Nelson Albano

It is possible that the only real contests in the 2009 State Assembly races will be the four seats in the first and second districts, where three freshmen who won competitive ’07 races will presumably be seeking re-election.

In District 1, Nelson Albano, re-elected to a second term last month, and freshman Matthew Milam, will compete in this politically competitive district without the benefit of newly-elected State Senator Jeff Van Drew at the top of the ticket.  If Nicholas Asselta, who lost his Senate seat to Van Drew, would be an extremely formidable candidate if he seeks a comeback as an Assembly candidate in 2009 – and could help bring in a second Republican.

The new class of legislators isn’t even seated yet, but that won’t stop us from speculating about the Assembly election in 2009.

Granted, two years is a political eternity, and which party will hold an advantage in that time depends most heavily on who’s at the top of the ticket. But when the new Assemblymen and women take their places in Trenton early next year, there will be 25 freshmen – several from competitive districts. Those represent the best opportunity for each party to knock off some incumbents.

Right now, however, from this great distance, it doesn’t appear as though any new districts will come into the fold, or that control of either legislative body is likely to shift. Indeed, it’s more likely that 2009 will see a smaller number of districts in play.

Remember all those ethics complaints during the campaigns?  Wonder what happens to them?

We’ll see tomorrow, when the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards meets to rule on the five complaints that have been filed since the committee last met.  But if history is any guide, they’ll mostly be dismissed. 

While legislators who sit on the committee say that complaints occasionally have at least some level of validity, some say they’re filed more to get a headline in the heat of a campaign rather than pointing out a real, troubling ethical infraction.  They also say they’ve noticed it happening more often in recently, with candidates taking advantage of a committee – one with a reputation for being toothless and ineffective -- for their political ends.   

Indeed, 2007 was the year of the ethics complaint, with 10 filed so far- the most of any year on record, going back to 1972.  Five have been settled, all of which were dismissed.

A Zogby poll conducted for the Press of Atlantic City and Richard Stockton State College shows Democrat James Whelan leading GOP State Sen. Sonny McCullough by a 50%-37% margin, and the race between Republican State Sen. Nicholas Asselta and Democrat Jeff Van Drew to be a statistical dead heat.

Van Drew, a three-term Assemblyman, leads Asselta by a 45%-42% margin. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 5%.

The Press of Atlantic City has endorsed Republicans Norris Clark and Michael Donohue for State Assembly in the first district, passing over incumbent Nelson Albano. READ

Anne Milgram is going to be busy in the first district.

Just before state Senator Nicholas Asselta and his Assembly running mates were scheduled to hold a press conference asking the Attorney General to investigate Democratic wheeling of campaign funds in the first district in 2005, Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore Wilfredo Caraballo called on Milgram to investigate whether first district Republicans transferred money between their own campaign accounts to circumvent contribution limits.

The Republicans seized on a Tuesday investigative report from the Press of Atlantic City that showed the Camden County Democratic Committee circumventing campaign contribution caps two years ago by donating $400,000 to the Cape May Democratic Organization, which then went directly to an ad blitz in the Philadelphia television market on behalf of the Assembly campaigns of Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano.

Republicans rally in District 1: left to right, Alex DeCroce, Norris Clark, Nicholas Asselta, Michael Donohue and Leonard Lance
Showing a capacity for Jersey road rage at the start of the political season, Republicans stood on the side of the Garden State Parkway in Cape May County today and vowed, once they win the majority, not to post a bill that would enable the leasing of the state’s toll toads.

This press conference, held in district 1 where state Sen. Nicholas Asselta is in a re-election tussle with challenger Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, featured Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, Asselta and his running mates, Michael J. Donohue and Norris Clark.

They say they’re against the leasing of state assets, but at the very least the GOP want to know more. "I call on the governor to release the details of his plan," said Lance.

The first district Republicans have seized on a new report from a Wall Street lawyer that says monetization could increase tolls by 150 percent.

The analysis by New York-based attorney Peter Humphreys, reported by the Associated Press this morning, said that issuing bonds to bring about a cash infusion would increase tolls in the long run. Although the details of the plan have not been made public by Gov. Corzine, Humphreys said that the average commuter on the Turnpike could wind up paying $2,400 a year in tolls.

State Senator Nick Asselta said that Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew is not being honest about his opposition to monetization.