The race for the Chutzpah of the Day Award was called prematurely for Samantha Gordon; the real winner has to be State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence), who has introduced a resolution urging the president and Congress to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” policy on gay military personnel just one month after voting against a bill that would allow same sex marriage in New Jersey.  Turner is trying to appeal to progressive Democrats who have threatened a primary challenge when she seeks re-election next year. 

The Chutzpah of the Day award goes to Samantha Gordon, who issued a statement today slamming national Republicans for raising money from Wall Street to fund their 2010 congressional races.  Gordon is the state director of Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee; before that she worked for Jon Corzine, who spent $130 million of a fortune made as chairman of Goldman Sachs running for public office.

Organizing for America (OFA) will open a New Jersey headquarters in New Brunswick on Saturday.  The OFA State Director is Samantha Gordon, a former aide to Gov. Jon Corzine.  The group is a project of the Democratic National Committee formed to continue the grassroots network formed in the state by Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.  Gordon is charged with building support for Obama's agenda, including health care reform.

Organizing for America (OFA), a Democratic National Committee project aimed at continuing the grass roots network developed during Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign has hired two full-time operatives to work in New Jersey during the 2009 campaign.  Samantha Gordon, a former special assistant to Gov. Jon Corzine, will serve as New Jersey State Director, and Rob Dible, who was a regional field director for Obama in northeast Missouri, will serve as New Jersey Field Director.

Among statehouse insiders, there is still considerable buzz over the reassignment of Governor Jon Corzine's traveling aide, Samantha Gordon, to a different front office position. Gordon was with Corzine when he was seriously injured in an April high speed car crash; her injuries were not severe.

Two things make this story unlikely to go away anytime soon: the Governor's office refuses any explanation of Gordon's status, which came just as Trooper Robert Rasinski, who was driving the Governor's car, resumed his role with the Executive Protection Unit; and the involvement of Corzine friend/fixer Nancy Dunlap.

Gawker.com reports that Gov. Jon Corzine has reassigned aide Samantha Gordon:

What do you get the employee who survives a brutal high-speed accident with you? Well, New Jersey governor Jon Corzine may be retaining the same driver who was behind the wheel during his vicious crack-up back in April, as the AP says—but he won't retain the traveling companions. We hear Samantha Gordon, the Huma to his Hillary, his mid-20s body woman who emerged largely unscathed from the crash, has been reassigned from her job. In the crash, Corzine was supposedly in the front seat, and not wearing a seatbelt, unlike his primary aide Ms. Gordon, who, though also not wearing a seat belt, was in the back seat alone. Ms. Gordon did not return a phone call this afternoon. Sounds like a rough deal to us.