State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove)

Insiders lay out several battlefields this year, and Republican or Democrat, it’s not two or three gulps of beer into a conversation before they spill the strategic terrain of the coming legislative contests.

The Democrats will put money into 1 to defend their incumbents there, and they will try to take down the Republican incumbents in 2. They’ll play in 8 again largely as a diversionary tactic, defend in 14 and – and this is big - heavily fortify 36, where the GOP last time came within 2,400 votes of stripping the Dems of a seat.

Representatives in both parties usually mention the last of these prospective showdowns as the most meaningful, a potential north Jersey version of the 12th District Karcher-Beck war in 2007, where both parties will likely lay down their heaviest barrage.

For the moment, Democrats feel they have some GOP civil war drama on their side, and are gleefully inclined to let the Republican body count mount at this fractious tri-county, multi-ego crossroads of Passaic, Bergen and Essex, before they get in and scrap in earnest to protect Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley) and Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).

Better to let the other side give itself a good going over before taking casualties. That’s the attitude.

SARLO BILL TO INCREASE PENALTIES FOR COUNTERFEITS THAT ENDANGER PUBLIC HEALTH ADVANCES IN COMMITTEE

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Paul A. Sarlo which would impose increased penalties for counterfeiting if the offense poses a risk to the health or safety of the general public was unanimously approved today by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Before a drug or cosmetic product is ever introduced to the market, it goes through months, if not years, of drug trials, safety testing and various other review to make sure that the dangers and side-effects don’t outweigh the benefits,” said Senator Sarlo, D-Bergen, Essex and Passaic, and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. “As a result of this rigorous review, these products have earned a measure of public trust regarding their safety. However, as a result of that well-earned safe reputation, many of these products become targets to unscrupulous counterfeiters looking to short-cut the approval process for a quick buck, and when they risk public safety, they have to be held accountable.”

Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson is expected to rule on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Board of Public Utilities President Jeanne Fox today.  If the lawsuit, which alleges that a whistleblower was punished for reporting a potentially illegal an $80 million ratepayer-funded Clean Energy account established by Fox, is dismissed, look for the Senate Judiciary Committee to put her nomination for a second term on their agenda soon. 

Last July, Senate Judiciary Chairman John Adler, then a candidate for Congress, said the panel would not consider the Fox nomination until after the trial of whistleblower, which ended with a hung jury last September.

There will now be some pressure on the new Judiciary Chairman, Paul Sarlo, to allow the committee to consider her nomination.  The panel is scheduled to meet on Monday - the first under Sarlo's leadership.

Democrats from both factions in Bergen County suggest that developer Michael Kasparian has the votes to win election as County Chairman when the Bergen County Democratic Organization meets tomorrow night to pick a replacement for Joseph Ferriero.  Kasparian, reportedly Ferriero’s choice, faces labor leader Richard “Buzz” Dressel.  Dressel had dropped out of the race, but quickly returned. 

News tonight from Bergen County that labor leader Richard "Buzzy" Dressel has retreated from his bid to succeed indicted Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) Chairman Joe Ferriero came as no surprise to leaders on both sides of a fight who know Dressel can't win.

Dressel's intentions followed reports that members of a county committee built by Ferriero favor his hand-picked successor, Democratic Party fundraiser Michael Kasparian, in the lead-up to a Jan. 22 convention.

When party leaders tried to offer state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) as a compromise to the Kasparian forces on the one side and Dressel and key ally state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) on the other, Dressel backed down.

But Ferriero's people dug in with Kasparian, whose candidacy galled Weinberg's forces as the outgoing party boss personally called supporters seeking Kasparian support using the latter's office telephone.

Getty Images Photo

Barack Obama beat John McCain in the 36th legislative district by 10,030 votes, 56%-44%.

New Jersey’s 36th legislative district, which includes politically competitive towns in South Bergen, the heavily Democratic city of Passaic, and Nutley, a swing town in Essex County, is supposed to be a battleground in the 2009 general election.  Assemblymen Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Frederick Scalera (D-Nutley) won by the lowest margin of any incumbent Democrats in 2007; Republican Don Diorio, a political newcomer who raised about $1,700, came within 2,424 votes of ousting Schaer.  Some Republicans think they can beat Schaer and Scalera this year, especially since State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) is not on the ballot.

