Wilfredo Caraballo

Supporters of marriage equality say they have 19 votes in the Senate and 39 in the Assembly – two votes short of passing a same sex marriage law – and are “thrilled, strategically” that legislative leaders have decided not to post the bill during the lame duck session, according to an e-mail sent by Garden State Equality President Steven Goldstein and obtained by PolitickerNJ.com. Goldstein says his organization’s focus in lame duck is on hate crimes legislation.

CARABALLO: BIPARTISAN DEATH PENALTY REPEAL
'BASED ON FACTS, NOT POLITICS'

(NEWARK) - Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Newark) - sponsor of legislation (A-3716) to replace New Jersey's unused death penalty with life imprisonment without possibility of parole - issued the following statement in response to a press conference held earlier today by Senator Gerald Cardinale:

Anne Milgram is going to be busy in the first district.

Just before state Senator Nicholas Asselta and his Assembly running mates were scheduled to hold a press conference asking the Attorney General to investigate Democratic wheeling of campaign funds in the first district in 2005, Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore Wilfredo Caraballo called on Milgram to investigate whether first district Republicans transferred money between their own campaign accounts to circumvent contribution limits.

The Republicans seized on a Tuesday investigative report from the Press of Atlantic City that showed the Camden County Democratic Committee circumventing campaign contribution caps two years ago by donating $400,000 to the Cape May Democratic Organization, which then went directly to an ad blitz in the Philadelphia television market on behalf of the Assembly campaigns of Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano.

Mark Alexander, fired this week as the national Policy Director of Barack Obama's campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, is among the more popular professors at Seton Hall Law School, according to the website ratemyprofessors.com.

Alexander was given a consolation prize -- he'll be Obama's campaign manager in New Jersey.  One interesting test to see if Alexander is really running the campaign: will he resume teaching at the law school in Janaury, a month before the New Jersey primary.

There was a time when South Orange was the center of the political universe in Essex County.  The small village of 16,000 people had more than its fair share of public and party offices: Peter Shapiro, who was elected to the State Assembly in 1975 (at age 23) and Essex County Executive in 1978; John Cryan, an Assemblyman from 1964 to 1968 and the Essex County Sheriff from 1968 to 1980; Harry Lerner, the longtime Essex County Democratic Chairman who was the party boss from the late 1960's until his retirement in 1979 (following Shapiro win over his candidate, Cryan, in the '78 Democratic County Executive primary); Martin Greenberg, who won State Senate races in 1973 and 1977; Larrie West Stalks, the Essex County Register from 1974 to 1989 and the sister of Newark powerhouse Calvin West; and Harry McEnroe, who served as an Essex County Freeholder and as an Assemblyman from 1980 to 1996.  Wilfredo Caraballo was a South Orange resident when he replaced McEnroe in the Assembly in the 1995 election, but moved to the North Ward of Newark in time for the 2001 legislative redistricting, when South Orange became part of Richard Codey's district instead. 

First-term Orange Councilman Ed Marable, Jr., on the ballot as an Independent Assembly candidate against Mims Hackett in the 27th district, says he is the best candidate in the race -- "regardless of what happens to Mims."

The Orange native, a self-described Independent Democrat, said he filed for the Assembly in June out of a sense of frustration over Hackett's concentration of power.  He said he was frustrated by the Essex Democratic Organization's decision to withdraw support for Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo's re-election.

Newark City Councilman Luis Quintana
There’s a school in the schoolhouse and a school in the street, and though the lessons of one may contradict those of the other, these institutions possess a common cause and effect: in order to graduate, a student must prove to his teacher that he has mastered the material.

The eighth grade class of the Robert Treat Academy confirmed their book knowledge when last Friday evening they received their diplomas, a large number of which contained the words "with honors."

But on the streets, in the general election academy of door pounding and vote grabbing, graduation day arrives later, in a colder season, and some never get there - though Nov. 6th comes and goes.

These lessons go back many years in Newark, and for years there have been many students and one master.

LEGISLATURE CLEARS STANLEY/CARABALLO/POU/VAN DREW BILL
OVERHAULING SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AGENCY
Legislation Would Dismantle Current Schools Construction Corporation,
Enact Reforms to Protect Against Wasteful Spending

(TRENTON) - Legislation to dismantle the troubled Schools Construction Corporation (SCC) and enact a series of structural reforms to restore confidence in the state's efforts to provide New Jersey students with modern school buildings was passed today by the Assembly.

CARABALLO/BURZICHELLI BILL RAISING PENALTIES FOR GAS PIPELINE VIOLATIONS PASSES SENATE

(TRENTON) -- Legislation Assemblymen Wilfredo Caraballo and John Burzichelli sponsored to enhance the safety of residents who live near natural gas pipelines passed today in the state Senate.

STANLEY/CARABALLO/POU/VAN DREW BILL OVERHAULING
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AGENCY CLEARS ASSEMBLY PANEL
Legislation Would Dismantle Current Schools Construction Corporation,
Enact Reforms to Protect Against Wasteful Spending

(TRENTON) - Legislation to dismantle the troubled Schools Construction Corporation (SCC) and enact a series of structural reforms to restore confidence in the state's efforts to provide New Jersey students with modern school buildings was released today by an Assembly Committee.