Doria will head DCA
By EditorState Sen. Joseph Doria will be appointed Commissioner of Community Affairs today, according to sources close to Gov. Jon Corzine. Doria will resign from the Senate and as Mayor of Bayonne.
Doria will succeed Susan Bass Levin, who is the new Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The 61-year-old Democrat was elected to the Assembly in 1979 and served as Assembly Speaker from 1990 to 1992 and as Minority Leader from 1992 to 2002. Caught up in an intra-party feud, he lost his bid for re-election in the 2003 Democratic primary. Following the death of State Sen. Glenn Cunningham in 2004, he won a Special Election Convention for the State Senate.
Doria announced earlier this year that he would not run again for the Senate. His expected successor, Sandra Bolden Cunningham, will likely go the Senate early -- as soon as Doria departs.
The appointment of Doria to Corzine's cabinet has been rumored for months. The timing now allows Doria's allies who control the Bayonne City Council to appoint a new Mayor who will serve until next May. Had Doria resigned last week, there would have been a November 2007 Special Election.
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senator sandy
I can't wait to see what she can do!!
Sorry, that should read: I can wait to see what she can't do.
Another Hudson County embarassment.
God bless and good luck to
God bless and good luck to Joe Doria. The Legislature's loss is the administration's HUGE gain. A-1 move by Corzine.
Watch for Joe to expand his portfolio beyond municipal issues and become the de facto legislative liaison for the administration. If that happens, the Corzine administration will see its legislative agenda take off like it never has before.
In fact, it will easily be the strongest legislative relations since Dick Codey or Donnie D were sitting in the acting governor's seat.
New suggestion on how to fix the double dipping problem.
New suggestion on how to fix the double dipping problem...
Since state law apparently does not allow state Executive branch appointees to hold other office, Corzine should just appoint all double-dippers out there to his cabinet.
BAYONNE CELEBRATES
Doria's appointment to the State DCA comes as great news to Bayonne's residents. Barely winning last year's municipal election, the Mayor has sent Bayonne into a 50 million dollar deficit. Clearly he had worn out his welcome in Bayonne and had he not left there would have been a movement to recall him. There's dancing in the streets today in Bayonne.
Deja vu
This will be the second time that a male former Assembly speaker from Bayonne has been appointed to succeed a female former mayor as Commissioner of Community Affairs, the first time being Brendan Byrne's appointment of Joe LeFante to succeed Pat Sheehan.
Business As Usual
Day 608 of the Corzine Administration and we're still waiting for it to not conduct it's business as usual. Let's see, Pension Padding - check; Hush Money - check; One-shot Budget Gimmicks - check. It goes on and on, just as it always has.
Ain't nobody dancing
Back to your Jersey City Hole, Hawk. You clearly aren't up on what's going on in Bayonne
Dr. Doria will be an excellent Commissioner of DCA
Joe Doria brings all the necessary experience and the skills to this post. He is a very bright guy who understands government at the local and state level. He will be an excellent advocate for municipal officials in Trenton. We should all wish him luck in his new post and thank him for his leadership in the legislature.
Doria is surely qualified to
Doria is surely qualified to lead DCA. I'm glad he's finally decided to give up the local politics of Bayonne, that stuff is beneath him, and has been for some time. I'm glad he finally realized it.
Northern Light Are you Kidding?
Bayonne residents see Bayonne's "loss" as Bayonne's gain. The editors of this site should do a random poll. The results will be stunning. If Doria didn't leave, chances are he would have been recalled for fiscal mismanagement. Believe me, Northern Light, every Bayonne resident I know is glad that he'll be gone. The message to the Senate that has to ratify him? PLEASE DO SO!
Doria wanted the big pension boost.
Hard to read much more into this other than a fat salary for a guy who has spent most of his life in elective office. He was a terrible Speaker and really has no record to speak of in the legislature. His tenure as Mayor of Bayonne is mediocre at best and his days were numbered politically anyway so a safe landing at DCA seems to make sense for the pension....
Who else would hire him?
He couldn't even get the job they tried to rig for him at Ramapo.
Joe Doria is a poster child for everything voters dislike about the Democratic Party. He's a career tax raising liberal ideologue who can't even deliver his own town in a primary. He's seeing his options for a pension boost fading fast as it becomes apparent that Corzine is a one-termer. Being run out of Bayonne on a rail, he has no place to go.
This job is an act of charity to someone who has been nothing but an embarassment to the Democrats. The Doria appointment is the "Peter Principle" in action and as was the case in 1991, Doria will once again occupy a high profile position where he can remind everybody why Democrats were hiding him for years. You'll see.
I agree... pension boost all the way
This is like the elephant... er.. donkey coming to die in the graveyard. He can spend his last three years drawing down a large salary, tacked together with the Board of Ed Job, and the Rutgers gig. This will give him the larges possible pension. And one has to wonder what his payoff was for getting the Legislation passed to get the Medicaid program to buy Liberty Health the "New" Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC). I love how the old JCMC was too dilapidated to renovate, so it was sold for a buck. Then miraculously it was turned to condos selling for several hundred grand each. And now they describe it as one of the last great art deco structures in Jersey City. I hope in this new job Sen. Doria won't be handling too many real estate ventures for the State. We can't afford it!
Not Surprising
I appreciate Doria's backing Manzo in the primary, but thats about it. He is completely overrrated in terms of accomplishment, and Bayonne has been in a free fall since he took office. He saw the writing on the wall and he took the easy way out. So now does Sandra become Senator early?? Yikes!
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Typical John Corzine politics. It's time for Johnny boy to start following his own edicts. Stop the pension padding, stop corruption, stop political patronage, stop this, stop that, etc. Apparently it's only meant for everyone except the Governor himself ! Good leaders do the right things. Start leading by example, John !
DORIA is the right person for the job
Congratulations to Joe Doria. His experience, knowledge and wisdom will be a major advantage for the Corzine administration. He is one of the brightest stars ever produced by Hudson County. His honor and integrity remain intact. Our state will certainly benefit by his continued service in this new role.
Doria is a Product of Machine Politics Who Would Be........
.....better off led out to pasture.
He surely has enough to retire on and to lead a very comfortable life for the rest of his days. It's not just about the money with these guys; they are addicted to power and need to hold on til the day they die.
What make s me laugh is all the Republicans who criticize the situation; but are too chicken to come out in favor of REAL campaign finance reform that would truly drain the swamp of the dirty money "contributions". 100% public campaign finance would solve most of our problems by giving us a real democracy in which public servants actually served the public......instead of serving up the public on a platter to be eaten by the rich "contributors" who feast on the life's blood of decent human beings.
The ideological differences between the two parties pale in significance when you realize that BOTH are "on the take" in NJ.
It's an ongoing game of "good cop bad cop" and the perennial victim is the population of decent people in NJ. The crooks and liars make out like bandits...because that's what they are: bandits.
From Frederick Douglass
Pasture
Nick, finally a letter I can agree with you! Doria is nothing more than a professional leech sucking the blood of the taxpayer.
Doria to DCA
Keep it up Gov! You may be the best friend the Republicans have. Pile on the cronies! More I say, more!
Doria
Congrats to Doria. good choice.