But despite some GOP gains at the local level, mostly in response to the EnCap development, the heavily blue collar district still leans Democratic.  In the 36th, Barack Obama beat John McCain 56%-44%, a margin of more than 10,000 votes.  Obama did slightly better than John Kerry’s 5,500 vote (54%-46%) win over George W. Bush in 2004. 

In the 2005 race for Governor, Democrat Jon Corzine won 61% of the vote in District 36, beating Republican Douglas Forrester by more than 10,500 votes.  For Republicans Christopher Christie or Steve Lonegan to win statewide, they’ll need to win the kind of towns that Forrester lost, like Nutley, Rutherford, Lyndhurst and North Arlington.  That could be an argument for either of them to pick five-term Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan for Lt. Governor.  Donovan carried six of the nine South Bergen towns in her 2008 re-election bid.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo probably won't run for Bergen County Democratic Chairman.

There is considerable speculation that State Sen. Paul Sarlo, the new Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has ruled out a bid to succeed Joseph Ferriero as the Bergen County Democratic Chairman.  Some top level Democrats, reportedly including U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, had been urging him to run.  Sarlo, sources say, had been considering an entrance into the race, which now includes labor leader Buzz Dressel and developer/fundraiser Michael Kasparian.

SENATOR SARLO STATEMENT ON STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS

TRENTON – Senator Paul A. Sarlo, D-Bergen, Essex and Passaic, and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement today regarding Governor Corzine’s State of the State Address:

“Governor Corzine, in his State of the State Address today, gave due recognition to the ongoing economic crisis which is raging across America. However, he noted that New Jersey continues to head in a positive direction, the result of a targeted economic recovery plan implemented late last year.

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fairlawn) wants state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) to serve as Bergen County Democratic Organization interim chairman.

HACKENSACK – The Bergen reformer’s fear is someone disgraced or incarcerated will be running the party, giving orders via cellphone or BlackBerry to drones working in the service of a political patronage system that grinds forward unchanged even as the feds expose and prosecute the upper eschelons. 

But it’s also an election year – for governor, no less – and in that all important, 70-community county of Bergen, which Democrats or Republicans must win in order win it all in 2009 – tampering with the Democratic Party infrastructure and leaving it depleted or less than muscular could give the GOP that one opportunity they’re seeking. 

Indeed, even as Joe Ferriero wrote his letter of resignation as chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO), former U.S. Attroney Chris Christie – the man whose office last year indicted Ferriero on federal corruption charges – filed his papers to run for governor against Democrat Jon Corzine, setting up that most dramatic contrast of party plot lines, which the GOP wants to translate into crumbling utterly the Dems’ most vulnerable fault line here in Bergen.

The New Jersey Supreme Court

The GOP seems to be gearing up for a real Senate confirmation hearing if Governor Jon Corzine reappoints Barry Albin to the New Jersey Supreme Court later this year.  The Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked Chairman Paul Sarlo to set aside "at least three days" for hearing on Albin's potential nomination.  This would be a huge change for a committee that typically spends just a few hours reviewing Supreme Court nominees.

Some insiders say Albin could have a problem if two unrelated constituencies wind up opposing his renomination. Albin angered progressive Democrats when he wrote the Supreme Court decision opposing same sex marriage.  And he has a potential problem with conservatives over his votes in support of Abbot school district funding.  Republicans and liberal Democrats could forge an interesting coalition. 

Under the current State Constitution, no sitting Justice has been denied reappointment or confirmation.  Chief Justice Robert Wilentz barely survived in 1986, winning Senate confirmation by a narrow 21-19 margin.  Peter Verniero, whose renomination was viewed as potentially problematic, saw the handwriting on the wall and resigned before the end of his first seven-year term.

Albin, 56, was appointed to the top court by Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2002.  If he is renominated and confirmed by the Senate in 2009, he can serve until he turns seventy in 2023.