Raymond Garramone

Gov. Jon Corzine might have pulled a rabbit out of his hat by suddenly finding an extra $400 million for his budget, but the political trick of the week goes to Morris County Democratic Chairman Lewis Candura.  Frustrated by his inability to select a new Superintendent of Elections to replace the late Rosemary Travaglia without having State Sens. Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) and Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville) block the gubernatorial appointment, Candura picked Frank Herbert, a 78-year-old retired English teacher from Rockaway.  Herbert served one term as a Democratic State Senator from Bergen County (1978 to 1982), and Senate rules do not permit senatorial courtesy to be used to block a former member of the upper house.

Herbert is actually a good pick for Morris County Democrats: younger than the state's current senior United States Senator, he first won public office in 1969 when he was elected Waldwick Councilman.  He won a race for Bergen County Freeholder in 1973 -- the Watergate landslide year -- defeating future Congressman Harold Hollenbeck.   (Hollenbeck, elected to the State Senate in 1971, opted to run for Freeholder instead of re-election.)

Defeated for a second term as Freeholder in 1976, Herbert ran for an open State Senate seat in 1977.  The 39th district had gone Democratic in 1973, elected Raymond Garramone to the State Senate and two Democrats to the State Assembly.

Instead of seeking a second term in the Senate, Garramone instead ran for Governor -- unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Brendan Byrne in the Democratic primary.  The Republicans ran John Markert, who had won one of the Assembly seats in 1975.  But Byrne carried the 39th in the general and helped Herbert score a 53%-47% victory in the Senate race

Four years later, the Republicans ran Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest), who had lost an Assembly race in 1977 but won in 1979.  Cardinale easily defeated Herbert, 58%-42% -- a margin of nearly 11,000 votes.

With just 2% of the vote in independent polls released this morning by Quinnipiac University and Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey,  history could record Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) as one of the lowest votegetters among sitting state legislators seeking a major party nomination for Governor.  The record is currently held by Raymond Garramone (D-Haworth), a one-term State Senator from Bergen County who gave up his seat to challenge Brendan Byrne in the 1977 Democratic primary.  With 6,602 votes statewide, Garramone finished sixth in a field of eleven candidates, with 1.1% of the vote.

Merkt has had no movement in the race for the GOP nomination for Governor.  He was at 2% in a February 4 Quinnipiac poll

Incumbent legislators who ran for Governor, left to right: Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham), State Sen. Raymond Garramone (D-Haworth), and State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest)

If Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) continues to poll in the one percent range, he could set the record for the worst showing by a sitting state legislator in a gubernatorial primary.  The record is currently held by Raymond Garramone (D-Haworth), a one-term State Senator from Bergen County who gave up his seat to challenge Brendan Byrne in the 1977 Democratic primary.  With 6,602 votes statewide, Garramone finished sixth in a field of eleven candidates, with 1.1% of the vote. 

Garramone was the 46-year-old Mayor of Haworth when he rode Byrne's 1973 coattails to an upset win in the heavily Republican 39th district over Harry Randall, a former Assemblyman and the father of BPU Commissioner Elizabeth Randall. 

When Garramone gave up his Senate seat to run for Governor, Republicans were confident of a pickup in District 39.  But Democrats held the seat when Frank Herbert, a Bergen County Freeholder and former Waldwick Mayor, beat Republican Assemblyman John Markert. 

Markert's running mate, Demarest Mayor Gerald Cardinale, lost his bid for an Assembly seat that year.  Cardinale came back to win in 1979, and moved up to the Senate when he defeated Herbert in 1981.  (When Cardinale sought the GOP nomination for Governor in 1989, he won 8.3% of the vote.)

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).

Legend has it that many State Senators view themselves as gubernatorial material, but historically incumbent New Jersey legislators are often unsuccessful in their campaigns for Governor. Over the last fifty years, only four incumbent legislators -- State Senators Malcolm Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) -- have won gubernatorial primaries, and all four have their general elections. The last time someone went directly from the Legislature to Governor was in 1928, when Morgan Larson, a Republican State Senator from Middlesex County, won. Sitting legislators to lose gubernatorial primaries: Alan Karcher, Chuck Hardwick, William Gormley and Gerald Cardinale in 1989; John Russo in 1985; Frank Dodd, William Hamilton, Joseph Merlino, Barry Parker, James Wallwork, and Anthony Imperiale in 1981; Thomas Kean and Raymond Garramone in 1977; Ralph DeRose and Ann Klein in 1973; Harry Sears, Frank McDermott and William Kelly in 1969; Charles Sandman in 1965; and Walter Jones in 1961. While it has been 75 years since an incumbent legislator became Governor, seven of the last ten Governors had served in the Legislature.