LESNIAK CALLS ON INGRAHAM TO APOLOGIZE FOR REMARKS AGAINST SEALS

UNION – This morning, shock jock radio commentator Laura Ingraham denigrated the United States SEALs’ heroic efforts to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips and stated, “The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency could have taken these teenagers.”

In response, Senator Raymond Lesniak released the following statement:

“The SEALs are highly trained and dedicated US Servicemen who are counted on for precision fire from concealed positions, including taking aim from a ship at a small boat riding the waves. They are also trained to wait for the right moment so as to minimize the risk to any hostage, like Capt. Richard Phillips.

There is now a romantic alliance between Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) and State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth).  Gusciora's chief of staff, Mike DeLoreto, recently became engaged to Erin Caragher, Lesniak's press secretary.

Frustrated by over a decade of failing to win a single seat on the freeholder board, Union County Republicans are circulating a petition that would allow county residents to vote on whether they want to change the way freeholders are elected. 

Union County Republican Chairman Phil Morin said last month that he would like to see at least a few of the county's nine freeholder seats change from being elected at large to a district-based system.  That way, the county's suburban, traditionally Republican leaning towns would not be drowned out by larger Democratic cities in the eastern end of the county.  Morin, however, asserted that it is about geographic representation, not partisanship, and that there are Democrats supporting the effort as well. 

"Many large areas of the county go completely unrepresented.  Creating a district-based system would provide a fairer distribution," he said.  ‘I think people will recognize that the freeholder board is essentially appointees of Club Charlotte [DeFillippo] and that all the residents of Union County would be best served by having equal representation throughout the county."

Walter Long, the former mayor of historically Republican Summit, brought up the idea of secession starting in the 1990s, after Republicans went from having a majority on the freeholder board to having no members, and in 2002, the town's council commissioned a study that toyed with the idea because, they argued, they were getting a tiny proportion of county services compared to what they were paying in taxes.

There were no trading votes for a copy machine in the Assembly Republican Caucus today.  The Assembly Republicans are refusing to attend a New Jersey Business and Industry Association event where the pro-business group will honor two Democrats, State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Voorhees).  Freshman GOP Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) reportedly led the boycott effort.

Republicans have never won in the 20th district, one of districts in the state that have never flipped parties. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) won 57% in the GOP landslide year of 1991, the worst general election showing of his 32-year political career.

There was a redistricting frenzy after the U.S. Supreme Court's Reynolds v. Sims one man, one vote ruling of 1964.  The Legislature had a new map for the 1965 election, followed by additional maps in 1967, 1969, 1971, and 1973.  It wasn't until 1973 that New Jersey went to forty districts, each with one Senate seat and two Assembly seats.  Since that map, about three-quarters of the districts have elected legislators from both parties. 

The current 5th district went Democratic in 1973 when Assembly Minority Leader John Horn ousted one-term Republican State Sen. Frank Italiano.  Italiano was the last Republican legislator from the City of Camden.  He resigned his seat during the lame duck session after his appointment to the Superior Court.

Republicans have held the Somerset County-based 16th district, although future Commissioner of Human Services Tim Carden nearly won an Assembly seat in 1977, even though State Sen. Raymond Bateman was at the top of the ticket as the GOP candidate for Governor.

Democrats have never lost the Middlesex-based 17th, which was dominated by the father and son John Lynch team despite the younger Lynch's near-loss to Edward Tiller in 1991.  The district was briefly represented by a Republican when Assemblywoman Angela Perun switched parties after Democrats dropped her from their ticket in 1985.  As a Republican, she lost by just a few hundred votes to the Mayor of Piscataway, Bob Smith.

In 1991, Republicans almost won an Assembly seat in the Union County-based 20th, when Richard Hunt came within 900 votes of beating the venerable Thomas Dunn, the seven-term Mayor of Elizabeth and former State Senator.  Raymond Lesniak won a fourth term with 57% of the vote, the lowest general election percentage of his thirty year political career.

Three Essex County districts have never elected Republicans: the ones now represented by Richard Codey, Ronald Rice and Teresa Ruiz.  Another Essex district, won by Democrats in 1973 when Nutley Mayor Carmen Orechio ousted Republican State Sen. Michael Giuliano, regularly elected Democrats and Republicans to the Assembly until it was eliminated in 1991.  The seat was shifted to Ocean and Burlington counties, and now the 30th only elects Republicans.

While Republicans held four Hudson County Assembly seats (Districts 32 and 33) from 1986 to 1988 - their first legislative victory since 1920 - Democrats have never lost the 31st.  Their closest call came in 1991, when Bret Schundler won 42% against Democratic State Sen. Edward O'Connor.  Schundler was elected Mayor the following year in a non-partisan race. 

In Bergen County, Democrats have kept a firm grip on the 37th since Matthew Feldman ousted Republican State Sen. Joseph Woodcock in 1973.  And the Republicans have never lost in the 40th, which now includes parts of Passaic and Essex counties.

Under the current map drawn in 2001, districts 1, 2, 4, 7, 12, 14, 36, and 38 have been won by at least one Democrat and one Republican. 

Over the years, there have been some surprise winners - usually in a landslide year like 1973, 1985 or 1991.  A partial list includes:

It continues to look as though Linda Stender won't seek re-election to a fifth term in the State Assembly.

Democratic sources say that Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) is worn out after three campaigns in three years and has decided not to seek re-election to the State Assembly.   She's waiting for party leaders - some say that means State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) -- to help her with an exit strategy (aka a job).  Stender ran for Congress in 2006, losing to incumbent Michael Ferguson by just one percentage point, for re-election to the Assembly in 2007, and again for Congress in 2008 - this time losing by nine points.

But Stender's aide, Ed Oatman, strongly denies that Stender won't run.

"It’s absolutely untrue.  I spoke to her three minutes ago. She is definitely running for reelection. We had a fundraiser last week and we have one for next week," Oatman told PolitickerNJ.com.

The leading contender to replace Stender in the Assembly is Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr, the President of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors.  Republican Martin Marks, the former Mayor of Scotch Plains, has said he was considering a challenge to Stender.

LESNIAK STATEMENT ON COMMITTEE APPROVAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION RESTRUCTURING, FINANCING AND FISCAL MANAGEMENT MEASURE

TRENTON – Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, D-Union, the prime sponsor of legislation would provide for improved structure, financing and fiscal management of higher education in New Jersey, issued the following statement today after the Senate Education Committee unanimously approved the bill:

“Today, the Senate Education Committee struck a chord for better colleges and improved accountability in the Garden State. This bill takes a comprehensive approach to ensuring better fiscal management, ensuring a greater voice for colleges in State government, and allowing for public-private partnerships to move our schools into the 21st Century.

LESNIAK-SWEENEY ‘VOTE BY MAIL LAW’ APPROVED IN SENATE COMMITTEE

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Raymond J. Lesniak and Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney which would create a Vote by Mail system to allow more New Jerseyans to take part in the democratic process was approved by the Senate State Government Committee today by a vote of 3-2.

SENATOR LESNIAK WINS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMPETITION

CAEN, FRANCE – Today, Senator Raymond Lesniak won the Memorial de Caen International Human Rights Competition. The competition included lawyers from Washington, D.C., France, Belgium, Guinea, Senegal, and Switzerland with speech topics ranging from governmental to military abuses of human rights.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) has won the Memorial de Caen International Human Rights Competition, where lawyers from the United States France, Belgium, Guinea, Senegal, and Switzerland competed with speech topics ranging from governmental to military abuses of human rights. Lesniak's speech, "The Road to Justice and Peace," won the acclaim of a panel of elite international judges.