Steven Rothman

Michele Dilorgi will assume the post of District Director for U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) on Thursday.  She will replace Kevin Donnelly, who is becoming the Legislative Director for U.S. Rep. Phil Hare (D-Illinois).

Three former District Directors for Rothman have moved on to successful political careers: Adam Zellner held top posts in Gov. Jon Corzine's administration; Brendan Gill was the campaign manager for Frank Lautenberg's 2008 re-election campaign; and Michael Soliman is U.S. Senator Bob Menendez's State Director.

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The massive number of new appointments being processed by the White House has the vetting process a little backed up.  That has caused a delay in President Barack Obama's formal nomination of Paul Fishman as New Jersey's new U.S. Attorney.  Because he has won endorsements from U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, Fishman has the job.  But Obama won't nominate him until the vetting is done, and he must still compete with other nominees waiting to be confirmed on a busy Senate calendar.  In the meantime, Ralph Marra, Jr. will continue to serve as Acting U.S. Attorney.

Also delayed is the appointment of a new U.S. Marshal to replace Republican James Plousis.  Lautenberg and Menendez have not yet made a recommendation to the White House, and that is where the process begins.  The candidates in that race are the same: Samuel Plumeri, the Director of the Port Authority Police and a former Mercer County Sheriff, and Gov. Jon Corzine's choice; Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire, who has the backing of U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman (D-Fair Lawn); and Bergen County Freeholder Director Tomas Padilla, who is also a Hackensack policeman.

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Cash on hand for candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from New Jersey.

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Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes may be stepping down after his term expires, but he is still expected to play a major role in the upcoming election.

"I would be shocked if there was not a Democratic primary. I would not object to that," said Councilman Scott Reddin, an adversary of Wildes who so far is the only declared candidate for mayor.

Politics in this ethnically diverse and heavily Democratic city of 26,000 have been driven over the last six years by the rivalry between the headline-generating Wildes, a fundraising powerhouse who has been candid that he aspires to higher office and who has been a key ally of former county Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, and his adversaries, who hold a 4-1 majority on the council.

For his mayoral bid, Reddin has the support of fellow council members Charlotte Bennett Schoen, Ken Rosenzweig and Gordon Johnson, who is also a state assemblyman (Johnson ran in 2006 to take out Wildes-backed incumbent Vernon Walton, and will not seek reelection this year).  The other councilman, Jack Drakeford, is aligned with Wildes.

Reddin said that, if elected, he would govern with a much more low-key style than Wildes. Read More >

Five New Jersey Congressmen helped secure earmarks for clients of a Washington defense lobbying firm while receiving campaign contributions from their PAC or employees, according to a review by Congressional Quarterly.  The firm, The PMA Group, is closing their lobbying practice after allegations that their founder funneled donations through bogus donors.  The earmarks were in the 2008 defense appropriations law, and the contributions are since 2001.

Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding) collected $29,129 in campaign contributions, and is credited with a solo earmark of $2.5 million and assisting with another $4.8 million earmark.  Steven Rothman (D-Englewood) is credited with securing a solo earmark of $800,000 and helping with other earmarks worth $.24 million.  He has received $4,000 in campaign contributions since 2001.  Frelinghuysen and Rothman both serve on the House Appropriations Committee.

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Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, who announced on Friday that he will not seek re-election to a third term this year, has over $1 million in a federal campaign account.  He's been waiting for a chance to run for Congress with the same intensity that U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman has been positioning himself to run statewide. 

One option for Wildes, who is a fundraising machine, would be to push state Democratic leaders to move Englewood - and maybe some other more Democrat-friendly towns - into the fifth district after the 2010 census.  That could set up a race between Wildes and conservative U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) in 2012.

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In a letter to New Jersey's two United States Senators, U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman today endorsed Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire for U.S. Marshal.  This is significant because Rothman has chosen McGuire over another candidate for the post, Bergen County Freeholder Director Tomas Padilla.  It will be hard for Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez to ignore the Rothman endorsement since he is the Democratic Congressman from Bergen County. 

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Joshua DuBois, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell), will run the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The 26-year-old Minister, who completed graduate school at Princeton University, directed the religious outreach program for the Obama campaign during the 2008 cycle.

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The New Jersey House delegation voted along party lines in support of President Barack Obama’s $89 billion economic stimulus package.  New Jersey’s eight Democratic Congressmen voted yes, while the five Republicans voted no.

 

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Seeking an opportunity to run for statewide office, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) secured the public endorsement of the newly-elected Bergen County Democratic Chairman Michael Kasparian last night, but U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) may have one-upped him.  Tonight, Pallone is hosting a fundraiser for Governor Jon Corzine's re-election campaign.   The event is at the home of former state Commerce Secretary Virginia Bauer, and sources say that Pallone personally raised over $100,000 for Corzine. 

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