Stephen Sweeney

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), who will return to the Senate next year after losing her bid for Lt. Governor, has committed to supporting State Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) for Senate President, Democratic source say.  Weinberg becomes the 15th Democratic Senator out of 23 to back Sweeney in his bid to unseat the incumbent, Richard Codey (D-Roseland). 

In the third district, which has been largely ignored by state Republicans after their preferred candidates were defeated in the GOP primary, two daily newspapers have endorsed Republican challenger Dr. Robert Villare for State Assembly over the newly-elected incumbent, Celeste Riley (D-Bridgeton).

The Gloucester County Times and the Courier-Post today endorsed Villare, a surgeon, over Riley, who won a special election convention earlier this year after Douglas Fisher resigned his Assembly seat to become state Secretary of Agriculture.

Both newspapers are backing a Democrat, five-term incumbent John Burzichelli, for re-election.

The GCT says that Villare "would be an asset to the Legislature as it copes with coming real-world health care changes in Washington."

"Unabashedly conservative, Villare's views are unlikely to dominate the Assembly, no matter how the statewide results go next Tuesday. But anti-tax, anti-big-spending policies aren't given sufficient voice in Trenton, and their loudest advocates often can't be taken seriously," the editorial said.  "In contrast, Villare's measured comments, for example, against excessive state school aid for urban ‘Abbott' districts could influence this debate going forward"

Burzichelli, the GCT said, has "some difficulty moving good ideas through both houses," and as Mayor of Paulsboro, he is a dual officeholder.  But "at least Burzichelli thinks about this stuff coherently, which is more than can be said for some of his Trenton colleagues" and says he is too competent a lawmaker to remove him" because he holds two elective offices.

"Riley shows genuine interest in solving socio-economic problems that are pronounced in her part of the district, and would provide good constituent service. But Villare is the more dynamic newcomer and deserves a shot," the editorial said.  "The other Republican in the race, Lee Lucas of Gibbstown, has been disowned by his own party's leadership. He wears this as a badge of courage, but GOP leaders are right to reject his extreme survival-of-the-fittest views. Voters should, too."

The Courier-Post is less worried about Burzichelli's ability to move legislation through the Senate, now that his running mate, State Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) is poised to become the new Senate President.

The Senate Democratic Majority, the leadership PAC headed by Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) has $968,000 cash on hand.  If Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) defeats Codey for the post - he has public commitments from 14 of 23 Democratic Senators - he will take control of the leadership PAC.  So here's the question: will Codey hand nearly $1 million over to Sweeney, or will he spend it before he leaves office?

New Jersey law would allow Codey to contribute all of it to his own campaign account.

Publicly, Senate Republicans are saying they have voted to support Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) for Senate President, but privately it became clear in a private meeting of the GOP caucus today that there is no support for any deal to help Richard Codey (D-Roseland) forge a bi-partisan coalition to win re-election as Senate President.  Indeed, more than half of the seventeen Republican Senators seem to prefer Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), the current Majority Leader, sources say.

Kean was unopposed for re-election as the Senate Republican Leader.  Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Oxford), who ousted an incumbent in the Republican primary last June and is the likely winner in next month's special election for an unexpired term, participated in the Republican meeting. (He abstained on the vote for Kean.)  Joseph Adolf, the Republican Senate candidate in the District 6 special election, was not invited to attend the Senate GOP reorganization meeting and strategy session.  Few Republicans expect Adolf to oust incumbent James Beach (D-Voorhees).

The Senate Republican caucus is meeting at 9AM this morning in Trenton.  On the agenda: the upcoming lame duck legislative session, and the battle for Senate President between Democrats Richard Codey (D-Roseland) and Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford).  Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) said last Friday that he has not closed the door on a deal to keep Codey in power; he has said that he wants the seventeen Republican Senators to vote as a block.  Kean is expected to hear from at least six GOP Senators that a deal to re-elect Codey is not an option.  Senate Minority Whip Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove), Sweeney's unofficial emissary to the Republican caucus, is expected to oppose any effort by Republicans to interfere with the Democratic leadership contests.

Secretary of the Senate Ellen Davenport (D-Maplewood), a political ally of Senate President Richard Codey

On the most likely to be unemployed list for 2010: Secretary of the Senate Ellen Davenport.  With the likelihood that Richard Codey (D-Roseland) will not return as Senate President, it look like Davenport, a close Codey ally who served as Mayor of Maplewood and as an Essex County Freeholder, will be a casualty of Codey's leadership fight with Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford).  The job pays $81,000-a-year, and the post traditionally changes along with the leadership.  Davenport, 67, got the job after Democrats won control of the Senate in 2003.

