Stephen Sweeney

BURZICHELLI & RILEY: NJDOT OFFICIALS TO REVIEW ROUTE 49 SAFETY; OFFER IMPROVEMENT PLAN BY MONTH’S END

(BRIDGETON) – Assembly Deputy Speaker John Burzichelli and Assemblywoman Celeste Riley today announced state transportation officials will review the curve on Route 49 at Cohansey Road in Hopewell Township and offer recommendations for improvements by month’s end.

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SWEENEY, BURZICHELLI & RILEY WELCOME COMPLETION OF BOSTWICK LAKE DAM RESTORATION

(THIRD LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT) – Third District legislators Senate Majority Leader Stephen M. Sweeney, Assembly Deputy Speaker John Burzichelli and Assemblywoman Celeste Riley today welcomed completion of the Bostwick Lake dam restoration, deeming it a crucial step toward improved public safety and a stronger economy for the region.

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If Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) is successful in his bid to replace Richard Codey (D-Roseland) as Senate President in November, Senate Democrats will have to decide who will replace Sweeney as Majority Leader.   And if Sweeney challenges Codey and loses, he could face a fight to keep the job he has now.  Either way, there could be a contested race for Senate Majority Leader.

Less than two years ago, Sweeney narrowly won the #2 Senate leadership post, defeating Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) by a 14-9 vote after Bernard Kenney (D-Hoboken) did not seek re-election.  Sarlo had Codey's strong endorsement.

Sweeney won by assembling a coalition of six South Jersey Senators, along with support from Democratic Senators in Middlesex and Union,  and Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City),  Brian Stack (D-Union City), and Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck).  Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) was Sweeney's kingmaker; he helped deliver five votes on the day of the election.

But Sweeney would not necessarily have the same coalition against Codey as he did against Sarlo.  He does not yet have the votes of Cunningham, Stack, Weinberg, and Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge), although Theresa Ruiz (D-Newark) is probably with him.

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Democratic Leaders Call on Christie to Account For $3 Billion In Increases

"Even people who 'critique' for a living need to be truthful"

 
TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Senator Stephen Sweeney (D-Salem) and Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) today called on Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie to detail where he would come up with an additional $3 billion in budget add-ons he proposed on NJN's On The Record with Michael Aron.

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State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) thinks that Gov. Jon Corzine should consider gender in picking a Lieutenant Governor, but not as a top priority.

"I would hope that it is a woman.  I think that since it is a new job it would be another breakthrough for women in the state.  But I don't think that's a basic requirement," she said.

Weinberg said that the three potential candidates that she's heard the most speculation about - state Sens. Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) and Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Trenton) would all bring valuable traits to the job.

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In her bid to win reappointment as President of the Board of Public Utilities, Jeanne Fox received a major endorsement today when Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney said he would support her nomination.  Sweeney's support is a clear signal that South Jersey Democrats will vote for Fox, which likely gives her enough votes to win Senate confirmation despite some opposition from the Republican caucus.

The Senate Judiciary is expected to consider Fox's nomination on Monday.

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Gloucester County Republicans are facing a contested race for the leadership of a party that has not won a countywide election in twelve years, just as gubernatorial and legislative races present a possible opportunity for victory.  If Republicans are to win the race for Governor, they'll need to compete in places like Gloucester, which have voted consistently for Democratic statewide candidates in recent years.  But while Democrats win Gloucester, their margins of victory may not be insurmountable.

Democrats have an edge in voter registration, but 42% of the voters are not affiliated with either party.  Those are similar numbers to Atlantic (45%) and Burlington (41%) counties, where Republicans control the Freeholder boards.   The last Republicans to win a Freeholder races in Gloucester County were Mary Virginia Weber in 1995, and Daniel Mangini and Stephen Atkinson in 1994.

The last Republican victories in Gloucester were in 1997, when Chuck Gill was re-elected Sheriff and James Hogan was elected County Clerk.  Gill did not seek re-election in 2000, and Hogan switched parties before running for re-election in 2002.

2008 was a blowout for Democrats - Barack Obama and Frank Lautenberg carried Gloucester by 17,000 votes, about 55%, and Stephen Sweeney won re-election to his Freeholder seat by 21,000 votes.  Warren Wallace, a Freeholder with a taint of ethical questions, still won re-election by 13,000 votes.  But statewide races have been a bit closer in recent years.  In 2006, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez won Gloucester by just 6,200 votes over Thomas Kean, Jr., even as Democratic Freeholder candidates were winning by 16,000.  In the2005 race for Governor, Jon Corzine beat Doug Forrester there by 8,000 votes while Democrats were winning the Freeholder race by 14,000 votes.

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Bridgeton Council President Celeste Marie Riley is expected to replace Douglas Fisher in the State Assembly next month, according to a Gloucester County Times report.

Fisher was appointed to Gov. Jon Corzine’s cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture.  He will be resigning from the Legislature over the next few weeks, causing Democratic County Committee members in the third district to hold a special election convention to fill the remaining ten months of his term.

Riley, 49, is a fourth grade teacher in Greenwich and was elected Councilwoman in May 2006.  She has a B.A. in Music from LaSalle University.

Because she has the support of the other third district legislators, Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) and Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro), Riley is expected to face few obstacles to win Fisher’s unexpired term, and to be the Democratic nominee for a full term in the 2009 general election.

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Paul Reed, the Salem County Republican Chairman, would like to see his own county - the least populous in New Jersey - get some representation in the state legislature.  But even with Democratic Assemblyman Doug Fisher (D-Bridgeton) set to be nominated as Secretary of Agriculture, no local Republicans have stepped forward yet.

"We haven't had representation in Salem County for a long time, and we need representation up there," said Reed.  "I've asked around and don't have any.  It doesn't mean there won't be anybody who wants to step up between now and April.  I've been looking through the bushes, but I don't have any prospects at this time."

Salem County, with a population of about 65,000, is the only county in the state without a representative in the legislature, and has been since former Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, a Republican, retired in after the 2001 election.  It is located completely in the 3rd Legislative District along with parts of Gloucester and Cumberland Counties.  It makes up about 31 percent of the district's population to Gloucester's 48 percent and Cumberland's 21 percent.

"In my 28 years in the Senate, there was always a representative from Salem.  That's not to say that a representative wouldn't be acceptable from Cumberland - it certainly would have. It just worked out that's the way it was," said former state Sen. Raymond J. Zane, who lost reelection to Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) after switching parties in 2001.  "I don't think it would be a good idea for all three to be from Gloucester County."

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The political fallout over the firing of Rutgers Athletic Director Robert Mulcahy continues.  Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) has introduced SR-111, a Senate resolution calling for the resignation of Richard McCormick as President of Rutgers University. 

Last June, then-Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) introduced AR-145, which "expresses the lack of confidence" in state Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy, and urges her resignation. Read More >