Wayne Smith

February 1, 2008 - 4:27am

The battle beneath the Clinton-Obama battle

By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

Lionel Leach and Jackie Teel, working the phones in Clinton HQ in NewarkWhen Sen. Ronald Rice and North Ward Democratic Party boss Steve Adubato find themselves in the same political foxhole, something is either amiss, or it’s a presidential election year.

In certain company, the lead-up to Tuesday’s historic Democratic Primary contest looks like some incidental skirmish in Newark with here-today, gone-tomorrow alliances, played out as a backdrop to that more fervent chess war between local rivals angling for the real epic of some area city council and freeholder races later this year.

Lionel Leach, Rice’s former campaign field director, serves as spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton in her campaign’s week-and-a-half old Broad Street headquarters, even as North Ward Democratic Organization campaign firebrand Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz continues to steel the Latino vote for Clinton in rallies statewide. On the heels of his own family fight with Adubato, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne also intends to do some campaigning for Clinton this weekend.

College not ready to withdraw offer of Hackett lecture

By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

At the first class of Politics 107 this morning at Essex County College, some of the students chuckled when they read the list politician guest lecturers slated to speak to the municipal government class over the course of the semester.

“One of these dudes is going to jail,” said Klon Julu, a 27-year-old Political Science major from Newark, after taking a look at the syllabus.

Indeed, one of the several mayors slated to speak at the experimental class this semester was Mims Hackett, the recently arrested Orange mayor and, as of this afternoon, former Assemblyman.