In race for Speaker, Greenstein jumps from Wisniewski to the neutral corner

The race for Assembly Speaker is causing political headaches for Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro),  who will  steer clear of an endorsement until her own re-election campaign is over.  On Friday, Middlesex County Democratic Chairman Joseph Spicuzzo announced that the entire Middlesex Democratic Assembly delegation would back John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) for Speaker.  That put Greenstein, a five-term Democratic lawmaker from Middlesex, in hot water with Mercer County Democrats, who are backing Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) for the post.  Greenstein's district is evenly divided between Middlesex and Mercer.

Spicuzzo's announcement that Greenstein was backing Wisniewski upset Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, who is backing Watson Coleman.  Hughes convinced Greenstein to back off her pledge to Spicuzzo and remain comfortably on the sidelines.    For Wisniewski, it means that a campaign that was just hours old already had a defection.

This is bad news for Watson Coleman, who was assuming the support of Greenstein and hoping for the backing of Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton).  With African American legislators sidelined as another candidate, Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) mulls a bid for Speaker, all Watson Coleman really has at this point is one vote from her running mate, Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton), and her own. 

There are relatively few competitive legislative districts, and some pundits think it's fair for Rob Calabro and Bill Harvey, the GOP Assembly candidates in District 14, to push Greenstein and DeAngelo to disclose their preferences in the race for Speaker.  DeAngelo also has close ties to a third potential Speaker candidate, Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who is a favorite of some labor organizations.

Essex County Democratic Chairman Philip Thigpen says that he expects Richard Codey (D-Roseland) to get four votes out of Essex in his bid for re-election as Senate President, but stopped short of formally committing votes the way Spicuzzo did.  Most analysts view Ronald Rice (D-Newark) as solidly for Codey, and most say that Nia Gill (D-Montclair) is a likely Codey supporter, even though she now enjoys a lucrative no-bid legal services contract with Essex County.   The worry for Codey is that Newark political leader Stephen Adubato, who has considerable influence over Essex County government, might pressure Gill and deliver Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark).  Codey and Adubato have had a rocky political relationship over the last few years, and Adubato is counted as a top political ally of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross.  Norcross is supporting Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) for Senate President.