Stephanie Bush-Baskette

As I reflect upon the passing of Robert "Bob" "Bookie" Brown, I am reminded of the numerous ways in which our paths overlapped.

I first knew Bob as the older brother of an East Orange High School schoolmate, Rudy.  Years later, I knew him as a fellow attorney when we both practiced law in Essex County.  Subsequently, when I entered the New Jersey State Legislature, Bob was Mayor Brown of Orange, one of the towns within the district I represented. A few years later, Bob was my legislative colleague as he too, was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly for the 27th district. We spent many hours sitting next to each other in the chambers of the General Assembly.

The New Jersey Democratic State Committee will need to hold a special election to fill the vacant Democratic National Committeewoman post left vacant yesterday when Stephanie Bush-Baskette resigned to take a seat on the state Ethics Commission.  The party has not yet scheduled a date for the election, and the DNC is not expected to meet again until January.

Bush-Baskette, a former Assemblywoman and state Community Affairs Commissioner, won the job on August 13.  She defeated incumbent Christine "Roz" Samuels, one of the first superdelegates to switch from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. At the time, a Democratic official says that Samuels' defeat was unrelated to her defection to Obama in a state where most of the party leadership lined up behind Clinton. Sources say that the DNC seat traditionally goes to Essex, and Democratic County Chairman Phil Thigpen decided today to replace Samuels with Bush-Baskette.

One of the gripes some members of the state political elite have with Gov. Jon Corzine is that politically he can be a bit tone deaf.  Here's an example: yesterday, Corzine announced a rather bold, potentially historic proposal for campaign finance reform, taking on those so-called party bosses and special interest groups. Then later in the day, he quitely nominated a new member of the state Ethics Commission: newly-elected Democratic National Committeewoman Stephanie Bush-Baskette, a former Assemblywoman from East Orange and state Community Affairs Commissioner.  She now works (albeit part-time) at Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader, a politically active law firm that is registered to lobby state government.  The highly regarded Bush-Baskette also runs an urban policy center at Rutgers University, which has numerous overlaps with state government.

(Editor's note: Bush-Baskette, who defeated Roz Samuels for the DNC seat in July and took office a few weeks ago, resigned her seat yesterday, just prior to Corzine's announcement.)

This week's Winners & Losers: Click here.

Superdelegate Roz Samuels, who switched from Clinton to Obama, lost re-election as a Democratic National Committeewoman tonight
A Democratic National Committeewoman who was one of the first superdelegates to switch from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama was defeated for re-election tonight. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee replaced Christine "Roz" Samuels with Stephanie Bush-Baskette, a former Assemblywoman from Essex County.

A Democratic official says that Samuels' defeat was unrelated to her defection to Obama in a state where most of the party leadership lined up behind Clinton. Sources say that the DNC seat traditionally goes to Essex, and Democratic County Chairman Phil Thigpen decided today to replace Samuels with Bush-Baskette.

Citing comments former President Bill Clinton made about Obama, Samuels dropped her support of Clinton just after she won the February 5 New Jersey primary. A week later, she endorsed Obama. Samuels, a state NAACP Executive Board member, is a former Newark Teachers' Union, Local 481 official.

Another Clinton supporter, attorney Joseph DeCotiis, did not seek reelection as a National Committeeman. He was replaced by Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who had endorsed Clinton. Two other incumbents who backed Clinton, June Fisher and Tonio Burgos, were re-elected.