State Budget - Wally Edge - A pass for Stender?

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Published by Wally Edge on PoliticsNJ, Friday, July 7, 2006

Lining up for a budget pass

The budget deal between Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts and Governor Jon Corzine could potentially exempt eight Democratic legislators in the lower house who are anxious to avoid a vote supporting a sales tax increase. Jefferson Van Drew and Nelson Albano in the first district, James Whelan in the second, Michael Panter in the twelfth, and Linda Greenstein in the fourteenth -- all Democrats with potentially competitive races for re-election next year -- appear to be the leading contenders for the first five slots. The sixth pass will probably go to Linda Stender, a Union County Democrat who is running for Congress this year against Republican Michael Ferguson. Democratic sources say that John Burzichelli and Douglas Fisher in the third, Paul Moriarty and David Mayer in the fourth, and Frederick Scalera and Gary Schaer in the 36th will likely compete for the last two slots.

Editor's Note: Schaer says that he and Scalera plan to vote for the budget and have "never asked" for a pass.

Posted by Wally Edge on July 7, 2006 07:44 AM |

http://politics.nexcess.net/insideedge/2006/07/lining_up_for_a_budget_pass.html

COMMENTS

"If they are anxious about supporting a tax hike they should vote NO. There are no passes in government. If they don't vote there will be fallout.

Posted by: Marion Morrison [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 7, 2006 08:27 AM
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don't forget Bob Gordon and Joan Voss in the 38th with all that retail in Paramus and Edgewater.

By the way if Corzine wants to look like a conservative he can just point to the absurd tax increase in Passaic County, where a freeholder candidate per day keeps the electorate astray.

Posted by: PaulieWalnuts [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 7, 2006 08:37 AM
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I agree with Wally on the top five slots. However, I'm not sure about Stender. For some reason I think the party establishment is aware that all 13 incumbents (I'll count congressman-elect Sires as one) are pretty much unbeatable and Dems will not forfeit a needed vote to help someone with a long-shot congressional bid.

Posted by: ShoreGuy [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 7, 2006 09:54 AM
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Van Drew may get a pass on the budget but many in his neck fo the woods will not soon forget he was party to allowing the Casinos to shut down for Roberts' political and personal gain and then failed to stop his Democrat collegues from killing his bill to "essentalize" casino control enforcment employees and allow them back to work. Ouch! Doctor. That has to feel like drilling without novocain.

Posted by: gVinnie [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 7, 2006 11:17 AM
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Schaer & Scalera are too politically ignorant to realize the consequences of voting for the sales tax hike.

Both of them seem to ignore the fact they represent a district that is nearly 60% Bergen County.

Does Scalera think he's going to get another free pass in 2007? Does he think the tax weary citizens of Nutley already getting clobbered with a revaluation will be sympathetic to Freddy's political dilemma?

The Republicans run two Bergen candidates of stature and we have a race. Add opposition to Xanadu and this becomes a horse race. Neither Scalera or Schaer have any presence in Bergen. They have no relationship with the locals in any of those towns.

Wake up and take the pass gentlemen....

Posted by: NJDem [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 7, 2006 02:11 PM
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you can insist all you want that this was a personal agenda for norcross or roberts, but you are really missing the point. south jersey is just a different place. it's more fiscally conservative. taxes are a bigger deal. that's why you still see sweeney saying he's against the agreement, even though he respects it. that's why van drew has beat the daylights out of the republicans every time by running (and governing) to the right of them on taxes. the agenda is fighting tax increases, and it's the agenda of the people he represents, not the power brokers. he will not be punished for fighting that good fight.

a doctor doesn't need the novacaine until others sell out that philosophy for their own personal or political agenda.

Posted by: MoreCommonSense [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 7, 2006 03:24 PM
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South Jersey Democrats represent far more rural and suburban residents. You can't control the legislature with the delegations of Hudson, Essex, Union and Middlesex.

Roberts didn't lose anything. He tried to protect Corzine from this politically assisted suicide.

Corzine looks ridiculous in this whole mess with his out-of-state yuppie advisors driving his administration off a cliff.

Corzine benefits by having less Democrats in the legislature. He wants to make the Republicans relevant so he isn't beholden legislatively to Norcross, Menendez, et al...

If Kean wins, it will be this shutdown that puts him over the top. Even T2 isn't dumb enough to screw the pooch. All he has to do is vote no on the sales tax and budget and remind people how Menendez praised this budget as responsible.

Posted by: NJDem [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 7, 2006 04:44 PM
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