Norcross to Run in Three Districts; Move May Be Unprecedented

In a surprise development, Senate President Steve Sweeney announced late yesterday that party chairs in seven counties spanning three Congressional districts are endorsing State Senator Donald Norcross in the June primary. The unusual united front appears to make Norcross the favorite to be the Democratic nominee for Congress in the 1^st, 3^rd and 12^th districts.

While Norcross had been widely considered likely to capture the 1st district seat left open by the resignation of Rob Andrews, few observers had given him much of a chance in the 3rd or the 12^th where Congressmen Jon Runyon and Rush Holt are not seeking re-election.

Sweeney told reporters that the Norcross unity ticket would help the Democrats mount a more effective campaign to pick up the Runyon seat while also holding the Andrews and Holt seats. “With New Jersey’s media market being the way it is,” noted the Senate leader, “any advertising we aim at Mercer or Middlesex Counties is also going to be seen by voters in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Ocean and Somerset.” He added, “Why waste the voters’ time watching ads for candidates they won’t find on their ballots?”

The announcement immediately raised cries of foul play from Democrats who have been campaigning in the other two districts. Aimee Belgard, the Burlington County Freeholder who until yesterday had been considered the frontrunner in the 3^rd, called the Sweeney statement “a heavy-handed action that would ensure – whether by design or not – that New Jersey’s delegation remains entirely male.”

Meanwhile, the three legislators running in the 12^th, while careful not to speak ill of Sweeney who many see as a possible candidate for governor in 2017, were quick to criticize the plan. “I have no problem with coordinated campaigns,” said Upendra Chivukula, the Somerset County Assemblyman, “but when it is coordinated behind just one person, that is political bossism at its worst.”

Bonnie Watson Coleman, the Assembly member from Mercer County, agreed adding that, “This is exactly the type of abuse of power that gave us Bridgegate and also is the kind of dual office holding New Jersey no longer allows.”

That concern was echoed by the other legislator in the race, State Senator Linda Greenstein, who said to a hastily assembled crowd of supporters that, “Actually, it was my bill back in 2007 that made dual office-holding illegal in New Jersey. As a lawyer”, she added, “I can tell you this law applies just as much to jobs in Washington as it does to those based in Trenton.”

The validity of the charge by Watson Coleman and Greenstein was not immediately clear with longtime political observers offering a variety of views. Interviewed on NJTV News, Brigid Harrison from Montclair University said, “Bonnie and Linda may have a good point on the dual office holding prohibition,” but Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club issued a press release saying that he would need time to determine Norcross’ view on the Keystone pipeline before endorsing “any one or more” candidates.

Most state officials were unavailable for comment but Joe Donahue, deputy director of the Election Law Enforcement Commission, agreed that New Jersey law definitely restricts people from holding two different offices. He cautioned, however, that the statute may not necessarily apply to someone holding three offices, particularly if they are “essentially the same post.”  Noting his previous experience as a journalist, Donahue cautioned, “Even in New Jersey, I have never seen the word ‘dual’ used to mean three.”