Gerald Cardinale

The feud between Republican State Senator Gerald Cardinale and Democratic Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney continues.   Today, McNerney wrote a Letter to the Editor published in The Record that slams the nine-term Senator for his opposition to regionalization of local government.  “If ignorance of constituents’ concerns paid dividends,” McNerney wrote, then Cardinale “would be a billionaire.”

Cardinale is using senatorial courtesy to block McNerney’s appointment to the Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization and Consolidation Commission.  Governor Jon Corzine has named McNerney to the panel twice, but Cardinale refuses to allow his confirmation.  According to The Record’s Charles Stile, Cardinale thinks McNerney will “simply rubber stamp… recommendations to merge smaller towns with larger ones.”  McNerney wants to merge as many as 35 Bergen municipalities that have less than 10,000 residents.

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John Rooney, the longest serving member of the New Jersey State Assembly, has not yet made a decision about seeking re-election to a fifteenth term in 2009.  The 69-year-old Bergen County Republican has been battling some health issues lately, and hinted last year that he might not run again.  Rooney also faces the threat of a contested GOP primary now that Republicans who have been at odds with him in recent years control the county organization.

Rooney was first elected to the Assembly in 1983, when he won a special election to replace Joan Wright.  Wright became Director of the state Division of Women under Governor Thomas Kean.

If Rooney retires, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts would become the senior member of the State Assembly.  Roberts won an Assembly seat in a 1987 special election following the death of Francis Gorman.

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TRENTON – Members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee this evening responded favorably to news that state Sen. President Richard Codey (D-Essex) is poised to name state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) as committee chairman.

No one expressed any concern that Sarlo, an engineer by trade – lacks legal training.

“Paul’s an able guy and he’s been in the senate several years now,” said state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth). “He will bring a non-attorney’s perspective, which I think will be refreshing to many. I would urge Paul to take our institutional responsibility seriously, that we should not be and the people expect us not to be, a rubber stamp for the executive branch, despite the fact that governor and majority party are the same party.”

In terms of Sarlo’s close relationship with Codey, whom critics of the senate president regard as a control freak, Kyrillos said, “That’s not news.”

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TRENTON - Emerging from passing six bills, part of a larger, nine-bill $245 million economic recovery plan championed by Gov. Jon Corzine - senators in both parties agreed that the work today represents only a small part of what’s required. 

Predictably, Democrats and some dissenting Republicans diverged starkly on fundamentals, with key GOP reps doubtful about enabling government to work as a problem solver, and Democrats digging in to take another big crack at the problem with that all-purpose tool: government.

“I think today New Jersey took a step in the right direction,” said state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), whose EDA Main Street Assistance bill dishes $50 million to help jumpstart small businesses. “We recognize this needs to be solved on the national level. But although a lot of Republicans talked, many of them came with us in the end.”

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There's no question that 5th District congressional candidate Dennis Shulman is benefiting from a national environment that favors Democrats.  But in his native Bergen County, which holds about 65% of the district's voters, he's faced with what could be a less hospitable environment for his party.

Last month, Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero was indicted on eight corruption counts.  So was the less-known but extremely influential general counsel of the party, Dennis Oury.  The investigation continues, with subpoenas continuing to land in towns and agencies across the county, and Republicans think they actually have a shot at picking up at least one freeholder seat on the all-Democratic board.

Ferriero did endorse Shulman in the primary against attorney Camille Abate, which led to him getting the coveted organization line.  But while the Democratic brand in Bergen may be tarnished, Shulman may be lucky to not be tied too closely with it.  In fact, he said it's never been raised once to him by a constituent on the campaign trail.

"Not a single person I've spoken to throughout the district, when I go to the fairs or football games... have ever referred to it. My race is a national race with national issues," he said. Read More >

State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest) is so upset about what he sees as a lenient sentence for former Newark Mayor and State Senator Sharpe James that he’s fired off a letter to the editor of every daily newspaper in the state.

On Tuesday, James was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and fined $100,000.

Cardinale’s letter contains some criticism of U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini, a former Republican Congressman who presided over the trial and sentencing of James. Cardinale said staffers toned down more pointed criticism of the judge.

“It’s struck me that (Martini) has become an enabler, even an apologist for this culture of corruption,” he said in a phone interview.

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The Senate and Assembly both passed laws disbanding and reforming the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards earlier this year.  But so far, only two of the new committee’s eight seats have been filled.

That’s because it’s hard to find people interested or eligible to serve, according to Rick Wright, executive director of the Assembly Republicans.

“We are going to make appointments, but like everyone else we’re having a hard time finding people,” he said.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards has been widely considered a joke for most of its existence.  It averaged one sanction against a legislator every 10 years during its nearly four decade lifespan.  Meanwhile, filing toothless complaints with the committee became standard fare during the legislative campaign season, when candidates or their allies would file a complaint against an opponent and then issue press releases trumpeting it.

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A week before former Newark Mayor (and state senator) Sharpe James is scheduled to to be sentenced in federal court, five state senators are requesting the maximum sentencing.

"We implore you," state senators Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), Gerald Cardinale (R-Begen), Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), and Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex), said in a co-authored letter sent this morning to U.S. District Judge William Martini.

"I was surprised to see Sharpe James's attorney advocating for lesser sentencing," said Beck. "This is a mayor who openly abused his power in office. We are at a low point in terms of public trust, and if citizens don't believe in their public officials it erodes our ability to administer our democracy."

According to the Star-Ledger, James's attorneys plan to meet with Martini on Wednesday to urge him to impose far less than a decade in prison on the 72-year old former mayor, who was convicted earlier this year on corruption charges.

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Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) won't vote "yes" for budget unless he can get passed $3.9 billion for schools construction. 

TRENTON - The vote on the budget today is expected to go along party lines in the Assembly, which means Democrats have the numbers to pass a $32.9 billion document over the objections of a Republican minority.

For at least one key legislator on the Senate side, however, his "aye" vote for the budget hinges on whether the governing body approves $3.9 in borrowing for schools construction in mostly poor school districts.

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The confusion over who gets to vote at tomorrow night’s election for Bergen County Republican Chairman appears to have ended.

State Sen. Gerald Cardinale will not sue the Bergen County Republican Organization to force it to restrict voting at tomorrow night’s chairmanship runoff to only those who voted last Tuesday.

Cardinale said that Ortiz never had the authority to declare that voting would be open to all county committee members – a responsibility that belongs to the BCRO’s election committee. The committee had previously ruled for restricting tomorrow night’s ballot. Election Commissioner Patricia DiCostanzo even sent a letter informing county committee men and women that only those who voted last Tuesday could vote tomorrow.

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