Bobby Kennedy, Jr., right, with Gov. Jon Corzine

ELIZABETH - First came Caroline Kennedy, then Patrick Kennedy, and tonight at the Portuguese Social Club, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. appeared in support of Gov. Jon Corzine.

Heedless of specific state issues, Kennedy went right for the jugular.

"We cannot reward Republicans for what they did to this country during the eight years prior to Barack Obama," said the son of the late Attorney General and 1968 candidate for president. "How can Chris Christie come over and seriously run for governor? It's time for them (Republicans) to sit down and let someone else run the state."

More than one thumb and forefinger blew a shrill and long whistle of approval into the big room amid resounding hand claps.

SCUTARI AND LESNIAK ASK FOR PARDON OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER

Lawmakers Say Imprisonment of Somerset County Man Suffering with MS is Inhumane, Illegal and Inconsistent with Direction of State’s Drug Policies

TRENTON – Calling the prosecution of a self-medicating Somerset County man with multiple sclerosis (MS) a “severe, inappropriate, discompassionate and inhumane application of the letter of the law,” Senators Nicholas P. Scutari and Raymond J. Lesniak today urged Governor Jon Corzine to pardon Franklin Township resident John Ray Wilson, and called on the Assembly to quickly move legislation to decriminalize the medicinal use of marijuana by New Jerseyans with chronic and terminal illnesses.

“It seems cruel and unusual to treat New Jersey’s sick and dying as if they were drug cartel kingpins. Moreover, it is a complete waste of taxpayer money having to house and treat an MS patient in a jail at the public’s expense,” said Senator Scutari, D-Union, Middlesex and Somerset. “Specifically, in the case of John Ray Wilson, the State is taking a fiscally irresponsible hard-line approach against a man who’s simply seeking what little relief could be found from the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis. Governor Corzine should step in immediately and end this perversion of criminal drug statutes in the Garden State.”

SCUTARI AND LESNIAK ASK FOR PARDON OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER

Lawmakers Say Imprisonment of Somerset County Man Suffering with MS is Inhumane, Illegal and Inconsistent with Direction of State’s Drug Policies

TRENTON – Calling the prosecution of a self-medicating Somerset County man with multiple sclerosis (MS) a “severe, inappropriate, discompassionate and inhumane application of the letter of the law,” Senators Nicholas P. Scutari and Raymond J. Lesniak today urged Governor Jon Corzine to pardon Franklin Township resident John Ray Wilson, and called on the Assembly to quickly move legislation to decriminalize the medicinal use of marijuana by New Jerseyans with chronic and terminal illnesses.

“It seems cruel and unusual to treat New Jersey’s sick and dying as if they were drug cartel kingpins. Moreover, it is a complete waste of taxpayer money having to house and treat an MS patient in a jail at the public’s expense,” said Senator Scutari, D-Union, Middlesex and Somerset. “Specifically, in the case of John Ray Wilson, the State is taking a fiscally irresponsible hard-line approach against a man who’s simply seeking what little relief could be found from the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis. Governor Corzine should step in immediately and end this perversion of criminal drug statutes in the Garden State.”

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State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, above, is unhappy with the way Attorney General Anne Milgram handled the prosecution of a Democratic Councilman from their district

ELIZABETH - Union County party allies of Gov. Jon Corzine are leveling hard charges at someone who's used to doing the charging herself: Attorney General Anne Milgram, whose pursuit of a voter fraud case against Roselle Council President Jamel Holley this month resulted in a virtual dead end.

"Disappointment is an understatement," state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) said of Milgram, the Corzine administration's attorney general, for bringing charges against Holley in the first place.

Already feeling antagonized by the presence of corruption buster former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie in the governor's race, Democratic Party operatives in at least two or three of their base voter-rich regions, including Unon, have for months felt dogged by Milgram, who indicted Holley by accusation on Aug. 27th with illegally filling out portions of fewer than 30 absentee ballots.

In a Thursday letter to the Union County Local Source, Lesniak and his legislative colleagues, Assemblyman Joe Cryan (D-Union Twp.) and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth), ripped Milgram over what they see as her unjust targeting of Holley, which might have had ruinous consequences for a young man seen by his allies see as a comer in Union County Democratic Party politics.  

The chairman of Chris Christie’s campaign stood up for his fellow Republican today, taking a swipe at two top Democrats who called Christie fat.

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown) took issue with comments about Christie’s girth from state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Democratic State  hairman/Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union).

Lesniak told New York Magazine that Christie “looks hideous! And unhealthy... That doesn’t portray the discipline that’s necessary to lead this state.”

