Patricia Mueller

PolitickerNJ.com will release our 2009 Power List of New Jersey's 100 most politically influential personalities on Tuesday, August 4. The list, first released in March 2000, is an Insiders List that includes policy makers, party leaders, fundraisers, lobbyists, labor unions, businesses, and associations and have assembled the ultimate list of New Jerseyans with clout, with an impact on politics and government in the Garden State -- everyone but elected officials and Judges.  Stay tuned!

In 2008, Atlantic City radio personality Harry Hurley was the Reader's Choice for #100.  In a two-day online poll that attracted nearly 2,900 voters, Hurley defeated Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson by a 35%-15% margin. Public Policy guru Jon Shure finished third with 12%, just narrowly leading Union County Manager George Devanney (12%). None of the other six candidates -- Cape May County GOP Chairman David Von Savage, attorney and Democratic fundraiser Victor Herlinsky, conservative political strategist Rick Shaftan, Burlington County GOP Chairman Mike Warner, and Jersey City political activists Bobby Jackson and Joe Cardwell -- finished in the double digits.

Hurley also won a 2007 Reader's Choice poll.

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State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer): Politicker photo 

Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), state chairman of John McCain’s Republican presidential campaign, joked that he first knew he was ok with McCain when the gruff war vet called Baroni a jerk.

One of a handful of New Jersey elected officials who supported the Arizona senator at the start of the Republican primary, Baroni goes back nearly ten years with McCain. He left his job at a law firm in 1999 to try to help his candidate land the Republican nomination in 2000.

The New Jerseyan accompanied McCain on the campaign trail throughout Michigan, South Carolina and California. They eventually lost to Texas Gov. George W. Bush, but McCain and Baroni forged a political relationship.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden): Politicker photo

BROOKLAWN - South of Camden in a shopping center parking lot on Route 130, under a water tower with the name "Brooklawn" stenciled on it in big letters, amid the donut and pizza shops, stands a lone legislative office.

It’s the headquarters of Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden), who, coming off one of the biggest wins of his 21-year career in the Assembly, told PolitickerNJ.com he has no intention of leaving Trenton when he’s up for re-election in 2009.

A veteran of ten legislative cycles and Assembly Speaker since 2006, he insists he’s running again.

"Absolutely, I’m ready to go," said Roberts, specifically expressing his desire to seek the Assembly’s top leadership position, for which he had his caucus’s unanimous support when his party reorganized in January.

Barack Obama's presidential campaign is expected to announce today that Tricia Mueller, the national political director of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, will serve as New Jersey state director.

Gov. Jon Corzine today in Newark: Politicker photo

NEWARK - It’s less than four months until Election Day and the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il) still does not have a New Jersey state director.

"It’s not a problem," Gov. Jon Corzine insisted today in the Ironbound, a sentiment echoed by Obama backers who point out that there are nine paid staffers operating in New Jersey right now, and that fewer than six states are equipped with directors at this point.

"I’ve been in contact with the Obama campaign," the governor told PolitickerNJ.com. "They can make up their minds and come to their decision. Until (last) Friday they hadn’t talked to the people (candidates)."

The favorites for the New Jersey job remain Bob Decheine, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9); and Patricia A. Mueller, chief of staff for the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters, whose interfacing entrenchments unavoidably suggest that old political divide between north and south Jersey.

In picking a state director to run operations in New Jersey, the Obama Campaign in Chicago will choose between a congressman's chief of staff, and a labor chief friendly with the governor's administration, according to Democratic Party sources.

For several days, internal talks have gone on between Gov. Jon Corzine, members of the State Committee, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and members of the Congressional delegation about a same-page choice for State Director of the Obama Campaign.

It's come down to two names.

In the running are Bob Decheine, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9); and Patricia A. Mueller, chief of staff, New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters.

A Northeast Regional co-chair for the Obama campaign who was the only member of New Jersey's congressional delegation to endorse Obama during the Democratic Primary, Rothman has pressed vigorously in the last few weeks for his chief to get the job.