Mildred Barry Hughes

October 13, 2008 - 10:12pm

Rinaldo won 28 of 29 elections

By Wally Edge

Republicans have held the 7th district House seat since 1956, when Florence Dwyer, an Assemblywoman from Elizabeth, unseated two-term Democrat Harrison Williams.  Matthew Rinaldo, who passed away on Monday at age 77, occupied the seat for twenty years.  Now, with the retirement of Michael Ferguson, Democrats are slightly favored to win the seat in a contest between Assemblywoman Linda Stender and her GOP rival, State Sen. Leonard Lance.

Rinaldo began his political career in 1962 when he won a seat on the Union County Board of Freeholders.  When he ran for re-election to a second term in 1965, he lost narrowly (the initial tally, before the recount, said just one vote) to Arthur Fried, a Democratic Councilman from Westfield.  He came back two years later, defeating State Sen. Mildred Barry Hughes, the first woman to serve in the New Jersey State Senate, by 10,657 votes -- a 57%-43% margin.  When he ran for re-election in 1971, Rinaldo ran more than 16,000 votes ahead of his running mate, Frank McDermott, and more than 25,000 votes ahead of his nearest Democratic rival.

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June 12, 2008 - 8:58am

A great Anne Martindell story

By Wally Edge

Among the legendary stories about former State Senator Anne Martindell, who died yesterday at age 93, was her response to a 1972 assertion by old-time party insider Salvatore Bontempo, that “women don’t participate in our back room party meetings because they don’t want to hear four letter words”. Bontempo was the Democratic State Chairman and Martindell, then a Democratic National Committeewoman, was fairly blunt in her rebuke: “That’s a load of shit,” Martindell said. “I don’t need to be protected by Sal.”

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December 4, 2008

"The confidential agreement with Riccio completed in September and recently exposed by The Star-Ledger of Newark should spur U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to assign top staffers to uncover the whole story before Christie leaves office. Corzine's settlement is another attempt to sweep the problems from his overlapping personal and public life under the rug. Christie should pull the rug out, and soon." -- An Asbury Park Press editorial run in this morning's newspaper, apparently unaware that Christie's last day was Monday.

-Asbury Park Press, 12/04/08
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