Wayne Bryant

The good news for Democrats is that someone finally took a shot at the most likely Republican candidate for Governor in 2009.  The bad news is that the criticism came from Wayne Bryant's lawyer.

Carl Poplar, a veteran player in South Jersey Democratic politics, told The Star-Ledger that he believed U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie was targeting Bryant for "political reasons," and has asked a federal judge to hear his arguments to determine if the longtime State Senator from Camden County was the victim of "selective prosecution."

Democrats in Atlantic City, clearly nervous about the impact of AWOL Mayor Robert Levy on the fall campaigns for State Senate, Assembly and County Executive, want Governor Jon "Zero Tolerance" Corzine to get involved -- perhaps, it has been suggested, find a way to remove Levy from office.  But if Corzine did that, wouldn't he need to be held accountable for removing a resume embellesher with an unspecified illness while being unwilling to call for the immediate ouster of other indicted officials, like State Senators Sharpe James and Wayne Bryant, and Mayors Mims Hackett and Sammy Rivera?

MCCULLOUGH FOR SENATE

POLISTINA AND AMODEO FOR ASSEMBLY

McCullough,Amodeo,& Polistina: Indicted Bryant Safe from Whelan's Resignation Demands 

           (Atlantic County, NJ) When Assemblyman Jim Whelan was mayor of Atlantic City, his Administration awarded more than $400,000 in no-bid contracts to the Camden law firm of State Sen. Wayne Bryant, “a plausible explanation for why Whelan has failed to call for the indicted Sen. Bryant to resign from the Senate,” the Atlantic County Republican legislative team said today.

(VINELAND, September 7) -- Senator Nick Asselta -- responding to Democrat Jeff Van Drew’s demand that his fellow Democratic Assemblymen Al Steele and Mims Hackett resign their offices in the wake of their indictments yesterday by a federal grand jury -- today declared Van Drew’s call for their resignation nothing more than political showmanship, and pointed to Van Drew’s failure to call in March (or April, or May, or June, or July, or August, or earlier this month, for that matter) for the resignation of indicted Democratic Senator Wayne Bryant

12th District Republican candidates Jennifer Beck, Declan O’Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande today called for the 11 public officials indicted on federal charges by U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to resign immediately from their offices, saying that despite a presumption of innocence they would not be able to do their jobs effectively with a cloud of suspicion hanging over their heads.

Four legislators have been indicted this year on federal corruption charges, and a fifth has been told he is the target of a federal probe.

CHARGED: State Sen. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden); State Sen. Sharpe James (D-Essex); Assemblyman Alfred Steele (D-Passaic); Assemblyman Mims Hackett (D-Essex).

TARGETED: State Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D-Bergen)

SUBPOENAED: State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union); Assemblyman Robert Gordon (D-Bergen); Assemblywoman Joan Voss (D-Bergen); Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Brian Stack (D-Hudson)

UNCLEAR: U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez

PoliticsNJ.com is pleased to bring back an old favorite: Oink! Oink

Don't expect the State Senate to meet very often this fall, since the Democratic majority could have a problem mustering enough votes to pass a bill without Republican support.  Of the 22 Democratic Senators -- a bill needs 21 votes to pass -- Wayne Bryant and Sharpe James, both under federal criminal indictment, could miss some votes, and it will be months before Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny, seriously injured in a mysterious July 18 accident, will be able to return to Trenton.  All three are retiring this year.

Assemblyman William Payne has played the race card, suggesting that Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan's call for Sharpe James' resignation from the State Senate was an insult to African Americans may be a little unfair.  Cryan, who has a strong record of supporting minority candidates for public office, also asked that indicted State Senator Wayne Bryant step down, and that he be replaced by the Democratic nominee, Dana Redd. Bryant and Redd are African-American. 

And in the 29th district, Cryan wants James to be replaced by the winner of the Democratic primary, Teresa Ruiz, who would become the first Latina in the Senate, and just the second Hispanic in state history.  Payne's problem is that he is running against Ruiz as an Independent and would prefer that she not gain the advantages of incumbency.

Assemblyman William Payne said he was "disturbed by the intrusion" of State Democratic Chairman Joseph Cryan into the state Senate race in the 29th district when Cryan last week called for indicted state Sen. Sharpe James to stand down.

"That Joe Cryan had the nerve to suggest Teresa Ruiz be appointed to that position," said Payne, "how dare he. The very fact that he would make such a statement tells me he has no regard for African-American voters. I think this state chairman has his head in the sand."