Ronald Rice

N.J. AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech with top Democrats in 2002.: Now that he's feuding with the Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, he couldn't get on a stage like that today.
When you pick the wrong horse in a harsh political battle, paybacks in politics are often extraordinarily difficult.  That’s what New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech is finding out, now that he is “persona non grata” with Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts and the extended Roberts political organization. 

The Star-Ledger’s The Auditor had an important report on the Roberts/Wowknech feud last Sunday, and since that print version of that column sometimes differs from the online version, here are some excerpts worth noting, especially considering the players involved:

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When the state Senate pasAFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanechsed paid family leave today by a vote of 22-16, AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech admitted he felt a particular sense of satisfaction after a hard, 12-year trudge.

"We're exhausted, but we're very happy," said Wowkanech, whose outfit numbers 1 million strong in New Jersey, and who remembers first trying to float the idea of paid family leave over a decade ago.

What the Senate passed today was a bill that enables employees to pay into a fund that would allow them to receive compensation while taking up to six weeks off from work to care for their own health or the health of a relative. According to the bill, "an amount not to exceed $25 million may be transferred from the state's temporary disability fund to the new account to support start-up costs." The program is designed to run on the monies employees pay into the funds, which amounts to about $33 apiece annually.

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He's not one of the legislative black caucus’s “Nubian queens” that state Sen. Ronald Rice referred to last week, but Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer is said to be highly interested in becoming the state’s first Lieutenant Governor in 2010.

Standing at the poll watch party for Hillary Clinton last night in Edison, Palmer was careful with his choice of words when asked whether he was interested in the position.

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• In New Jersey’s February 5 primary, John McCain is the front runner, while Barack Obama has closed the gap on Hillary Clinton.  Obama and McCain are both in New Jersey on Monday, and Bill Clinton was here this week.  Dick Codey endorsed Obama. 
• Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin says he’ll allow people who voted for a candidate who dropped out to vote again.
• Rob Andrews and Jon Corzine like Bob Menendez for Vice President.
• Tom Kean, Jr. endorsed Leonard Lance for Congress, while Jon Bramnick and Eric Munoz are for Kelly Hatfield.  And this is a strange one: Michael Illions is backing Kate Whitman.
• Burlington Democrats say John Comegno should resign as Chairman of the Bridge Commission after being arrested for DWI.
• In case you missed it, Matt Friedman had a great story on Jim Saxton’s first run for Congress in 1984. And Max Pizaro’s story on the similarities between 1968 and 2008 is a must-read.
• Quote of the Week: “Bonnie Watson Coleman’s a good choice. So is Nia Gill. So is Shirley Turner. So are all the other Legislative Black Caucus Nubian queens.” – State Sen. Ronald Rice, on who Jon Corzine should pick for Lieutenant Governor in 2009.
• And PolitickerNJ.com celebrated our 8th birthday on February 1.

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Gov. Jon Corzine likes the idea of Bob Menendez running for Vice President
Gov. Jon Corzine said that he’s not involved with Hillary Clinton’s potential choices for Vice President. But he thinks Bob Menendez would be a good one.

“First of all, it would be a great choice, but I have no idea. I’m not involved in that,” said Corzine before boarding a train that whisked him down to Washington, DC for the Chamber of Commerce’s Walk on Washington. “Clearly Bob has played a meaningful role in the national campaign because of his leadership of Hispanics for Mrs. Clinton, and he’s an able spokesperson on any of the issues he speaks out about.”

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However maverick the man, there is a respectful progression in politics for those who have been in the system long enough to call themselves survivors.

So when young self-declared reformers appear on the political stage out of nowhere promising to deliver a better governance, the older generation often can’t help but view them skeptically. What’s the personal worth in the end of going through all of the battles if one cannot finally possess and celebrate some wisdom that comes from experience?

At age 75, Stephen Adubato Sr. continues to accumulate political allies by working both sides of the aisle and carefully engaging in battles that he can win. His organization captured Sharpe James’ State Senate seat (with Teresa Ruiz, a key lieutenant), he took out Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (as he promised to do in 2006), picked up an Assembly seat (the one held by Bill Payne), and he continues to secure enormous funding for his power base, Newark’s North Ward Cultural Center. Adubato’s electoral success in 2007 was extraordinary, even as Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s candidate lost a race to Ron Rice.

Adubato is well-liked by New Jersey’s Governor and two U.S. Senators, has influence over Booker, and exercises substantial clout over the Essex County Hall of Records and the Newark City Council. He talks to just about every powerbroker in New Jersey. And this year, when he announced his support of Hillary Clinton for President, his endorsement was viewed as important enough to make Hotline, one of the nation’s most important political publications.

And while he’s a Democrat, Adubato has cultivated close relationships with key Republicans, like U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson, and State Senators-elect Bill Baroni and Kevin O’Toole.

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Donald Payne, the only African American to ever represent New Jersey in the U.S. Congress, announced his support of Hillary Clinton for President on New Year’s Day.  Payne’s endorsement is noteworthy because Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has not yet committed to backing Payne for re-election to an eleventh term, is one of Barack Obama’s leading supporters in New Jersey.  If Clinton carries Newark in the February 5 New Jersey primary, it could be viewed as Booker’s second loss in eight months (the first was Ronald Rice’s victory in the District 28 State Senate primary; Rice is a Clinton supporter.)

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Michelle Obama speaks to voters in New Hampshire
MANCHESTER, NH - Compared to Jersey, it’s edge of the world country.

Snow-capped Monadnock in the distance between Manchester and Keene sends a wordless message that the human hurly burly is but a small piece of the action. A headline in the Union-Leader tells of a hunter who’s still lost after several days and the sense is this is commonplace in New Hampshire. Human star power that blows through on the way to the presidency has nothing on the constancy of the hills, and the mountain.

Today the student center crawls with Secret Service personnel at Keene College, where kids bundled into backpacks and ballcaps trudge from edifice to noble edifice in the dreadful cold.

The students prepare to hear from Michelle Obama, the 43-year old wife of the presidential candidate, who’s leading in Iowa over Sen. Hillary Clinton by a four-point margin, and trailing her by six points in New Hampshire, according to Washington Post/ABC News polls. When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1991, he wore out his voice calling for change. Now he’s the institutional old sage and his wife is the political insider, while Obama the upstart calls for change, and his wife amplifies the message.

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Maverick state Sen. Ronald Rice is going with the establishment pick for president in the 2008 election.

"I'm looking forward to supporting Hillary Clinton," the Newark lawmaker told PolitickerNJ.com.

That puts him in a camp with old rivals Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and North Ward boss Steve Adubato, and pitted against Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the senator's son, West Ward Councilman Ron Rice, Jr., both Barack Obama supporters. A key Rice ally, Sen. President Richard Codey, supports the presidential candidacy of Sen. John Edwards. Read More >