Thomas Paterniti

If Barbara Buono is elected Lt. Governor in November, it will trigger a special election convention to fill her 18th district State Senate seat.  Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-South Plainfield) would be the front runner, although former State Sen. Thomas Paterniti (D-Edison) and lame duck Edison Mayor Jun Choi could also emerge as candidates.  A Diegnan victory would trigger a second special election convention to fill his Assembly seat.

Buono's election as Lt. Governor would also create an opening for the Senate Appropriations Committee chairmanship - a slot that would be filled by the Senate President.  That puts a power committee chair in play during a possible Senate leadership fight.

More important to New Jersey politics if Buono is elected LG: she would immediately become a potential candidate for the 2013 Democratic nomination for Governor, when Jon Corzine would be term-limited out.  And if Corzine were to trade is own lame duck status for a post in the Obama administration (possibly in January 2013, if Barack Obama is re-elected), Buono would become the Governor of New Jersey.

Edison Councilwoman Toni Ricigliano

EDISON – Considering his decision not to screen before local pooh-bahs, Mayor Jun Choi absorbed without emotion the news that the Edison Democratic Party endorsed his primary opponent last Thursday.

Councilwoman Toni Ricigliano will run with the support of former state Sen. Thomas Paterniti’s organization, even as the mayor hopes not only to win reelection running as an independent Democrat, but to recast the party with an army of local committee people also positioned on the June ballot.

“We have built an organization of grassroots citizens who are public-minded, said Choi. “There are no offers of jobs or contracts. We use idealism as the primary reason to serve on the committee, and we are setting up an issues-based organization. We are fundamentally changing the culture of politics in Edison, as an overwhelming number of our members are not municipal employees, and we do not accept contributions from municipal employees. Zero.”

Edison Mayor Jun Choi

****UPDATED 

Mayor Jun Choi once again plans to run against the local machine in the Democratic Primary, as the Edison Democratic Committee will back Councilwoman Toni Ricigliano for mayor in the June Primary, according to veteran Chairman Thomas Paterniti.

Pursuing reelection as mayor of New Jersey’s fifth biggest municipality, Choi did not submit his name to screen before the organization on Friday, which was the deadline - but sources close to the mayor say he has every intention of running with his party in this mostly Democratic town.

An early supporter of Barack Obama’s in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary, Choi went to Washington, D.C. as recently as last month to attend a meeting of the nation’s mayors with the new president. 

Focused on getting re-elected mayor next year, Edison Mayor Jun Choi won’t entertain questions about a 7th District Congressional run in 2010, or about 2011 legislative redistricting.  

“My only interest right now is Edison,” Choi told PolitickerNJ.com. “My only interest is to improve the quality of life for Edison residents and to complete the job we started in Edison. I am committed to running for re-election.”

Choi bucked the organization line nearly four years ago to win as an independent Democrat. Whether or not the party organization gives him a concerted challenge in 2009 is now a question mark, at least according to party brass.   

EDISON - Diners anchor what’s left of the train-track and warehouseEdison Mayor Jun Choi: Politicker file photo girded countryside in this sprawling town, fifth biggest in New Jersey, where Mayor Jun Choi drinks his coffee on a summer morning in one of the more recognizable roadside haunts called the Plaza Diner.

The suit and tie and modest demeanor belie a man restlessly at work, for if Choi was an enigmatic upstart when he hit the scene three years ago, he has built himself into a surging political force, three-fourths of the way into his first term.

"And I’m running again," he says with a smile.

The Edison-raised kid who came from the inner sanctum of Bill Bradley’s machine-bucking 2000 presidential campaign, former state Department of Education wonk, Choi remains the Democratic Party outsider in a party that still does not know quite what to do with him.

Edison Mayor Jun Choi lost a battle yesterday in a war that is still not over.  One week after his slate of Council candidates ousted incumbents in the Democratic primary -- and two years after Choi, running against the Middlesex County Democratic Organization unseated incumbent Mayor George Spadoro -- Choi lost his bid for Democratic Municipal Chairman.  He won just 36% of the vote in his bid to unseat veteran Chairman (and former State Senator, Assemblyman and Mayor) Thomas Paterniti.