Sharpe James

Two prominent New Jersey politicians who were convicted on federal corruption charges last year are still sitting on huge war chests.  Sharpe James, a former Newark Mayor and State Senator, has $1,161,398 in his old campaign account, while former Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Wayne Bryant has $597,021.  Both accounts have been largely untouched since their criminal convictions.

The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission turned down Bryant's request to use campaign funds for his legal defense.  Former State Sen. Joseph Coniglio, whose corruption trial begins next month, had used some of his campaign funds for legal expenses prior to the ELEC ruling.  Coniglio has $16,358 in his account.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker

NEWARK – Television star Oprah Winfrey’s decision this month to drop a $500,000 gift on Steve Adubato’s North Ward Center effectively stamps out the fuse on a standoff between the North Ward Democratic leader and Winfrey confidante Mayor Cory Booker, in a resolution that underscores the political strengths of the two main combatants.

If Adubato, native Newarker and a grizzled guru now in his seventies, proved his relevance by waging a war in the streets and alleys he has known since childhood, Booker the Bergen County outsider turned Newark activist and statewide star, proved his manna from Heaven connections. 

And the community won in the end, according to sources from both camps, as Adubato’s Blue Ribbon charter school, the Robert Treat Academy - whose students consistently rate higher math and science test scores than students in schools in all of urban New Jersey and all of Essex County - stands to get an unprecedented infusion of funds.

The contribution came with a back story.  

For almost as long as Booker’s been in office, Adubato poked, prodded, cajoled, and chest-thumped in the face of the young star’s particular power, and now sources close to the North Ward leader say he intends to endorse the first term mayor for reelection next year.

It’s been an odd relationship.

Regardless of the outcome of the game of political musical chairs in the 28th legislative district, where two incumbents and a former Assemblyman are posturing for two spots on the Democratic line, look for the mostly white, blue collar towns of Belleville and Bloomfield to be split away from Newark and Irvington when a new map is drawn after next year's census.

The 28th was supposed to be one of the voting rights districts that protected minority representation in the Legislature when it was drawn in 2001.  The incumbents at the time were three African Americans: State Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark) and Assemblymen Donald Tucker (D-Newark) and Craig Stanley (D-Irvington). 

If Caputo holds his seat this year, it makes a defense of the current district under the Voting Rights Act more difficult.

Belleville, which was in the old 36th district, and Bloomfield, part of the old 34th district, were mostly represented by Republican legislators before the towns were moved in to the new 28th.  Rice beat GOP Assemblywoman Marion Crecco (R-Bloomfield) by a 69%-30% margin in 2001.

But Belleville and Bloomfield, which was estimated to have a combined population of 79,816 last year, have proven to be a greater force in Essex County politics than the redistricting commission imagined.  In 2007, Essex Democrats backed Ralph Caputo, a white Freeholder who served as a Republican Assemblyman from 1968 to 1972, to run for the Assembly.  Caputo and Cleopatra Tucker, whose late husband held the seat until his death in 2005, unseated two incumbents, Stanley and Oadline Truitt (D-Newark). 

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie will enter the race for Governor today.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is expected to announce today that he intends to seek the Republican nomination for Governor.  Christie will file formal papers with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Christie, 46, served as New Jersey’s federal prosecutor from 2002 to 2008, where he led a virtual war on political corruption.  His convictions included former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, former Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Wayne Bryant, and Essex County Executive James Treffinger.

  To view a larger version of this cartoon, click here.

To view a larger version of this cartoon, click here.

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Central Ward Councilman-elect Charles Bell

NEWARK - Charles Bell, the former councilman who on Nov. 4th beat Eddie Osborne to succeed ousted Central Ward Councilwoman Dana Rone, will be sworn into office at City Hall this evening.

In part with the financial backing of former Mayor Sharpe James, Bell defeated Osborne, the candidate endorsed by Mayor Cory Booker.

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. 

Central Ward Council candidate Charles Bell

NEWARK – The demonstration of sheer labor power behind Central Ward council candidate Eddie Osborne sent a tremor through the allies of Charles Bell.

But now that darkness has fallen over the city, Bell says his people command the streets and they’re working hard up until the end.

“All of Eddie’s union help climbed back into their buses and skipped town,” said Bell, a former councilman, who’s running with the support North Ward Councilman Steve Adubato, state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), and former Mayor Sharpe James.

It's tough to stump Steve Adubato, Sr. on political trivia, especially when the question is about Newark politics.  And The Inside Edge should have know better than to ask him to name the last Mayor of Newark to run statewide.  Adubato had no trouble coming up with the name of Vincent Murphy, who was the Democratic candidate for Governor in 1943; Murphy lost to Republican Walter Edge by nearly 147,000 votes.  (Murphy lost his bid for re-election to a third term as Mayor in 1949, and served as President of the New Jersey AFL-CIO from 1961 to 1970.)  

Adubato told PolitickerNJ.com's Max Pizarro that "no Mayor of Newark ever succeeded statewide. They either went to jail or oblivion."  He's right.

Look at Theodore Frelinghuysen, a member of one of New Jersey's premier political families.  Frelinghuysen was elected to the U.S. Senate (on his second try) in 1828, at age 41, but lost his bid for re-election six years later.  In 1837, he won a two-year term as Mayor of Newark -- the last election he would ever win. Frelinghuysen, the great-great-great-uncle of U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelyinghuysen, was the Whig candidate for Vice President on Henry Clay's ticket in 1844 and lost to Democrats James Polk and George Dallas -- although the did carry New Jersey, with 50.5% of the vote.

New reports indicate Sharpe James is directing political contributions from his jail cell. Kean and Baroni are preparing legislation that will ban politicians convicted of corruption from using their campaign accounts to influence elections or public policy in New Jersey.