Robert Smith

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson remains the leading candidate to become Jon Corzine's Chief of Staff when Bradley Abelow leaves.  Speculation of Abelow's departure has persistsed for the last six months, but sources close to the administration say the former Goldman Sachs partner will most certainly be gone by the end of the year.  Democratic insiders say that Maggie Moran, Corzine's politically savvy Deputy Chief of Staff for the last four years (and State Director when he was in the Senate) will leave state government to become manage the Governor's re-election campaign. 

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Middlesex County Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Spicuzzo said he will award the organization line to the winners of the March 5 party convention – including U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

“I am bound by the decisions made by our Democratic committeemen and committeewomen during that nominating convention,” said Spicuzzo. “I am aware, of course, that there is a significant difference of opinion being expressed by several of our party leaders. However, at least during the years of my chairmanship, we have awarded the line and its slogan, ‘Middlesex County Democratic Organization,’ to those winners.”

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Updated: Two State Senators from Middlesex County, Robert Smith and Barbara Buono, have endorsed Rob Andrews for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.  A third Senator, Joseph Vitale, is expected to join them.

"We have the privilege of representing the people of Middlesex County and know their concerns well.  We respect the service of Senator Frank Lautenberg in all respects.  After consulting with our communities and carefully considering the options, we have concluded that New Jersey and the country need new leadership and thus we will support your campaign for the United States Senate," Smith and Buono wrote in a letter to Andrews.

"While effectively serving your congressional district, you have always remained dedicated to all New Jersey residents, especially when it comes to issues such as education, healthcare, the environment and the interests of our seniors.  Your unique knowledge of such a broad range of issues facing New Jersey and the country is truly invaluable, which makes you a great candidate to serve the entire state of New Jersey,"  the Senator said.  "Your record as a legislator and your unwavering commitment to the residents of New Jersey over the past 18 years has earned you the respect of residents throughout the state.  We believe it is time to give the voters of New Jersey a choice in this year's primary, and thus we want to make public our endorsement for your candidacy to seek the Democratic nomination for United States Senate.  We are proud to stand with you in a positive, substantive campaign to change New Jerse  and the nation for the better."

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One possible candidate for the open Middlesex County Freeholder seat is Piscataway Councilwoman Millie Scott.  If elected, she would become the first African American to serve on the Middlesex Board of Freeholders.  Four-term Freeholder Camille Fernicola, who spent fifteen years as a Piscataway Councilwoman before winning countywide office, announced yesterday that she would not seek re-election.  Some Middlesex insiders view this as the Piscataway seat, and say that Scott – an ally of State Senator Robert Smith – is a strong contender.

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Former Assemblywoman Angela Perun died last week at the age of 85. She was elected to the Plainfield City Council in 1977 and to the State Assembly in 1981, representing the 17th district, which included New Brunswick, Piscataway and Highland Park. When Middlesex County Democrats dumped her from their ticket in 1985, she switched parties and sought a third term as a Republican. She was defeated, narrowly, by Democrat Robert Smith.

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Good thing I’m not a betting person.

If you’ve been reading the Gannett dailies over the last couple months, the odds-on favorites would be this year’s legislative challengers.

That’s what we’ve been led to believe by the investigative reports exposing incumbents, headlines calling for reform, and the editorials lamenting the need for new faces. Read More >

In politics, timing is everything, and few politicians had the timing and perennially tough campaigns of Democrat William Halstead Sutphin. Republicans had been trying to unseat Sutphin for twelve years -- often coming close but never able to win. Sutphin had been elected Mayor of Matawan in 1914 at age 27 and quit after less than two years to serve in the military during World War I. He returned to politics in 1926 as a candidate for Mayor and in 1930 ran for the open House seat vacated when two-term Republican Harold Hoffman (who was elected Governor in 1934) gave up his seat to become state Motor Vehicles Commissioner. Back then, the old third congressional district included all of Monmouth and Ocean counties and part of Middlesex County. This was the mid-term election of Republican President Herbert Hoover and in the midst of the Great Depression, the 43-year-old Sutphin defeated Republican Thomas Gopsill, a 35-year-old four-term Assemblyman and Red Bank Commissioner (and the grandson of former Jersey City Mayor James Gopsill) by a 51%-49% margin. Read More >

Paul (Daniels) Danielczyk lost to five-term Rep. Bernard Dwyer by just 5,598 votes, 51%-46%.Few pundits give Republican Paul (Daniels) Danielczyk much of a chance in his campaign for a State Assembly seat in the heavily Democratic 19th district against incumbents John Wisniewski and Joseph Vas. That must be frustrating for Danielczyk, who would have been a Congressman if his own party had given him even a tiny bit of support.

Back in 1990, newly-elected Governor Jim Florio raised taxes by $2.8 billion, and neither party anticipated that voters would take out their frustration with Florio on Democratic candidates for Congress. Bill Bradley, the popular two-term Democratic U.S. Senator, almost lost his seat to former Public Utilities Commission President Christine Todd Whitman -- the 50%-47% margin was almost entirely a backlash against Florio.

That year, the 37-year-old Danielczyk nearly upset five-term Democratic Congressman Bernard Dwyer. He lost by only 5,598 votes (51%-46%), and spent just $8,887 on his campaign

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A bid to return to public office did not go well for octogenerian former Assemblywoman Angela Perun: she won just 19% of the vote in a bid for a return to the Plainfield City Council earlier this month. Perun had served as a Councilwoman from 1978 to 1981 and as an Assemblywoman from 1981 to 1985. In 1985, Democrats denied her party support for a third term (they backed Piscataway Mayor -- now State Senator -- Robert Smith instead). After switching parties, she just narrowly lost her re-election bid as a Republican.

Still, her 19% is more than double the 8% former four-term State Senator Joseph Bubba received in his 2004 bid for a seat on the Pompano Beach, Florida City Commission.

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There is considerable speculation among Democrats that State Senator Frederick Madden will not seek re-election to a second term in 2007 and that Assemblyman Paul Moriarty will run for the fourth district Senate seat.

Madden, a former Acting State Police Superintendent, entered politics in 2003 when he defeated GOP incumbent George Geist by just 63 votes out of more than 41,000 cast in one of the most expensive legislative campaigns in state history.

Some insiders believe that Geist, now a state Administrative Law Judge, is actively mulling a possible bid for his old seat. Sources say that Geist, who served in the Legislature from 1992 to 2004, could be the beneficiary of a coalition of labor unions and North Jersey Democrats who are offering to raise money for a Geist campaign.

Moriarty, a former consumer affairs reporter for a Philadelphia network television station, entered politics in 2004 when he upset incumbent Washington Township Mayor Randee Davidson in the Democratic primary. He won an Assembly seat in 2005 when incumbent Robert Smith declined to seek re-election.

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