Raymond Bateman

Until the 1970's, Assembly Speakers served a single one-year term under a system where party leadership positions were rotated annually in both houses of the Legislature.  Legislators worked their way up in the rotation, usually from Assistant Whip to Whip to Assistant Leader to Leader to Speaker. 

Thomas Kean (R-Livingston) became the first two-term Assembly Speaker.  He was elected in advance of the 1972 session after the 39-member Assembly Republican caucus cut a deal with four Democrats from Hudson and Union counties to organize the Assembly.  He spent two years as Speaker, and four years as Minority Leader after Democrats won 66 seats in the 1973 election.

Christopher Jackman (D-West New York) became person to serve four years as Speaker (he served from 1978-82), followed by similar stints by Alan Karcher (D-Sayreville) and Chuck Hardwick (R-Westfield).  Jack Collins (R-Elmer) became the first person to spend six years as Speaker - the longest stint in state history.

A Democratic governor, struggling with approvals from his own party and trailing his Republican opponent in the polls, was seeking re-election during a summer dominated by news of the death of a music icon.  That happened in 1977, the last time a Democratic governor was re-elected in New Jersey.  Brendan Byrne won the Democratic primary with 30% of the vote, and came from behind to beat the GOP candidate, Raymond Bateman.  Elvis Presley died in August, between the primary and the general.

Pollsters got it wrong the last two times a Democratic Governor ran for re-election:  an August 1993 Eagleton-Rutgers poll had Gov. James Florio leading Republican Christine Todd Whitman by nine points, 49%-40%; and Republican Raymond Bateman led Gov. Brendan Byrne by seven points, 46%-39%, in an August 1977 Eagleton-Rutgers poll.

In 1993, Florio had a favorable/unfavorable rating of 49%-40%.  31% rated his job as excellent or good, 36% said he was a fair governor, and 23% rated him as poor.

In 1977, 28% of New Jerseyans viewed Byrne as an excellent or good governor, 39% considered him fair, and 29% said he was doing a poor job.

Whitman beat Florio 49%-48%, and Byrne was re-elected by a 56%-42% margin over Bateman.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine trails Republican Christopher Christie by 12 points, 53%-41%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.  Christie is the first Republican to be over 50% in a summer poll since Thomas Kean ran for re-election 24 years ago.

Corzine has upside-down favorables/unfavorables of 34%-58%, and an upside-down job approval rating of 33%-60%. 

In his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate, Democrat Robert Torricelli had upside-down favorable/unfavorable rating of 15%-36% and an upside-down job approval rating of 28%-49% in an August 2002 Quinnipiac poll. In an August 2008 Quinnipiac poll, President George W. Bush had an upside-down job approval rating of 26%-70%.

Joseph Spicuzzo, who serves as the Middlesex County Sheriff and the Democratic County Chairman, is on the Senate Judiciary Committee agenda.  Gov. Jon Corzine has appointed him to a seat on the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, and he is seeking Senate confirmation.  Spicuzzo was supposed to appear before the panel on Monday, but he called in sick.  He is expected to be confirmed, but will need Republicans to agree to agree to an emergency on his nomination if the full Senate is to vote on him at their session this afternoon.  If not, he won't get a vote -- and the seat -- until the lame duck session.  Don't expect the GOP to extend any courties to Spicuzzo, who is getting the job because Corzine decided to dump former Senate President Raymond Bateman, the 1977 Republican candidate for Governor.  Bateman's son is State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Branchburg), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Look for Republicans to slow down on signoffs for gubernatorial appointments that require Senate confirmation, according to sources familiar with a meeting of the Senate Republican Caucus two weeks ago.  Several Senators, reading polling data that shows Gov. Jon Corzine in trouble in November, want to stop filling positions that could go to the Republicans in January.  Last week's announcement that Corzine would dump former Senate President Raymond Bateman from his seat on the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority has reportedly pushed some Republicans over the top.  Bateman's son is State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Branchburg), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Gov. Jon Corzine has dumped former Senate President Raymond Bateman from his seat on  the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and has replaced him with Joseph Spicuzzo, the Middlesex County Sheriff and Democratic County Chairman. Bateman was the Republican nominee for Governor in 1977, and is the father of State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Branchburg).

Barack Obama has pledged to ban lobbyists from holding positions in his administration, something that is the norm in New Jersey politics.  According to documents filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, 226 different lobbyists serve as members of governmental authorities, boards and commissions at the state and local level.

Like predecessors from both parties, Gov. Jon Corzine has appointed numerous lobbyists to state positions.  His possible Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, would not dismiss the idea that he would put lobbyists in his administration.

"The test is a conflict of interest," Christie told PolitickerNJ.com's Max Pizarro today. "If there is a specific conflict of interest, that person shouldn't be on a board or commission."

State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Branchburg) has won a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee

State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Branchburg) will get a new seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) will take the new seat on the Senate Education Committee, sources say.

Last month, the Senate expanded the size of the Judiciary Committee from eleven to thirteen members, adding an eighth Democrat and a fifth Republican.  Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) has already named State Sen. Brian Stack (D-Union City) to fill the new Democratic seat.

The Senate Labor Committee was also expanded from five to seven members.  Codey named State Sen. James Beach (D-Voorhees) to that post.

Left to right: Charles Sandman, Ralph DeRose, Anthony Imperiale, Raymond Bateman and Frank "Pat" Dodd.

If you are a New Jersey State Senator, you are more likely to die in office than to win higher elective office. Under the current State Constitution, 49 sitting State Senators have asked voters to promote them to a new office, but only twelve have won.

Nearly half of the State Senators seeking higher office have run for Governor and all 21 have lost: Malcolm Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) won major party nominations but list the general election -- each time to an incumbent; William Schluter ran as an Independent in 2001; and Walter Jones (1961), Charles Sandman (1965), William Kelly (1969), Frank McDermott (1969), William Ozzard (1969), Harry Sears (1969), Ralph DeRose (1973), Raymond Garramone (1977), Frank Dodd (1981), William Hamilton (1981), Joseph Merlino (1981), James Wallwork (1981), Bill Gormley (1989) and Gerald Cardinale (1989).

Left to right: Brendan Byrne, Raymond Bateman, Jim Florio, Christine Todd Whitman and Jon Corzine

Quinnipiac University pollster Clay Richards says that incumbent Jon Corzine has suddenly become the underdog in his bid for re-election to a second term, and that the "big question is whether Corzine will come back like Democratic Gov. Brendan Byrne did in 1977 or go down to defeat like Jim Florio in 1993?"

A February 1977 Eagleton-Rutgers poll showed Byrne trailing an unnamed Republican challenger by 26 points, 45%-19%.  He had an upside-down approval rating of 22%-71%.  In a July poll taken after Byrne won the Democratic primary with 30% of the vote against ten challengers, GOP State Sen. Raymond Bateman led by seven points, 46%-39%.  Byrne was re-elected by a 56%-42% margin.

More than half of the state's voters (51%) felt Florio didn't deserve a second term in a February 1993 Eagleton-Rutgers poll.  Florio had upside-down approvals of 36%-60%.  A post-primary poll taken in June showed Republican Christine Todd Whitman and Florio in a statistical dead heat, 44%-43%.  Whitman beat Florio by 26,093 votes, 49%-48%.