Mildred Barry Garvin

A former political rival of Senate President Richard Codey is making a comeback: Joel Shain, the 67-year-old former Mayor of Orange who set records for campaign spending when he challenged Codey in the 1983 Democratic primary, is running for Democratic State Committeeman from Somerset County. Shain spent more than $250,000 in his bid to oust Codey, who was seeking re-election to a second term in the Senate.  Codey won easily.

Shain is the beneficiary of good political connections in Somerset, where he has lived since leaving Essex County politics.  He is the law partner of Peggy Schaffer, who was elected Democratic County Chairman last year.  (Another partner is Peter Tober, a former Assistant Counsel to two GOP Governors, and now one of the Republican members of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.)

Codey and Shain were child prodigies in Orange politics.  Shain served as Deputy state Attorney General before his election as Mayor in 1970, at age 29.  Codey was a 27-year-old Democratic District Leader when he won a State Assembly seat in 1973 – defeating George Minish, the son of popular Democratic Congressman Joseph Minish (D-West Orange).  One week later, Shain ran for Essex County Democratic Chairman, but lost by a wide margin to the powerful party boss, Harry Lerner.

Shain was a one-term Mayor (he lost to a Republican named Carmine Capone), but came back to win again in 1980.  Codey moved up to the Senate eight years later when Pat Dodd ran for Governor.  Shain was done in Essex politics in 1984 and went on to serve as the Municipal Attorney in Monroe Township.  Codey became Senate Minority Leader, Senate President, and for fifteen months from 2004 to 2006, as Governor of New Jersey.

While representing a solidly Democratic district, Codey has won some impressive victories.  Besides beating Minish and Shain, he’s successfully fought back some significant Senate primary challenges, including former Assemblywoman Mildred Barry Garvin (D-East Orange) in 1991, and Assemblyman Robert Brown, the Mayor of Orange, in 1993. 

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Out of the public eye since Jim Florio lost re-election in 1993, Stephanie Bush-Baskette returned to a prominent role in New Jersey politics with her election last night as a Democratic National Committeewoman.  She defeated Christine “Roz” Samuels, a Montclair Democratic official and former Newark Teachers’ Union leader.

Bush-Baskette was 34-years-old when she first won public office in 1987.  She was elected to the State Assembly in the old Oranges district (Richard Codey was the State Senator) when the Essex County Democratic organization decided to drop five-term incumbent Mildred Barry Garvin.  Held in fairly high regard as a legislator, Bush-Baskette was re-elected in 1989 and 1991 with little trouble in a heavily Democratic district.

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