July 28, 2008 - 9:37am
News

If Ferriero wants it, he'll just take it

If Gary Schaer runs for Mayor of Passaic and wins, he would need to resign from the State Assembly seat he’s held since 2006.  District 36 Democrats would hold a special election convention in November to fill the remaining fourteen months of his term.   This would not be a seamless transition:  Passaic County Democrats will view this as their seat; indeed Schaer would likely weigh in on the selection of a successor – probably someone from his own local political organization or even (in an effort to unite the city behind his new administration) pick one of the unsuccessful mayoral candidates.

But the majority of County Committee seats in the 36th belong to Bergen County, which has no candidates in the 36th next year (State Sen. Paul Sarlo is not up for re-election, and Assemblyman Frederick Scalera is from Essex County).  If Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero decides he wants the seat, there won’t be much Passaic County Democrats can do about it.

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.

Comments

The Ferriero time bomb is ticking


After the FBI is finished with the Duke  Ferriero he maybe sharing a cell with the plumber of Paramus. The only seat that he will want to hold on to is the seat of his pants.

07/28/08 10:18 am

that doesn't make any sense


the seat of his pants??

07/28/08 10:51 am

Says who Schaer needs to resign?


The state looks upon municipal elections and elected offices, especially those old Faulkner municipalities, as Mayor/Council are the same position, since some towns appoint their mayor from the council. NJ ELEC views it this way also.

There is a good chance legally, if Schaer runs for mayor, he may not have to resign his legislative seat, but may do so for public relation reasons.

The City of Passaic with it's Democratic base, was what pulled the Legislative Democratic candidates through tight races in the past few cycles, it wouldn't be a good strategy to pull an assembly seat from the City.

07/28/08 12:02 pm

The seat belongs in Bergen.


Historically, two of three legislative seats in 36 came from Bergen when the district was merged with Passaic in 1981 to keep Joe Hirkala in the state senate.

Nutley has no place at the table. There are several good candidates from Bergen who could step-in tomorrow.

No one in Bergen is going to work hard in this environment to keep the seat in Passaic.

Vote Column - All the way!

07/28/08 1:05 pm

What's Wally smoking?


He honestly thinks that Pascrell & Currie will let that blowhard name a person of his choosing! Things are not looking good for Ferriero these days and the odds for him to come out of the Christie investigation unscathed are becoming longer by the day.

07/28/08 9:23 pm