The Assembly Clerk is Dana Burley, a 44-year-old Camden City Councilwoman.  The retirement of her political patron, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), puts her at some risk.  But unlike the Senate, there is no real change of control in the lower house.  If Essex Democrats claim the $90,000-a-year position (as Camden did when Roberts succeeded Albio Sires in 2006 and named Burley), Burley won't have a problem finding a new gig; South Jersey Democrats are ruling the world these days, and Burley is a member of that organization.

Two State Senators who have remained loyal to Richard Codey (D-Roseland) are likely nearing the end of the legislative careers, according to several Democratic insiders.  As a white man representing a district where Latinos and African Americans outnumber whites, John Girgenti (D-Hawthorne) has been at risk of losing party support for the last few years.  Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Paterson) asked Passaic County Democrats to consider her for the Senate in 2007, but party leaders backed the re-election of the 62-year-old Hawthorne Democrat who has been in the Legislature since 1977.  Latino leaders have been eyeing the 35th district Senate seat as their best opportunity to double their representation in the upper house – from one to two.

Girgenti could either lose party support for another term in the Senate, or mapmakers – if Democrats were to dominate legislative redistricting – could offer him the chance run in a new district, perhaps against Senate Minority Whip Kevin O’Toole (R-Cedar Grove).

Some Democrats say the retirement of Senate President Pro-Tempore Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) could come sooner rather than later.  If Gov. Jon Corzine wins a second term, Turner – no favorite of the front office – could be offered another post in an effort to clear a path for Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) to go to the Senate.  Watson Coleman, popular with Democrats, appears to have gotten the short end of the stick in a legislative leadership deal that will make Sheila Oliver (D-Ewing) the next Assembly Speaker and Joseph Cryan (D-Union) the new Majority Leader.  Watson Coleman is also a contender for a cabinet post in a second Corzine administration. 

If Turner completes her turn and Watson Coleman remains in the Assembly, there is a good chance that Turner will get nudged into retirement in two years so that Watson Coleman can move up to the Senate then.

The Rev. Reginald Jackson, the Executive Director of the Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey, has endorsed Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for Assembly Speaker, according to a Star-Ledger report.  The only other candidate in the race is Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), who is also African American.

At a news conference to announce his support, Oliver denied that there was any deal that linked her candidacy for Speaker to the campaign of Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) for Senate President.

"The Senate does what the Senate does and the General Assembly does what the General Assembly does. There is no trade-off," the Star-Ledger reported Oliver as saying.

And Jackson denied speculation that Oliver was a pawn in a political chess game being played by George Norcross, Stephen Adubato and other state Democratic leaders.

"We have heard rumors that she will be controlled by other folk.  The Sheila Oliver that we know will not be controlled or told what to do, but will do what is best for the citizens of New Jersey, Jackson said.

Last week, Oliver told PolitickerNJ.com that she is the "most independent person ever elected."

Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) says he has not closed the door to making a deal that could deliver seventeen Republican Senators to help re-elect Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland).  The problem for Kean is that his caucus is sharply divided over the race for Senate President, and it would be difficult for Kean to deliver the seventeen GOP Senators as a block for either Codey or Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford).  Sweeney already has commitments from fourteen of 23 Democratic Senators, so he really doesn't need to make a deal with Kean. 

What's more, Sweeney is believed to have at least seven votes from the Republican side.  Kean can't make a deal if more than one-third of his caucus seeks to stop him.

Sweeney's biggest threat to becoming Senate President could be the election of Republican Christopher Christie as Governor.  If Christie, as Governor-elect, wants to play in legislative leadership contests, he could make a compelling argument to Republican Senators to support him. But Christie might have little interest in making Codey, already popular with real voters from his fourteen months as Governor, the most visible Democrat in the state.  Instead, he might need to capitalize on the rift between Codey and Sweeney and the possibility that some Senators could be motivated by spite.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker needed to do some damage control yesterday after taking heat for his endorsement of Richard Codey (D-Roseland) in the race for Senate President.  Booker, at the urging of two lawyers who advise him, Elnardo Webster and Paul Fader, backed Codey after Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) had already announced he had a majority of the Democratic Senate Caucus on his side.   That caused some Democrats close to Sweeney - especially George Norcross - to offer Booker a bit of friendly guidance.  (It's fair to assume that the advice included strategic assumptions for the 2013 Democratic gubernatorial primary.)  Booker, realizing Webster and Fader might have screwed up a bit, put out a statement late in the day acknowledging Sweeney's victory over Codey, and endorsing Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for Speaker.  That probably made Norcross happy, but it won't be any consolation to Codey, who thought announcing a Booker endorsement a few hours earlier might be his salvation.