Cryan last night asked a crowd of Essex County Democrats “What would it feel like if the next governor weighs 350 pounds?”

Kyrillos today said the comments “shameful,” and blamed Gov. Jon Corzine’s campaign, which created the now famous ad that says Christie “threw his weight around” to get out of a traffic ticket. 

CORRECTION:  The original version of this story contained the line "Lesniak says he won’t get entangled in the affairs of the lower house, but if Oliver becomes the next speaker, many legislators will have an easy excuse to vote for Sweeney over Codey."  The second clause of the sentence was written by the author for explanatory purposes and was not said by Lesniak.  The way the sentence was structured, it came off that way.  PolitickerNJ.com regrets the error. 

Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver’s (D-East Orange) sudden frontrunner status to be the next Assembly Speaker has direct implications for the Senate leadership contest: she and Senate President Dick Codey (D-Roseland) are both from Essex County.

“I can’t imagine that either house would be interested in having both leadership positions from the same county – that would be unprecedented and not good.  But that’s stating the obvious,” said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), who is a key vote in the Senate leadership contest between Codey and state Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford).

Lesniak says he won’t get entangled in the affairs of the lower house.

At the time Lesniak made the statement to PolitickerNJ.com, he was undeclared as to who he would support for Senate President.  An hour later, Sweeney released a list of his supporters that included Lesniak.  

“Getting this behind us is very, very important. The sooner we resolve this, the better.  Although I would very much like Steve and Dick to have a standstill agreement, neither of them are going to stand still until after the election.  So quite frankly it would be naïve to propose or even think it’s possible,” said Lesniak.  “The next best thing would be to make a decision sooner rather than later.”

ATLANTIC CITY - Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) walked out of the carpeted Trump Plaza Casino on Friday night leaving no doubt that he's ready for a fight, indeed in a fight.

"Take your best shot," a skeptic said to him and Codey good-naturedly did, playfully wrestling the challenger while telling his security escort, "It's all right, I can handle this."

The escort stood at parade rest.

"And I can handle Sweeney," Codey said moments later, referring to Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), who's challenging him for the Senate Presidency, who last week said, "I can take Codey with one hand tied behind my back." 

Designed to showcase base support for Gov Jon Corzine, the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City simultaneously served as a bicameral crucible for both Codey versus Sweeney intrigue and a brewing lower house leadership fight.

Democratic Party power broker Ray Lesniak says he has seen this fight before: the one where the candidate lies on the ropes and weathers all the worst of the other man's frontal assault before springing onto his toes in a later round and knocking out the opposition. 

"Chris Christie's on a downward trend and I think that will continue," said Lesniak, a veteran state senator from Union County who was a key backer of former Gov. Jim McGreevey and remains an upper eschelon player and gubernatorial confrere in his party. 

"He's on the mat," added Lesniak of Christie, undetered by a Quinnipiac University poll this morning that shows the GOP gubernatorial nominee leading incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine by ten points and a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll that puts Christie up by five points.

LESNIAK STATEMENT ON COURT DECISION ON DELAWARE SPORTS BETTING

TRENTON – State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, D-Union, who is leading the charge to overturn a federal ban on sports betting in all but a handful of states as an unconstitutional and unfair infringement on states’ rights, issued the following statement regarding a federal appeals court’s decision today to declare Delaware’s attempt to establish sports betting as illegal:

“The Delaware case was determined on a statutory interpretation of the PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) federal ban on sports betting and not on the constitutional issues raised by New Jersey’s challenge. Therefore, we plan on proceeding with the challenge as planned, and this latest development does not deter us from challenging PAPSA as unconstitutional.

LESNIAK ECONOMIC STIMULUS BILL SIGNED INTO LAW

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Raymond J. Lesniak which will jump-start New Jersey’s economy and create new economic and job opportunities was signed into law today by Governor Corzine.

“New Jersey’s economic problems didn’t begin with the global economic crisis affecting the rest of the world, and it wouldn't end when the national economy rebounds” said Senator Lesniak, D-Union. “For the first time ever, we’re going to see less private-sector jobs at the end of the decade than we had in the beginning of the decade. Alarm bells should be going off that we need new economic policies and job retention and growth incentives, not the same-old, tired policies that have helped push us to the brink of economic collapse.

“This bill charts a new course for the State – one in which we’re a willing partner to economic expansion and private sector investment,” added Senator Lesniak. “It gives New Jersey the needed shot in the arm to turn the corner and be a job creator.”