael Ferguson, losing by just one percentage point.  She was re-elected to the Assembly in 2007, comfortably but not impressively.  When Ferguson retired in 2008, she was the favorite to win his House seat, but she wound up losing to Republican Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) by seven points.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) has picked Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark) to replace Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy) on the Assembly Budget Committee.  Vas was stripped of his committee assignments and leadership posts following his indictment on state corruption charges last month.

Celeste Riley (D-Bridgeton), who won a special election convention to replace Douglas Fisher, who is now the Secretary of Agriculture, will take Fisher's seat on the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.  She has also been assigned to the Regulated Professions and Telecommunications and Utilities Committee.

Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) has been named to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for the remainder of the legislative session.  She will replace Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton), who too Vas' post as Chairman of the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee.

STENDER NAMED TO ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

(TRENTON) – Assemblywoman Linda Stender has been named to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for the duration of the 2008-2009 legislative session.

“Serving on the Appropriations Committee is one of the single most important ways that a member of this body can serve the people of this state,” said Stender. (D- Union). “What better way to do that than with an open and honest examination of showing where the money goes.”

Plainfield 3rd Ward Councilman Adrian Mapp

PLAINFIELD – Running as the New Democrat successor of the late Mayor Al McWilliams, 3rd Ward Councilman Adrian Mapp opened his campaign headquarters on Watchung Avenue Saturday and promised to end what he described as “a dictatorial form of government” in Union County’s Queen City, and to fairly represent all four wards.

“I will create an economic development plan that is not developer-driven, and develop an aggressive marketing plan to enhance Plainfield’s image,” said Mapp, standing at a podium in front of an American Flag hung from the ceiling. “With a transit village tax credit, the train station can be our linch pin for  revitalization. I would also like to undertake a study of all brownfield structures and create retail store ratables where possible.”

A large concentration of those old structures stands in the 4th Ward, the city’s longtime poorest residential district and the epicenter of the 1967 Plainfield riots. When she first won election nearly four years ago with the establishment backing of Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield) , Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs defeated then-incumbent Mayor Al McWilliams in the 4th, 868 to 698 votes. 

Former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and newcomer Bo Vastine are seeking State Assembly seats in a district that trends Democratic. But they must smell an opportunity because they've hired Jamestown Associates, a GOP political consulting firm, which has made something of a cottage industry out of beating up Linda Stender.  Stender, a four-term Assemblywoman, came close to beating U.S. Rep. Michael Ferguson in 2006 when Jamestown labeled her as “Stender the Spender” and helped Ferguson eke out a one percent victory.  Last year, Jamestown (working for Leonard Lance), beat Stender by nine points, despite being outspent by a 3-1 margin.

Left to right: Irene T. Griffin (R-Westfield), Florence P. Dwyer (R-Elizabeth), and Mildred Barry Hughes (D-Union Twp.)

Union County was a bit late when it came to electing women to the New Jersey Legislature, and then set some records by sending a woman to Congress and elected the first two women to the State Senate.  But Union County hasn't had a Republican Assemblywoman in almost 29 years.

Westfield Republican Irene Griffin became the first women to represent Union County in the State Assembly when won the seat in 1944 - two years after losing a GOP primary.  Griffin, a former Vice President of the Union County PTA, won the seat of Assemblyman Clifford Case (R-Rahway), who was seeking a seat in Congress. In the GOP primary, she placed fourth for four seats in a field of fourteen candidates.

She did not seek re-election in 1945 (until 1947, members of the lower house ran for one-year terms).  She sought to become the first woman in the State Senate in 1947, when Herbert Pascoe (R-Elizabeth) stepped down, but lost the GOP nod to Assemblyman Kenneth Hand (R-Elizabeth).

Griffin challenged incumbent Assemblywoman Florence Dwyer (R-Elizabeth) in the 1951 GOP primary, but was unsuccessful.  Dwyer defeated Griffin again in 1956, when the two faced off in a Republican congressional primary; in the general election, Dwyer unseated the incumbent Congressman, Harrison Williams (D-Plainfield).

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood)

MANVILLE – Running again in the 22nd District, Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) said one of her prospective Republican challengers blundered badly in his 7th District Congressional primary run last year as he positioned himself to the right of the rest of his party’s candidates.

Pro-life and pro-gun, former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks ran as “your across the board conservative Republican candidate for Congress.” 

“That won’t play well in the district,” said Stender, shortly after receiving the support of the Somerset County Democratic Committee at the Manville VFW Hall on Saturday. “He’s too conservative for the 22nd District, particularly when you consider his views on abortion. It didn't work for him when he ran before (in 2003).”

Marks, who along with his running mate, Scotch Plains resident Bo Vastine, simultaneously received the endorsement of the Middlesex County Republican Party on Saturday, retaliated.