Richard Codey

TRENTON - A few Democrats circulate in the big room here at the East Brunswick Hilton, sorting through the devastation with varying viewpoints and plans.

"It's hard for an incumbent in a recession," U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) says after lame duck Gov. Jon Corzine leaves the stage.

"Jon did a good job as governor, but the economic times are bad," Pallone adds. "That's all it comes down to. The economic times were bad, but we're on our way back."

There's Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland), who endured his own drama this fall in which he apparently emerged on the losing end.

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WEST ORANGE - Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) did a robocall over the weekend for Gov. Jon Corzine, targeting suburban Essex County voters and reminding them about the governor's cap on property taxes, Codey told PolitickerNJ.com.

"Democrats will vote in the suburbs for Jon Corzine," said Codey. "The critical question will be whether he holds independent women, who flocked to him after the campaign hit the mammogram issue. One thing I find interesting is that (independent candidate Chris) Daggett has dropped out of the sky."

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Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo just introduced U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark), who stands at the podium in the Prudential Center now.

"Joe DiVincenzo's done a great job in Essex County, putting Essex County first," Payne tells the crowd. "I'm fired up and ready to go."

Moments earlier, Payne wouldn't commit to DiVincenzo's re-election when asked by PolitickerNJ.com. 

"It's a little early for that, isn't it," he said.

At issue is DiVincenzo's participation in shoving Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) out the door earlier this fall, offering thee argument that Codey didn't have the votes to withstand Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford).

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STATEMENT FROM SENATE PRESIDENT CODEY
ON CHRISTIE’S CONTRADICTIONS

 
(TRENTON) - Senate President Richard J. Codey (D- Essex) released the following statement today:

“Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie finally admitted yesterday in the New York Times what we have already known, his entire campaign has been based on empty promises and failed economic policies.  Christie now says he will not restore property tax rebates, will not roll back the sales tax, will use "one-shot" revenues to close the budget deficit, and will not reduce income taxes.  Christie is learning quickly that it's one thing to make promises as the candidate for governor and another thing to have to explain how you would implement these promises once you are in charge.

“The truth is the only economic policies that Chris Christie is staying true to are the same failed economic policies that George Bush employed that got the country into this mess, and now Christie wants to bring them to New Jersey.”

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BELMAR - Inevitably, observation of Assemblyman John McKeon's (D-West Orange) higher profile and intensified advocacy for open space and environmental issues coincides with Senate President Richard Codey's (D-Roseland) public battle to remain in the chair of senatorial power.

Those dynamics in the 27th District have created speculation that McKeon, alert to a shakeup as redistricting looms next year, may be angling to head the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) if Gov. Jon Corzine is reelected.  

"No one's asked me (about serving as DEP commissioner)," McKeon, who on Wednesday night co-chaired Caroline Kennedy's rally at the Barclay for Corzine, told PolitickerNJ.com.

He added, "I'm totally focused on my own re-election."

But Codey's situation may impact the 51-year old McKeon, as the sitting senate president faces the prospect next year of being unseated by Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) and the empowerment of Codey's political antagonists to redraw a district map for 2011 that would favor their closest allies and conceivably weaken the current legislative occupants of District 27.

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Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) says he won't run for re-election to the Gloucester County Board of Freeholders in 2011, and suggested that he might leave his post as Freeholder Director and his seat entirely before his current term ends.

Sweeney, who has a majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus backing his bid for Senate President, said his decision to leave his county post will not be affected by the outcome of his campaign to oust the incumbent, Richard Codey (D-Roseland).

"I still have to figure out how to transition out (of the freeholder director's position)," Sweeney told PolitickerNJ.com.  ""I got elected freeholder last year. It's a three-year term and for the record I was going to transition out anyway because there would be no way I could run for senator and freeholder at the same time, so right now it's just a timeline consideration." Read More >

Robert L. Brown, who served as a State Assemblyman and as the Mayor of Orange, died yesterday.  He was 62.

Brown was elected Mayor of Orange in 1988, and went to the Legislature in 1991, after redistricting moved incumbent Harry McEnroe (D-South Orange) to another district.  He defeated Montclair Councilwoman Delores "Bobby" Reilly by a 2-1 margin in the primary in this safe Democratic district. 

In 1993, Brown challenged incumbent Richard Codey in the Democratic Senate primary and lost by a 60%-40% margin. He lost his bid for re-election to a third term as Mayor in 1996 to Mims Hackett.

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TRENTON - Independent candidate Chris Daggett this afternoon jousted with surrogates for the Corzine (Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) and Christie (former state Sen. Peter Inverso (R-Hamilton) campaigns at the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce at the Trenton Marriott.

Gov. Jon Corzine bailed on the event to prep for the entrance of former President Bill Clinon, sparking former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to call on Inverso as a sub.

"I guess you can see I'm not Chris Christie, and clearly, I'm not Kim Guadagno," said the banker who retired from the senate in 2007.

On the day Monmouth University released a poll with two weeks until Election Day showing Christie and Corzine deadlocked at 39% and Daggett earning 14%, Codey and Inverso scrapped over the root causes of the recession, with the latter arguing that Corzine has not proved a strong leader while former Gov. Codey blamed the Bush era.

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The Senate Democratic Majority, the leadership PAC headed by Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) has $968,000 cash on hand.  If Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) defeats Codey for the post - he has public commitments from 14 of 23 Democratic Senators - he will take control of the leadership PAC.  So here's the question: will Codey hand nearly $1 million over to Sweeney, or will he spend it before he leaves office?

New Jersey law would allow Codey to contribute all of it to his own campaign account.

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BELLEVILLE - It was fitting that the main man at the microphone tonight at Nanina's in the Park was County Clerk Chris Durkin, a walking hybrid of two opposing political camps, which 20 days before a gubernatorial election can already see the delineations of a county executive battle in 2010.

"Dick Codey was ready to lead when he became governor and he made us all so proud to live, work and play in this state," Durkin said of the former governor and sitting senate president, in the next breath noting of his boss, the Essex County Executive, "Joe DiVincenzo has made Essex County the envy not only of the state but of the country. He is the taxpayers' best friend, and a bureaucrat's worst nightmare."

If it sounded like homage paid to opposing warlords, Durkin is indeed ensconced in the administration of the powerful county executive, but his mother, Joan, is a Codey, cousin of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland), who last month was unofficially forced off the senate throne in a north-south Jersey Democratic Party coup that hinged on DiVincenzo backing Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) as the new senate president.

Tonight, Durkin - an amiable presence belying a torturous Codey v. DiVincenzo undercurrent - greeted guests to his $150-a-plate fundraiser, including headlining speaker Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the governor himself, who posed for pictures with Durkin before ascending a staircase where South Jerseyan Sweeney stood in a milling, hors d'oeuvres munching crowd with DiVincenzo. 

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