Peter Shapiro

The Essex County District 5 Freeholder seat is the place to make a political comeback. Ralph Caputo, elected to the State Assembly as a Republican in 1967 (and out of office since 1971), and ran for Freeholder as a Democrat in 2002 on County Executive candidate Joseph DiVincenzo’s ticket. He won a contested primary, and ousted incumbent Joseph Scarpelli (who mounted his own comeback this month when he won a Nutley Commissioner race) in the general election. Caputo returned to the State Assembly in 2007 – forty years after his first election.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo intends to seek re-election to a third term in 2010, and he should be viewed as a strong favorite to win.  Since Essex County Democratic politics is especially volatile these days, and DiVincenzo isn’t about to take his race for granted.  He’s concerned that he would face a challenge from a candidate backed by Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who is also up for re-election that year.  

It has been thirty years since Mary Scanlon won a State Assembly that once belonged to her late husband.  Patrick Scanlon was serving his frst term in the Legislature when he died in office in June 1977.  A protege of the late Democratic State Chairman Philip Keegan, Scanlon won the Newark-Irvington-South Orange Assembly seat Keegan gave up in 1975; in  that same primary, Scanlon's running mate, incumbent Rocco Neri, lost re-electon to 23-year-old Peter Shapiro, who would go on to serve as Essex County Executive and become the Democratic nomine for Governor ten years later.

The late John Renna would have viewed the lack of filing day activity by the Hudson County Republicans as a lost opportunity.  As the on-and-off Essex County Republican Chairman between 1977 and 1996, Renna had a few wins by watching the Democratic primary from the sidelines and then figuring out his ticket over the summer.  That's what happened in 1986, when Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro's popularity plummeted -- especially among Democrats.  Sensing an opportunity, Renna pulled aging former Assemblyman Carl Orechio off the ticket and replaced him with Nicholas Amato, who had won three terms as Surrogate as a Democrat before Shapiro dumped him from the party line a few months earlier.  For Surrogate, Renna ran another party switcher: Earl Harris, the Newark City Council President.  The result was a GOP landslide.

Robert Meyner was the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1953 when 38-year-old John R. Kerfoot became involved in Camden County politics. He became the Audubon Park Democratic Municipal Chairman in 1965 -- a position he continues to hold. He is a former Councilman, State Senate Sergeant-At-Arms, and had perfect attendance at County Committee meetings for over fifty years.

When a vacancy occurred on the Camden County Freeholder Board in 2000, Democrats decided to pay tribute to the Kerfoot's long service by appointing him Freeholder. He completed the five weeks remaining in the term of Patricia Egan Jones, who was elected Surrogate.

Under Kerfoot's leadership, Audubon Park has been reliably Democratic. In his first general election as a member of the Camden Democratic machine, he helped delivered his town to Meyner, then former one-term State Senator from Warren with little chance to defeat Republican Paul Troast. Audubon Park went 595-94 for Meyner, who scored an upset victory to win the governorship.

And in 1985, Kerfoot was one of just three Democratic Municipal Chairman in the state to deliver his town for Peter Shapiro in his race against Governor Thomas Kean.

For the true political junkies, Kerfoot began his career as a lieutenant under the legendary Camden County Democratic boss, George Brunner, who served as Mayor of Camden and as the Democratic State Chairman. Kerfoot celebrated his 91st birthday on July 28.