Robert Menendez

Embattled contractor Joseph Sanzari was told he could not join other dignitaries on the stage when Vice President Joseph Biden visited a construction site in Bergen County last week - a move that left Sanzari off the charts angry, according to sources familiar with the event.  Sanzari's partner in the construction project on Route 46 and Main Street in Lodi, Fletcher Creamer, was also denied a spot on the dais. 

It is not clear who told Sanzari that he was not welcome on the dais.

Biden joined Gov. Jon Corzine and U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park ) and Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) in Lodi to tout the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which will help fund upgrades to Route 46 bridges.  Sanzari and Creamer were awarded a construction contract on that project.  Other contractors were permitted to join Biden at the event.

Samuel Plumeri is expected to resign his post as Police Superintendent of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and will be moving into a state government post, possibly as the Board of Parole.  The move takes him out of contention for appointment as the next U.S. Marshal.  Plumeri, a former Mercer County Sheriff and Democratic County Chairman, has been actively seeking the Marshal post, but it appears he was not a serious contender.

President Obama's nominee for U.S. Attorney, Paul Fishman, is expected to win a speedy confirmation by the United States Senate and could be in office as early as this summer.

President Obama is expected to nominate Paul Fishman as the new U.S. Attorney for New Jersey within the next few days, possibly as early as tomorrow, sources say.  His nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Fishman was recommended for the post by U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) and Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) last February.  The post has been vacant since Republican Christopher J. Christie resigned on December 1.  Ralph Marra, Jr. is now the Acting U.S. Attorney.

The 52-year-old Fishman, a Princeton University graduate and editor of the Harvard Law Review, worked in the U.S. Attorney's office as Chief of the Criminal Division and as First Assistant before going to Washington as a senior advisor to Reno and as a Deputy U.S. Attorney General.  Fishman is a partner at Friedman, Kaplan, Seiler and Adelman, where he specializes in white collar criminal matters.  Fishman has represented several public officials prosecuted by Christie, and is currently an attorney for former CWA Local 1034 President Carla Katz, who is seeking to keep her e-mail correspondence with Governor Jon Corzine private.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) will endorse Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy for re-election a rally today in Journal Square, and will announce his support for Healy's entire slate of City Council candidates.  Nidia Lopez will introduce Menendez, offering some valuable exposure to the Ward C Council candidate.  Lopez faces former Jersey City Park Authority Director Jimmy King, who is running on Louis Manzo's ticket.  The two are seeking the seat of Steven Lipski, who decided to retire after being charged with public urination.

Paul Fishman is still expected to become New Jersey's next United States Attorney, but his appointment is taking a while.  It's been ten weeks since U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez wrote the President recommending his nomination, but the White House has not really begun the appointment of federal prosecutors for each state. 

Such delays are typical with a new administration.  It took George W. Bush nearly a year before settling on Christopher Christie as his pick.

Last week, when Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra defended his office after the American Civil Liberties Union released documents on the use of cell phone GPS tracking, some Democratic operatives viewed it as a defense of Christie, Marra's predecessor and a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor.  But sources close to the state's Democratic U.S. Senators say there has been no discussion about pushing the White House to speed up the appointment process so that Fishman can take office sooner.  And Marra was simply stating that the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey had always acted legally and with court approval of its actions, and not in defense of any particular person.

Marra's appointment as Acting U.S. Attorney, which was made by Attorney General Michael Mukasey in December, ends on June 29, unless a new U.S. Attorney is nominated and confirmed before then.  The new Attorney General, Eric Holder, will have the option of keeping Marra or making another 120 day interim appointment.

Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire has withdrawn his name for consideration for U.S. Marshal, and is instead recommending Bergen County Freeholder Tomas Padilla for the post.  Former Mercer County Sheriff Samuel Plumeri, the Director of Security for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has been actively seeking the post.

In February, U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman had backed McGuire over Padilla and sent a letter to Democratic U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez asking that the Sheriff replace Republican James Plousis in the U.S. Marshal post.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) at a green building ribbon-cutting in Hoboken this morning.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie says he hasn't thought much about U.S.-Cuba relations, but agrees with state Attorney General Anne Milgram that stepping up efforts to extradite convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard is a good idea.

"If we're moving toward normalizing relations with Cuba, it would be a sign of goodwill for that country to extradite Joanne Chesimard," Christie said yesterday. "There are a lot of issues on the table."

Asked if he believes the United States should normalize relations with Cuba, Christie said, "I haven't thought that deeply about it. It's not a state issue."

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken), the state's ranking Cuban American, disagreed.

"It is a state issue," Menendez told PolitickerNJ.com, noting that the Governor appoints members of the Free Cuba Task Force.  "While it may not be the most popular issue of the day, the Governor will have to appoint the head of the advisory council and charge what its mission should be."

Cuban-born U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York) had another take on Christie's position.

"There are a lot of issues he hasn't thought deeply about," Sires said.

New Jerseyans like their United States Senators, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.  Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has a 47%-38% approval rating, and Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) has an approval rating of 41%-32%.

PASSAIC – A show of force rally Monday on the steps of City Hall featuring U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Hoboken) raising the arm of Mayor Alex Blanco didn’t intimidate city supervisor Vincent Capuana, who’s challenging Blanco in the May 12th election.

“You don’t think Menendez was there to protect that big (legal) contract of his friend, Donald Scarinci?” queried Capuana, a longtime School Board member who lost to Blanco by 200 votes in last year’s special election for mayor.

Scarinci’s firm gets $350,000 annually for the legal work it performs in Passaic. He has had the contract since 1992 and in that time has served the administrations of four mayors. 

“I have not been involved in the campaign or contributed to any candidate,” longtime Menendez backer Scarinci told PolitickerNJ.com.