BlueJersey.com*
April 1, 2014
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 1st,
3rd and 12th 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 12th 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 3rd,
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 12th, 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.”
*
This intended-to-be humorous column appeared on April 1, 2014
on Blue Jersey.com under the byline of
Harry Hoffman
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